best diet for cat post surgery for megacolon

Question
My cat had surgery for megacolon approx 4 years ago at a young age.  We have been doing fairly well on chicken soup for the cat lovers soul - i recently found that the hairball remedy keeps his stool softer rather than more liquid as the other does.  He still has to stand and appears to strain to go; he also goes while walking crouched - this is not new and he has been doing it since the first year or so it took after his surgery to even remotely normalize.  I have 7 cats and 2 dogs so cost is an issue; but they all are on the chicken soup diet which I love for both its ingredients and its price tag.  they get a treat of raw diet once a week.  I cant find anything to clarify for me: once surgically repaired, is it better to have hi fiber or low fiber diet for a cat with megacolon?  He seems to do better on the hairball formula as I said; I wonder if an exclusively raw diet would work for him?  I just cant afford to do it for all of them.
Thanks
Tess


Answer
The most important thing for keeping this kitty and all of your animals healthy will be the regular and continued use of both probiotics and enzymes. If you will go to my web site, www.critteroil.com and click on the articles option, you will find an article that I wrote for Pet Pages Mag. on enzymes. I read 4 books to write this one 700 word article, so there is quite a bit of information condensed into it, and more than I can write here, but I think it will be of value to you. There are many good probiotic and enzyme formulas available so you might start with your local health food stores or holistically oriented pet food store as well as on line.

The raw food diet would definitely be superior for him, as it would for all of your animals, but where finances are an issue and it would be easier to give the same food/supplementation to everyone, the supplement option would probably be the best.

You will find that what you save in vet bills over the rest of that one kitty's life would probably supplement everyone. Also, enzymes and probiotics are major factors in immune support, parasite control, joint health, etc. so will eliminate the need for future vet visits on all of your animals. Lots of money for continuing a good diet there!