Feeding/food Issues

[coffeeharlot]

I've been attempting to switch my 10mo old cat over to a raw food diet for the past couple of months, but keep running into some issues. It was suggested by members of the Raw Feeding forum to post my kitty Z's issues here to see if anyone had any suggestions/opinions on what could be going on with my furball.

A little background: Z was switched from a canned/dry diet a week after I got her at the beginning of March to a solely canned diet from March to early May. From then on, I started transitioning her to a raw diet (as per Dr. Pierson's recipe on catinfo.org minus the partial bake): fed her raw chunks to get her used to it, then gradually mixed in more raw into her canned food until it was 100% raw.
She does fabulously and seems to really like the raw food, but within 2-3 weeks or so of being on 100% raw food, she starts to vomit 2 or so hours after eating. If I try and just introduce canned back into the raw food, she still vomits. If I go back to nothing but canned, she's perfectly fine. The raw food is fed slightly warmed, I don't leave it down for more than 45min, and she's never really showed an aversion to the food to say that something is off. She's never vomited with any other food and her shelter file has nothing about dietary/digestive issues. All of her canned food has always been some kind of poultry and mostly chicken flavored, some with fish meal in the ingredients list, so I'm not sure it's any kind of sensitivity.

She's been to the vet several times now over this, but my vet is a) old school and thinks I'm overreacting, b) doesn't agree with a raw diet, and c) is the only vet within a 20min distance that I can afford. She had a full workup done back in March when I first got her (blood work, urinalysis, etc) and everything was perfect. She has an appointment for this coming Tuesday (same practice, different vet) due to a daredevil leap off a cabinet that's causing her to be a little stiff, so I'll be asking for a more thorough exam for any digestive problems, but I can't think of anything that would cause her to have these issues to ask for some kind of test to be done if they don't offer it right off.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
You're definitely not over-reacting, that's for sure!
I'll be REALLY interested to hear what the second vet has to say.

I guess my thought is that if her tummy can't handle raw, and not every cat can, why not stick with canned?

I'm definitely familiar with some of the various issues that come along with canned food ingredients, however I think your cat is trying to tell you something about her relationship with raw.
What about intermittent raw, in other words not every day?

 

[stephanietx]

What do you add to the raw food? I'm thinking she's got an intolerance to one of the supplements you might be adding and it takes it awhile to build up in her system then causes her to vomit. You can always add raw meat to her regular canned food as a "treat".

I don't feed raw, but I do feed grain free. I give my kitties a probiotic supplement. I have learned that one of my kitties doesn't tolerate a specific brand, so we've switched back to the brand we know she can tolerate. I have another cat who cannot tolerate an all grain-free diet, so he gets a portion of prescription food with his grain-free food and that keeps his digestive tract happy. We've worked to figure out a good ratio with rx food and gf food to keep him happy and out of the vet's office.

 

[Tagrendy]

During transition when you were giving only meat chunks was the cat vomiting? If no, it's probably something else in the recepy. Maybe start giving him only raw meet again, wait for a few days - if he's okay, add 1 other ingredient - if he's okay then another, and track down when the problem starts to occur.

 

[coffeeharlot]

Well, the second vet was much less disdainful of the raw diet, and even admitted she's not an animal nutritionist, so I have lots of hope with her. Will definitely be asking for her from now on!
That said, we did a full CBC and urinalysis and nothing was present there. They did an x-ray of her leg to make sure nothing was fractured from her Evil Knievel impersonation and went ahead and got a couple of shots of her tummy. Nothing going on there that was immediately evident, either.

Furballsmom I can't really afford the really decent canned food, the ones with all the awesome muscle meat, no grains/veggies, etc. Although any canned is better than dry, so I might have to go that route.

stephanietx I've been using Dr. Lisa Pierson's recipe which includes taurine, vitamin E, B-Complex, fish oil (not salmon), and Morton Lite salt for iodine. I've kept the fish oil supplement at around 2000mg since the vomiting issue first started when I tried a higher dosage. Initially it was suggested the fish oil was the culprit, so I lowered it back to 2000mg, but she still vomited with a new batch of raw food. That's an idea that it might just be the brand.

Tagrendy She did fine with eating just the chicken meat chunks and also with pieces of chicken liver, no vomiting. The only issue with adding one supplement at a time is how long it takes her to show a reaction. It's definitely worth the hassle if I want to stick with raw, but it could be months before she shows a reaction if she's only getting one meal raw and the rest canned.

 

[Furballsmom]

Although any canned is better than dry, so I might have to go that route.

Absolutely, and by the way, I've found that after a LOT of attempts, the more expensive "stuff" didn't make it in this household with a certain feline's finicky/picky/gotta have what I! want palate, so I had to go with tractor supply, local grocery stores and that kind of thing. There's nothing at all wrong with that - the most important thing is that your cat eats and is happy

 

[coffeeharlot]

There's nothing at all wrong with that - the most important thing is that your cat eats and is happy

Having had a CKD cat, I am so not above feeding anyone Fancy Feast, Friskies, or 9Lives if it means they're eating! I just wish the really good stuff was both favored by the cats and infinitely more affordable. And that there were less primarily fish flavors, but I guess that's just me being picky.
I'll be doing some research, see what I can manage vs what she'll eat. Alternating the raw with canned wouldn't be too bad, provided she doesn't decide to turn her nose up at the raw once she's getting (yummy, stinky) canned on the regular again.

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[stephanietx]

I am still thinking that one of the supplements is upsetting the system. It could be the brand or the way it's made. Wonder if there's a way to narrow it down?

 

[coffeeharlot]

Talking about the supplements in the Raw Feeding forum, it'd be a bit of a stretch for a vitamin supplement being that different from the next. There can't be too much variation between what all is contained in a Vitamin E capsule or how it's processed. The fish oil could be a culprit, and there are other brands I could try of that. There's an odorless oil in a pump bottle that a lot of people seem to like.

I thought about adding just one supplement at a time. Only issue there, is it would be very difficult to figure out the amount of each supplement per meal, since everything is in capsules or loose powder and it's already in relatively small amounts. My other options would be to make a smaller batch of food with just one supplement at a time (which makes me nervous at how unbalanced it is and the time it might take to see a reaction) or making a normal batch with different brands (potentially wasteful and expensive). There are a few brands of pre-mixed supplements that I can get samples of to make small batches with, which could definitely prove one way or the other that there's a supplement issue. I might be able to also get some free samples of commercial raw food and see how she does with that, too.

 

[Furballsmom]