Parenting-Furkids
Cats => Caring For Your Cat => Topic started by: Middle Child on September 13, 2012, 09:34:45 AM
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I am trying this product in a desperate effort to get two of my cats off petroleum products.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002I9O84/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00
However I won't be using it as the directions say. The directions say one tablet twice a day, every day. That sounds like way too much, to me.
The active ingredients are psyllium and slippery elm. I am leery of using psyllium, though I know it is often recommended for hair ball problems. Slippery elm I see recommended a lot, but it has a strong odor.
These wafers have no odor I can detect, but the cats got one whiff and went crazy. Because they have psyllium in them I feel they need to be washed down, so I am giving them with food. Simply crush a wafer over a small amount of wet food and watch it disappear, LOL.
I'll be using it over Sk's raw portions, since she still needs some kind of incentive to eat them, but like I said, not every day and not two a day either,at least not at first I am starting with once a week with these wafers, and once a week with the Cat Lax, and see how it goes.
The person who recommended them to me feeds her cat Rad Cat frozen raw exclusively, and gives her kitty the wafers a couple times a week.
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I thought I remembered starting a thread on this stuff! I was looking under the supplements heading, haha. So far I am happy with the Vet's-Best as hairball control for Struvite Kitty.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002I9O84/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00
http://www.vetsbest.com/products/cat-supplement-tablets.php
The was recommended to me in another forum, not the raw forum I'm using, but a forum where raw is mostly viewed with suspicion and skepticism. funny2 There is one member who feeds their cat on 100 % rad cat. He is a long haired cat and he still had trouble with hair balls and they use Vet's-Best, though they use a lot less than the dosing recommends.
I too am using it very lightly. She gets at the most a quarter or half tablet a day (as opposed to 2 a day as recommended) more for raw incentive garnish than therapeutic reasons, but even at that low dose it does seem to be helping, I have now cut her down to hairball remedy every 5 or 6 days. This is a cat who has needed hair ball remedy every other day most of her life, even after switching her off the c/d she still had trouble with hair balls, and was getting it every 2 or 3 days. But now she's down to once every 5 days and I am currently aiming for every 6 days now.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could get her off the Cat Lax entirely?
While of course I want her to have as few unnecessary ingredients as possible, I think this is better than stuffing her full of petroleum products three times a week.
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I (often) forget about the SEARCH feature on the forum. lol Anyway...thanks for the info. :D I have one that needs a little help with trying new flavors or foods. I have tried Benito Flakes and some others...that don't come to mind at the moment. Fortiflora (as much as I hate it) used to be a sure bet.
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Ages ago before I became so allergic to cats, everyone I knew just sprinkled catnip on their food to prevent hairball problems. Dunno if there's anything in that or not, but I never had a cat to vomit in our house. I'd have hated cats if I'd have had to clean up vomit after them when I was younger.
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I never heard of cat nip for hair balls before, LOL. I grow it, so my cats always have plenty, if they want it, but it hasn't ever made any difference for the ones who have hairball trouble.
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I read the ingredients, but... is there anything in it that is reallllly "scary?" I bought it for our Roxy, who tends to not want to try new flavors. She prefers chicken and... plastic.
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I read the ingredients, but... is there anything in it that is reallllly "scary?" I bought it for our Roxy, who tends to not want to try new flavors. She prefers chicken and... plastic.
Nothing that sent a red flag to my brain. And I know slippery elm is often used for constipation/diarrhea and hair balls. But psyllium you know....it creates bulk, and cats don't do well with bulky stool. I've allowed myself not to be too concerned since pysllium isn't the only active ingredient. And it has served well as a enticement powder for the raw transition.
Because of the psyllium I never give it dry, always over wet or raw meals.
Oooh, I hate it when they lick or try to eat plastic! Does Rory like the Vet's-Best?
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Nothing that sent a red flag to my brain. And I know slippery elm is often used for constipation/diarrhea and hair balls. But psyllium you know....it creates bulk, and cats don't do well with bulky stool. I've allowed myself not to be too concerned since pysllium isn't the only active ingredient. And it has served well as a enticement powder for the raw transition.
Because of the psyllium I never give it dry, always over wet or raw meals.
Oooh, I hate it when they lick or try to eat plastic! Does Rory like the Vet's-Best?
I've only used it less than a handful of times. I crush it up and put it on the food. So far, she has eaten everything that I have used it on.
She is a maniac when it comes to plastic. I was cleaning fresh veggies tonight. Didn't think about the produce bags being plastic... left the kitchen for a MINUTE. Thankfully, she brought it back up a few minutes later.
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Oh my gosh, she ate the plastic bag? How scary. Thank goodness she brought it back up.
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Oh my gosh, she ate the plastic bag? How scary. Thank goodness she brought it back up.
She ate "just" a small section of the bag.
Grocery plastic bags...she will eat the handles off of them, if she gets a chance. When I buy groceries, I have to bring a few bags in...put all the items away, and then go back out and get a few more bags and do the same.
She's not a cat that allows much touching. That is why I don't just pick her up and lock her in a room, until I'm finished.
Bread gets locked away. Matter of fact, because of her, we have child locks on our pantry. Never needed child locks for the human kids, but need them for the furkids. Go figure! BUT... I was a much better parent with my human kids, than I am with the furkids. Bumpurr1
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I have been meaning to tell you...
I have found Vets Best to work just as good as nasty Fortiflora. It will now be my recommendation to people that want to transition their kibble addicts to wet.
I used it to transition Jenkins to wet.
I give it to our one cat that has furball issues.
Lucy doesn't like one particular brand of food that is in our rotation... sprinkle a little Vets Best on the food... food is gone!
I reallllllly didn't like using Fortiflora ever (don't like the ingredients or the company that makes it), but it was the one product that always worked... and I tried a LOT of different products over the years.
Sooooo, two thumbs up for Vets Best. :)
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That's great Lola! That's exactly what I use it for, too. They get it most days, just a dusting, over one meal or another. I have two who don't like krill oil so they always need it over their Krill meal. Top Cat has learned that if she doesn't lick all her "powder" (egg shell calcium taurine, vit B, probiotic) off her plate when she has her raw meal I will dust some V-B over it for her to finish, so now she ALWAYS leaves some powder on her plate! funny2
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Nooooo, thank YOU. :) It is nice to have something on hand that will work for whatever maybe going on around here. lol
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The Vets-Best has been a MIRACLE for Mazy cat. Mazy, as you may know is my cat who has severe motility issues resulting in frequent regurgitation. I've had some success with diet change, but the hairball issue continues, and it is very bad this year especially. She's getting egg yolk lecithin twice a day (a whole capsule in the morning and another at night), 1/8 tsp Slippery Elm bark in a meal daily, and raw egg yolk twice a week (raw egg yolk is rich in choline which improves motility)
Still it wasn't enough, she'd gone from regurgitating only 2-3 times a month to almost daily when her shedding started in February. After talking to some folks in the Raw feeding for IBD group, I finally decided to try using the Vets-Best for her as more than just an occasional incentive.
One of my concerns was that the psyllium would make her stools too large. They are already a bit bigger than normal from the SEB. But I was getting desperate.
I started her on 1/2 tablet once a day, with her middle of the night meal. Because I got to bed so early Mazy gets a meal consisting of .25 ounce (one fourth ounce) around midnight or a little later )depending on what time I wake up to give it to her) I started mixing the 1/2 tablet into that meal a little over two weeks ago. (I gave her extra on the day I took them out and she ate grass)
The good news is, the V-B has not made her stools noticeably larger, but she is pooping more often, which is a good thing, means things are moving through a bit more quickly. And every poop is just FULL of fur. (Yes, I am pulling her stools apart)
So I highly recommend this product for hairball control, but I will also continue to recommend the egg yolk lecithin. Jennie and Queen Eva do not need Vets-Best or any other help aside from a 1/2 capsule of egg yolk lecithin every other day.
But I am so so so happy for Mazy cat.
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Me and my big mouth. Projectile regurgitation this morning. I guess the darn grass is still lodged in there. I hadn't seen it in her poop but she was doing so well I thought I had just missed it.
Hopefully the heaving this morning has repositioned it in a way for it to start moving out.
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Hope today is better!!!
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Regurgitated three days since last Sunday, after going two weeks perfectly fine. :'(
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It's really . . . odd . . . because it seems like Mazy and Pookie are on similar schedules. He had a hairball early Sunday morning, after a week of a fairly calm tummy. And he's getting 2 capsules of the lecithin each day. I plan to give him some canned pumpkin a couple of times a week to help move things along. But lately, just about every time Pookie has a hairball or regurgitates, I'll check here and Mazy had an episode. What, are the two of them communicating with each other? :-\ Bumpurr1
I hope things calm down for Mazy. grouphug
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I just cleaned one up this morning! I don't know who it belonged to though. :(
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Trouble with Mazy cat is she almost never brings up the fur. By the time she starts regurgitating it is lodged down in the passageway from stomach to intestine.
But from what you say Pookie, it sounds like Pookie may have similar motility problems. Vet is just about positive that is Mazy's issue (without subjecting her to invasive testing)
She finally pooped out the grass this afternoon. Took EIGHT DAYS to get that grass through her. Wait...this is the wrong thread for the grass talk.
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Trouble with Mazy cat is she almost never brings up the fur. By the time she starts regurgitating it is lodged down in the passageway from stomach to intestine.
But from what you say Pookie, it sounds like Pookie may have similar motility problems. Vet is just about positive that is Mazy's issue (without subjecting her to invasive testing)
That's very possible. He was about 5 1/2 years old by the time I learned that the dry food was causing all of the problems, and he and his sister vomited/regurgitated literally several times a day AND night for years before that. I'd hoped the better diet would have "cured" him, but maybe it's just not possible to completely recover from issues like that. :(
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Yep, same story here. 6 years on the Hills c/d crap. The damage is done. bangshead
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8 DAYS for the grass to show itself?! WOW!! I assume she had one heck of a stomach ache all that time?
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I just don't know Lola, you know how cats are, they don't show any discomfort. Her behavior was normal in every way, including appetite, the only indication that there was trouble was the three regurgitation episodes during the 8 days, and they came on the 2nd, 5th and 7th day. This part of the discussion really should be in the Outside Dilemma thread I think.
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Yep, same story here. 6 years on the Hills c/d crap. The damage is done. bangshead
grouphug Yeah, I feel like banging my head, too. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that we did the best we could with the knowledge we had at the time, and at least we learned from it. There are SOOOO many out there who don't/won't. :(
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I just don't know Lola, you know how cats are, they don't show any discomfort. Her behavior was normal in every way, including appetite, the only indication that there was trouble was the three regurgitation episodes during the 8 days, and they came on the 2nd, 5th and 7th day. This part of the discussion really should be in the Outside Dilemma thread I think.
I know you would have no idea, if she had a tummy ache or not. Cats and their lack of communication skills...
OKAY... I won't go OT again! :)
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grouphug Yeah, I feel like banging my head, too. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that we did the best we could with the knowledge we had at the time, and at least we learned from it. There are SOOOO many out there who don't/won't. :(
Yup. But it BITES that we had to learn some things the hard way... at the expense of our furkids.
My Lucky ate kibble 7 of her 13 years. One of these days, I hope to send Lucky's medical records to Dr. Pierson. Her esophagus, stomach, etc. didn't get that damaged in just a few days.
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PS
I don't think it is possible to not go OT, when discussing cats. :) Too much carp is related to other carp.
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Yup. But it BITES that we had to learn some things the hard way... at the expense of our furkids.
I know. Hence the bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead bangshead. THEY shouldn't have to pay for our (vets') ignorance. That's one of the reasons we have this forum -- to educate as many as we can, so they don't have to learn the way we did. HeadButt At least maybe we can make a difference for others . . .
And imagine how much worse our furkids would be if we just kept telling ourselves that all that vomiting/regurgitating/hairballs was "normal." I'm sorry Pookie and his sister paid the price, but at least they're (hopefully) healthier than they would be if I'd just stopped looking for answers and kept feeding the carp. Same goes for you two and your furkids. At least they're eating healthier now. That's HUGE. (Hey, I'm trying to find some silver lining here . . . )
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I know you would have no idea, if she had a tummy ache or not. Cats and their lack of communication skills...
OKAY... I won't go OT again! :)
No....I don't care about OT, it IS on topic anyway. My problem is I am easily confused, when I come back to update a thread I often can't find it because I'v got the same stuff going in too many, so it's my fault more than anything. LOL
As for learning...yeah it's true. But I knew long before I took her off it that it wasn't good for her. I took her off it and put her back on canned multiple times, but her pH always rocketed, and/or the crystals would come back by the ton, when I did.
I think now my mistake was I was adding water to her food every time I tried to put her back on canned, I think my hard well water is the real culprit there. This final time when I took her off it for good I did NOT add any water to her canned meals, and she has been okay. Her pH is higher than what is considered "normal" for a cat but she is crystal free and symptom free so I am not worrying abut the pH.
All we can do is move forward now that we know better but it is hard not to slef blame.
And I will never stop pushing, in other forums, never! soapboxgif
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Same goes for you two and your furkids. At least they're eating healthier now. That's HUGE. (Hey, I'm trying to find some silver lining here . . . )
Correction: same goes for everyone on here, not just MC and Lola. I didn't intend to leave out anyone. :-[
We do the best we can . . . grouphug