Extra Zinc?

StefanZ

Advisor
Thread starter
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Folks, if a cat or kittens needs extra zinc, where can we find it easiest?

Im currently reading on about home made pedialyte as for use while in diarrhea. It MAY be so the dosages in my receipt are somewhat too low... 

Im trying to compare with recommendations for humans.

But. I see in the recommendations they do also recommend extra zinc...  So where in what food  can we find  zinc?  Especielly in a form suitable for small kittens??

And it should also be easy to find in your normal food shop or your normal pet shop...
 

catspaw66

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
5,508
Purraise
1,616
Location
Waldron, Arkansas
Just for my information, I looked at the zinc supplements for humans at the store last night.  There is 50 mg. per tablet, with a lot of cellulose as a binder (pun not intended, but appropriate). 

I found a chart on amounts of zinc in different foods.

Ingredient

Zinc in mg/kg

Barley

44.4

Corn

13

Oats

39.2

Rice

24.4

Wheat

20

Soybean meal

57.9

Fish meal

157

Meat and bone meal

101
As you can see, most of them are grains.  This is the best I can come up with.  Anyone else?
 

fallmorning

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Mar 5, 2013
Messages
6
Purraise
0
It's hard to answer this without knowing why the cat needs extra zinc. You mentioned diarrhea, if that's the main problem, there could be a lot of different causes. If it's a young kitten just starting on food, it may just need time to adjust. Or it may have allergies to the type of food. So maybe just switching foods will work, giving it time to adjust to any changes.

We currently have a cat with hepatic liver (details here). Along with figuring out the correct food we just started him on zinc capsules to help lower it. They are 134mg capsules that he has to get on an empty stomach. When we went over all this with the vet, it wasn't the most ideal choice for a number of reasons. The big one that cats can easily overdose on zinc which will lower the red blood count, make them anemic, and could worsen the organ failure we were trying to correct. ( zinc overdose info )

So, I guess my answer is that I would be careful with giving extra zinc without talking to a vet.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

StefanZ

Advisor
Thread starter
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden

Ingredient

Zinc in mg/kg

Barley

44.4

Corn

13

Oats

39.2

Rice

24.4

Wheat

20

Soybean meal

57.9

Fish meal

157

Meat and bone meal

101
As you can see, most of them are grains. 
Nay, in your tabell the most is in fish meal and meat meal.   They mention grains most for a fill up.  :)

Ie talking plain english, common cat food containing lotsa of good quality animal products, will also contain good doses of zinc.

I wonder how it is with eggs? say egg yolks.

Milk? say goat milk?

So this is an answer for bigger kittens and adult cats:  Make sure they get good quality food with a high contention of animal products, and they will have their zinc reserves filled up.

If necessary mix it down, and mix up with pedialyte water or salted rice water and forcefeed.

I presume another tip may be these vitamin pastes, who are sold at pet shops.

So for grown up cats, we do have at least a preliminary answer.

But what about small kittens?  We do often meet rescued, motherless kittens, or where the mother is sick and cant nurse them, AND having severly diarrheas....  Common enough for rescuers.

Tx for the response, Catspaw, it helped the discussion a big step forward.   :)

.
 
Last edited:

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
I believe oysters are high in zinc. Recommended for men ;). Also liver and pumpkin seeds. But none of those are really practical for baby kittens. Maybe they sell liquid baby vitamins with zinc?
 

catspaw66

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
5,508
Purraise
1,616
Location
Waldron, Arkansas
Nay, in your tabell the most is in fish meal and meat meal.   They mention grains most for a fill up.  :)

Ie talking plain english, common cat food containing lotsa of good quality animal products, will also contain good doses of zinc.
.Tx for the response, Catspaw, it helped the discussion a big step forward.   :)

.
What I said is most of them on the table ARE grains.  I was attempting to point out that even a table put out by supposed experts tout grain above animal products, even though the grains are much lower in zinc.
 
Last edited:
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7

StefanZ

Advisor
Thread starter
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
What I said is most of them on the table ARE grains.  I was attempting to point out that even a table put out by supposed experts tout grain above animal products, even though the grains are much lower in zinc.
Yes, true...  Surely a try from them to show the substantial contents of grains in most dry food arent totally worthlessly...

But lets now go on  chase on goat milk and see what thay say.

Also, looking in if kmr is well zinc equipped...  They do usually have different extras.

Ideas do grow up easier, if you get response!   :)
 

catspaw66

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
5,508
Purraise
1,616
Location
Waldron, Arkansas
How true.  I looked at my response to you and hoped you hadn't taken it as a slam.  I can see you didn't. 
   Back to the subject.    I have looked on many sites and can find nothing other than pet stores and food manufacturers mentioning extra zinc.  Is there a need for extra zinc in the diet of a kitten with squirts?  Other than what would be in normal pedialyte?   I know when I had the C.diff and Salmonella, my potassium level was down so far it almost didn't register.  I guess I need to read up more on zinc.

BTW - very interesting discussion.
 

peaches08

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
4,884
Purraise
290
Location
GA
If meat and bones are such a good source of zinc, I'd consider getting chicken wings and feeding those! I know real bone cleared up my guys' rather persistent diarrhea. Do not feed bones cooked though! That's when the bones can splinter and are dangerous!
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
Well, what started this is a discussion of keeping baby kittens hydrated with Oral Rehydration Solution. Apparently there are several different recipes :lol3:. But in the information on how to deal with babies with diarrhea (usually malnourished babies in developing lands), it said that administering extra zinc is a good idea as well. Now, that was for human babies. But I think StefanZ is running with the idea for baby kittens as well. Anything is worth a try when you have babies that are dying of unknown causes :(.
 

peaches08

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 11, 2013
Messages
4,884
Purraise
290
Location
GA
Ah. My experience with malnutrition is limited to preemies in hospitals. I wouldn't know what to do with a kitten. Especially without labs to help me out.
 
Top