gas/flatulence

lisalee

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Hi Dr. Jean, I'm glad you joined us! I have always believed in holistic medicine and have had a great interest in it for a long time now, my vet is a holistic vet and I've always treated Sash that way.

Sash is my 15 1/2 year old tabby cat who is the love of my life. He's been having a lot of gas in the past six months or so and my vet suggested to see what foods seem to cause this the most and stay away from them. Well, the problem is I notice this with just about every food I give him, whether it's canned or dry or whatever flavor or brand, he seems to have gas most nights while he lays on my lap. He does have IBS (intermittent episodes of vomitting) and I believe it could be a symptom of this? He currently takes Prozyme, Coenzyme Q10, Azodyl for some early CRF and occasionally Slippery Elm.

Is there any other supplements or things you would suggest to help with this problem?
 

drjean

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I would add probiotics at this point. They will help balance the bacteria in the colon (the guys who make the gas!).

As usual, I'd also recommend limiting or eliminating dry food, since it is harder on the cat's digestive system and contains much more fiber than canned; sometimes that level of fiber is not a good thing!
 
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lisalee

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Originally Posted by DrJean

I would add probiotics at this point. They will help balance the bacteria in the colon (the guys who make the gas!).

As usual, I'd also recommend limiting or eliminating dry food, since it is harder on the cat's digestive system and contains much more fiber than canned; sometimes that level of fiber is not a good thing!
Is there a good probiotic you would suggest? I'm currently giving him Azodyl which I think has probiotics in it and it did seem to help with his gas when I first started it, I definitley noticed a decrease in gas but he's been on it two months now and I don't think it's helping with that anymore.

What do you think of Transfer Factor as a supplement? I've heard a lot about this being good for so many conditions cats suffer from and would also like to give that a try.
 

drjean

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Azodyl is pretty good. However, last week I was reading up on probiotics because of a discussion we're having on the vet list. I discovered that dogs have different GI flora than humans, and cats are different from both. There's not a lot of info about what the normal flora should be. So when we're giving probiotics, they are going to help, but it may not be a permanent change because those probiotic organisms aren't designed to live inside a cat. I tend to pick products that have the longest list of organisms, hoping there will be better crossover if we just shotgun a whole bunch of 'em in there! So there may be some benefit to changing probiotics every few weeks. Petguard makes a nice digestive enzyme/probiotic powder that seems tasteless and looks like chalk dust, but seems to be beneficial. However, it has *definitely* been shown that vet products are inferior to probiotics intended for humans, so whatever is at the health food store is a good place to start.
 
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