a food question

Avatar for dink4238
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
a food question
6
Sun, 05-22-2005 - 9:47pm
When I took Marlee to the vet this weekend he said I might try a low residue food. What is that? She is on Iams kitten dry food. Those with sensitive stomaches what do you use. Any cat I have had before ate what ever I bought with no problem. It did not even have to be the same brand. What do you think?
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-26-2000
In reply to: dink4238
Mon, 05-23-2005 - 12:55am

Hello,

I don't know the particulars of what kind of problems you're having with Marlee. Therefore, I will just share with you my experiences and what I've learned in dealing with my two kitties who have IBD.

I went through a miserable 9 months feeding any number of so called prescription diets for sensitive stomachs as both kitties had terrible diarrhea and one vomits as well. At one point we even treated for giardia only to find out that they didn't have it and it was yeast spores mistaken for giardi(apparently this is easy to do). So I was told to add more fiber to their diet. I started adding canned pumpkin and things improved slightly but then started backsliding again with the diarrhea. But the whole time I was feeding dry food forms of the various diets.

I was frustrated and started doing my own research as we were getting no where fast. What I learned was a lot of what I suspected as I've worked in the pet industry and had been aware of the poor quality of pet foods for a lot of years. Unfortunately, most veterinarians like most doctors know very little about species appropriate nutrition and like doctors who push the prescription of whatever pharmaceutical rep is courting them I feel vet's in many cases do the same with prescription food. For example, Science Diet is everywhere and it is absolutely the worst. In fact my vet even had to agree that it made my one cat who had CRF worse! Cats don't need prescription food if your feeding a high quality canned diet. What they need is MEAT as that is species appropriate and attempts to be as close to what they would typcially eat in the wild.

I feed only premium canned food with high quality protein and NO grains. Being obligate carnivores, what they need is meat not cereal. In nature a cat wouldn't eat grain. Now short of buying small rodents for them that pretty much leaves canned food or a raw diet. Dry food is cereal based(corn,wheat, rice) and generally consists of low quality protein, fillers, preservatives and any number of other additives. The truth is the dry food is anything but healthy for a cat as it does not compare nor reflect a cat's natural diet. The natural prey diet of the cat contains between 65%-75% water. The cat, having evolved on the plains of Africa, has adapted to quench her water requirements entirely on the moisture content in her prey.

Due to its nature, commercial dry cat food contains no more than 10% moisture. Contrast the 10% moisture in dry food to 75 - 78 % moisture in canned food and you can see that canned comes far closer to be a species appropriate diet than dry. With of course the ultimate diet being a homemade raw diet but that's not possible in many cases.

In the wild, your cat would be eating a high protein, high-moisture content, meat-based diet, with a moderate level of fat and with only approximately 3-5 percent of her diet consisting of carbohydrates. The average dry food contains 35-50 percent carbohydrates. Some of the cheaper dry foods contain even higher levels. No wonder so many cat's that are fed strictly dry food end up with FLUTD's, IBD, diabetes and/or end up obese.
Our kitties are simply not designed to utilize that high a carb load and therefore very little gets used as energy and ends up being stored as fat. Additionally, since they aren't designed to eat carbs they don't properly digest them well, which leads to a host of gastrointestinal issues such as IBD.

To illustrate the differences in quality here are the first 8 ingredients in Eukanuba Low Residue dry food: Chicken By-Product Meal(Not even real meat but a byproduct meal), Corn Meal(grain and a highly allergic one to boot), Corn Grits(corn is a known allergen), Chicken, Fish Meal, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product

Contrast that with the ingredients from Nature's Variety Rabbit: Rabbit, Meat Broth, Rabbit Liver, Carrots, Peas, Egg Product, Tricalcium Phosphate, Lecithin

You tell me which you would rather eat if you were a cat. I know what I would choose as I myself like to avoid processed foods and eat real whole food.

I would recommend eliminating the dry food entirely and feed her twice a day a high quality canned food. Give her what she will eat in 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes pick up the dish and she gets fed at the next meal. Make sure you have fresh water out but don't be surprised when she drinks very little of it. When feeding canned they get their water from the food.

Long story short, I did this in July 2003. I pulled all dry food up and now feed strictly premium canned food, what they will eat in 30 minutes twice a day. Right now we're using Nature's Variety Prairie Rabbit and Prairie Lamb. I can report that within 24 hours of eliminating the dry food the diarrhea was gone, NEVER to return! Now my one kitty does still vomit occasionally, which is why I feed the novel proteins only and he's being treated by a veterinary acupuncturist and things are going very well. We have never had an issue with weight or FLUTD's and they are thriving with shiny coats, bright eyes, good teeth(yes it is a myth that you have to feed dry to keep their teeth clean). Their teeth were designed to tear flesh, not eat meat flavored cereal. By high quality I mean foods like Wellness, Natures Variety, Petguard, Innova, Merrick. Foods with either NO grains, or very limited grains and ingredients.

Another thing that is bad for kitties is to leave food out all day. In the wild, cat's have to catch prey so therefore they wouldn't be eating or grazing all day long. It's work catching your own food and they're lucky if they eat once a day. Eating twice a day would be a luxury. If cats are constantly eating they don't get the fasting periods they need for their bodies to cleanse and repair itself as they are constantly focused on digestion. It's also a prime reason cats are finicky eaters. Finicky eaters aren't born, they are made by their owners. I equate dry cat food to "kitty crack".

If you experiment in this area and try it I think you will be pleasantly surprised in her over all health.

Good luck, Lynn

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: dink4238
Mon, 05-23-2005 - 6:49am

WOW, do you come to the hospital where I work?

Cat =^..^=
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-26-2000
In reply to: dink4238
Mon, 05-23-2005 - 7:10am

Well, I don't think I come to your hospital are you in Kansas? :)

Seriously, I wish more vet's would realize how important this is. My vet was never against it but just never suggested it and I had to do the research and seek the opinion of a holistic vet when I made the change. Interestingly enough, since I made the switch and there was such a dramatic change in their health and condition my vet's office now recommends this as well. Especially for their IBD patients. The vet who does the acupuncture is so on board with it and she actually comes to the house for the treatments. She believes that the pet's are so much more relaxed in a home setting and she only makes house calls.

I know my boys are the same as your's they absolutely LOVE their food and they are so much healthier for it. I know some kitties love their crunchies, mine did too but it for the most part is just junk food. It's kind of like if you had a child would you only feed him boxed macaroni and cheese. While it may sustain life, it's certainly doesn't come close to being a nutritionally sound diet. Feeding nothing but dry food to cats is the same thing to me.

Interesting how people compare dogs to cats and think that what is fine for one is good for the other. As you know, cats are true carnivores and with that genetic makeup they really need to eat MEAT. On another board, a poster posted that her vet suggested that she may have to use one of the Atkins-like prescription foods for her cat. Can you belive that? What kind of vet says something like that? I posted that I find it funny that any cat food is now referred to as "Atkins-like" prescription food for cats. Cats don't need prescription food if your feeding a high quality canned diet. Being obligate carnivores, cat's were "atkins" before "atkins" was cool so to speak.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that more vet's are finally seeing the light! Keep spreading the word and the good news, that if you give your cat's what they truly need you can help prevent some of the most challanging health problems they face IBD, FLUTD, diabetes and obesity.

Take care, Lynn

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: dink4238
Mon, 05-23-2005 - 8:21am

We've been making this transition since about 2 summers ago when my boss attended a herbal seminar at Tufts University.

Cat =^..^=
Avatar for cl_lcni
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: dink4238
Mon, 05-23-2005 - 12:37pm

That's some great information Lynn.


Photobucket

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-26-2000
In reply to: dink4238
Mon, 05-23-2005 - 5:39pm

Actually, I had very little trouble making the switch as I presented the food as being very "yummy" and despite how much they loved their "crunchies" they ate. I had read up on how to make the switch and realized that I was more determined to have them eat healthier food than they were to not eat it. Truthfully, neither of them put up any resistence to the canned. Now I have tried to introduce raw but truthfully only half heartedly as that is really the optimum diet for them, with high quality grain free canned being a really good acceptable alternative. I brought home some samples of prepackaged frozen raw once and they didn't eat it but I truly believe that if I made it myself they would eat it. If they hadn't done well on the canned I would have continued down the path of raw, but since they are thriving on it I haven't pushed the issue. I have a very small kitchen and just don't have the counter top area to use with a meat grinder, etc. I firmly believe that any cat can be transitioned to canned or raw if done properly.

I started with Petguard Chicken and Wheat Germ and over time we have served different varieties of Petguard(Whole Foods or Wild Oats), Wellness, Innova and California Natural(although this one contains rice it is a still better than dry),Merrick(we tried this and I know some cats who love it but mine didn't although it's of acceptable quality), Nature's Variety(all of these last group I've found at independent pet store and the last one at natural holistic pet stores, not chains).

I made the switch to Nature's Variety when my little guy who vomits had cleared up for quite a while and then started vomitting more frequently. So we went the route of the endoscopic exam to confirm the IBD diagnosis and he does have mild IBD. My vet and I both agree that he is far to young to start on prednisone which is the drug of choice for IBD and that a slight tweek to their diet was in order. He wanted me to feed "novel proteins" (ie, something he'd not been exposed to in typical pet food). I wasn't about to use IVD which is the prescription diet with novel protein as I don't feel it's very good quality so I found Nature's Variety in my area and we settled primarily on the rabbit, lamb and occasionally duck. Rabbit is their absolute fav! We are also doing acupuncture treatments for the IBD and he's doing much better.

To locate the various foods, I use their websites as almost all of them have a store locator. I have even ordered Wellness from Pet Food Direct website at super prices when they were having sales.

Good luck, Lynn