Nature's Variety LID rabbit canned - new

[mommytabby]

Thank you, mphscat. Tabby stools are getting looser almost diahrea… I might have to change her the diet again… I don’t know… What is a good probiotic? Is it good for a cat with IBD, too? 

 

[mphscat]

A good probiotic is fundamental for an IBD cat because it helps repair the damage. I use Proviable DC once daily. I order it through chewy.com. And yes you might have to change food again. But I would try with the probiotic.

 

[mommytabby]

Thank you, mphscat! I’ll look into it.

I didn't want to hijack this thread, so I made a new one over here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/300881/ibd-cat-stool-problems

 

[lisamarie12]

 
My cat Tabby, who has IBD, and she had hard stools. After I changed the NV’s LID rabbit, it got a lot better!! But now she has loose stools…

 

Has anyone's cat had loose stools because of the LID rabbit? 

I'm sorry to hear about your kitty and loose stools.  

I had been feeding Instinct's LID rabbit since I started this thread and did not have a problem with the food. My little Mikey is also IBD (or had IBD) and did well on the rabbit LID although it was only 25% of his diet (the remainder freeze dried and frozen raw).

I've since removed canned food from the cats diet (stopped using LID about three weeks ago) so I can't comment on the LID rabbit now, per se. I think the recommendations above re: the use of a probiotic is good advice. I had both my cats on a probiotic  for a while and I plan to use it again (not for any stool issues but because a probiotic helps for greater nutrient absorption).

I wonder if the fat content in the LID rabbit may be an issue?  On another thread (in the raw forum actually, can't remember which one), I had posted a question about fat content for two FD raw products and the LID rabbit; despite rabbit being a leaner meat (than e.g., pork), a member noted that the dry matter analysis of Instinct's LID rabbit came up much higher than the FD raw pork commercial brand I'm using. She said the companies always add extra fat to the canned foods.

Anyway, I hope your situation with kitty resolves, I think a probiotic is a good idea, if you continue to have problems with the LID rabbit, I would definitely contact the company and report it. 

Good luck.

 

[mommytabby]

Hi LisaMarie12,
“Had IBD” means your Little Mikey cured IBD?! That’s so great!!

 How did you do it?! If you don't mind me asking.

Thank you for sharing your story. I was really glad to hear that Mickey did well on the rabbit LID. 

I cannot tell whether the LID Rabbit gives my cat soft stools. I have started a few new things at the almost same time; the Pred dosage has been cut in half, stopped giving her Miralax, and changed her diet. 

Thank you so much again for your help!

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Hi LisaMarie12,
“Had IBD” means your Little Mikey cured IBD?! That’s so great!!

 How did you do it?! If you don't mind me asking.

Thank you for sharing your story. I was really glad to hear that Mickey did well on the rabbit LID. 

I cannot tell whether the LID Rabbit gives my cat soft stools. I have started a few new things at the almost same time; the Pred dosage has been cut in half, stopped giving her Miralax, and changed her diet. 

Thank you so much again for your help!

Thanks for your enthusiasm MommyTabby!!

As far as I can tell, it was all diet related - Mikey is about 4.5 years old but up until about a year and a half ago or so, he had the most horrible stools as well as vomiting and was underweight. I never had him on any steroids (he is also FHV and steroids can weaken the immune system over time). The canned food both cats were on over the years (Ziwi Peak, Natural Balance and NV's Pride - all grain free) were fine for his sister, but Mikey still had stools like Play-Doh.

Despite adding a probiotic to all his meals, the stools improved but still like mounds along with vomiting although reduced.

When I switched over to Instinct  (mostly rabbit), his stools improved a little.  I was using Pride rabbit, which they loved, but there were still some stool problems with Mikey.  Then I started incorporating freeze dried raw into the cats diet (Primal). That became about 75% of the diet along with 25% canned -- Instinct rabbit. This combo worked very well - stools were greatly reduced in size, didn't have that putrid odor, reduced vomiting.

I just recently, up until several weeks ago, switched over to 100% Primal.  I'm still trying to work it out a bit, cats being cats, his sister is a pickier eater.

I attribute the improvement (or "cure") to the diet change.  The 75% FD along with %25 low carb and gum free (and carrageenan) free canned was the combo I needed. 

Although Pride is grain-free, it's higher in carbs and does contain both guar and xantham gums, although low at the bottom of the ingredient list.

And that's it - voila.  

I really do think that the carrageenan and gums in the other foods I was feeding, ZiwiPeak (which at that time contained carrageenan although they've now replaced it with "agar" - questionable), Nat'l Balance (carrageenan plus it's higher in carbs, even their LID diets "pea flour" mixed into the food), the carbs in Pride - didn't help his situation any.

Mikey still has other problems - FHV (I had to add lysine to his food for his eyes but not as much now as before the diet change) and a small neck wound that still remains a mystery, even to his vet, "idiopathic ulcerative dermatitis" but IBD is no longer an issue.

I plan on adding a probiotic to the cats diet again, just can't afford anything more than what I'm doing right now. 
 

Good luck to you.

 

[mommytabby]

Hi LisaMarie12,
That's AMAZING! You are an inspiration!!

 My cat’s vet told me that IBD cannot be cured…!! I hope the 100% Primal diet will work well on Mikey’s other problems’ too!!

I really hope Tabby can be cured, too! But, I can’t try a raw diet… at least for now. Because my cat’s vet is against raw diet. 

Tabby’s been a lot better lately, so we could lower the Pred dosage. But she still sometimes vomits and now she has soft stools… :’( For some reason, yesterday and today Tabby’s stools were better! I’m so happy about it!

I really appreciate you sharing your experience! 

 

 

[lisamarie12]

 
Hi LisaMarie12,
That's AMAZING! You are an inspiration!!

 My cat’s vet told me that IBD cannot be cured…!! I hope the 100% Primal diet will work well on Mikey’s other problems’ too!!

I really hope Tabby can be cured, too! But, I can’t try a raw diet… at least for now. Because my cat’s vet is against raw diet. 

Tabby’s been a lot better lately, so we could lower the Pred dosage. But she still sometimes vomits and now she has soft stools… :’( For some reason, yesterday and today Tabby’s stools were better! I’m so happy about it!

I really appreciate you sharing your experience! 

 

In theory IBD cannot be cured, but symptoms can be decreased or in my case with Mikey, he is asymptomatic on his current diet.

I respect your decision regarding how to feed your kitty, it's a personal choice as far as how comfortable someone feels regarding raw.   I think the use of a probiotic with Tabby, in addition to trying to stay away from gums, if possible, (and Instinct is gum free), is worth a try.

Have you used Tiki Cat Gourmet at all all? That particular line of TC is also gum free, although the gourmet line is mostly chicken but they do have a beef flavor, is Tabby allergic or have a food intolerance to chicken?   I realize it's difficult to find gum free canned foods although I think among the worst offenders for IBD kitties would be carrageenan and guar gum (guar gum being derived from the guar bean - hard to digest).

Edit: I just saw your earlier post and see that your vet recommended rabbit so I guess TC is out of the question.

This article from UC Davis may be helpful, below is an excerpt on IBD kitties and gums in food:

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ccah/local-assets/pdfs/Role_of_diet_feline health_Glasgow.pdf

The role of diet in IBD is difficult to study because there are many ingredients within each food that potentially contribute to the disease. A diet that may cause

problems in one cat may be perfectly fine in another. Nonetheless, it is reasonable to speculate that cats fed a "natural diet" are less likely to develop IBD than cats fed

"unnatural diets." The natural diet of cats does not contain wheat, milk, soybean, egg or many other ingredients commonly used. Nor does the

natural diet of cats contain additives and preservatives such as guar and xanthum gums as food stabilizers, propionic acid and sorbic acids as preservatives, or carrageenan (made from seaweed and shown to cause intestinal inflammation in certain circumstances) (Strombeck,1999). These ingredients, and many others, are added to commercial diets to improve their appearance to the pet owners and palatability to pets, but may result in an adverse reaction.

Thank you for your thoughts re: Mikey.  While it would be great if his Primal diet would take care of his other health problems, it's not a panacea unfortunately - but thank you.

Keep us posted with Tabby and enjoy your 4th.

 

[mommytabby]

Hi LisaMarie12,
I hope you are having a great 4th of July weekend! I always love fireworks, but not for my cats!! 

Thank you so much for your response and the link! 
Right, I need to avoid carrageenan, guar and etc. That’s why I like the Nature's Variety LID. I used to feed the LID turkey, but tabby had hard stools. I kind of thought that montmorillonite clay was causing it, but I guess I was wrong. 

Tabby had loose stools and smelly poop today… I don’t know why her stools were better in the past few days. I'll wait a bit to see. 

No, I haven’t used Tiki Cat Gourmet. Aww thanks for checking my posts!

 

[psychomama]

A few months back I posted that I was afraid of raw and FD. However I got a sample of Primal turkey and Psycho loved it . I sprinkle some on his Orijen and also feed it rehydrated. I recently purchased S & C duck duck and he loved that too . He is still eating some canned so his diet is varied and I m thinking that s good. After reading all the posts on nutrition on this site I am learning all about feline nutrition and I am so glad I found this site.

 

[lisahe]

A few months back I posted that I was afraid of raw and FD. However I got a sample of Primal turkey and Psycho loved it . I sprinkle some on his Orijen and also feed it rehydrated. I recently purchased S & C duck duck and he loved that too . He is still eating some canned so his diet is varied and I m thinking that s good. After reading all the posts on nutrition on this site I am learning all about feline nutrition and I am so glad I found this site.

That's great to hear! Our cats also eat a raw/canned diet (about 60% raw, much of it Primal, the rest canned) and do very well on it.

 

[lisamarie12]

A few months back I posted that I was afraid of raw and FD. However I got a sample of Primal turkey and Psycho loved it . I sprinkle some on his Orijen and also feed it rehydrated. I recently purchased S & C duck duck and he loved that too . He is still eating some canned so his diet is varied and I m thinking that s good. After reading all the posts on nutrition on this site I am learning all about feline nutrition and I am so glad I found this site.

Aw, good for you, that's wonderful!  Both Primal and S&C are fine products.  I've had better luck with Primal as far as palatability but I know many cats enjoy S&C.  We've been using Primal now for almost 2 years, the cats always enjoy the food, turkey is among the favs.

I'm glad this is food arrangement is working out for you and a I agree - TCS is a very useful site, I learn something new everyday!

 

[jclark]

I'm not happy about this development. My three maine coons like the Pork but with this formula change the Dog version no longer contains taurine so I can no  longer save money by buying the larger 13 oz cans.