IBD Kitty Getting Picky - Can you rotate?

reba · Jan 24, 2015

Hi my IBD kitty started on a limited ingredient diet about our weeks ago and he is doing great, but I think he's had enough of one flavor as I have to coax him to finish.

I was wondering if you can rotate in different flavors of the limited ingredient diets or does that defeat the purpose? How about brands, same thing?

Thanks!

denice · Jan 24, 2015

You definitely can rotate just try one thing at a time so if kitty has a reaction you will know what caused it. It is good to feed a rotation of as many proteins as possible that kitty can tolerate. Feeding the same protein over a long period of time can lead to an allergy. Just take it slow, one thing at a time,

reba · Jan 24, 2015

Do you mean that I should feed one flavor for a few weeks (or month) and then switch to a different protein?

In other words don't serve turkey for breakfast, duck for lunch, rabbit for dinner, etc.

I am also thinking of eventually adding in a limited ingredient dry food for one of the three meals. Is that OK?

I'm also surprised I see him drinking water as much as he does given the water content of the wet food and the fact he eats 3 x a day. He is on prednisolone though, though I imagine we will soon be tapering that off given his improvement.

denice · Jan 24, 2015

So much of this is unique to a kitty. I would give a new protein at least a week to make sure that it is tolerated. As far as how often you rotate foods it's really your preference and what your kitty tolerates. I know Jcat has said that her kitty has issues if fed more than one protein a day, she sticks with the same protein for all of that day's meals. I know Goholistic whose kitty has chronic pancreatitis and possibly IBD feeds the same protein longer than one day. I can't remember if it's one or two weeks on the same protein then she switches to the next protein in the rotation.

I would hold off on the dry food until you find what proteins your kitty tolerates and get a rotation going that your kitty is doing well with. Without getting into the dry vs wet debate, dry food does tend to be harder for kitty to digest then wet food.

reba · Jan 24, 2015

I've never fed my cats dry. It's just every time I go to the vet. they raise the issue that I should feed some dry along with the wet. I'm also switching over to grain free food for the three of them and was wondering if feeding one meal dry could same me some money.

catwoman707 · Jan 24, 2015

Reba said:
I've never fed my cats dry. It's just every time I go to the vet. they raise the issue that I should feed some dry along with the wet. I'm also switching over to grain free food for the three of them and was wondering if feeding one meal dry could same me some money.

Hi Reba,

I'm going through the very same thing with Krissy, she is bored of the turkey fancy feast, yet is the only turkey canned she would eat, so it is what it is basically.

I do feed her the LID turkey dry though too.

Here's a little something that may help you too!

I ran out of Blue Buffalo LID turkey, and while at the store to get more, ran in to Nature's Variety Instinct LID turkey on sale, like well worth buying.

I thought I won't need to bother transitioning since it is so close to the same food she has been eating, but holy cow, her and my other cat Simone LOVE it! (dry of course but even the canned they ate at least some of)

So much so that after 4 days had to return it for my usual BB dry, as Krissy was eating far too much and she is chunky. She would drive me crazy to keep giving it to her too.

So, might wanna give that brand a try, I think what the diff is would be the lack of potatoes in it that BB has in theirs that makes them love it so much.

As for rotating, I know for Krissy, I can not. She reacts anytime she gets something different.

reba · Jan 24, 2015

OK, so I will give that a try. So if I understand you and Denice are saying the key (at least for some cats) is not so much the brand, but to keep them on the same protein. So if I go buy a turkey in a different brand that's OK.

I can get him to eat it if I sprinkle some fortiflora on it. But someone mentioned that wasn't good for IBD kitties.

He is doing so well I was hoping we could go awhile before changing proteins or adding some variety. But like you say, it is what it is.

He's dodging around the living room now amusing himself - it's so great to see. I don't think he's felt this good in awhile.

PS It amazes me that I have one at barely 7 lbs and another at over 12, they get the same amount of food and the little one never puts on an ounce.

denice · Jan 24, 2015

I personally would try other proteins as well. I kept my IBD kitty exclusively on chicken because he couldn't tolerate beef and I wanted to avoid fish. He now has a chicken allergy. I know that Natures Variety comes in lamb and Wild Calling which is another food that is basically just meat, liver and supplements comes in several different proteins.

catwoman707 · Jan 24, 2015

Denice said:
I personally would try other proteins as well. I kept my IBD kitty exclusively on chicken because he couldn't tolerate beef and I wanted to avoid fish. He now has a chicken allergy. I know that Natures Variety comes in lamb and Wild Calling which is another food that is basically just meat, liver and supplements comes in several different proteins.

@Denice , how long would you say he was on chicken only before he showed an allergy to it?

When you switched proteins, did he react or no? Slow transition I'd assume, but not so easy with canned......

@Reba I would def. allow more time for him on what he is currently eating, he's only started on it recently.

If it takes sprinkling fortiflora on it, no big deal, it won't hurt him.

I have not been told that ff is bad for ibd kitties, and can be used for getting them to eat foods they normally won't.

My suggestion for the canned is to try the NVI turkey lid canned, bet he will eat it up easily. Like I said, seems there is something great tasting about it.

Now for Krissy....it's probably about time I DID switch her food, it's been about 3 months now I think, just don't know what that would be now if just one protein at a time, and I have a tough time getting her to eat canned anything that's any good........grr.....

jcat · Jan 24, 2015

If you'd like to add some dry to their diet, it would be easiest to treat it like you would a new protein, meaning don't add anything else for a couple of weeks so you can see whether there's an adverse reaction. If you can get an LID dry containing the same protein you've been feeding in canned food you should be able to tell what starches are okay, e.g. potatoes, parsnips, green peas, etc.. I found it extremely difficult to find a commercial LID dry Mogli could eat. He's supposed to get two dry snacks between meals. The prescription stuff is rabbit and potato, which he got sick of. The only other dry he's tolerated is horse and sweet potato - a German brand.

I never heard Fortiflora was bad for IBD cats.

As Denice said, I've found it best for Mogli to eat just one canned protein a day. If he gets duck for breakfast and beef for dinner, for example, the result is soft stool or vomiting. It doesn't make sense, but it is what it is. The longest interval between meals - 8 or 9 hours - is at night, so it seems like his body needs that long to switch to a different protein without problems.

I don't know about mixing brands with the same protein because I didn't try it. First I introduced different proteins of the same prescription brand and much later two commercial brands with different proteins. He can tolerate one brand's veal and the other's turkey, but that's it.

ETA: Now that I think about it, different brands of the same protein might not make a difference. One of the volunteers at the shelter has a cat (around 7 years old) that can only eat horse meat. She gets two different brands of canned, another of dry, and either raw or cooked from the butcher shop.

reba · Jan 25, 2015

I wish I could find that thread where someone said the fortiflora is bad for IBD. I guess the proof will be in the pudding (pun intended).

I don't think I'd ever do the whole raw route, but I was looking at making your own cat food with cooked meat. Anyone ever done that? Even one meal a day ( I feed each of them 3 oz., 3X) would save some money. Is there a reason people don't do that? It would seem like you could just substitute cooked meat for the raw meat or am I completely off base here.

bonepicker · Jan 25, 2015

Reba said:
Do you mean that I should feed one flavor for a few weeks (or month) and then switch to a different protein? Rotate by meal every day.

In other words don't serve turkey for breakfast, duck for lunch, rabbit for dinner, etc.

I am also thinking of eventually adding in a limited ingredient dry food for one of the three meals. Is that OK?

I'm also surprised I see him drinking water as much as he does given the water content of the wet food and the fact he eats 3 x a day. He is on prednisolone though, though I imagine we will soon be tapering that off given his improvement.

bonepicker · Jan 25, 2015

Rotate daily, I repeat every 11 day. Merrick duck or chicken Pate. Pride rabbit, duck or lamb. Tiki cat puka luau chicken, nutro natural chunky chicken loaf, wellness Devine duos chicken/duck, natural balance catatouille stew, FF classic chopped grill or classic liver @ chicken. I feed Purebites for treats. My female cat used to vomit, no more and no more dry.

denice · Jan 25, 2015

It was well over 3 months before Patches developed an allergy. It was probably at least a year probably a bit longer. I don't think that it is that Fortflora is bad, it's that there are other probiotcs that are better. Fortiflora is great to use as a topper to get a kitty to eat a new food. It contains animal digest which is the same stuff that many companies spray on their kibble which makes it so addictive to kitties.

jcat · Jan 26, 2015

Reba said:
I don't think I'd ever do the whole raw route, but I was looking at making your own cat food with cooked meat. Anyone ever done that? Even one meal a day ( I feed each of them 3 oz., 3X) would save some money. Is there a reason people don't do that? It would seem like you could just substitute cooked meat for the raw meat or am I completely off base here.

You could certainly give home-cooked meals, provided they were balanced. Have you checked out the Raw and Home-Cooked Cat Food sub-forum, particularly the Home-Cooked Cat Food Resources sticky?

Mogli's nutritionist gives her pets a home-cooked diet. I fed home-cooked dog food almost exclusively for decades. Mogli gets 2 - 3 cooked meals a week (out of 28), but I don't supplement since it's such a small percentage of his overall intake. Usually it's beef or pork roast or filet. The main reasons he doesn't get a primarily home-cooked diet is that sourcing the somewhat unusual proteins he eats is difficult in our area, his doing well on the prescription canned, and me being a bit leery of the ingredients in the complete supplements that would have to be added to homemade food due to his food allergies. He's an only cat, so the expense of his canned food isn't that big a factor.

catwoman707 · Jan 26, 2015

Reba said:
I wish I could find that thread where someone said the fortiflora is bad for IBD. I guess the proof will be in the pudding (pun intended).

I don't think I'd ever do the whole raw route, but I was looking at making your own cat food with cooked meat. Anyone ever done that? Even one meal a day ( I feed each of them 3 oz., 3X) would save some money. Is there a reason people don't do that? It would seem like you could just substitute cooked meat for the raw meat or am I completely off base here.

Reba I ordered and have received U-stew trial packet, makes 6 lbs, just add your own ground meat of choice.

I am picking up turkey today, as I also want to get my girls off of commercial foods if possible.

Hopefully they will eat it well. I will be thrilled!

U-stew is an all in one supplement for making food at home, cooked or raw.

Cooked vs raw is about the same except no bones in cooked.

Ingredients are-

egg yolk, calcium lactate, beef liver powder, gelatin, whey protein, psyllium husks, EFA from fish oil, digestive enzymes, taurine, kelp, barley grass, vitamin E succinate, vitamin B complex.

reba · Jan 26, 2015

While I'll be - that one never came up in all my google searches. Can't wait to hear if the girls like it.

catwoman707 · Jan 26, 2015

Reba said:
While I'll be - that one never came up in all my google searches. Can't wait to hear if the girls like it.

Yes, and I think the digestive enzymes and beef liver powder will give it a desirable flavor.

I got my turkey!

Will let you know how they take to it.

Fingers crossed!

reba · Jan 27, 2015

Bummer set back today - he left me a present (soft poop) in the middle of the floor. This used to happen occasionally before I noticed he had a chronic problem. He's been demanding more and more fortiflora on his food so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. He's also starting to stand up again when he eats. Acting fine otherwise.

I suppose this is a chronic disease so it's to be expected, still I'm disappointed.

catwoman707 · Jan 27, 2015

Well shoot, but don't get discouraged, I think this is going to happen now and then with this issue.

They do love the fortiflora for sure! Seriously doubt it has anything to do with the poop.

You said he is standing while eating again?

What do you mean by that?

IBD Kitty Getting Picky - Can you rotate?

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