Constipation in cats is often misdiagnosed by vets and the public alike. You need to understand who cats are, where they are from as well as their anatomy and physiology. Cats are not the same as humans, even though their biology is similar. There are significant differences.

A healthy human should have a diet high in natural fibre. That makes for very good digestion and daily bowel movements. So people tend to think that a cat needs a lot of natural fibre to help their digestion. They get worried if the cat is not pooing every day.

So let’s look at why this is not a good idea and what is healthy digestion and bowel movements in a cat.

Cats come from the arid areas of the world, These have little to no water or only seasonal water. That means that any animal who has adapted to these areas have different needs or abilities regarding their water intake to those in areas of permanent water.

Cats are hunters. Everyone knows that. Every being contains a fair amount of blood. Humans have an average of eight pints. That’s a lot of blood. Cats eat the whole prey, blood and all. And that is the major source of their liquid needs. They don’t need much more.

This means they don’t have much of a natural thirst. This is one, but only one, reason why dry food for cats is so harmful to them. They never drink enough to make up the shortfall, so they develop chronic dehydration and renal degeneration – UTIs, kidney stones, kidney failure, etc.

In addition, cats intestines absorb as much liquid in the stool as they can. This far exceeds the extraction of water from our own poo. They can’t afford to waste any liquid, so they have developed strategies to hold on to as much as possible.

This diet of prey animals contains little fibre. Therefore a cats poo is hard, dry and infrequent. However, it should still be easy to pass.

Every two to three days is common.

Now let’s look at the poo of a cat on a diet of commercial cat food. This food is typically high in cooked food, plant based food and synthetic additives, all of which is totally unnatural for them. So they tend to have daily bowel movements, which are very smelly and bulky.

This is considered normal and healthy, but it is far from so.

When cats don't do a daily poo, some feel they are constipated. They're not if they are on a healthy diet of raw meat and bones.

True constipation in cats is when they struggle to pass a stool, when they constantly try to poo, but it is unsuccessful or when there is obvious pain.

That tends to happen more with cats who are on veterinary drugs as this blocks the pathways of nutrition absorption and increases the work of the liver, a key component in healthy digestion.

It can also happen if they are not getting enough water in their food. We have to simulate the natural diet.

This is easily fixed, by adding some water to their food.

Learning how to feed your cat a healthy, natural raw meat and bones diet makes them far healthier than cats on commercial cat food.

This frequently removes the need for veterinary drugs which then removes the instances of constipation. It's an all out win for your cat and your wallet.