got blood results for my 3rd cat-bad triglycerides!

Help! My baby Ella was on Natures Variety Instinct for the first 3 years of her life. I noticed her getting a bit chunky earlier this year, so I changed over to Weruva the end of Aug. She started eating raw food exclusively around the beginning of Sept, she's always had some Rad Cat here & there or a baby quail or a piece of meat, so I bought some EZ Complete the middle of Sept & started making cat food. She doesn't like canned food anymore & wants raw multiple times a day. For a few weeks I was feeding twice a day but since I didn't notice her weight changing, I wondered if maybe the meat was too fatty, so I took it down to every morning. At the beginning of Nov since her weight didn't change, I stopped the Weruva & switched to Tiki Cat. I don't know about any decent lower fat food then that, so that's why I switched.

She just got her blood drawn yesterday & her triglyceride count was 1200, the range is 25-160. The Dr said that anything over 1000 could result in seizures, blindness or pancreatitis. She wants her to start on a prescription diet tomorrow & recheck her in 8 weeks. Of course the food is Hills which is total crap in my eyes, the W/D. I asked what the Royal Canin version is & they have yet to call me.

So now I'm wondering if I should stop feeding the raw meat altogether & just stick with the canned or what. Any ideas or suggestions are mighty appreciated!

Thanks

no one? really? No one has has any experience with high triglycerides?

I've been researching like a mad dog & decided against feeding any type of raw meat. I'm going to stick to a couple different foods that are under 10% DMB fat.I'm also going to up her probiotics, add some pumpkin & add enzymes.

I've actually never heard of cats having hyperlipidemia, but it doesn't surprise me (there's a lot I don't know still I'm sure!). It sounds like cats with some forms of diabetes and hypothyroidism are at higher risk for this - is your kitty diabetic or hypo-t?

I'm honestly not sure what is a good diet for a cat with hyperlipidemia. Even in human's I take diets and even treatment for it with a grain of salt.

not diabetic, glucose levels were in range & thyroid was in range.

I really do think it's the raw meat. isn't raw meat more fatty compared to cooked meat?

Dr called & said everything's in range now. This was a fasting panel. I guess the raw food I'm feeding is just too much fat for her body. I am going to feed low fat canned for 2 months, get a re-check & see where we're at

What kind of raw meat were you feeding? They should be able to tolerate it, so I find it odd that it would cause hyperlipidemia. I've never fed raw, but a lot of folks do without incident. It's entirely possible the specific meat she was getting was too high fat for her though.

I fed her a variety - chicken, turkey, lamb, rabbit. Some cats don't make enough of a certain enzyme that takes the fat & changes it into cholesterol, so that's in the back of my brain. I'm going to play it safe & feed low fat canned for the next 2 months, after I get another blood test, I'll decide what to do.

If you want to, you could start up a thread in the raw forum, just to see what people over there have to say.  Many of them might not ever read  any of the health threads.  (just a thought). 

Donutte is right though.  Depending on which raw you feed, there is definitely a difference in the amount of fat in the meat.  Lamb is pretty fatty, and even with chicken, the difference between breasts and thighs can be vastly different.  Do you make your own raw, or buy commercial.  You could make your own and therefore control the amount by taking the skin off and using white meat only on chicken and turkey.  Don't sue lamb or beef.  Rabbit know for being low fat. 

As a final option, you could try seeing an actual feline NUTRITIONIST.  Vet's normally aren't that well trained in nutrition. 

I've made my own chicken, turkey & beef, the store has pre-ground so I buy that. Otherwise I buy Rad Cat, Nature's Variety, S&C & Vital Essentials. After I get the re-check, if her blood still has a lot of fat, I will speak with a nutritionist.

@msserena...Since you mentioned that you will be feeding Ella, low fat canned for the next few months, ...not sure if the food tables listed on the felinecrf.org site would help:

http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm

(You might have already known about the site.  (I learned about that site, here on TCS, probably from reading one of 'mrsgreenjeens' posts, back in the day.)  

yes I know about that site, her calculations are the same as mine. I'm not concerned so much about the phosphorus levels as I am with fat. I have a GIANT excel spreadsheet with like every brand of cat food that the store sells, online sells & pet stores sell. Since the one on Dr Piersons site wasn't super updated, I decided to make my own, do my own calculations & this is where I'm at. Can't find a lower fat food that's decent besides Tiki Cat, so that's what I went with.

How often do you have to get Ella's blood tested?

Was it more so, when you were feeding raw?

Or is it only recently, since you learned about the high triglycerides?

She's about 2 1/2 years old & this is the first blood work I've got. They didn't take it when she was a kitten so I have no baseline. I don't know if it's the raw food or if she has a problem within her body, that's why I switched to the lowest fat food possible & will retest in Feb. If her levels are still high, it's not the food. Gotta take one step at a time. She did weigh a high 11 lbs & now she weighs a low 11 so she's lost a little in a week.