Low fat beef diet?

cleopatras mom · Oct 30, 2016

I just had a quick question.

It seems that pork is not going as good with her, anymore. It still is fine, but I am just noticing that it doesn't have the same good effects it used to.

Could I transition her to low fat beef, perhaps? I do not want to try chicken, in case that was the cause of all the issues. If I shouldn't d low fat beef, should I try the turkey instead?

mrsgreenjeens · Oct 30, 2016

Can you give us a background here? What are her issues? (sorry, lots of cats have issues and it's hard to keep them all separate) There is also lamb, rabbit, venison as other proteins, but not sure what your goal is.

missmimz · Oct 30, 2016

Ideally you should feed a protein rotation that includes at least 3 different proteins. beef is fine if she tolerates it, but you should add others. Good options are rabbit, turkey, venison, duck, quail, to name a few.

cleopatras mom · Nov 6, 2016

Thanks for the responses! In late November of 2015 she stated having blood in her stools, and vomited, and occasionally had runny stools. It was pretty horrible. I brought her to a vet, and they tried giving her Albon, even when they couldn't see any bacteria. Albon probably contributed to her issues, as she grew dehydrated, and even had crystals in her urine. So I took her off it, and brought her to our original vet. They said the food could be irritating, and they put her on Royal Canin Rabbit. That seemed to make her worse, so I put her on Wellness Core. She still had blood stools a little, but they firmed up, she stopped vomiting, and she gained weight. However, I still was uncomfortable with her symptoms, so I took her back. They took her blood, and found at she had high calcium. They suggested that she had "The Disease", and they prescribed us prednisolone. We tried that, and it really didn't work at all. I would like to say it did, but I do not think it helped at all. So, I asked for probiotics, and worming medicine. Nothing worked. And finally, as a last resort, I transitioned her to Alnutrin with semi-cooked pork, and beef liver. I started giving her less, and less Prednisolone then. A week or so went by, and there was still blood in her stools. And then suddenly, it was gone. After a week or so, I converted her to probiotics, and she got loose and bloody stools again, so I stopped that. After a month or so of consistent stools with no blood, I was relieved. However, I went to a camp for a few days, and my family left dog food down, and she got into it. White creamy stuff ended up in her stools, so I took her back in.

She gained a whole pound in two months, and the took her blood. Her calcium was mid normal(yay!!), and everything else was more balanced than before. However, she was low anemic. Enough so the vet said not to do anything, and to just watch her. A month ago she had tapeworms, and I wormed her. However, I am now noticing mucus in her stools again, and I am concerned. I think she is having a flare up, and the pork needs to be changed. However, I have no idea what caused the sensitivities in her old food, and I am concerned that it could have been the meat, such as turkey or chicken. So I wanted to try and give her beef, instead. But I think too much fat may influence another flare up, and she still doesn't like fully raw meat, which is what it has to be if it is fatty, paired up with Alnutrin.

missmimz · Nov 6, 2016

Cleopatras Mom said:
Thanks for the responses! In late November of 2015 she stated having blood in her stools, and vomited, and occasionally had runny stools. It was pretty horrible. I brought her to a vet, and they tried giving her Albon, even when they couldn't see any bacteria. Albon probably contributed to her issues, as she grew dehydrated, and even had crystals in her urine. So I took her off it, and brought her to our original vet. They said the food could be irritating, and they put her on Royal Canin Rabbit. That seemed to make her worse, so I put her on Wellness Core. She still had blood stools a little, but they firmed up, she stopped vomiting, and she gained weight. However, I still was uncomfortable with her symptoms, so I took her back. They took her blood, and found at she had high calcium. They suggested that she had "The Disease", and they prescribed us prednisolone. We tried that, and it really didn't work at all. I would like to say it did, but I do not think it helped at all. So, I asked for probiotics, and worming medicine. Nothing worked. And finally, as a last resort, I transitioned her to Alnutrin with semi-cooked pork, and beef liver. I started giving her less, and less Prednisolone then. A week or so went by, and there was still blood in her stools. And then suddenly, it was gone. After a week or so, I converted her to probiotics, and she got loose and bloody stools again, so I stopped that. After a month or so of consistent stools with no blood, I was relieved. However, I went to a camp for a few days, and my family left dog food down, and she got into it. White creamy stuff ended up in her stools, so I took her back in.

She gained a whole pound in two months, and the took her blood. Her calcium was mid normal(yay!!), and everything else was more balanced than before. However, she was low anemic. Enough so the vet said not to do anything, and to just watch her. A month ago she had tapeworms, and I wormed her. However, I am now noticing mucus in her stools again, and I am concerned. I think she is having a flare up, and the pork needs to be changed. However, I have no idea what caused the sensitivities in her old food, and I am concerned that it could have been the meat, such as turkey or chicken. So I wanted to try and give her beef, instead. But I think too much fat may influence another flare up, and she still doesn't like fully raw meat, which is what it has to be if it is fatty, paired up with Alnutrin.

I'm assuming we're talking about possible IBD? With IBD some cats just have blood in their stool on and off, but probiotics are really, really important to ideally you want to get her back on those. I use nexabiotics, which is very popular among raw food feeds as it contains s boulardii which helps with diarrhea. You could also give slippery elm syrup as needed. Slippery elm really helps soothe the tummy and it contains fiber so it firms up stools too. I use SE a lot with one of my cats.

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/slippery-elm/

Beef is hit or miss with some cats. My cats love beef and tolerate it well, but some IBD cats don't. Another good option might be venison, but that can be hard to source unless you order from places like Hare Today. She might still be fine on the protein you're feeding but just having a flair, which can happen for different reasons.

sophie1 · Nov 7, 2016

Cleo's Mom, your post is pretty confusing but I agree it sounds like a case of IBD. I doubt that fat is the issue - cats need fat! Don't fall prey to the popular demonization of fats, which is questionable even for our diets. Your best bet is to keep her on a homemade diet, so you have maximal control over the ingredients. It sounds like you're most comfortable feeding cooked food, which is fine.

The first thing I suggest you try is chicken liver instead of the beef. Your cat may be sensitive to the beef rather than the pork. If she improves after you do this, then you probably don't want to bother trying beef.

Next, you'll want to establish a rotation of different proteins. I would start with the two mainstays: chicken and turkey. Check out the cooked recipes thread for how to do this yourself, or just continue with your boneless + liver + Alnutrin plan. Transition to each one slowly, starting with just a teaspoon a day of the new food and increasing by one teaspoon per day.

If you're still having issues feel free to post info/questions - although getting help from the vet is a good idea also.

cleopatras mom · Nov 10, 2016

Thanks for the responses! I meant the vet thought she had cancer because of the high calcium level. However, when we brought her back to the vet, her calcium was back down, however the vet said she was slightly anemic. I think she may have IBD.

Alright, thanks for the info of changing her food up! I wanted to add that her stools are too firm, if that makes sense, with a hard coating around it now. I am going to see if I can bring in a sample to the vet, without bringing her in as well.

Low fat beef diet?

cleopatras mom

TCS Member

Thread starter

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats

missmimz

TCS Member

cleopatras mom

TCS Member

Thread starter

missmimz

TCS Member

sophie1

TCS Member

cleopatras mom

TCS Member

Thread starter

Latest Posts

Connect with us