Diet is one of the most effective and easiest ways you can maintain and enhance the health of your cat’s digestive tract for optimal digestive health.

The gastrointestinal tract is critically important to your cat’s health. Not only is it vital in the delivery, digestion and absorption of nutrients, but it also provides protection from pathogenic organisms. Part of the defense mechanism is due to the secretion of immunoglobulins from the cells lining the interior of the intestinal tract. Immunoglobulins protect against bacteria and viruses. Immunoglobulin A, in particular, is doubly important because it is effective both inside and outside the intestinal cell. It primarily acts to prevent the adherence of the pathogenic bacteria to the intestinal lining, resulting in the uneventful passing of those pathogens through the tract and out of the body.

The GI tract has its own resident population of bacteria that influence the overall health of the cat. The bacterial population is comprised of three basic groups. The first is made up of the protective organisms, such as lactobacillus and bifidobacteria, which actively compete for surface area along the intestinal wall and act to block the adhesion of pathogenic bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria make up the second group and include bacteria from the Clostridia, Staphlycoccus and Salmonella families. They can potentially burrow into the lining of the intestinal tract, causing immediate damage, then produce and release toxins that will have a larger area of effect resulting in diarrhea. The third group consists of the hundreds of types of various bacteria that don’t have much effect at all, good or bad. One of the effects of bacterial presence is on the dietary proteins, which accounts for the smell of the cat’s feces. The more digestible the dietary protein is, the less of it will be present in the colon for the bacteria to putrify and cause odor. A well-designed diet will account for this phenomenon and minimize the amount of protein that makes its way to the colon.

There are ways to enhance the digestive system’s efficiency and to promote the ongoing health of the natural bacterial presence.

Providing highly digestible ingredients is one way. The higher the quality of protein, fat and carbohydrates, the better they are absorbed in the small intestine.

Dietary fiber is another very important component to the health of the GI tract, as well as to the health the whole animal. The quality of the fiber in a diet is proportional to the action on the transit of food through the tract, on the intestinal population of bacteria and on digestive tolerance. Fiber is basically categorized according to its water solubility and ability to be fermented by the bacterial population. Soluble and insoluble fibers both have a role in maintaining a healthy gut. Likewise, some fermentation is necessary to provide the cells that line the intestinal tract with fuel for optimal digestion and absorption of nutrients and stimulating the growth of good bacteria (lactobacillus and bifidobacteria). The key, then, is to feed a diet that will help maintain the proper balance of fermentation and bacterial growth for optimal digestive health.

Obviously, there are many factors that play a role in maintaining and enhancing the health of the digestive tract. Diet, however, is one of the most effective and easiest ways the breeder can influence the cat’s digestive health.