Flatulence in Cats

It may be surprising to find that the source of intestinal gas in cats is different in many ways from flatulence in humans. For example, most of the internal gas comes from swallowed air. Bacterial fermentation of nutrients, as in humans, does also result in the noxious gases that escape from time to time.

Symptoms and Types

Besides the obvious increase in gas or the smell of the gas, disease may also play a part in the condition. When gastrointestinal disease is the cause, there are usually other symptoms, such as diarrhea and vomiting. Your cat may also be suffering from a lack of appetite and weight loss.

Causes

• Diet change
• Serious gastrointestinal disease
• Foods that are difficult to digest:
  • Soybeans
  • Beans
  • Peas
  • Spoiled food
• High-fat diets
• Milk products
• Spices
• High-fiber foods

Since most of the gas comes from swallowed air, it is worth considering what might be causing this to occur. One of the probable causes is gobbling food, or competing with another cat for food and eating too quickly. Another reason your cat might be swallowing too much air might be that it is eating too soon after exercise. There are also physical conditions that can cause your cat to swallow excess air, such as a respiratory disease that is causing an increased respiratory rate; excessive flatulence is often a symptom of an acute and chronic intestinal ailments; inflammatory bowel disease is a possibility, as is bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine; and neoplasia, an excessive growth of tissue in the bowel, may also be a culprit.

Some other diseases that may cause excessive flatulence are irritable bowel syndrome, parasites, an inflammation of the intestine caused by a virus, or a failure of the pancreas to function normally. Brachycephalic breeds - breeds that have short heads - also tend to swallow a lot of air. The Himalayan and Persian breeds, for example, are two prominent examples of brachycephalic breeds.