Low potassium and the dire rear

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Mollycat
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Low potassium and the dire rear

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Molly has low potassium, a mild liver problem and chronic diarrhoea. It's possible that the diarrhoea is causing the low potassium which in turn is causing the high ALT liver enzyme. Chronic - it's been some days every week since last November, between soft and squidgy, and there are now more days of very normal than there were but it's still about 3 times a week.

The vet has asked me to pick up some potassium supplement to put on her food but I'm always looking for home remedies and as Molly loves mashed potato and that's about the best source of potassium there is, that seems like a good place to start. My question is, how much should I give her daily? I was thinking a teaspoon? She is quite a hefty cat, somwehere between 4.6 and 4.9 kg I can't remember exactly. Or should I just put the supplement on her food? She tookthe powder perfectly well before.
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Re: Low potassium and the dire rear

Post by booktigger »

I've never heard of mashed potatoes being high in potassium, personally I'd stick to the supplement especially as the most likely cause is her diarrhoea.
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Re: Low potassium and the dire rear

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There are around 275mg of potassium in 100g of mashed potato. Supplements seem to be around 225-250mg per ml, with a suggested dosage of 2ml per 4.5kg body weight, 1-3 times a day. That means you would need to give her a pretty hefty serving of potato to get the same dosage!
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Mollycat
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Re: Low potassium and the dire rear

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I did wonder if it might be a lot but couldn't find the info, thank you.

Maybe I haven't been worried enough about it, as it wasn't affecting her outwardly, although I've been trying to think if it could be something she and Bobby both had and therefore parasite or contagious, Bobby being bound to get it worse as he always was more delicate. But his fecal test showed up nothing, she has been wormed, she's been scanned and tested to within an inch of her life due to HT. Several different foods over the past 11 months, no difference. Will have to see with the vet in the light of Bobby's issues if there is anywhere we can go with this.
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Re: Low potassium and the dire rear

Post by fjm »

I find the USDA website invaluable for nutritional information on ingredients: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov You have to hunt a bit sometimes to find, for example, "mashed potato" rather than the hundreds of canned, dried, frozen or otherwise processed versions, but it is worth it. I wish there was something similar for commercial pet food!
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