Raw diet for health issues...

[jlgagne]

I have a 4 year old male cat with interstitial cystitis (stress induced by breaking his foot I believe). He has abnormal stools in the sense that they are fully formed but a weird spongy, almost springy texture. His stools have been examined and he's parasite free, and the vets haven't been able to rectify the issue. He was suspected of being allergic to chicken based foods so he switched duck, which has subsided his vomiting but his stools remain this weird texture..

My 2 year old female cat has regular bowel movements only ever 2-2.5 days. She pees normally. She's on a special gastro fibre food but still doesn't poop daily.

They're both indoor only and I keep them up to date on vaccines.

My question is, should I try raw feeding? The vets highly advise against it and there's no holistic vet in this area. I would need to do a prepackaged raw because I can't make it myself.

 

[LTS3]

Many vets advise against feeding raw but you really don't need to follow the vet's advice unless your cat has a medical condition like kidney issues that requires a pretty strict diet.

I think your cats will be ok on a raw diet for urinary issues. Some cats don't poop every day which is perfectly fine so don't worry about your female cat

Pooping every other day or so is fine for some cats. As long as your cat poops and isn't constipated or having other bowel issues, don't worry.

Commerical raw is the eaiest place to start for many. Are you looking at frozen raw or freeze dried raw? Or something like dehydrated or air dried raw? Nature's Variety Instinct and Stella and Chewy's are good for both frozen and feeze dried raw. Rad Cat is only frozen raw. There are other brands of frozen and freeze dried raw out there.  The Honest Kitchen and Addiction are dehydrated raw. Ziwi Peak and The Real Meat are air dried raw.

Making raw from scratch is really easy if you use a pre mix

No grinding necessary at all but some chopping of whole cuts of meat into cat sizsed pieces may be needed. Never buy pre ground meat from the supermarket as that may contain harmful bacteria mixed throughout (people cook the meat so that kills bacteria). The basic instructions are take 2 lbs of raw meat (chopped into pieces or use a chub of ground raw meat from the pet store or retputable suplier), add the correct amoutn of pre mix, add the recommended amount of water, stir until mixed, then portion out into serving sizes. The pre mix contains all the vitamins and minerals a cat needs. Popular pre mixes include TC Feline, Alnutrin, Better In The Raw, and the new EZ Complete.

 

[anmllvr]

I have my cats on a raw diet due to one cat having IBD.  My vet was very concerned about this.  But I have  very good vet who was willing to listen and look further into any information I was giving her.  Most of the time vets are worried about things like Salmonella and e.coli.  They believe that the likelihood of one's cat contracting those bacteria are higher in raw food and if your cat gets those, it can be a very bad, potentially deadly ordeal.  And it can happen, so you have to really weigh the pros and cons of a raw diet. 

Vets also receive very little nutrition training.  And most of those courses are designed by cat food companies -which don't exactly have an unbiased opinion about what a cat can/should eat. 

If you have a good vet who is willing to investigate further, there are some great articles and even a post on All Feline Hospital's website about raw (in that case it's about IBD).  I was able to give those to my vet and she investigated them-particularly the articles from other vets.  Even went so far as to investigate the vets themselves-are they board certified, etc. 

In the end, she said she was willing to be more open to the idea.  And she said our goal was to improve my cat's quality of life-so she would help however. If that meant I wanted to try raw, she couldn't completely recommend it, but if something happened, she would support me and help solve the problems-and wouldn't say "I told you so."

Raw has been a godsend to my cats.  No more IBD.  The poop is different looking and they go more like every day and half, rather than daily-though that sometimes happens.  Several commercial diets (which I use) are high-pressure pasteurized, in hopes of limiting the possibility of salmonella or e.coli. 

Basically, I write all this to say that if you have an open minded vet, you might be able to get her to be more open to the idea of raw.  If your cat's only issue is frequency of elimination, then raw may help and you probably don't have to worry that her immune system is compromised leading to an increased risk of salmonella or e.coli.  Sometimes raw can cause constipation so research that too just to cover your bases. 

 

[nicole auletto]

I also have an IBD cat and want to transition to raw. It's so wonderful to hear how much this helps other IBD kitties.
What commercial food are you using? I ask because I get a little nervous because of the IBD.

Thanks!

 

[anmllvr]

I also have an IBD cat and want to transition to raw. It's so wonderful to hear how much this helps other IBD kitties.
What commercial food are you using? I ask because I get a little nervous because of the IBD.

Thanks!

I think I answered this on another thread, but just in case...

I feel Nature's Variety Raw Instinct Chicken Bites.  My vet was very nervous about raw food due to the IBD inflammation and the general worry vets have about raw food and bacteria.    I was searching on-line for information about IBD treatment and came across All Feline Hospital in Lincoln, NE.  Their website comes up if you google their name. The website mentioned some success was seen with raw food diets-sometimes it took care of the IBD completely and sometimes it improved quality of life, but some level of medication was still needed to fully manage it.

I called that hospital to see what brand they were talking about as it also mentioned that they used one that was HPP (High Pressure Pasteurized).  They told me Nature's Variety Raw Instinct. 

I have a wonderful veterinarian.  She was very skeptical.  But I gave her this info, the website, and anything else I could find on raw diets and IBD and she looked it over and even looked into the the vets at All Feline Hospital to see if they were board certified, years of experience, etc. 

In the end, she said she couldn't 100% endorse the diet as she couldn't find any studies to support it, but lots of anecdotal evidence.  She said we were a team with the goal to improve Isabel's life, and if I wanted to try it, she would support me and help me if any problems arose (in other words, she wouldn't say "I told you so, " just work on fixing the problem.

If you can't find Nature's Variety, the brand Stella and Chewy's, as well as Primal, also does HPP.  Primal doesn't do it for all its flavors and I'm not sure if Stella and Chewy's does it across the board, so you might have to research those. 

Its tough to decide what to do.  The first day Isabel was on 100% raw was the worst diarrhea I'd seen in months, if not years.  It was awful, and all I could think about was that I'd just given my cat salmonella or e. coli and I was killing her.  I had to remind myself that her system is iffy and I gave it one more day.  She never had diarrhea again. 

I would definitely look into All Feline Hospital's webpage on IBD in cats and see if that helps.