Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Beet pulp fiber reduces hairballs in shorthaired cats
By Loureiro, B A et al.Ā·Published in Journal of animal physiology and animal nutritionĀ·2017Ā·Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), BrazilĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Beet pulp intake and hairball faecal excretion in mixed-breed shorthaired cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of mixed-breed shorthaired cats was studied to see if adding beet pulp to their diet could help reduce hairballs, which can cause vomiting and intestinal blockages. The cats were fed different diets for 31 days, and while the beet pulp did increase the amount of feces produced and helped food move through their intestines faster, it did not reduce the number or size of hairballs passed in their stool. This means that beet pulp may not be effective for preventing hairballs in cats.
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Abstract
Hairball formation may induce vomiting and intestinal obstruction in predisposed cats. Some insoluble fibres as sugarcane fibre and cellulose can prevent hairball formation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of beet pulp consumption, a moderate soluble and fermentable fibre source, on faecal trichobezoars excretion in adult shorthaired cats fed kibble diets. Eighteen mixed-breed shorthaired cats and three extruded diets were used as follows: a basal diet without added fibre source (PB0-8.8% dietary fibre); BP8-8% inclusion of beet pulp (17.5% of dietary fibre); BP16-16% inclusion of beet pulp (23.8% of dietary fibre). The cats were fed during 31 days and faeces quantitatively collected during three periods of 3 days each (from days 3-5; 15-17; 26-28). Gastrointestinal transit time was determined in the last 3 days of study (from days 29-31). The trichobezoars were separated from faeces, collected, dried and washed in ether for complete removal of all faecal material. The results were submitted to repeated-measure analysis of variance and means evaluated by polynomial contrast (p < 0.05). Beet pulp increased faecal production (p < 0.001) and reduced gastrointestinal transit time (p = 0.003). No alterations were found on trichobezoar faecal excretion, both as considered in number per cat per day of mg per cat per day (p > 0.05). Beet pulp intake did not reduce the number or the size of hairballs eliminated via faeces of shorthaired cats.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28627063/