Please HELP! My kitten has a strange skin problem.

dpkml said:

I dont know how to tell the meat shop guy the Punjabi translation of Spleen or Pancreas. 

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jcat said:

That does complicate things. Neither one of them is in this online Punjabi dictionary , but this one has some words for spleen. "Milt" is quite similar to the German word for spleen, "Milz".
I found an Urdu word for pancreas, if that helps? Lablaba لبلبہ It's agnyashay अग्न्याशय in Hindi - totally different from Urdu.

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jennyranson said:

Deep, I do agree with jcat that for the moment you are better giving the kitten the best wet food you can (Royal Canin) and supplementing with occasional chicken. I hope you will not be offended when I tell you I have been in India and I know the difficulties of getting parasite-free healthy meat. Your kitten is already ill - do not endanger him further by giving him possibly infected food in the chase for the ideal diet. And do not give him organs - they will almost certainly contain worms that could kill him. I know it is confusing for you that we on this site are saying different things, and you must make your own mind up, but some of us know from experience what you are going through, and what may be the best choice in a place like Texas is not the best where you are. Many many kittens have been raised successfully over the years on foods that we now regard as less than perfect, but they are better than food that may be infected with bacteria, worms or worse, and have to be supplemented carefully because they do not provide a full balanced diet. Carolina will agree that even in the West it takes time and money and a lot of education to provide a healthy cat with a fully raw diet. Right now your kitten needs safe food, and as much of it as possible. I would go with canned/pouched wet food of a brand that at least has an international company behind it. Do not risk his life for an ideal when alternatives are available.

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Carolina said:

Tricia, any chance you might know kidney too, since you are in a roll? That's the most common organ :bigthumb:

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Carolina said:

Anyways..... I agree the OP should feed the best canned

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jcat said:

gurda. M; rukkra. M; گُردہ , if the dictionary is correct.
Then we see eye to eye. The important thing right now is that this little guy gets his strength up and hopefully his coat back.

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Animal By-Products:

Animal Digest:

Barley:

Beef Tallow:

Brewers Rice or Brewers Yeast:

Canola Oil:

Corn Gluten Meal:

Eggs:

Fish Oil:

Flaxseed Oil:

Fruits:

Meats (chicken, turkey, duck, etc.):

Meat "meals" (chicken meal, turkey meal, fish meal, etc):

Meat and Bone Meal:

Natural Flavors:

Oatmeal:

Potatoes (or sweet potatoes):

Rice (or whole grain rice):

Salt:

Soybeans:

Sugar (or corn syrup):

Wheat:

jennyranson said:

Deep, I do agree with jcat that for the moment you are better giving the kitten the best wet food you can (Royal Canin) and supplementing with occasional chicken. I hope you will not be offended when I tell you I have been in India and I know the difficulties of getting parasite-free healthy meat. Your kitten is already ill - do not endanger him further by giving him possibly infected food in the chase for the ideal diet. And do not give him organs - they will almost certainly contain worms that could kill him. I know it is confusing for you that we on this site are saying different things, and you must make your own mind up, but some of us know from experience what you are going through, and what may be the best choice in a place like Texas is not the best where you are. Many many kittens have been raised successfully over the years on foods that we now regard as less than perfect, but they are better than food that may be infected with bacteria, worms or worse, and have to be supplemented carefully because they do not provide a full balanced diet. Carolina will agree that even in the West it takes time and money and a lot of education to provide a healthy cat with a fully raw diet. Right now your kitten needs safe food, and as much of it as possible. I would go with canned/pouched wet food of a brand that at least has an international company behind it. Do not risk his life for an ideal when alternatives are available.

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jcat said:

gurda. M; rukkra. M; گُردہ , if the dictionary is correct.
 

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catwoman707 said:

You are doing a wonderful job I must say!

I am not familiar at all with India, and as you said the packaged food comes from China so it can not be trusted.

Once you become an "expert" on feeding a raw diet, your kitty will be set for life.

Meanwhile there are so many canned foods for him that will surely start his recovery.

Any of the canned mentioned, if available can be used-even Iams, if needed is better than Whiskas. Not that Whiskas will harm him now but won't do much good.

If you find any canned that is grain free and not fish, go for it.

The ingredients you want to be aware of, these are some of the most widely used ingredients and what they mean-

Animal By-Products:

The word "by-product" is an instant turn off when it comes to pet food. It basically entails anything that humans most certainly would NOT touch, and would not give to their pet. For instance, would you lay down beaks, feet and random organs for your pet to eat?? How about feathers?? Blood?? Well, those are the primary components in anything labelled "by-products". Sometimes it'll say "chicken by-products" so at least you can identify the animal. However, sometimes the label says "meat by-products", which tells you they want to hide exactly what animal they're using from you. This is because it's been documented that roadkill and pests like rats are used in some cheap pet foods....

Animal Digest:

The first two ingredients by alphabetical order are two of the worst. "Animal Digest" is a broth that's cooked up of stuff that we'd rather just not know about. It can include some of what's in the aforementioned by-products, but also skin and the contents of the animal's stomach after it was slaughtered. Yuck. It's the soup that you won't find Campbell's offering anytime soon.

Barley:

Barley is a pretty good quality grain in pet foods. It's not a main source of allergies, and it's easily digestible. So if grains are in the pet food, as they are in most, this is a welcome sight.

Beef Tallow:

If you're going to ingest pure fat, what animal would you rather it be from....chicken or cow?? Turkey or cow?? The reason why cheap pet food companies use beef tallow is simple: it's very cheap. It's also a very bad fat source for pets as it is for humans. This is pure, greasy, white cow fat. Yummy.

Brewers Rice or Brewers Yeast:

At first, a person may look at the word "brewer" here and be reminded of a person who makes alcohol. Well, there's a good reason for that, because that's exactly what these ingredients are. They happen to be the leftovers from the alcohol-making process, which is bought very cheaply by the pet food companies. It's devoid of nutritional value, being as how it's been absolutely used up by the time it's used in the food. It's just a filler.

Canola Oil:

A decent fat source, although not the best. It certainly beats beef tallow, but isn't as good as any sort of fish oil or sunflower oil.

Corn Gluten Meal:

This is the remainder of the corn after the best parts of the corn have been removed. This is why I call it "filler of a filler". One of the absolute worst ingredients, as it does absolutely nothing for the animal and actually is difficult to digest.

Eggs:

Eggs are one of the best protein sources there are. The best thing to see is "whole eggs", but even "dried eggs" or "egg product" is going to be a fairly good protein source.

Fish Oil:

This includes salmon oil. Very rich in Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, which are absolutely excellent for heart health. This is one of the finest, if not the finest, fat source possible in pet foods.

Flaxseed Oil:

Another great fat source, with Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids for heart health. Cheap foods will almost never have this.

Fruits:

Much like humans, animals benefit from fruits as well. They're excellent sources of fiber and vitamins. Some you'll see in foods include blueberries, cranberries, and apples. It's an expensive ingredient, so expect to find this in your finer foods.

Meats (chicken, turkey, duck, etc.):

Any time a meat is named on the label, this is a good thing as long as "by-product" isn't behind it. However, be advised that if the word "meal" is not behind it, they are weighing it BEFORE it is dehydrated for inclusion in the dry food, which gives sort of a false ranking of what proportion of it is really included in the food. This leads us to the next entry....

Meat "meals" (chicken meal, turkey meal, fish meal, etc):

One of the best ingredients you can see in a pet food, this means that the meat is of a decent quality and it was weighed AFTER it was dehydrated...therefore meaning the proteins are more condensed. Seeing these towards the top of the ingredient list is a great thing.

Meat and Bone Meal:

One of the lowest quality meat products used. The origin of the meat is suspect, as it isn't named. If the manufacturers wanted you to know what the source was, they'd name it. Since it's probably not braggable, it's just put down as "meat". Not only that, but the lowest-quality parts of the animal are generally used as well. Oh, and as the name suggest....ground bone as well. Nothing good about this one.

Natural Flavors:

There are varying reports about this. The more expensive companies state they are just using broth created when the animals are being cooked, but I've read about there being not-so-flattering methods of getting these flavors with bargain manufacturers.

Oatmeal:

This is another pretty good grain, much like barley and rice. It's generally found in more expensive food but not exclusively.

Potatoes (or sweet potatoes):

This is the single best carb source in pet foods, and is a good ingredient to see.

Rice (or whole grain rice):

This is generally thought of as being the best grain that can be put into pet food. Rice "bran" or "flour" is NOT the same, however, as nutritional quality is diminished with those processes are used on the rice. This is easily digestible, and a good source of fiber for animals.

Salt:

Run, don't walk, if this is included highly in a pet food. Excess salt isn't good for humans, and it isn't good for pets either. If this is included in a pet food, chances are it's missing something else.

Soybeans:

A rather low-quality grain, and source of food allergies. It's a cheap ingredient typically used by cheap companies with little benefit to the animals.

Sugar (or corn syrup):

Bad ingredient used by companies to make food more palatable to the animals if the ingredients themselves aren't enough to make the dog or cat actually want to eat it.

Wheat:

Absolutely useless ingredient in pet food and a leading cause of food allergies in dogs. "Wheat middlings" are especially bad, since they are considered to be the "sweepings" off the floor. Absolutely AVOID this if at all possible.

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dpkml said:

I get your point. And you are right. I will call up the various online stores and ask about a grain free canned food. that seems to be the best bet

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Carolina said:

To the OP - why don't you feed him that Royal Canin Kitten Instinctives (the one in the pouches, wet) while you get ready for raw?
Meanwhile you can get all the ingrediets together, take your time learning, properly prepare the meat, find the proper organs, supplements, etc.....
You can take your time to introduce raw very very slowly to your little one.....
It is no problem that you got the meat - like I said - wash the chicken - give it a boil, cut it in strips, and freeze it in meal size (refer to LDG's) post freezer safe baggies. You can do the same thing with the organs.
Make sure to prepare the bleach solution so you can have all the preparing/cutting areas in your home properly clean too. Wash your hands well before and after preparing the meat - and feeding too.

Right away you can start giving the kitten yoghurt as a probiotic, and also the salmon oil.
The salmon oil, I would start with only a couple drops per meal.
Let the kitten have all the canned he wants.
While you learn about raw, you can give some raw to him - including liver (TINY bit of liver only!!), but if you don't balance the meal, give it as a supplement to the diet only - that means it can only be less than 15% of the diet.
Meanwhile, read the links on the raw forum, and ask away! We will be right here to guide you through

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dpkml said:

okay. If Royal Canin is okay for him, then I will get it for him. And I will read and ask and learn.

I give special emphasis to the cleanliness of the room in which he lives and the food he eats.

I hope that soon enough I will be making a perfect raw meal for him. Till that time, I will try to build up his muscle mass and immunity.

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dpkml said:

okay. If Royal Canin is okay for him, then I will get it for him. And I will read and ask and learn.

I give special emphasis to the cleanliness of the room in which he lives and the food he eats.

I hope that soon enough I will be making a perfect raw meal for him. Till that time, I will try to build up his muscle mass and immunity.

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LDG said:

:bigthumb: A lot has transpired since I was here to the thread, but you're doing GREAT! I think this is an excellent idea.

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jennyranson said:

Well done all. And good luck. We all look forward to seeing more pictures of him as he gets better.

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