unbalanced food or hormonal reaction?

cicoccabim

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I´ve been feeding my cat (now 15 months) part homemade raw, part wet (ziwi peak) for a few months. Prior to that she was fed ziwi peak only, wet and dry. Two weeks ago I noticed that her amazing fur has started to change. It is not oily, but the fur seems to "clump together" to form peaks/needles. It is as soft and shiny as before, but the texture has changed a bit. She seems to feel well, and is as energetic as usual. 

I´ve decided to move back to feeding mostly wet food for a few weeks to see if her fur changes back to normal or not.

The only change in my reciepie I´ve done recently is to add fish oil, instead of wheatgerm oil. The basic recepie was "approved" of someone who has been feeding her cats this for a long time, and knows much more than me about this. 20% heart, 10% bone, 6-8% liver (depending on what animal it comes from), 1 egg yolk per 2 pounds of food, 0.5 tbsp of algae/iodine salt per 2 pounds of food, a few ml oil, the rest is meat. The meat and organs used varies between chicken, veal, venison, lamb, rain deer and pork.

What do you think- could there be something missing in her food that could cause her fur to change this way? It is dark and cold in Sweden, and she does not like to be outside as much as usual. Could this affect the fur? Or is it hormonal?
 
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furmonster mom

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What kind of fish oil, how much, and how often.  While oils and fats are actually good for cats coats, too much can have adverse effects.

I give my cats a fish oil supplement only twice a week, because it is a large dose.  They get egg yolks 3 times a week, about a teaspoon in one meal of the day.  This seems to be a pretty good balance for my li'l monsters.
 
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cicoccabim

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I´ll have a look at that. Perhaps I´ve added too much salmon oil. Thank you!
 
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cicoccabim

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update: I had my reciepie checked by someone who knows how to do all the calculations on nutrition, and she told me that I probably didn´t need the fish oil at all. I feed a lot of venison and ecological meat- but I could add biotin and zink. After a few weeks her fur is as soft as usual. Deficiency of vitamin B and zink was probably the cause. 

And after the OK from the expert I feed all-raw. Perhaps that has affected the fur as well? My cat loves the food, and loves to be the one who does the "pre-cleaning-before-the-diskwasher"....... a lot of bowls that needs to be cleaned!
 

furmonster mom

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Awesome! 

I'm glad you've found a good consultant.

Egg yolks are also a good source of biotin, though low on zinc.

Beef and Lamb seem to be high on the list for zinc, however.

It's a good reminder to be sure to have a good variety and rotation of foods for general balance.
 
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