Kitty Atkins?

April 2, 2012 12:47 PM

High fiber cat food? Need your recommendations.

My vet recommends a high fiber diet for my cat (for reasons, see below). There is a hi-fiber prescription brand called Wells W/D, which is created for diabetic cats. The vet does not like the high level of carbs in this food, and I personally don't like what it's made of (too much filler/grain/junk).

The high-fiber diet served to resolve kitty's hypercalcemia (high calcium in the blood). The hypercalcemia did not seem to indicate cancer, as it often does. Instead, kitty has idiopathic hypercalcemia. In other words, an unknown cause for high calcium. This can produce bladder stones and heart disease. Kitty is lucky that the high fiber diet knocked out the calcium in his blood. But we want him on healthier/lower-carb food.

posted by Jason and Laszlo to Pets & Animals (15 answers total)

Our cat who has constipation issues gets powdered fiber in his food and sometimes spoonfuls of canned pumpkin, per our vet's instructions. Is there a reason your vet prefers a high-fiber food to using a fiber supplement?
posted by crush-onastick at 12:55 PM on April 2, 2012

Response by poster: nice idea about the powdered fiber. I assume the packaging contains info on fiber content? Which brand do you use?
posted by Jason and Laszlo at 1:10 PM on April 2, 2012

My cats get canned pumpkin mixed with their dry food for a fiber boost (for the sake of the constipated cat, but they all eat the same). Started with small amounts of pumpkin until they got used to the taste, now they get 2/3 cup dry mixed with 1/3 cup pumpkin per feeding.
posted by dorey_oh at 1:16 PM on April 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

Just for clarification - are we discussing what Americans consider pumpkin, or what everyone else calls pumpkin?
posted by jbenben at 1:33 PM on April 2, 2012

Comment from the canine world: My previous dog, who had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, developed awful bladder stones during the last year of her life. This meant that we had to take her off of her prescription high-fiber gastro diet and put her on prescription urine-diluting food. To keep the gastroenteritis at bay, we added both Metamucil and organic, canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling, obviously) to the bladder-food. It worked brilliantly, and both the stones and the horrid digestive problems stayed under control. The whole thing made me wish we'd started with the DIY approach to high-fiber dog food years before.

Do note that in my experience, some vets strongly favor Metamucil as a fiber supplement, while others strongly favor pumpkin or squash, and both camps have solid reasons for their preferences. We ended up using a combo because our dog's lower digestive tract was a rather advanced place in terms of-- well-- um, anyway, using the nuclear option right away just sort of made sense in her case. But do discuss the pros and cons of each option with your vet. Your cat's weird calcium metabolism may need to be factored into the analysis.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 1:40 PM on April 2, 2012

Yup, as above: you can feed them anything you and your vet like, you just add a bunch of pumpkin for the fiber. Well, as needed. Too much pumpkin and they won't poop for a couple of days.

There's nice plain canned organic pumpkin at the fancy store. Sometimes they'll run out in the non-Thanksgiving season, but usually it's on some dusty shelf.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 1:56 PM on April 2, 2012

I used psyllium husks for my cat. The brand name for this stuff is Metamucil. Beware though that Metamucil often has lots of added sugar, but if you seek out psyllium with no sugar added you will find something.

Benefiber, the brand name for some different kind of fiber supplement, did not work nearly as well. That fiber is supposed to be easier (for humans :) to swallow. It did not have the same bulking effect as psyllium.

Pumpkin did not work well because it just did not have enough fiber (my cat needed enormous amounts of it). It could work though if your cat does not need huge amounts of extra fiber.
posted by massysett at 1:58 PM on April 2, 2012

n-thing Psyllium husk w/o additives
posted by Hairy Lobster at 4:24 PM on April 2, 2012

Metamucil or Miralax and stick with a low carb food.
posted by biscotti at 4:31 PM on April 2, 2012

Note that AskMefi can much better advise your cat's dietary needs if you provide pictures of said cat.
posted by radwolf76 at 6:27 PM on April 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

MiraLAX isn't going to provide fiber since it's just food grade Polyethylene Glycol. I'm not sure what it would do to a cat but since it makes prodigious human poops, it can't be good.

You can buy straight-up psyllium fiber from various natural food stores. Ours sells it bulk even, over by the herbs and spices.
posted by fiercekitten at 6:33 PM on April 2, 2012

jbenben - I dunno, it's the plain canned mashed pumpkin (obviously without the pie seasonings). I've heard that most of what's sold as canned "pumpkin" in the US can be a variety of winter squashes anyway, butternut and such. I think any cooked, mashed winter squash would work as well as another for the cats.
posted by dorey_oh at 8:19 PM on April 2, 2012

Oops. We use Miralax all the time for constipated kitties, but you are right that it may not be useful here. I meant Benefiber or Metamucil.
posted by biscotti at 5:02 AM on April 3, 2012

We feed our cats this food from Wellness. It doesn't have junk/filler in it and mentions that it has added fiber.
posted by getawaysticks at 8:08 AM on April 3, 2012

This is really embarrassing. We used to feed our cats Wellness (and changed 6 months ago, I was reminded today). Now we feed them Wilderness Blue which is even better for them and lower carb.
posted by getawaysticks at 4:36 PM on April 4, 2012