Hi all,
I'm feeling like I'm being led to go against my understandings and dare I say it, 'beliefs', re cat food. As background, I'm 90% raw, feeding frankenprey, with one canned meal a day (we have 4 meals a day). This past week my new kitten has had a tummy upset, and since 2am this morning, has vomited and squirty diahorread a LOT. I took her in to the vet.
Really, I think I'm at that low ebb when a pet is sick, and feeling like nothing I'm doing is working (have been feeding cooked to help), so I needed to trust a vet (a feline specialist no less)...who then recommends I feed the 'prescription' diets for sensitive tummies. Wow, talk about getting you when you are just worried and sad! And yet, my poor kitten must eat, and was refusing to eat cooked meat (she's 'on strike' and bored - so I gave in to the loved raw last night after 40hrs of being fine; the result was bad).
Gah.
I just don't believe these prescription diets, having read all the ingredients, are at all gentle or conducive to delivering nutrition. And yet, I bought 4 pouches of the damn food! (And am secretly very pleased that Ava refused to eat the first type...she has instead eaten four little pieces of cooked rabbit. I hope she keeps them down).
SO, do I just need a 'you're doing good, mum'? Or am I fundamentally wrong in my raw understandings/beliefs?
I did ask the vet what it was that made the food gentle - the answer was 'they are just specifically formulated to be kind to the digestive system'. That aint the kind of marketing one-liner I want when I request INFO (I think I must also be a bit angry, lol!). Has anyone got INFO to help me in my quandry?
Oh, the other thing was she said probiotics in yoghurt are different to the probiotics a feline system needs. I know enough about the human system to say we are ALL different and the probiotics in one yoghurt may not suit your particular flora. So this might be true - anyone got the study? Still on the yoghurt thing, even if it wouldn't necessarily help, I asked if it would harm. My vet went the lactose route on me. Now, I would love some learned person to tell me I'm right. I am under a human dietician for fructose malabsorbtion (which also includes lactose) for myself...and the research says that yoghurt and hard cheese are fine for lactose as it is burned up in the fermentation process. So I trotted out that gem to the vet and she said 'we HOPE they are MOSTLY used up'. Well, truely, what is it? If human diets get the ok for NO LACTOSE in the yoghurt from a DIETICIAN, surely this is true???
Should I lose faith in my feline specialist vet in matters of nutrition? She is very good in testing and medicine. I am currently getting a PCR test done on a stool sample, so hoping to get a healthy kitten soon! In the meantime, feeding is all a bit of a muddle.
I'm feeling like I'm being led to go against my understandings and dare I say it, 'beliefs', re cat food. As background, I'm 90% raw, feeding frankenprey, with one canned meal a day (we have 4 meals a day). This past week my new kitten has had a tummy upset, and since 2am this morning, has vomited and squirty diahorread a LOT. I took her in to the vet.
Really, I think I'm at that low ebb when a pet is sick, and feeling like nothing I'm doing is working (have been feeding cooked to help), so I needed to trust a vet (a feline specialist no less)...who then recommends I feed the 'prescription' diets for sensitive tummies. Wow, talk about getting you when you are just worried and sad! And yet, my poor kitten must eat, and was refusing to eat cooked meat (she's 'on strike' and bored - so I gave in to the loved raw last night after 40hrs of being fine; the result was bad).
Gah.
I just don't believe these prescription diets, having read all the ingredients, are at all gentle or conducive to delivering nutrition. And yet, I bought 4 pouches of the damn food! (And am secretly very pleased that Ava refused to eat the first type...she has instead eaten four little pieces of cooked rabbit. I hope she keeps them down).
SO, do I just need a 'you're doing good, mum'? Or am I fundamentally wrong in my raw understandings/beliefs?
I did ask the vet what it was that made the food gentle - the answer was 'they are just specifically formulated to be kind to the digestive system'. That aint the kind of marketing one-liner I want when I request INFO (I think I must also be a bit angry, lol!). Has anyone got INFO to help me in my quandry?
Oh, the other thing was she said probiotics in yoghurt are different to the probiotics a feline system needs. I know enough about the human system to say we are ALL different and the probiotics in one yoghurt may not suit your particular flora. So this might be true - anyone got the study? Still on the yoghurt thing, even if it wouldn't necessarily help, I asked if it would harm. My vet went the lactose route on me. Now, I would love some learned person to tell me I'm right. I am under a human dietician for fructose malabsorbtion (which also includes lactose) for myself...and the research says that yoghurt and hard cheese are fine for lactose as it is burned up in the fermentation process. So I trotted out that gem to the vet and she said 'we HOPE they are MOSTLY used up'. Well, truely, what is it? If human diets get the ok for NO LACTOSE in the yoghurt from a DIETICIAN, surely this is true???
Should I lose faith in my feline specialist vet in matters of nutrition? She is very good in testing and medicine. I am currently getting a PCR test done on a stool sample, so hoping to get a healthy kitten soon! In the meantime, feeding is all a bit of a muddle.