# Advice On "Royal Canin Vetinary Diet Gastrointestinal Fiber Response HF Cat Food" ?



## Brama (Feb 13, 2013)

*Advice On "Royal Canin Vetinary Diet Gastrointestinal Fiber Response HF Cat Food" ?*

My baby girl will be 18 in May. She suffers from frequent constipation and takes Cisapride 2X daily and lactulose in her canned food. 
My vet recommended the Royal Canin food and when I did some research I discovered that the formula that I mentioned was supposedly great for constipated cats.
Anyone have any experience with that formula and did it help with the constipation? 

Thanks a lot for any help/advice/info about it.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Does it come in a canned food? I can't seem to find it. If yes, then I'd say you have nothing to lose for trying it. The ingredients in RC aren't that good...but at 18 with an issue, I say use a food that she likes and works for her. But a cat with constipation problems should definitely be on a canned food only diet, so if it doesn't come in that form then I wouldn't recommend it. Looks like the main source of fiber is psyllium, which you could add to her canned food on your own. The other thing I like is slippery elm.


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## Brama (Feb 13, 2013)

doodlebug said:


> Does it come in a canned food? I can't seem to find it. If yes, then I'd say you have nothing to lose for trying it. The ingredients in RC aren't that good...but at 18 with an issue, I say use a food that she likes and works for her. But a cat with constipation problems should definitely be on a canned food only diet, so if it doesn't come in that form then I wouldn't recommend it. Looks like the main source of fiber is psyllium, which you could add to her canned food on your own. The other thing I like is slippery elm.


Thanks for the reply doodlebug. Yes it does come in canned. She eats canned twice a day and dry once a day. The problem though is that she's becoming finicky with the canned food and eating less and less of it no matter what flavor it is. I will try some of the RC canned (you can get that at the stores) but I had to get an RX from my vet for the dry RC food.
Thanks again, :catsm


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## Stryker (Apr 2, 2007)

Welcome to the forum, Brama!



> *Royal Canin Vetinary Diet Gastrointestinal Fiber Response HF Cat Food*
> *Ingredients*
> 
> Chicken meal, rice, chicken fat, powdered cellulose, rice hulls, ground corn, wheat, corn gluten meal, natural flavors, wheat gluten, dried beet pulp...
> Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Fiber Response HF Dry Cat Food | Free Shipping - Pet360 Pet Parenting Simplified


 Horrid ingredients, IMO.

You mentioned "her canned food".....just which canned food is that?

And - what other foods were/are you using?

You also said that she's getting Lactulose. IF, in the end, she will still require this type of laxative, my advice would be to change it to Miralax ("Restoralax" in Canada)...you can read about that here: Acute Treatment Lactulose can be "yucky" to cats whereas Miralax is absolutely tasteless. As well, at 18, she'll be more sensitive to changes in her Calcium levels and, with Lactulose being high in Calcium, using Miralax will eliminate that risk.

BTW - the Miralax reference I gave you comes from an excellent website which offers a free Feline Constipation 101 course in two forms: standard and the short version. I'd recommend it to give you a clear understanding of just what's going on (or perhaps, not happening) inside your cat to cause all this. Here it is Feline Constipation Home Page

So, back to her diet...which are the foods?


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## Brama (Feb 13, 2013)

Stryker said:


> Welcome to the forum, Brama!
> 
> Horrid ingredients, IMO.
> 
> ...



I'm surprised to hear that the Royal Canin ingredients are horrid. They certainly charge enough for it and I'm surprised my vet thought it was supposedly so fantastic. I'm still waiting for it to arrive so I guess I'll have to see how she responds to it.
Currently she eats Friskies canned food twice daily (I know- it's probably crap too) and once a day she gets Iams Senior Plus dry food. 
I never heard of Mirilax until I read this forum... I wonder why my vet didn't recommend this. We just moved to another state so it's a new vet (but my old one never mentioned it either).

Thanks a lot for the links! :catsm


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## Stryker (Apr 2, 2007)

Brama said:


> I'm surprised to hear that the Royal Canin ingredients are horrid....


Well, horrid insofar as the closest thing to meat in that list is chicken meal....cats, being strict carnivores by evolution, require a meat and meat fat-only (with a pinch of fibre) diet to maintain health.

Something that *doodlebug* said bears highlighting, though:


> ...but at 18 with an issue, I say use a food that she likes and works for her...


My interpretation of that is with the caveat _"only if you must"_ - translation, if she won't eat the 'good stuff', give her whatever she will eat.



> ...Currently she eats Friskies canned food twice daily (I know- it's probably crap too)...


Up until a few days ago, I would have said the same thing. My opinion was based on things I had heard...I'm not sure I ever checked the ingredients. Then, I received a notification that there had been changes made to a reputable website I frequently refer to. When I looked up the changes, I found that the well-respected feline Veterinarian, Dr. Lisa Pierson, had added Friskies to her "recommended" list! It's on this page Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health about 3/4 down the page, just after the 5 kitty pix.


> Examples of nice profiles include, Merrick, *Friskies Classic Pates*, Tiki Puka Puka Luau, and Tiki Koolina Luau.





> I never heard of Mirilax until I read this forum... I wonder why my vet didn't recommend this....my old one never mentioned it either).


From my personal experience, the Vets who are really connected to feline medicine will know about it - others, the "generalists" and those not participating on the Veterinary Info Network (VIN), an online forum for Vets, have never heard of it. You'd be doing your new Vet a favour by giving him the link - and probably preventing complications from calcium imbalances in some of his older patients who need laxative treatment. There is a better (more detailed) link for Miralax on that same site, right here: Prevention

One last point about Miralax, especially because you're also using Cisapride, is that it's a "dose-to-effect" drug, i.e. one gives the amount which will produce the desired effect, so you will need to find out the amount that works for her by trial.

Hope you'll keep us posted.


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## Brama (Feb 13, 2013)

Thanks so much for all of the great info again Stryker.
Again I'm surprised to hear that the Friskies isn't crap!! :wiggle 

So far (since starting on the 25th) the Royal Canin dry food seems to be helping! I've caught her making a bowel movement twice this week, which seemed nice and soft, and so far no being "stuffed up".
By stuffed up I mean that she would frequently become totally constipated to the point that I'd have to get a latex glove on, with lubrication, and insert my finger to pull the feces out of her. I started that after getting the OK from my old vet after I'd have to run her off to them every time she would get stuffed (which she hated and was expensive).

I'm hoping that the RC food can eliminate that procedure as we both hate it. At my next vet visit Ill definitely inquire about Mirilax.


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## Brama (Feb 13, 2013)

Just another update for anyone interested in this food: 
It's been almost one month since she started the food (once a day, occasionally twice, along with two feedings of canned) and she's been making regular bowel movements and has not been "stuffed" at all! I even cut her Cisapride down from two pills to one pill per day. I'm watching her very closely and will go back to two pills if there's a problem, but I'm hoping everything stays as great as it's been.


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## Zilla (Oct 29, 2012)

Brama said:


> Thanks so much for all of the great info again Stryker.
> Again I'm surprised to hear that the Friskies isn't crap!! :wiggle


I wouldnt exactly call Friskies "not crap"..... "meat byproducts" could be anything. GROSS... Same thing with poultry byproducts and rice doesnt belong in cat food... The only good thing you can say about this food is it doesnt have corn but thats not saying much with all the byproducts... 

Ingredients of classic country style dinner:

*Meat by-products*, water sufficient for processing, chicken, *poultry by-products*,* rice*, artificial and natural flavors, calcium phosphate, guar gum, added color, potassium chloride, salt, *carrageenan*, magnesium sulfate, taurine, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), manganese sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. B-6052


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## ~*Regina*~ (Apr 16, 2008)

So glad to hear your kitty is doing better, YAY!!
rcat


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## Stryker (Apr 2, 2007)

Zilla said:


> I wouldnt exactly call Friskies "not crap"..... "meat byproducts" could be anything. GROSS... Same thing with poultry byproducts and rice doesnt belong in cat food... The only good thing you can say about this food is it doesnt have corn but thats not saying much with all the byproducts...


Zilla, I'm hoping that it's just the context of that quote that you missed...it might be helpful to put Dr. Pierson's comments in context.......


> Obligate carnivores are designed to meet their energy needs with a high protein, moderate fat diet with little to no carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are minimally used for energy and those that are not used are converted to and stored as fat. The so-called “light” diets that are on the market have targeted the fat content as the nutrient to be decreased. The choice is then to raise either the protein or carbohydrate content of the diet, or both.
> Since animal-based protein (meat and organs) is more expensive than carbohydrates (grains/potatoes/peas), pet food manufacturers raise the carbohydrate levels in these foods making them very species-inappropriate and unhealthy.
> An optimal weight loss diet should be:
> 
> ...


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