At Vitality Science, we pride ourselves in providing the best holistic remedies for your pets, being an educational source rooted in science, and taking advantage of age-old wisdom. We believe this is the heart of holistic medicine—understanding modern science and not disregarding alternative treatment methods that can prove to be potent.

Today, we talk about a straightforward issue affecting your cat’s quality of life: indigestion.

What Causes Cat Indigestion?

Yes! Cat indigestion. You’ve experienced indigestion yourself, and while not life-threatening, it is a miserable experience that can persist over several days or even be a chronic issue in your life. In comparison, food and quality nutrition are essential; just as necessary is understanding what foods affect the G.I. tract for you or your pet. While there are undoubtedly common culprits, what causes your cat’s indigestion can be highly individual. Email us at cs@vitalityscience.com, and we will help you find the right food and supplements for your cat.

What Causes Indigestion in Cats?

Indigestion is a symptom associated with a host of different issues. Indigestion can be caused by:

•Intestinal parasites

•Foreign objects your cat ate

•Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

•Stomach ulcers

•Bacterial growths

•Food allergies

•Enzyme deficiency

•Vaccinosis (Vaccine toxicity)

Additionally, illnesses of the body that aren’t limited to the G.I. tract can still cause indigestion. For example, a UTI, hormonal problems, infections, or chronic pain can upset your cat’s stomach.

It can be challenging to tell if they are experiencing indigestion until they show more overt symptoms with pets. Try to pay attention to your pet’s mood to see if they seem down, depressed, or inhibited in some way as compared to expected.

Overall, most indigestion is caused by food allergies and acid reflux. Acid reflux in your cat can be identified by:

•Gas

•Burping

•Vomiting soon after eating a meal

•Loss of appetite

As mentioned, these mild symptoms will be difficult to identify until they become a more serious problem—GERD, or gastroesophageal disease. Your cat may experience symptoms such as:

• Excessive drooling

• Change in voice

• Difficulty swallowing

•Vomiting bile

•Paw licking apart from grooming (self-soothing behavior)

The Real Threat of Indigestion and Reflux

The G.I. system has been given more focus increasingly as modern science concludes that gut health impacts the entirety of the system. When your G.I. system has been weakened, your ability to digest and absorb food is too. Alongside this hit to your cat’s capability of getting adequate nutrition, there is the downstream effect of a compromised immune system.

At Vitality Science, we firmly believe in placing immune support at the top of priorities for your pet’s health.

What Foods Can Cause an Upset Stomach in My Cat?

Ultimately, diet is the most important thing for managing symptoms of reflux. Indigestion—especially reflux- can be significantly mitigated through diet intervention, allowing the esophagus to heal and the esophageal sphincter to repair itself in the absence of acid.

You may have heard that cats are “obligate carnivores”—it’s true. Compared to dogs, cats require meat to survive and thrive. This has much to do with their genetic makeup, which is highly oriented to deriving nutrition from largely protein-based sources, AKA meat. As a result, they have high protein requirements and cannot down-regulate their protein metabolism, which means they quickly catabolize their muscle to survive in times of starvation.

The gist of this? Grains are not a great source of nutrition for your cat. Unfortunately, many pet owners do not realize that feeding or letting your cat get into grain-based foods.

However, it’s important to remember that this doesn’t give an ok to non-grain-based carbohydrates. Cats not only do not digest these starches well, but studies show they also possess a “carb threshold” for tolerating them.

Foods that don’t agree with our stomach tend to produce indigestion, and indigestion is strongly correlated with either too low or too high pH levels. An acidic environment can cause acid reflux by nature of that; if the environment is too alkaline—which can happen if cats aren’t eating enough meat, then they can suffer indigestion by that. This is because meat contains methionine, an amino acid found in meat, fish, and dairy products. Methionine contributes to acidity, and you should be wary of added methionine products, which indicate that they are not as meat forward as advertised.

Ultimately, cat indigestion is caused by too much acidity, not too little.

Solution for Cat’s Upset Stomach

Through a multi-faceted approach, Gastro Prime ffrom Vitality Science will support your cat’s digestive health. Gastro Prime contains Super Pet Enzymes, Luxolite, Pet Flora, and Feline Comfort. These are four safe, effective natural supplements beneficial for all cats, sick or healthy, young or old.

Gastro Prime is:

• Effective at supporting intestinal health, neutralizing acidity, and resolving indigestion in your pet.

• Detoxification via expelling harmful toxins and heavy metals through natural means while subsequently reducing pain and infection

• It is well tolerated and therefore gentle on the body and helps strengthen the immune system and increases strength

Contact Vitality Science today to learn more about our products or your order for more information.