Raw causing explosive diarrhea?

natalia

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Hi all-

Sorry for the long post- trying to include as many details as possible so that anyone with the same/similar situation can relate.

A week and half ago I started transitioning my two girls (6-month old Thalia and Ailise, sisters) to a raw rabbit-based diet. I started off with a small batch of boneless ground rabbit and used that as my base. I used ground rabbit organs from Hare Today (50% liver, 25% heart, 25% kidney). For the egg ingredient, I just whisked the entire (white and yolk) egg and then measured it out and ground the eggshell. I included 5 g taurine, half of a Dry Vitamin E capsule, 1 capsule of chelated manganese, 7 capsules of fish oil, and half a capsule of B-Complex. I bought all the vitamins at the Vitamin Shoppe.

Both of my girls ate the first batch without any hesitation and licked their bowls clean. However, two days ago, Thalia started having explosive diarrhea. I brought her to the vet, explained the situation, and the vet said that she assumed (by the timing and the way the diarrhea looked and smelled) that it was from the raw, or more specifically, an ingredient in the raw. Perhaps eggs are the problem, since she was on a strict protein diet before? I know the eggs are one of the best natural sources of B vitamins but if I have the half-capsule of B-Complex is it OK if I omit the egg from the recipe to see if anything happens?

She started rejecting canned, raw, and dry food yesterday (I feed her and Ailise Royal Canin canned/dry rabbit and she had been eating it for 2 months but then suddenly stopped)- spent most of the day sleeping in meatloaf position in my bedroom, which is a bad sign. I tried picking up some individual cans from the vet and she also rejected those, which means it’s definitely her and her picky taste.


She’s also rejecting everything raw I’m giving her while her sister is busy smacking her lips with satisfaction. I started panicking since I knew she wasn’t getting enough food/nutrition in that stomach of hers. I scoured my entire canned food pantry and she happened to like the Nature’s Variety canned rabbit (grain-free). I was so relieved as I thought she was going to reject everything.
 I feel bad because she had to sniff so many different foods and her appetite must be getting overwhelmed, but she had to eat.


I’ve tried scheduling multiple vet appointments but we’ve been getting so much snow here lately that they have to delay every appointment. I also tried calling my holistic vet, but she didn’t give that much helpful advice.

She hasn’t defecated at all today in the litter box (no diarrhea). I just hope that things are getting a little stronger inside her system.

Her sister Ailise is completely the opposite, doing just fine with the raw- she loves it. Normally it’s Ailise who has the health problems (ear infections, skin allergies, etc.), but now it’s Thalia.
 I'm still feeding her the Nature's Variety and she's still eating it- also drinking a lot of water lately.

Any suggestions and/or vibes would be greatly appreciated.
 Thanks for reading.

Natalia
 

goholistic

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Okay, as I'm reading this, I'm thinking it's some sort of sick joke because what you wrote above is almost exactly what I have encountered recently. So much so that people might have thought you were me under a different username! 


Anyway, I'm sorry this is happening. I, too, started a thread asking others if their cat got diarrhea after starting raw. Most have said no, and that it's not normal to have explosive diarrhea like this.

Not sure if you saw my raw thread with this same recipe using Hare Today ground rabbit and organs. Sebastian had explosive diarrhea 48 hours after offering the raw to him, and he acted very ill. He seems a little better, but is still doing cow patties in the litter box. I've continued to offer him the raw in very small amounts, but I'm inclined to stop for now and let his system return to normal.

I was also offering it to Boo in small amounts. Boo seemed fine at first, but now today Boo seems ill. He didn't eat much breakfast this morning nor dinner. What he ate of dinner he vomited an hour later. 


Not sure what to think. All I know is that Sebastian didn't have diarrhea prior to the raw, and he's rarely had diarrhea since I adopted him in 2010.

P.S. Wait...you're getting snow in Australia? Shipping from Hare Today must have been quite expensive?
 
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jcat

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Could it be the fat content in the raw? Mogli was on food trials because of his IBD (with stool analyses), and raw went right through him, virtually undigested. Canned was better, but it wasn't till he was on a low-fat canned diet that the diarrhea stopped. The nutritionist (not a raw fan) said raw had too much fat for him; so do many or most commercial foods, though, to be fair, but they didn't go right through him.
 
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peaches08

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Isn't rabbit fairly low in fat? I might have that confused...

Yes, I couldn't help but do a double take at this thread, GoHolistic!

I responded to GoHolistic's thread about eggs; I'm going off of Dr. Pierson's thoughts on it and my own experience. My cats hate eggs but I added them for the lecithin to break up hairballs over a year later into raw feeding. I saw some loose stools, chunky (hair) stools, etc, but I don't know for sure who had which problem. I forgot to add yolks in the last batch and hairballs came back with a vengeance. I'll be adding them to the batch I make this weekend and I'll update on the stool situation.
 

ritz

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Oh, sorry you all are having problems with this.

Maybe too much organs.  Ritz loves all types of organs; if it's in a chicken, she'll eat it like liver, lungs and [male private part].  I was giving her freeze dried beef liver treats for a few days and then suddenly her poop became smelly and soft (she actually is prone to constipation).  Stopped the extra liver, and her poop is back to her-normal.
 

ldg

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Aw, I'm so sorry this happened. :(

Hopefully you didn't make a huge batch. Because there are a number of things it could be. GoHolistic's cat had a reaction to either salmon oil or krill oil, I don't remember which one.

And maybe I read it wrong, but I don't see a source of calcium? :dk:

In your shoes, I would start over. I would use JUST ground, boneless rabbit meat - no bones, no organs - no supplements - and balance it with eggshells.

Let her system settle.

I would add one thing at a time - and in small amounts. I'd start by adding the rabbit organs - use HALF of what you normally would for a batch of food. If that works, then make the next batch with boneless rabbit meat, the rabbit organs, and the correct amount of calcium for all of it.

If that works, then add the taurine, the vitamin E, and the manganese as these are unlikely culprits.

If that works, add the B-vitamins.

If that works, add the fish oil.

If that works, add the egg yolk.

With sensitive kitties, egg yolks can often be a problem. I know MANY IBD kitties that can't "do" egg yolks.

Food does NOT need to be balanced and complete right out of the starting gate. Nutritional deficiences take time to develop, so you don't need to be in a rush to provide the perfectly balanced food.

ESPECIALLY with sensitive kitties, it's always best to start slowly. They almost always have a reaction - it's just a matter of figuring out what it is, so best to go one step at a time. :heart2:
 

ldg

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Oh - and if your kitties aren't on probitoics, I'd put them on them. And when you have reactions like this, both back up, and double the probiotics. I recommend a human L. acidophilus probiotic at least 5 billion CFU 2x a day.
 
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