I have posted previously about my long battle to resolve the chronic loose stool of my 22 mos old bengal, Coco. (see links below) I now believe I have the final solution: a probiotic supplement.
I started giving her the supplement (Eagle Pack Holistic Solution) 7 days ago and within 2 days her stools were normal and have remained normal with the exception of 1 loose stool Fri night. This is the first time in the 12 months I have had her that she has had normal stools. I have seen temporary improvement in her stools before (as was the case with my last update) but never really completely normal ones.
I would like to give a million thanks to all those in this forum who have helped me with this. I hope I haven't tried the patience of too many of you with my insistance on understanding the "why" of your suggestions. I really wanted to try to understand and treat the cause not just treat the symptom. I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally have a solution. I was really beginning to worry about long term problems Coco might develop because of having a loose stool for so long a period of time.
I still can't say I fully understand the cause. What seems clear is that the digestive tract of some otherwise perfectly healthy cats that have never been given antibiotics (or any other meds for that matter) need help in handling processed cat foods. Just heredity I guess. I say they need help handling "processed cat foods" because there are those who believe that switching to a raw diet will achieve the same results without using probiotic supplements. Assuming this is true, I guess either raw food contains bacteria and enzymes to supplement what is already in the digestive tract or that raw food helps feed the bacteria already in the digestive tract in a way that processed food does not.
I hope this helps someone else ...
References:
original thread:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=133698
probiotic thread (This one is fun, I get fairly well slammed in it!):
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=134690
excellent, short discussion on using probiotics to treat digestive ills in pets:
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/EP_Pe...html#allergies
I started giving her the supplement (Eagle Pack Holistic Solution) 7 days ago and within 2 days her stools were normal and have remained normal with the exception of 1 loose stool Fri night. This is the first time in the 12 months I have had her that she has had normal stools. I have seen temporary improvement in her stools before (as was the case with my last update) but never really completely normal ones.
I would like to give a million thanks to all those in this forum who have helped me with this. I hope I haven't tried the patience of too many of you with my insistance on understanding the "why" of your suggestions. I really wanted to try to understand and treat the cause not just treat the symptom. I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally have a solution. I was really beginning to worry about long term problems Coco might develop because of having a loose stool for so long a period of time.
I still can't say I fully understand the cause. What seems clear is that the digestive tract of some otherwise perfectly healthy cats that have never been given antibiotics (or any other meds for that matter) need help in handling processed cat foods. Just heredity I guess. I say they need help handling "processed cat foods" because there are those who believe that switching to a raw diet will achieve the same results without using probiotic supplements. Assuming this is true, I guess either raw food contains bacteria and enzymes to supplement what is already in the digestive tract or that raw food helps feed the bacteria already in the digestive tract in a way that processed food does not.
I hope this helps someone else ...
References:
original thread:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=133698
probiotic thread (This one is fun, I get fairly well slammed in it!):
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=134690
excellent, short discussion on using probiotics to treat digestive ills in pets:
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/EP_Pe...html#allergies
