Snickers lack of digesting food - enzymes??

This was discussed a while ago but I can't find the thread.

Snickers (14?) has IBD and has been doing . . . . ok. However - she eats and eats and is losing weight, the food goes in one need and out the the other without . . .taking hold.

There was something about enzymes being added to her diet. I asked our vet and she said she order some but they are on back order - that was THREE WEEKS AGO!

Does anybody know what they are called and if I can order them myself?

You can use Fastrack- let me scare up the website- I think they are on our links page-

Yep- third one down on this page. I use Fastrack with my horse, Traveler who drops weight even on good hay- it works quite well.

Links Page

WOW - the FastrackÂ[emoji]174[/emoji] Feline Microbial Supplement sounds perfect. We're doing OK combating the IBD and she is on a steroid(sp?) at the moment. She is eating 2 cans of food a day but still weights 5.5lbs (down from 9).

Huge poops "I" would be proud of and STINKY!

THUS - I feel that she is just not digesting anything. When she throws up perhaps it creates an embalance in things. We tried yogart but she did not like it.

Thanks! I'll order some and hope it gets here fast!

Most cats do not digest their food properly, which is why dogs think kitty litter pans are desert trays- pure protein! The fastrack will help system slow down her metabolizing the food hopefully making it easier on everyone.

Just my 2 cents, but I think you should check with your vet before giving your cat any OTC enzyme products. My sister's Viszla had digestive problems for years, and she tried various products (Solid Gold also has one) without success, while her vet couldn't determine the problem. Another vet found a pancreatic disorder, and the dog is now doing fine on a prescription product.

There's an article in the latest Catwatch magazine (March 2004) re IBD. I don't know what your vet prescribed for Snickers, but I can summarize some of the article.

The cat in the article was treated by a specialist in internal medicine at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. He had "bad bugs" in his gut, which might have been irritating his intestine, and he was prescribed antibiotics. Then he was put on prednisolone, for the inflammation. He was also put on a feline Z/D diet, and then the prednisolone was cut back because that glucocorticoid can have long-term side effects.

"The fact that special diets with so-called novel sources of protein (like duck, rabbit and venison) seem to help might point to food allergy as a cause - or at least a contributing factor"

The doctor noted that the Z/D diet has extra-small molecules that the immune system can't recognize and overreact to.

"It seems to be an antigen-driven response, but to what antigen-bacterial, parasites-we just don't know".

"The prognosis is generally good, but it requires aggressive initial and long-term dietary therapy".

The cat in the article put his lost weight back on, and more.

It also tells of the procedures that were done on the cat (to rule out other diseases) and why they diagnosed him with IBD.

I hope this helps -

Jill and Candy

We tried the Z/D but Snickers dod not like the food. We have her on prednisolone and have an Prozyme from the Doc along with Fasttrack stuff. Both the Doc's prozyme and Fasttrack do basically the same thing with slightly different contents.

SO far it's working GREAT! Can't really tell about weight gain yet but she is looking way way healthier. Her coat is once again shiney and smooth as opposedto dirty and matted. Her eyes are bright again. Her last big throwup (knock on wood) was 9 days ago (as opposed to twice a week).

I do think she is gaining weight and once again she is jumping from cupboard to cupboard where before she was wobbely on her legs.

We feeding this 6lb cat 15 ozs a day woth Authority with 1/4 tsp of enzymes and at this moment could not be happier.