Another Slippery Elm Question

This question focuses on the mode of ingestion and necessity for added water.  Periodically I give my two boys some Slippery Elm to combat stomach acid issues.  I measure out 1/4 tsp of the SE, add hot water, let it do its thing, draw 3 ml into a syringe, and then the battle begins.  My boys hate the syringe, appear to dislike the taste of SE, slurry flies and hits the wall, no one is happy.  Last night I mixed in 1/8 tsp each of DRY SE into their late night snack and they ATE it.    They actually ingested more SE this way than the moistened SE by syringe. 

The goal is to coat their stomach wall with the SE mucilage, so my question is, does the SE need to be pre-moistened to be most effective, or if ingested dry, will the moisture in the food and stomach create the same result?  I'm afraid they'll notice the SE added to the food if I mix it into a slurry ahead of time.   Thanks a lot for any help!

Lori

This is a really good question. Everything I've read says to mix with water first and let it gel up some before serving. That's what I've been doing, but I have to mix it with something to disguise the taste because my cat won't eat it alone.

However, on the IBD yahoo group, there are members who do give it in powdered form and report good results. So, I think you should just try it and see if it works. I know it's not really an answer, but with so many things, it's really trial and error for each cat.

Do you have any way to get extra water into them? I have some pretty picky cats, but when I mix a teaspoon of water with the 1/4 SEB and let it gel up, I mix it into ground raw food (formerly canned food), add a little more water, and mix it in REALLY well. That works, even for the cat that HATES it.

But I believe it is like any fiber in that it may cause issues if there isn't enough water used with it? So maybe not necessarily at the same time, but if you're feeding canned or ground raw or something, can you mix a little extra water in with the meal?

Oh, and to add what Laurie wrote, what has worked for me is to make the SEB slurry into meat gravy since mine loves gravy. I have had good luck mixing in either ground freeze-dried beef (Whole Life brand) or homemade beef broth.

I hadn't even thought about the fiber causing additional problems, just whether it would work at all. Normally I add a lot more than 1 tsp water to 1/4 tsp SE, more like 1 Tbl. I will try it again tonight, this time adding a little water for a thick gel before I mix it with food. I can also hold back a little dinner and make the evening snack a little bigger for more food to mix with. Thanks.

Yes, in the end I probably add a couple tablespoons of water to the meal. I just use the smaller amount to make it gel up. It seems to mix into the food more easily when it's thicker - and then I add more water to the mixture. :nod: It helps a LOT to do it pretty quickly - seems to mix in better that way, other wise it kind of lumps up.

BTW, if they like liver, it is SO strong smelling, I find it makes a good "topper" to meals with SEB in them. I crumble freeze dried liver on top - helps cover up the smell of the SEB that they don't like.

Well that was an experiment. I moistened the SE as suggested, mixed it with a little raw ground turkey, added some Nature's Logic canned, and added more water. Natures Logic is dense, so it can use the extra water anyway, but it's not the most smelly food. Clark walked away. i added more canned, and he ate most of it. They both ended up with a bigger snack than I intended, but we didn't have the syringe battle, so that was good. Next time I'll try a different canned (we only have a couple options in the house) and look for the topper you mentioned. At least this way the proportion of SE to water is better and it will hopefully sooth the stomach. Thanks!

LDG said:

Yes, in the end I probably add a couple tablespoons of water to the meal. I just use the smaller amount to make it gel up. It seems to mix into the food more easily when it's thicker - and then I add more water to the mixture. :nod: It helps a LOT to do it pretty quickly - seems to mix in better that way, other wise it kind of lumps up.

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2 TBSP here too. I use the liquid from the defrosted meat. Hearts give out a lot of liquid and it is great for that - I make a gravy out of it. Mix with the SEB and put it in the microwave for 8 sec. Bugsy Loves it. Mac doesn't, so I crumble his freeze dry liver on the top of it and he eats to the last drop

I'll try using excess meat juice. Just confirming that if I already have 6% liver in their raw ground mix (fresh purreed) and use a freeze dried liver topper on the SEB, I won't be exceeding any fat soluble vitamin limits. I don't add other organs in the mix, I add Alnutrin with eggshell. I've never used a topper on their food, I'm assuming you dust the top, so we're not talking about a lot at one time.

You have been very helpful. Thanks again!

It's safe to use the freeze dried liver as a topper in addition to the liver (and other sources of vitamin A) in their diet, assuming you're not using turkey liver. Turkey liver is really high in vitamin A. I've run the numbers before, and the upper safe limit is really actually quite high. The literature on it indicates that unless you're feeding pretty much only liver, there aren't known cases of vitamin A toxicity.