Author Topic: Egg Yolk Lecithin  (Read 10438 times)

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Offline Middle Child

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Egg Yolk Lecithin
« on: October 17, 2012, 09:54:37 PM »
I started SK on the Egg Yolk Lecithin tonight.  The dose recommended is 1/2 capsule twice a week. Apparently hairballs are made up mostly of fat.  The egg yolk lecithin breaks down the fat, making the hair easier to pass. At that dose, a bottle of 90 capsules will last  3 months.  They were $19.46, so it is not a "cheap fix" but if it helps her, it will be worth it. There may be cheaper brands, but this was the brand recommended to me. Actually when you think about how much I have spent on the petroleum based remedies over the years, this isn't all that high.

I opened a capsule, removed the contents into a little container, and split them in half best I could by eye.  Mixed it into her food and she ate it right up.

Gosh I hope this is the answer for her.  I refuse to give any of my cats petroleum products ever again.

Offline Lola

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2012, 12:33:37 PM »
Gosh, I sure do feel for SK and her hairball situation!!!  Why do you think it is soooo bad for her?  It seems, and I could be wrong, her situation isn't the norm. 
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2012, 01:18:24 PM »
I don't know, really. My Sweet boy always had terrible hair ball problems too, that got much worse as he got older. 

I think part of the issue for Struvite Kitty is, in part, the years on the c/d kibble, but it started even before that. She'd been with me just about a year, and she started this awful projectile vomiting.  It was the weekend of course and I took her to the on call vet, they did an x ray and all we could see was a lump that was, at the time of x ray, leaving her stomach and entering the intestines, and a massive amount of gas. I've teased her for years about her $400 hairball, LOL.  Vet felt pretty sure the mass was a hairball, and prescribed large doses of hair ball remedy until she passed it.  Since then, she has always needed help. After loosing my Sweet Pea, who also took massive doses of the stuff,  to the cancer, I became determined to get all cats off ALL petroleum products. I actually started that process before he died, with the coconut oil.

So SK is OFF all petroleum hair ball remedies.  She's still getting the Vets'-Best as garnish for her small meat chunks, but I'm hoping that, by the time she no longer needs the V-B to eat the raw chunks, the egg yolk lecithin will have solved her problem.

Little Cat may not need any help now that she is almost completely raw.  Top Cat will continue with the pumpkin. It is harmless, she likes it, and it works for her.

Incidentally, SK STILL needs a pepcid every five or six days.  I don't know why.  But every five or six days, she gets some acid reflux and either vomits or regurgitates.  If I don't give her a pepcid on the day she does it, she continues to do it until I do.   Maybe the egg yolk lecithin will help with that too, if it is, as I suspect, hairball related.  :-\

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2012, 09:40:57 PM »
I am really happy with the egg yolk lecithin for hair ball control!  SK gets a half capsule every other day.  The other two get the other half on opposite days, so they each are getting it every four days.  All fur is being passed out through the poop. I know, because I check.  funny2

Offline Pookie

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2013, 03:54:19 PM »
Question:  How did you hear about the lecithin for hairballs?  Pookie's ok while it's winter, but when it gets warmer he'll probably have them more often even though I comb him every night.  I'm wondering if this might help but would like to learn more about it.  I know it's been a big help for SK!   thumbsup1

Thanks, MC!   :-* :-*
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2013, 09:35:54 PM »
I first read about the egg yolk lecithin in a raw feeding forum I belong to. But I looked it up before I started using it, and found enough references, though casual, to make me comfortable.  Because, after all it IS simply part of egg yolk, and egg yolk is very good for cats.

Here are the links I read, before starting it.  Some are dated as far back as 2009.  I figure it is only a matter of time before the manufacturer's of pet products hear about it and start making a version "for cats only" that is full of awful junk (like how it happened with l-lysine)

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/help-your-cat-overcome-hairballs.html

http://catsdogsandpets.com/why-do-cats-cough-up-hairballs.html

http://www.kittycatgroomer.com/2010/sept2010.html

http://www.felineconstipation.org/whatgoeswrong.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_6185814_treat-cat-fur-ball.html

Seems like I read about it on a persian breeder site too, but I can't find the reference now.

There are two brands.  Swanson has fewer "other ingredients", rice powder, magnesium sterate, and of course the gelatin capsule.  I started with Nature's Plus, which has several objectionable  "other ingredients" , di-calcium phosphate, silica, and vegetable cellulose, but turned to Swanson after finding it.  However, SK vomited the Swanson brand, and of course I decided it was the rice powder, that she is that sensitive to ANY grains.  I don't really know.  I've kept her on the Nature's Plus, and the other two girls are getting the Swansons.  Once SK has a long long run of no regurgitation I will try her on the Swanson's again, but right now I just don't want to rock her boat.

I resolved to never give them petroleum products again (and they were making SK very sick).  Butter doesn't work.  I believe coconut oil isn't safe for cats. Even raw fed, and regular grooming, some cats just seem to still have trouble.

Hairballs are formed by fat binding to the fur. The egg yolk lecithin works by breaking up the fat which binds the hairball together.  This frees the hair to let it pass the way nature intended. 

PS my vet has one other client who uses egg yolk lecithin for hairballs.  I am always surprised to hear things like that in this backwater.  funny2

Offline Pookie

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2013, 03:49:08 PM »
Thanks, MC!   :-* HeadButt :-* HeadButt :-* HeadButt
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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #7 on: March 03, 2013, 11:35:18 AM »
I was finally able to get some lecithin and plan to start Pookie on it tonight.  I think hairball season may already be starting.   :( 
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this information, MC!   :-* HeadButt :-* HeadButt
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Offline Middle Child

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2013, 02:18:22 PM »
You're welcome.  I wish I could get everyone with a cat to stop using petroleum based products and onto the  egg yolk lecithin.

yes, the shedding season started in February, here. It has to do with the angle of the sunlight. I've noticed the pattern over the years. Right about the time SK starts her shedding, the sun starts shining at the proper angle to make it through the sliding glass doors and the kitchen window and I start seeing this:








Offline Lola

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2013, 07:30:33 PM »
You've probably explained elsewhere... do you not use the Vet's Best For Hairballs for hairballs, as well as a food topper? 
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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2013, 07:48:35 PM »
I use the Vets-Best for toppers only.  According to the label, for hairballs you have to give 2 tablets a day. The person who recommended the Vet's Best to me has a heavy coated long haired cat, who eats Rad Cat exclusively.  They give him two tablets of Vet's-Best two or three times a week to control hairballs.  When I first bought it, it was going to be for hairballs, but I discovered the egg yolk lecithin at about the same time.

But they like the V-B so much better than Forti Flora for topper, plus I like the V-B better than Forti Flora for topper (hate that animal digest in the FF), and a little dust goes a long way.

But, if I was using the V-B for hair ball remedy for all three cats, yikes, that would be very costly.

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2013, 09:40:38 PM »
I use the Vets-Best for toppers only.  According to the label, for hairballs you have to give 2 tablets a day. The person who recommended the Vet's Best to me has a heavy coated long haired cat, who eats Rad Cat exclusively.  They give him two tablets of Vet's-Best two or three times a week to control hairballs.  When I first bought it, it was going to be for hairballs, but I discovered the egg yolk lecithin at about the same time.

But they like the V-B so much better than Forti Flora for topper, plus I like the V-B better than Forti Flora for topper (hate that animal digest in the FF), and a little dust goes a long way.

But, if I was using the V-B for hair ball remedy for all three cats, yikes, that would be very costly.

Thanks!  We only have one with hairball issues.  I only give her one tablet a day, when I notice she is having issues.  Seems to do the trick.  Hairball passes out the backend.  The others no longer had hairball issues, once transitioned to all wet. 
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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2013, 09:45:08 PM »
Thanks!  We only have one with hairball issues.  I only give her one tablet a day, when I notice she is having issues.  Seems to do the trick.  Hairball passes out the backend.  The others no longer had hairball issues, once transitioned to all wet. 

I am glad to hear another success story on the Vet's-Best for hairball control. And after Top Cat's overdose of it and subsequently talking to poison control about it, I feel confident that it is a very safe product.

2 of my girls don't really have hairball trouble.  They each get a half capsule of egg yolk lecithin every three days.  But SK has always had trouble, all her life, and a change in diet has not helped her.  She is getting a half capsule every day.

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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #13 on: March 12, 2013, 03:17:03 PM »
How long was SK on it before you noticed an improvement?  Would 1 cap a day (for example, 1/2 capsule in the morning, 1/2 capsule in the evening) be safe?

Pookie's been on the lecithin for just over a week now and just had a hairball.   :(  I just wondered how long it will be before it really works, or if I should increase his dose.  He's been getting a 1/2 capsule daily since I started him on it.
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Re: Egg Yolk Lecithin
« Reply #14 on: March 13, 2013, 06:01:48 AM »
If there's a lot of fur built up, it can take some time I think.  Let me see.....when I started the egg yolk lecithin I started 1/2 capsule every 4 days, but quickly increased it to every three, and then every other, for SK, leaving the other two at every four. In early February, which is the usual time that SK's shedding starts getting heavy I went to every day with 1/2 capsule.

She had some trouble and for a while I was going a whole capsule every day.  Then I started to worry that was too much (I do know someone who gives her cats whole capsules every day but they are large ragdoll look a like cats with heavy coats, raw fed) so I went back to 1/2 a day for her.

She brought up some fur the other night in a regurgitation, but it was lose, if you know what I mean, not a wad or log of it, so I've now decided to go to a whole capsule every three days and half on the other two days.  So, half, half whole, half half whole.

Little cat, who was on 1/2 every 3 days still, brought up two huge wads of fur last Wednesday so I've started her and TC on 1/2 capsule every other day.

I think the only trouble you might see with "too much" would be diarrhea.  I think. So if that started you'd have to cut back. After all it's just the lecithin from the egg yolk, and whatever anti-caking agent the brand uses.

By the way the person I mentioned who is giving her cats a whole capsule daily also has at least one of the cats on slippery elm bark twice a week.

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