Can I Give My Cat Acidophilus?

Can I give my cat Acidophilus?

Can I give my cat Acidophilus?Probiotics like acidophilus have been getting a lot of attention in health food circles, but they’ve actually been around for quite some time. They’re supposed to help the body’s digestion by giving it the good bacteria it needs to break down and process food properly. But can your cat benefit from it?

There are some striking differences between a cat and a human, even though we share many of the same features and organs. Of course we’re also both mammals, but at a certain point the similarities end, and the differences start piling up. For instance, cats are carnivorous whereas we’re omnivorous, with some people choosing to be herbivores. There’s a big discrepancy between the two, and it’s not right to think that our bacteria is better suited for them. Nature knows best.

What you really want to avoid is messing things up that are already working as nature intended. So if you don’t have any reason to suspect that your cat’s bacteria levels are out of sync, then there definitely isn’t any need to give them some. If you know that they might be having a problem in that area, consult with your vet and get probiotics made for cats if that’s the course of action that’s determined.

Can I Give My Cat Acidophilus? Answer: Not Necessary

The reason that you don’t need to make any special effort to give your cat probiotics is that they have a different set of intestinal bacteria and flora than we do. This is because their diet consists of different foods than ours, or at least it has for the millions of years leading up to right now. Introducing a new set of bacteria to their digestive system is wholly unnecessary, and can actually disrupt the natural state that exists.

A Cat’s Digestive System
A cat’s digestive system is designed to process large amounts of animal protein that they’d normally be catching in the wild. But since they’re domesticated and given cat chow instead, their system is accustomed to eating their kitty kibble. Therefore they simply don’t need the same things we do, and they don’t benefit from getting supplements that make the news for us. So while it may be beneficial for you to take a probiotic, it’s not something your cat needs.

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The natural state of things is where we’re all trying to get to, and the reason that humans are recommended to add bacteria back to their digestive system is because we take antibiotics that kill them off. If you’ve recently given your cat antibiotics and you are looking to replenish them, you want to use a feline probiotic, because it will contain the sort of bacteria that is present in their system.

Get a Better Cat Food
If your cat is experiencing digestive issues, it’s most likely not because their intestinal bacteria is out of whack, but because they’re not getting enough nutrients and minerals from their food. It you’ve thought that you can give your cat a low-quality food and make up for it with supplements, the better way to go about it is pick the best premium cat food you can justify, and then you won’t have to worry about buying anything additional for them. These specially formulated cat foods have a good protein source as the number one ingredient, and you should start to notice a change in them pretty quickly, including easier digestion.

Cats Are Hunters
It doesn’t take much to see that a cat still has all of the equipment needed to hunt down prey. Suffice it to say that the inside of their bodies are still well-equipped to handle eating large quantities of meat, with veggies as an afterthought, and only a byproduct of eating veggie-eating animals. This is much different than human evolution, where we’ve gone through different phases and are more of a hodge podge of eating styles. For many millions of years we were vegetarian, then hunted, then started growing crops, and now our diet consists of most anything that’s edible.

It only makes sense that a cat would develop different bacteria to help digest their food, because they typically digest a different type of food than we do. That’s why you can hold off on the acidophilus, and simply make sure that they’re getting the nutrients they need from the food you give them.

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4 thoughts on “Can I Give My Cat Acidophilus?”

    1. Slippery Elm is an old fashioned food idea for people when they are convalescing. It comes in powdered form and you put a small amount in water and simmer it for a few minutes until it thickens. I have given it to my cats over the years whenever they have had digestive or bowel problems and it is brilliant. To ensure that they ingest it, I dab it on their paws and smear it on the front of their legs so they lick it off.

  1. I worry about my cat. He is about 10 months and loves to play, well he is a cat , two days ago somehow he opened the door of the laundry and cleaning stuff, and a box of baking soda was all over the floor. I cleaned up was not problem but he ended with diarrhea and today he is not eating well. He still plays but I started to think maybe he earned the baking soda.

    Do I have to take him to the hospital or I can give him a medicine or by changing the food will make a difference. If someone can help me with the best choice, today he only pop twice once in the morning and later at night about 10:40 PM. I can’t deal with any creature suffering, and I cannot read how he feels.

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