# milk thistle



## pooja (Aug 10, 2005)

hi everybody! 

i just wanted to thank u all for ur warm support regarding my cat bambi. as it turned out... he had bile obstruction in the pancreas & his liver was very weak. he also had anemia. so they gave him a blood transfusion to restore his strength & then surgery 8 hours later. he is recovering now. they took out his sutures on friday.

so my question is about milk thistle. it was mentioned in detail in the previous thread i made. however, im curious to know as to which kind is better. i bought the alcohol free milk thistle liquid yesterday & gave it to my cat. i had a taste of it myself before i gave him some & it was rather sweet. is this bad for the cat? i mean the milk thistle for humans.

should i just go ahead & get the milk thistle for cats? i'm just wondering thats all.

thank you.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

This
http://www.petsage.com/
is a reliable and recommended source of information (mentioned at the end of Dr. Jean's article), so I believe it would be best if you called them for advice. 

Milk thistle is actually good for the cat, but only as long as the liver enzymes are elevated, or if you need to prevent liver damage from toxic medication. Not recommended as a regular supplement for healthy cats. 

Would you like me to repost the article for you?


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## pooja (Aug 10, 2005)

Meowmie said:


> This
> http://www.petsage.com/
> is a reliable and recommended source of information (mentioned at the end of Dr. Jean's article), so I believe it would be best if you called them for advice.
> 
> ...


thank u so much. i read the post already on another thread. my question lies more on whether i should keep giving my cat the milk thistle meant for human consumption rather than the kitty only milk thistle formula. 

i was wondering if it had any adverese effect.


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

> my question lies more on whether i should keep giving my cat the milk thistle meant for human consumption rather than the kitty only milk thistle formula.
> 
> i was wondering if it had any adverese effect.


No adverse effect. If you give too much it can cause loose stools because milk thistle in general has a laxative effect. 
As I said, the safest thing is to contact a place that specializes on supplements for animals. For example:
http://www.petsage.com
That way, if you want to, you can buy milk thistle formulated for animals, and you can also get advice regarding proper dosage, which formula would really be better for your cat, etc, etc. 

Most people use milk thistle from a local health food store and I haven't heard from anyone who ran into a problem with that. The taste of some of the milk thistle formulas and the laxative effect of larger doses are the only problems owners normally complain about. 

One more piece of information you might want to follow up on. 
In the Natural Health Bible for Dogs and Cats Dr. Shawn Messonnier writes:

"A new form of silymarin, in which the compound is bound to phosphatidylcholine has been shown to have greater bioavailability than unbound silymarin.

The standard dosage of milk thistle is 100 mg per 25 lb of weight, 2 to 3 times a day. In people, the best results are seen at higher doses (140 to 200 mg 3 times daily of an extract standardized to contain 
70% silymarin); the bound form is dosed at 100 to 200 mg twice daily."

If you don't have this book yet, I urge you to buy it as soon as possible. There is a great deal of invaluable information in it.


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## pooja (Aug 10, 2005)

im tellin... THIS STUFF WORKS!!!

im SO grateful for this forum for literally SAVING my cat's life. its like its not enough that the sugeon got rid of his bile obstruction... but one must definitely take further steps to prevent the disease from worsening!

day by day my cat is getting stronger. yeah... i give him high doses which i administer orally & its helped thus far. his apetite is improving too.

this stuff is AMAZING!


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## Meowmie (Jun 4, 2005)

This is so wonderful. Words can't express how happy I am for you. 
I hope your cat will make a full and speedy recovery.


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