Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) can help in ensuring your feline friend has the required amounts of elemental calcium which is one of the most important minerals with dozens of functions including forming part of bones, helping in muscle functioning, blood clotting, sending nerve impulses and so on.
Therefore, its supplementation helps in ensuring that your cat gets the required amount especially if your cat depends on homemade diets, more so boneless meats.
Remember boneless meats have high phosphorous but low amounts of calcium and supplementation may be vital since these two minerals must maintain a certain balance.
CaCO3 can be obtained from TUMS, ground limestone, ground eggshells and so on. However, before giving it your pets, ensure you get a recommendation from a certified vet.
One option is going for Tums. As Pet place.com “Tums®, is an oral calcium salt that is used to treat pets with low calcium levels (hypocalcemia), as an antacid and/or as a phosphate binder in dogs and cats.” Although it works as antacid including for gastroduodenal and/or ulcerations esophagitis, there are superior brands for these conditions.
Why opt for it?
Since ground limestone does not have phosphorous and is odorless and tasteless, it a good alternative if you are looking for calcium supplements for cats and it makes it easy to balance with phosphorous if you give them boneless meat diets.
Also, besides being inexpensive, it is also used as a preservative and it helps in the retention of color.
Additionally, your vet may prescribe calcium carbonate medication cardiac arrhythmias and hyperphosphatemia (if it results from chronic kidney failure).
Finally, although sources bound to organic acids such as lactate, ascorbate, and citrate may be easier to absorb in this pet’s body, they tend to have an odd taste, notes Feline Nutrition Foundation.
Avoid over supplementing
Low amounts are associated with hypocalcemia as well as other calcium deficiency signs that will affect this pet’s health.
However, you should avoid over-supplementing it as it may result in hypercalcemia in cats especially if given together products such as calcitriol or calcium gluconate.
Hypercalcemia is associated with symptoms such as weight loss, decreased appetite, diarrhea, constipation, lymph node enlargement among others.
Your vet who has information on your feline’s friend’s nutrition will advise you on the amount that should be supplemented in the various home-based diets.
Can it help in cats with renal disorders?
A study further reveals the importance of the use of Pronefra, which is a combination of magnesium and CaCO3 that works as a phosphate binder on cats that have feline chronic kidney disease as there is a decrease in phosphorus and creatinine blood levels.
This is “an indirect indicator reflecting an overall improvement of renal function” that Pronefra supplement has.
Also, other formulations including Vétoquinol Epakitin, Virbac, Vetinnov, and Easypill Cat Kidney Support may be helpful for cats with renal problems. However, “calcium-containing binders should be avoided in hypercalcemic patients and in those receiving calcitriol” warns In Practice. Calcitriol increases this mineral’s absorption.