If your cat has been straining to go to the bathroom, you might have considered giving them a fiber supplement. But in all likelihood this is not the fix, and shouldn’t be given to them.
The better idea is to observe your cat over the following few days to get a solid view of what’s happening with them, to see if it was just an isolated case, or if they are struggling with a health problem. Cat owners have a tendency to turn even small problems with their feline friends into bigger problems.
If you do deduce that your cat is having an ongoing problem, it’s time to take corrective action. If this is the first time you’ve noticed something like this then you should start by evaluating what’s going into your cat, as this has the most effect on what comes out of your cat.
Can I Give My Cat Fiber? Answer: Not Recommended
At that point you can do things like evaluate the type of cat food you are giving them, the amount of times you are feeding them per day, and the time of day you are feeding them. Going with a fix like giving them fiber is not the way to go, as it is only treating the symptom and not getting down to the cause of their constipation.
Possible Causes
If they are an indoor/outdoor cat it could be any number of things that are causing them constipation, but most of what they can get into outside is going to be organic and not present a long term problem. However, if you suspect they ate something that is causing some intestinal blockage, you should consult with your vet to see if there are any other signs that are cause for alarm.
Giving your cat fiber is only going to upset their digestive system, as it is not set up to handle large amounts of fiber. Some owners out there will say that it’s OK to your cat, and that it won’t hurt them, but this is very shortsighted thinking. Taking a carnivorous animal and putting fiber into their digestive system and saying it won’t hurt them is irresponsible.
Cats Are Not People
There’s no need to think that you are devastating your cat’s health by giving them fiber, but since you’re not really helping matters, and they’re not getting any health benefit from it, why give it to them? They are not humans and their fiber requirements are not the same. Many people mistakenly take advice for humans and apply it to their pets. It’s just something we do naturally because we have started to view them more as people than as animals.
But their animal nature is still dominant, and a few thousand years of domestication has not outdone millions of years of evolution, and so you can just take things that are made for us, and advice that our doctors give to us, and apply it to your cat. Some people need a fiber supplement because they don’t get enough fiber from the foods they eat. This is because it is hard to make a diet full of high fiber foods for a human.
However, your cat relies on its cat food for all of its nutrition, including its fiber intake. If you have been skimping on the cat food, it’s a good idea to upgrade that first and see if that fixes your problem, rather than giving them a low quality cat food and then supplementing it with things like fiber.
Taking No Action
Cats don’t need a fiber supplement because their digestive system works pretty quickly. Any bout of constipation that they’re going through should take care of itself pretty quickly. You don’t have to involve yourself in the situation unless you see that the problem is lingering on for a long time, or that it has been going on for several days.
As their owner it can be hard to sit idly by and watch them suffer. But your cat won’t hate you for it, and they most likely just want to be left alone. You’ll see that once they get past this they just get on with life, and accept all that it entails.
My cat got into my fiber supplement bottle and ate a pill. I’m not sure how much she ate while I was sleeping. Will she be OK or is there something I should do?