Salt?

[happilyretired]

Can I add salt to my girl's wet food to encourage her to drink more water?

Background: I adopted this 4-year-old (Molly Brown) a little over 2 months ago, and she was producing normal stool. But she soon became constipated (dry, hard, pebbles), and I tried all sorts of remedies (pumpkin, a digestive pumpkin mix, Lactulose), but she would not tolerate any of it.

She eats mainly canned food, but I've always had dry available for my cats, and since she was a little 'plump,' I found Merrick's grain-free 'weight control' dry and gave her that.

I read here (and elsewhere) that it's safe to give cats Miralax, and 1/4 teaspoon mixed into her wet food has been working well. But before I called my vet to check her for a possible bowel problem, I wanted to see if I could get to the cause, since it's been only since she's here with me.

I read Dr. Lisa Pierson's advice about nutrition, and I noticed that in her explanation of getting 'dry food addicts' onto wet, she warned that there might be temporary diarrhea, as the cat adjusts. That made me wonder whether this Merrick dry is constipating here--and I removed it and stopped the Miralax. That was just yesterday, and this morning, she produced decent stools, but I thought she strained a little.

She doesn't drink much water (she has a fountain), and that actually bothers me because my previous two cats were both CRF and drank copiously, so I have no idea how much a normal cat eating wet food should be drinking.

My question is whether I can add some salt to her food to encourage her to drink more--just temporarily until I see whether that dry was the cause. Of course, she is extremely finicky about her food, and she might not even touch it. Should I try?

 

[LTS3]

I wouldn't add extra salt to the diet.

If your cat is eating canned food, she is getting plenty of water. You can add extra water to the canned food to ensure good hydration. It doesn't have to be soupy unless your cat likes that. There isn't any "normal" water intake for a cat eating only canned food. What's normal for one cat may be different for another cat. You just have to know what is normal for your cat and do the skin tent test to see if your cat is hydrated or not (pull up the scruff as far as it will go and let go. If it snaps back in place right away, the cat is well hydrated. It the scruff slowly falls back down, the cat is dehydrated and a vet should be consulted).

Dry food can cause constipation because of the lack of moisture. A small amount daily is ok for most cats but if it still causes constipation, it's best to not feed any dry food.

Have you see these tips?

Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake

Are you dissolving the Miralax in water before adding it to the canned food? That would help it work better. You don't see the Human instructions say to mix Miralax in yogurt before eating Not dissolving the power first before ingesting can make the constipation worse.

 

[happilyretired]

Thanks so much for your reply.

I will try the skin test later today (she's sleeping now).

When I gave her the Miralax, I used a gravy food, and dissolved it in the gravy. I think it was OK because I was definitely getting better stools with the Miralax, but I want to solve the problem without having to give it to her daily.

I've tried adding some water to her pate food, but she then wouldn't eat it. However, from the charts, she should be getting enough fluids from her foods. I'm hoping that eliminating the dry will solve the problem.

As I mentioned, for the past 10 years I've had CRF cats, so I have a warped view of how much water a 'normal' cat should be drinking. (I had the same problem with her urine waste. At first, I was surprised that there wasn't more, and then I remembered that I was used to my guys who couldn't concentrate their urine.)

 

[happilyretired]

OK--The 'skin test' showed that she's well hydrated, which I hoped and am happy to have confirmed.

Two days without dry food (she's eating her wet food better, too!) and NO Miralax, and well-formed stool in the litter box this morning. So it's likely that the dry I was feeding her is the culprit. I'm hoping that's the solution.

Rather than look for an alternative dry, my plan is to now keep her exclusively on wet. I used to worry that my cats would get hungry between feedings, but Dr. Lisa Pierson says that's not an issue, and total wet is to be preferred.

My girl was 'looking' for her dry at first (and whined a little), but she seems OK now.

 

[LTS3]

Glad she's popping better A few pieces of dry as a treat would be ok but if you find that even that small amount causes a bit of constipation, maybe switch it out for freeze dried meat treats instead. Vital Essentials treats are hard and crunchy just like dry food and a lot healthier.

 

[happilyretired]

Thanks for the tip about Vital Essentials; I didn't know about them!