Raw Food and Constipation

Tonight I noticed BooBoo going in and out of her box a few times and I knew she was constipated.  I gave her some sweet potatoe and after a bit she was able to pass it.  I have had my Pug get constipated on raw a few times and I think it had to do with not drinking enough water and needing more fiber.  I add water to my Pug's raw and a few times a week I give her mashed sweet potatoes and that resolves it.  

Does anyone else have problems with constipation from time to time?  She has regular bloodwork, UAs etc so I doubt its a medical issue.  I just switched her to raw last month so my vet wanted me to wait a few months before checking bloodwork again.

It's actually the bone content. I've seen it happen with raw brands like Nature's Variety. Are you feeding whole prey or premade raw?

Rad Cat.  She really loves it and I have not had luck feeding her other raw.  Can I add anything to help with the constipation?

Add a bit of shredded fresh meat to "dilute" the bone content - you can add a bit of chicken breast, for example - just cut into tiny pieces and mix it in. If your kitty eats bigger pieces, you can add that too, just don't add it too much.... Just a bit per meal.

Thank you so much.  I will be sure to get her some for her dinner tomorrow night.  Would it help to add some sweet potatoe in the AM?  I have been giving her Answers A raw goat milk do you think that would cause it?

I've never seen it, and I've fed my dogs raw for 5 years. But I feed prey model, not commercial raw. 

That does seem to make the difference.  Not sure what the reason is though.

Bone is the likely culprit; some cats are more sensitive to the amount of bone in their diet than others.  I feed Ritz frankenprey (meat+liver+non liver organ+bone), the percentage of bone is on the low end, about 2.5 oz a week, or roughly .8 oz three times a week.  Any more than .8 oz at one meal and she gets constipated.

I agree with Carolina--trying diluting the RadCat; a side benefit might be BooBoo liking raw more than commercial raw.  See if BooBoo likes kidney, it tends to soften the stool.  (Not too much!)

PS:  Ritz is my first cat ever, rescue, survived 20 inch snow storm, etc.  Ritz went in and out of the litter box without much coming out.  I thought she was constipated and so did the vet based on my description of her symptoms.  After a course of treatment with little improvement and my giving the vet a more complete description of her symptoms, turned out she really had a UTI.  Just saying.....

I think Ritz meant calcium is the culprit: Rad Cat doesn't use bone for the calcium. But yes, some cats are more sensitive to calcium content than others, and it can cause constipation.

I just looked it up on their website. Rad Cat targets a minimum Ca ratio of 1.25. That's usually fine for most cats - but it's a minimum, so the ratio could be higher, meaning the amount of calcium would be higher. Your kitty apparently needs the "ideal" 1.1:1 Ca ratio.

As meat has phosphorus but almost no calcium, Carolina's solution of diluting the food with a little bit of plain, raw meat should do the trick.

LDG said:

I think Ritz meant calcium is the culprit: Rad Cat doesn't use bone for the calcium. But yes, some cats are more sensitive to calcium content than others, and it can cause constipation.
I just looked it up on their website. Rad Cat targets a minimum Ca ratio of 1.25. That's usually fine for most cats - but it's a minimum, so the ratio could be higher, meaning the amount of calcium would be higher. Your kitty apparently needs the "ideal" 1.1:1 Ca ratio.
As meat has phosphorus but almost no calcium, Carolina's solution of diluting the food with a little bit of plain, raw meat should do the trick.

Click to expand...

Rad Cat uses human grade Bone meal.... Yeah, what you are really going to be "diluting" is the Calcium content - that is what I meant when I said bone - used that term as they don't use straight calcium, but bone meal.
My cats also had constipation on it - adding meat did the trick.
If you don't want to do that..... Then there are other routes.... Pumpkin, Miralax...... But that should do it IMHO.

Wow, I'm kind of surprised that Radcat bone meal ratio caused constipation.  (shows how much I still have to learn )  Now I'm REALLY leery about trying Nature's Variety, since I think they have one of the highest ratio's around, don't they (and, yes, I know they use actual ground bones, not the bone meal)