sensitive stomach food???

bbdoll22

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Little Miss is going on another round of Albon and back on the Science I/D diet. my vet said with her sensitive tummy she will probably have to always be fed the I/D, i told her I dont like Science diet and we are getting together in 2 weeks (after the round of albon and I/D diet) to discuss a premium cat food Little Miss could tolerate. so I have to do some homework and get her ingredient and analasys labels but i have no idea were to start. right now i feed merrick and tiki wet food and Evo, chicken soup, solid gold for dry and she has issues with these foods. if someone has suggestions of foods that are gentle on the digestion please let me know so i can get the ingred. and analasys to take to my vet. thanks so much for any help, i feel at wits end for my Little Miss, i just want to do best for her.
 

tamgirl99

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My kitty has IBD and the most "simple" foods would be as close to a natural raw diet as possible. To me, simple also means an elimination diet and I would recommend limiting the ingredients down as much as you can. My kitty is restricted to 95% meat canned foods with no grains or veggies. I know many believe that cats need veggies, but until you determine if your cat can tolerate them, I suggest leaving them out and adding them back in one at a time slowly to see how she does. Something else to consider is that no one diet is right for all cats. Some can't tolerate raw or wet and actually do best on a dry food (although I think this is the least beneficial diet for most).

Something else that seems to help very well are digestive enzymes. This helps cats process food more effectively and reduces irritation to their stomach. I've tried a few brands (Dr. Goodpet, Eagle Pack Holistic) but am finding that my kitty is doing best on papaya enzyme. I read about it in a holistic book and although it's only been a week, so far I'm only seeing improvements.

Hopefully some of these ideas will help. I too am a firm believer that Science Diet is not the optimal diet for cats. It's great to help identify problems or treat certain symptoms, but not a long-term solution IMO.
 

skimble

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Look at California Natural brand. Simple ingredients.

Natural Balance has some limited ingredient foods both canned and dry.
 
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bbdoll22

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Thanks to both of you. a few things i read said she might need fiber both soluble and insoluble types so i am soooo confused.
it only makes sense about the simple ingredient foods so i'll print up their info to look at.
 

tamgirl99

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What exactly are her symptoms? Vomiting, diarrhea? I don't see how fiber would help with vomiting, but it's worth a shot if the problem is diarrhea.
 
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bbdoll22

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she has no vomiting only diarrhea- well to put it better she makes unformed cow pies and she sometimes has blood in them, the vet did a fecal and she was negative for parasites but a bacterial was high it was clostriduim perferfingus, dont think i spelled the second word correctly sorry. so thats why shes on albon and also diarsanyl paste and the I/d food. she was on them foe a week but we ran out of i/d and vet said ok she can go back on regular food so i mixed it for a day or two and the diarrhea came back while she was still on her meds. so now we are repeating the same process for 2 weeks and with the vets help trying to find a good food for her, only because i do not agree with the vet about her being on I/d diet for her life.
 

tamgirl99

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I've asked a friend who is very familiar with clostridium in her cats to jump in on the discussion. Hopefully she'll be able to tell you her experiences. Something else you probably want to have her tested for is Tritrichomonas Foetus. Your vet will have to run a PCR test for this and send it out for evaluation. Although the problem might well just be the clostridium, cow-pie stools are the primary symptom of TF. Just something to be thinking about.
 
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bbdoll22

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Thanks Tamgirl99. i asked my vet about the TF and she didnt want to test right now for it only because the albon helped and if its TF she said usually albon doesnt make a difference. i am open to any tests or suggestions to get my Little girl all better. other than the cow pies and sometimes a bloated and gasssy belly she's a happy normal cat, a little small but she's the runt of a 3week old rescue. she'll be 1 in may.
 

tamgirl99

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Originally Posted by BBDOLL22

Thanks Tamgirl99. i asked my vet about the TF and she didnt want to test right now for it only because the albon helped and if its TF she said usually albon doesnt make a difference. i am open to any tests or suggestions to get my Little girl all better. other than the cow pies and sometimes a bloated and gasssy belly she's a happy normal cat, a little small but she's the runt of a 3week old rescue. she'll be 1 in may.
These meds will often times help with TF diarrhea initially, but ultimately the diarrhea returns. My little girl was positive for TF and on albon twice before diagnosis (for coccidia). Both times the albon resolved her diarrhea but once she was off the diarrhea returned. That's when I had her tested for TF and she came back positive. I'm willing to bet your vet has never even treated a cat with TF before. Most vets haven't as it's not very well known in the vet community yet, but it's a lot more common than they think, particularly in shelter and cattery kitties.
 
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bbdoll22

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when i asked the vet about TF she seemed knowledgable saying the names of 3 drugs its usually treated with, i just dont know why she doesnt run the test for it, is it an expensive test?
 

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I concur with Tamgirl that you need to run the test for TF, waiting is hard on you and kitty if she is positive. Tamgirl has asked that I also share my experience with Clostridium. My cats have TF and did not tolerate the Ronidazole to clear it. Because their GI trac is constanlty being attacked by the TF parasite they have chronic Clostridium bacteria overgrowth. TF uses the good bacteria to grow and survive. They have been on various antibiotics for the overgrowth for over two years. One cat now has antibiotic resistant Clostridium. Dr Jody Gookin at NCSU has told my vet that it is very common to have TF and concurrent Clostridium orvergrowth, as well as other types of parasites and bacteria, the gut is not healthy. My cats have been on several types of probiotics to try to balance the GI system but it does not help, it can't when the TF is constantly depleting it. Nothing helps for long, it is just a bandage for short term improvement. I can understand, and totally agree if the Vet is saying No to treating with RDZ without a positive test, but I don't agree with waiting to test. I too was afraid of the RDZ (Ronidazole) and put it off, I wish I hadn't, maybe they would've been healthy enough at a younger age to tolerate it. Please do yourself and your cat a favor and test, rather than subject her to possibly uneccessary antibiotics and further damage to her GI system. Not to mention she is not getting as much nourishment from her food. Two years ago I lost a 10 yr. old Persian to the complications from chronic Clostridium diarrhea. We now believe she also had the TF parasite but we knew nothing about it then.

If you go to TFFelines.com you can read the stories of cats that have been through this, it might help to ease some of your fear. They are now back to normal, healthy cats.
Good luck. Dianne
 
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bbdoll22

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Thank you Twokatz. i just dont understand my vet not to test for it

is the test done on a fecal sample? and does it take long to get results? do you have any idea of the cost?
 

twokatz

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Originally Posted by BBDOLL22

when i asked the vet about TF she seemed knowledgable saying the names of 3 drugs its usually treated with, i just dont know why she doesnt run the test for it, is it an expensive test?
Hi, I just posted a comment on clostridium before I saw your question about the cost of testing. If you have your vet send the sample to Dr. Gookin, which is the most accurate, it can be expensive depending on her charges. Some vets charge clients more than others. Dr. Gookin's lab has a set fee and then your Vet adds her charge. If you go to the owners guide Dr. Gookin put together all the information on testing is available. Including the pouch test which is cheaper. Maybe your vet would be willing to help you with it.
There are only two drugs to treat. Ronidazole and Tinidazole, Metronidazole may be the other one but it is not effective at all and may make it worse. This is what mine are on to treat the concurrent Clostridium. Tinidazole was tested but results were not promising and it failed to clear many cats.

www.cvm.ncsu.edu/docs/personnel/gookin_jody.html
 

twokatz

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We seem to be typing and posting at the same time
The test is done on a fecal sample but it must be handled in a very specific way THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. The TF is actually very fragile, the stool must be diarrhetic and not put in the fridge. It will die if it drys out or gets too hot or too cold. There are very specific instructions on the link I posted earlier. Just read the owners guide on Dr. Gookin's website. I am so sorry, I know what you are going through, it is rough and waiting can cost more money and damage than testing and treating. Please let me know how it goes, my heart aches for the kittys and their people going throught this. For me there are no options but mine are the minority.
 

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Originally Posted by BBDOLL22

when i asked the vet about TF she seemed knowledgable saying the names of 3 drugs its usually treated with, i just dont know why she doesnt run the test for it, is it an expensive test?
Most vets assume they know how to treat it but unfortunately what your vet said is completely wrong and a typical statement. My vet said essentially the same thing and I had to bring the protocol for treatment into him.


There is currently only one known treatment for TF and it's called Ronidazole. It's considered a potentially toxic drug so you definitely want a positive result before you treat with it. My cats didn't have any problems with it but I know others that have. If you do a search for Jody Gookin, her website has all of the information you need to know on TF. She's the leading vet expert on it and has developed the protocols.
 

tamgirl99

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Oh yes, I forgot about Tinidazole. I believe that one is relatively new as I didn't see anything on it a year ago when I was treating my cats.
 
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bbdoll22

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Just got back to work from going home for lunch and had a stinky surprise. last night Little miss got into the other cats Evo dry food and today we had a evo colored stinky cow pie. she did so well on the science diet. i am going to have to keep the other cats food locked up.
 
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bbdoll22

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i forgot to mention that Little miss only has a loose bowel movement once a day not many times like is associated with true diarrhea.
 

tamgirl99

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Originally Posted by BBDOLL22

i forgot to mention that Little miss only has a loose bowel movement once a day not many times like is associated with true diarrhea.
Yes, but does she ever have normal stools in between? My kitty only had one cow-pie stool per day.
 
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bbdoll22

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while on albon and science diet she had normal stools, once we stopped the science diet but continued the albon she had 1 cow pie a day, thats why the vet thinks its food related
 
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