- Joined
- Nov 24, 2014
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So I started my 4.5 year old lil' boy, Vinnie, on raw food this Agust. I got so sick and tired of finding these toxic ingredients in even the "organic" foods! Anyway, he's been off canned food for about 1 and a half months. Every thing has been going fine when he started the runs about 3 weeks ago. At first, I blamed it on the recipe I was using. It calling for too little calcium; I read that can cause diarrhea. So after I started a new recipe, and the diarrhea continiued, I became quite worried. I took a sample to the vet around the 10th and she told me they could'nt find anything that was causing it; no ecoli or salmonella or parasites. They also told me there was very little gut flora in his tum. I was like Ummm WHAT!!? Vinnie's never swallowed a single pill in his whole life so it could'nt be the side affect of any medication! I tried to ask what could've caused that but they didn't know. What also realy didn't help my anxiety was that the vet, of course, told me how bad the raw diet is and to get costco brand catfood. Freaking costco!! I'm not putting that witches brew into my poor kittycat! They then told me to feed him pumpkin and unflavored yogurt since they couldn't percribe any pills(which I'd heartily rather not give) with just a stool sample. The diarrhea stopped after the first dose and Vinnie had a solid poop 2 days later as normal. It was wasn't crumbly, but firm. He's never had a crumbly poop yet btw. After a time of solid poos on about a tsp of pumpkin (I stopped the yogurt because his poop was stinking like milk fart and he didn't need it) a day, he had this super massive turd 5 days ago that had a tiny bit that was realy hard, a large soft solid, and diarrhea in one. Worried that I was givng waaaay too much fiber, I reduced it by a 1/2 tsp and he had a soft solid that was followed by a few drops of diarrhea (yes this has apparently driven me crazy seeing that I am actualy watching Vinnie poop). I added back the amount I removed and he still had a diarrhea that night. I've started tweaking the amount of pumpkin, adding and subtracting by half the 1/4 tsp spoon I'm using and that might be working; he didn't poop at all yesterday and that's normal nondiarrhea bowl activiy for Vinnie.
Now this is where it gets a lil' funky. I noticed this all started when I was forced to use these sketchy chicken livers from this market. My usual source, Foster Farms from Vons, ran out and was out for like 5 days. The first 2 days I was like no prob I still have some raw catfood. But when I ran out and Vons still didn't have livers and wouldn't for a few more days, I was forced to use livers from the market. I live in the middle of nowhere so it was this or cans of tuna which I realy can't do. I mean these market livers are the absolute worst, rock-bottom quality! They have an odor, they are wierd tan colors, I even had to throw out a liver that had a bile stain on it! And even thogh they are frozen solid at the store, the tip of another was black and dry in a manner only being left out at room temprature could cause! I also used this brand in my very very first batch of raw food-the transition batch. These too stank. Vinnie never ate a bite of that batch and even then I thought the livers stank and am glad it whent untoutched. In the nastyliver batch that he did eat, I rinsed the livers I carefully picked out before pureeing them. I was wringing my hands worrying and sure enough, diarrhea. Twice a day. As of now, I'm using the decent fresh livers from Vons. Then much to my displesure, I was recently told that people usualy use that brand of liver for bait!
So you know for sure that sanitation is very poor even though nowhere on the container does it say "bait; not for human consuption"! I don't think it's a coincedince that the diarrhea started on the same day that he started eating those crappy livers. Needless to say, I threw out the bad liver recipe (thankful I only made a week's worth -I was waiting for vitamins to make the next recipe) and made a new one the day Vons had livers again. But he's been eating the better livers recipe for 2 weeks; shouldn't anything about those crappy livers be out of his system by now? This has got me wondering if the low gut flora isn't a misdiagnosis and he just needs more fiber. I mean if there was no gut flora, then digestion would'nt be taking place, he would'nt be absorbing any nutrients and therfore he would have no energy right? I would've taken Vinnie in but aside from the diarrhea, he is perfectly sound. He's had no appatite change, still plays "the chasing game" with me, has been chasing his tail and has no habit changes. No lethargy, no vomiting, no sensitivity in his abdomen when I toutch there, no abnormal hiding or "brooding" in the corner, no fever, no noises/gas from his tum, no abnormal colors or blood of any kind in the stool, no yowling/exessive meowing, no change in his urine habits and no straining or crying in the litterpan. No other symptoms. And he starts this human-like screaming whenever I try to get him in his carrier (I WILL take him in if it's an emergency). I'm wondering if this is just lack of fiber. I'm using catnutrition's no bones recipe with no added fiber (aside from the pumpkin I've been giving as a side dish) and extra supplements to replace hearts which I can't find anywhere. Or could it be the calcium source I'm using? I'm using crushed calcuim microcrystalline hydroxyapatite tablets from Douglas Labs. All supplements are human-grade and I peel the coating off all the tablets I use. Bleach is used to clean all utencils, tools and the prep area. Also all the recipes have been made with chicken. I am planning to use another meat, maybe beef or turkey in the next batch; I read that eating the same kind of meat for too long can cause irritation. Vinnie is strictly indoor and uses corn litter.
But then again Vinnie having diarrhea when he ate those livers.... Gosh I'm so worried about my little boy
What do you guys think? Is it lack of fiber, those jacked-up livers having caused something in Vinnie's GI tract or something else?
Now this is where it gets a lil' funky. I noticed this all started when I was forced to use these sketchy chicken livers from this market. My usual source, Foster Farms from Vons, ran out and was out for like 5 days. The first 2 days I was like no prob I still have some raw catfood. But when I ran out and Vons still didn't have livers and wouldn't for a few more days, I was forced to use livers from the market. I live in the middle of nowhere so it was this or cans of tuna which I realy can't do. I mean these market livers are the absolute worst, rock-bottom quality! They have an odor, they are wierd tan colors, I even had to throw out a liver that had a bile stain on it! And even thogh they are frozen solid at the store, the tip of another was black and dry in a manner only being left out at room temprature could cause! I also used this brand in my very very first batch of raw food-the transition batch. These too stank. Vinnie never ate a bite of that batch and even then I thought the livers stank and am glad it whent untoutched. In the nastyliver batch that he did eat, I rinsed the livers I carefully picked out before pureeing them. I was wringing my hands worrying and sure enough, diarrhea. Twice a day. As of now, I'm using the decent fresh livers from Vons. Then much to my displesure, I was recently told that people usualy use that brand of liver for bait!
But then again Vinnie having diarrhea when he ate those livers.... Gosh I'm so worried about my little boy
What do you guys think? Is it lack of fiber, those jacked-up livers having caused something in Vinnie's GI tract or something else?
