Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Facts About Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome is often confused with inflammatory bowel disease. Since the latter is a much worse disease than the former, many pet owners find themselves panicking. However, cat lovers should realize that feline irritable bowel syndrome is not really as bad as inflammatory bowel disease.
Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a functional disorder. This means that there’s nothing wrong with your cat’s anatomy, but there is something wrong with the way it works. This is often considered to be psychosomatic, which means it is affected by the mind of your pet. Thus, one way to treat the symptoms of feline irritable bowel syndrome is to instill the right mindset on your cat.
Feline irritable bowel syndrome is characterized by a sudden change in a cat’s stool frequency. The cat would either be defecating more frequently than usual or it could be less than usual. It is also characterized by diarrhea or constipation.
Another symptom of this illness is abdominal pain. If your pet seems to have abdominal pain combined with the other symptoms your cat may have feline irritable bowel disease. There are various types of treatments for feline irritable bowel disease:
1) Less stress – Feline Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be aggravated by stress. Because of this, a common advice for people who have cats that are suffering from feline irritable bowel syndrome is to try and find the source of stress for their cats. After pinpointing what factor causes stress in their pets, owners should try to eliminate this factor and place their pets in a situation where the cat is comfortable.
There are also certain types of medicines which you can give your cat to help lessen its anxiety. This will help greatly in relieving the symptoms of feline irritable bowel syndrome.
In doing this, you need to try and see the environment through your cat’s perspective. Something that you don’t see as stressful could cause anxiety in your cat. Something as simple as a new rug could trigger the symptoms of feline irritable bowel syndrome.
2) Proper diet – Another trigger of feline irritable bowel syndrome is food. Eating the wrong sorts of food can aggravate the symptoms of feline irritable bowel syndrome. The proper diet for feline irritable bowel syndrome depends on your cat’s symptoms.
Some cats experience diarrhea as a symptom of feline irritable bowel syndrome. In cases like this, it is important to find foods that would stop the diarrhea. This means that you have to find foods that would help make your pet’s stool harder. Of course, the opposite is required if your cat is suffering from constipation.
4) Lots of water – A cat suffering from feline irritable bowel syndrome needs a lot of water. This is in order to help in cleansing the stomach and in stabilizing the digestive process. You should encourage your cat to drink more from his or her bowl.
3) Supplements – When feeding a cat with feline irritable bowel syndrome, an owner should keep in mind to give the pet lots of insoluble fiber. This is in order to stabilize the digestive process of the cat. Soluble fiber can be purchased in the form of a powder which can be mixed into your cat’s food. There are also different types of pet food which contain high percentages of soluble fiber. Ask about this type of food from your pet shop.
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