Best diets for cats with IBD/Small Cell Lymphoma?

emilyann

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I've read articles that say if you find a food that doesn't cause any symptoms then stick with it, but I've read others that say you should vary the foods and rotate the proteins on different days. My cat Buddy is currently eating canned Nature's Variety Instinct limited Ingredient diet turkey formula and it's working well with him, but all the foods I've tried in the past worked well right up to the point when they didn't. So I'm thinking maybe rotating the proteins is key? The NVI LID turkey is grain, gluten, chicken, beef, egg and dairy free. It also doesn't have carrageenan, xanthan gum or guar gum. He doesn't like the LID Duck, but I'm struggling to find other LID foods that are high quality. Blue Buffalo has LID foods, but they are filled with other ingredients that are known to cause intestinal inflammation. 

Do you have a cat with IBD/SCL or another illness that affects their stomach? What brands have you found that works for you? I'm also looking into refrigerated/frozen raw food like Nature's Variety Instinct Raw rabbit, although I have not tried these yet. I'd love to hear from those who have!

SIDE NOTE: I just thought I'd mention that when my cat started having some bad flareups of his IBD in the beginning I really started to look into cat foods and species appropriate diets and my mind was absolutely BLOWN. So many companies sell food claiming that they are for sensitive stomachs or hypoallergenic and yet they are filled with ingredients that are either KNOWN to cause inflammation or filled with low grade by-product garbage!  Hills Prescription and Royal Canin Prescription pretty much own all vets making it impossible to find one that's knowledgeable in cat nutrition.  Finding a high quality, species appropriate cat food should not be the equivalent to trying to find a needle in a haystack that's the size of a freaking mountain! 
 

zoneout

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Yes, I know what you mean. It is difficult to get past the marketing hype/spin to find good canned food. So many people get frustrated and decide to make their own food so at least they know what their cats are eating. Once you get the hang of it it isn't hard and actually can be less expensive than canned. And definitely healthier.
 

jcat

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It's tough to give advice because what's best really depends on the individual cat. Our Mogli has neutrophilic IBD (diagnosed by biopsy), and I worked with an animal nutritionist to find what helped him the most; it took months to get him stabilized, and he's still had two short flares in just over a year, presumably prompted by his stealing "forbidden food" like bread. We live in Europe, so I can't recommend brands, but what has worked for him is a rotation of low-fat, grain-free, single-protein canned food. He gets a couple of pieces of grain-free limited ingredient dry (rabbit & potato or horse & sweet potato) between meals to slow down his digestion, and 2 - 3 (non-supplemented) cooked meat meals a week. He eats four times a day (2 main meals and two snacks). The only treats he gets are freeze-dried meat.

We started out with just one protein and very gradually added others. A new protein was added only after he'd tolerated the prior one for a month or two. He can eat rabbit, kangaroo, reindeer, horse, duck, goat, veal and turkey as long as they're not mixed; we stick to just one protein a day. His main problems seem to be chicken and any sort of grain. He can't tolerate raw food at all (it passes through him in a matter of minutes), and the vet believes his problems actually started with an EHEC infection (diagnosed when he was almost a year old and treated with antibiotics and nutraceuticals) caused by raw food.

The shelter had had him eating Royal Canin Intestinal dry food, which didn't help the problem at all. We switched him to a German prescription food and later added two commercial brands, also from Germany.

If you're interested in making your own cat food, you can start with the "stickies" at the top of the Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food forum.
 
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bonepicker

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I've read articles that say if you find a food that doesn't cause any symptoms then stick with it, but I've read others that say you should vary the foods and rotate the proteins on different days. My cat Buddy is currently eating canned Nature's Variety Instinct limited Ingredient diet turkey formula and it's working well with him, but all the foods I've tried in the past worked well right up to the point when they didn't. So I'm thinking maybe rotating the proteins is key? The NVI LID turkey is grain, gluten, chicken, beef, egg and dairy free. It also doesn't have carrageenan, xanthan gum or guar gum. He doesn't like the LID Duck, but I'm struggling to find other LID foods that are high quality. Blue Buffalo has LID foods, but they are filled with other ingredients that are known to cause intestinal inflammation. 

Do you have a cat with IBD/SCL or another illness that affects their stomach? What brands have you found that works for you? I'm also looking into refrigerated/frozen raw food like Nature's Variety Instinct Raw rabbit, although I have not tried these yet. I'd love to hear from those who have!



SIDE NOTE: I just thought I'd mention that when my cat started having some bad flareups of his IBD in the beginning I really started to look into cat foods and species appropriate diets and my mind was absolutely BLOWN. So many companies sell food claiming that they are for sensitive stomachs or hypoallergenic and yet they are filled with ingredients that are either KNOWN to cause inflammation or filled with low grade by-product garbage!  Hills Prescription and Royal Canin Prescription pretty much own all vets making it impossible to find one that's knowledgeable in cat nutrition.  Finding a high quality, species appropriate cat food should not be the equivalent to trying to find a needle in a haystack that's the size of a freaking mountain! 
Does your cat vomit or have the runs or both.
 
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bonepicker

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My cat eats rotated foods. My cat has no problem with chicken, pork, rabbit, or duck. She can't handle grain or dry food or fish, beef, venison or turkey. I rotate daily tiki cat puka puka chicken. Weruva Peking Ducken, Nutro natural choice chunky chicken loaf, Natures variety instinct rabbit, Pride by instinct Rockstar Rabbit, Merrick duck pate and Merrick Chicken pate (both have carageenan but seems ok in rotation) and Natural Balance Catatouille Stew and Devine Duos by wellness Chicken and duck flavor. These are the flavors she likes and does not vomit at all since the dry and grain foods and fish were pulled from her diet. She was never officially diagnosed as to why she vomited daily. She also went outside before. I stopped letting her out, removed grain and dry, and dewormed her and started using revolution instead of frontline. I suspect she had ibd as well as food intolerances.
 
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I agree with jcat that it's tough to give advice because intestinal problems seem to be so individual. That said, reading what works for others can be very helpful. My male cat Tim does not have IBD or SCL, though he has had severe intestinal issues and he is still very sensitive to this day. I believe his problems were aggravated by additives in canned food, so I avoid carrageenan and gums with him.

Tim currently eats three proteins and we try to stick to one protein per meal, though he may eat up to three proteins in a day. He eats breakfast, dinner, and a bedtime snack. Because Tim starts to produce a lot of stomach acid when mealtime is approaching and he's barfed if we feed dinner much later than normal, I sometimes give a bit of freeze-dried turkey breast to absorb the acid about 5 minutes before feeding his main dinner. If I know we won't be home until later, I set up an automatic feeder with ice packs and a small amount of canned food to hold him until we get home. Tim also eats very fast, so I have elevated his feeding bowl and I split his two main meals, breakfast and dinner, into two servings each and feed them 30-60 minutes apart.

Regarding food, following is our current approach. I feed him 65% of his calories in raw, the remaining canned. I want to start gradually adding other proteins, but I am out of freezer space and need to buy a small freezer first. I've been looking on craigslist and no luck so far. :(
  • Breakfast is rabbit. Tim is not enthusiastic about raw rabbit, though he loves canned rabbit. So he eats a mix of Nature's Variety Instinct canned rabbit, a tiny amount of Smallbatch frozen raw rabbit (because it is just meat and organs and I'm not sure it's balanced), and either Primal Pronto frozen raw rabbit or Stella & Chewy frozen raw rabbit. He eats the Primal and S&C on alternating days- there are elements of both I like. I initially tried mixing the two, but he had trouble with that. Alternating them and adding the plain meat plus the canned seems to work well. The canned contains pork liver, but he does okay as long as he does not eat too much. He currently eats about 1.4 ounce of canned rabbit each day and that seems to be a good amount. The rest, up to 3 ounces total, is raw.
  • Dinner is turkey. Tim eats 2.5 ounces of Rad Cat raw turkey, which he loves.
  • Bedtime snack is either canned turkey or pork, about .7 to 1 ounce. I feed Lotus Just Juicy stew, and alternate the turkey and pork. This is shredded and very lean, and is also pretty limited ingredient. The cats love it.
  • If I need to set up an automatic feeder with canned food, I use Nature's Variety Instinct LID turkey. But I have to drain off some of the liquid (fat) because Tim is sensitive to too much fat.
Tim has a bad habit of stealing Abby's food, so I am very careful what I feed her. For breakfast, she eats a blend of canned Nature's Variety Instinct rabbit plus canned ZiwiPeak rabbit and lamb. For dinner, she eats a blend of canned Nature's Variety Instinct LID turkey and canned Pure Vita turkey. She eats the same bedtime snack as Tim. And the same food in the automatic feeder.

For snacks, we use Pure Bites freeze dried turkey breast, Wysong dream treats in rabbit, and, on occasion, Cloud Star Buddy Biscuits in turkey and cheddar- if I feed too many to Tim, his stomach gets upset. Tim eats no chicken and very little fish. The only fish he eats is part of one other occasional treat- up to 1 T of Orijen Regional Red dry food a couple of times a week.

Tim takes supplements daily to help his digestion. He gets a probiotic each morning with his first breakfast bowl (Proviable DC). Then he has small amount of "hairball blend" added to his bedtime snack. The "hairball blend" consists of psyllium, slippery elm, and marshmallow in proportions similar to Vets Best Hairball Remedy- the other stuff in that supplement upset his stomach, so I give him the active ingredients only. Abby also gets this blend.

Tim is doing very well right now and has not had a flare since early August. This is very good, considering his recent history. We are hoping, now that he is settled into a food routine and I know how to add other foods, he will not have a flare for a long, long time.
 

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I also gave vets best hairball relief digestive aids (it has slippery elm and psyllium) now I no longer have to after changing diet.
 

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I have a kitty with IBD and I went the steroid route.  He still has issues with some foods.  The one big issue you could have with feeding just one protein is the development of an allergy, that is what happened with my IBD kitty.  I fed him chicken almost exclusively for a long period of time and he developed an allergy to it which showed up as a yeast infection in his ears.  He can't tolerate beef, never has been able to, so the chicken allergy did make things difficult especially since a lot of commercial foods use either chicken or beef liver.  Chicken and beef liver are also what is commonly available at supermarkets and is what is in most premixes for making food so that does definitely limit the choices.

I would try another protein and try to develop a rotation with as many proteins that you can find that your kitty is able to eat.
 
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emilyann

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@jcat  Thanks for the advice! So it sounds like you stick with one protein for the day and then rotate it to another protein the next? The last protein Buddy was on was rabbit and he tolerated that for a long time, but then he had a flare up. The food was canned Royal Canin pea & rabbit though so whether it was all the crap that RC puts in their foods or if he developed an allergy to the rabbit, I'm not sure. I do know that my fiance accidentally fed him a can of the Pride duck food and only a few hours later he had diarreha, which resolved as soon as he got back on the turkey. In the US I know they don't offer horse and at least in Michigan they don't offer reindeer, kangaroo or goat (that I know of). I need to do more research though and see what other options are available in my area from the non-chain stores. 
 
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emilyann

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@bonepicker  At the time of his last flare up he had diarrehea for 1 1/2 weeks. He did throw up, but only twice and it was at the very beginning of the flare up. He's gained weight and is tolerating his current food just fine, but my worry is that if I don't rotate his proteins then he'll develop an allergy to the Turkey and as of right now I haven't found another food that I'd be comfortable feeding him. Everything just seems like it has so much unnecessary junk in it. 
 
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emilyann

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@AbbyNTim  I didn't know that Stella & Chewy's carried frozen raw foods, unless it's the freeze dried food that you're referring to? Buddy liked that but I had gotten the sample sizes and one of them caused a flare up and I'm not sure which one so I stopped getting them. I should look back into it though because I know they are a pretty good brand. I'll look into the others that you mentioned as well and see if they may be a good option for my cat to try. I have another cat, Mila, who is addicted to dry food (trying to slowly switch her but it is IMPOSSIBLE) and Buddy will try and steal her food too so I have to be careful with that. I try to feed her in smaller portions more often so that I know she's not leaving any behind for him to eat. 

Thank you for offering your advice! 
 

bonepicker

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I originally thought different proteins made her sick but I think it was grain and fish. She has no problem with pork which is in the Pride line which is by Instinct like natures variety. It is not as dense as NV and my cat prefers it. Try the rockstar rabbit which contains pork or the daredevil duck which contains turkey. They are more like bits in a lose pate with sauce. They are very close to raw.
 
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denice

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Wild Calling is available in some pet stores, I don't think it's sold in the big box stores though.  It does have guar gum and Brewers yeast in it.  It also doesn't identify the source for the liver.  It is available in some unusual proteins like buffalo and pheasant.  They do use the same processing facility as Evangers  which has had some issues in the past.  http://wildcalling.com/
 

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I've read articles that say if you find a food that doesn't cause any symptoms then stick with it, but I've read others that say you should vary the foods and rotate the proteins on different days. My cat Buddy is currently eating canned Nature's Variety Instinct limited Ingredient diet turkey formula and it's working well with him, but all the foods I've tried in the past worked well right up to the point when they didn't. So I'm thinking maybe rotating the proteins is key? The NVI LID turkey is grain, gluten, chicken, beef, egg and dairy free. It also doesn't have carrageenan, xanthan gum or guar gum. He doesn't like the LID Duck, but I'm struggling to find other LID foods that are high quality. Blue Buffalo has LID foods, but they are filled with other ingredients that are known to cause intestinal inflammation.

Do you have a cat with IBD/SCL or another illness that affects their stomach? What brands have you found that works for you? I'm also looking into refrigerated/frozen raw food like Nature's Variety Instinct Raw rabbit, although I have not tried these yet. I'd love to hear from those who have!

SIDE NOTE: I just thought I'd mention that when my cat started having some bad flareups of his IBD in the beginning I really started to look into cat foods and species appropriate diets and my mind was absolutely BLOWN. So many companies sell food claiming that they are for sensitive stomachs or hypoallergenic and yet they are filled with ingredients that are either KNOWN to cause inflammation or filled with low grade by-product garbage! Hills Prescription and Royal Canin Prescription pretty much own all vets making it impossible to find one that's knowledgeable in cat nutrition. Finding a high quality, species appropriate cat food should not be the equivalent to trying to find a needle in a haystack that's the size of a freaking mountain!
OMG, I know what u mean!!! After 6 months of chronic diarrhea & 3 vets have FINALLY found an amazing vet AND a POSSIBLE diagnosis (still need the ultasound to confirm). My poor baby has Lymphoma...when I feed her ANYTHING with chicken (or chicken fat) she EXPLODES!! Have 3 kitties, one prone to bladder stones so was feeding them ALL the Royal Canin s/o. Problem with that is it's filled with sodium so that they drink more water (I should've paid more ATTENTION!!!!) Then I give them wet food at night as a 'treat.' She can tolerate fish just fine but chicken not at ALL. Couldn't BELIEVE that nearly ALL the dry foods have CHICKEN!! I wanted to start them all on a raw (cooked a touch to kill bacteria) diet but guess that's out the window). He said NO fat either. Has anyone had luck with a home-cooked rabbit diet? Was thinking duck might be too fatty. She's lost so much weight so I want to be real careful & make the right choice. Was having no luck with 1st 2 vets. All tests came back normal... 2nd one didn't do a THING. Said MAYBE it was IBD. I researched & found that some have luck with Metronidazole (sp?) & asked him to call some in. He did but had it compounded with CHICKEN (really??!!!) & that sent her into another episode! I put her on a probiotic (new vet said THAT saved her...) Anyway, he gave her a steroid shot & booked the ultrasound so fingers crossed. Sorry for the book here
 
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emilyann

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J jmwentzel Were you able to find a food that works and did your doctor confirm a diagnosis? Buddy would take metronidazole when his IBD/lymphoma would flare up, it was only for a few days each time, but to manage it when it wasn't flared up I used Prednisolone.
 
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