I apologize if this gets long. I just want to make sure I provide all the necessary information. I've been doing a lot of research on FIV+ cats and raw diets and the information is definitely a bit overwhelming and conflicting. I've reached the conclusion though, that a raw diet might be the way to go here. I run a cat rescue and we have 2 cats that are FIV+ and they have chronic watery diarrhea. It's so bad that I honestly don't know how it isn't affecting their overall health. They've been to the vet numerous times, and we've tried a variety of things to cure it, or at least mitigate it a bit. I do understand that the FIV status might be playing a role in the diarrhea. Other than the chronic diarrhea though, they are both healthy and active 8-10 year old cats.
Of course, out of all of the cats in our rescue, these 2 are by far, the pickiest eaters, and therefore they're extremely difficult to find a solution for.
This is a list of what's already been tried, and the results that we've had:
1. Tylosin powder on their food. Result: They would NOT eat it. They took a few bites and then no more. We sprinkled it over dry food, we mixed it into the pure gravy packets, we tried tuna, Churus, baby food, multiple brands of wet food...and they will starve themselves before eating anything with this medicine in it. I've honestly never seen cats this stubborn about what they will and won't eat. That being said, when they did eat just a little bit of the medicine, it DID help the diarrhea. But after those first few bites, we haven't been able to get it into their system again.
2. Metrodonizole. Result: We had this compounded into a chicken marshmallow flavor so they actually ate it. But it made their diarrhea even worse than it was.
3. Nutri-Vet Anti-Diarrhea. Result: This seemed to help, but not cure. It's also not supposed to be given every day for the rest of their lives so we've used it sparingly when the diarrhea gets exceptionally bad.
4. Hills Gastrointestional Biome DRY food. Result: Both cats took one bite of this and gagged. Literally gagged. I've never seen a cat react to food like that before, let alone two cats at once. If I hadn't seen it for myself I probably wouldn't have believed that BOTH of them reacted exactly the same way. Needless to say, they WILL NOT eat the food. It will sit in their food bowls untouched for days. Starvation is clearly preferable to eating this food.
5. Hills Gastrointestional Biome WET food. Result: They'll eat this, but it does absolutely nothing for the diarrhea. It doesn't make it worse, but it also doesn't make it better.
6. Slippery Elm Bark. Result: I'm surprised that they'll actually ingest this. But it doesn't seem to help at all.
7. Pumpkin. Result: They won't eat it.
8. Sweet Potato/Pumpkin treats (unsure of the brand off the top of my head). Result: They love the treats but they do absolutely nothing for the diarrhea.
9. Forti-Flora sprinkled over their dry food (Blue Buffalo Sensitive Stomach). Result: Unknown. There are some days when it seems like the probiotics are helping, and other days where it seems like they're making it worse. I've concluded that ultimately, since we can't see a marked difference then its not helpful.
I feel like I'm probably forgetting something else that we've tried, but we are at our wit's end here.
Our vet is also at a loss at this point, but she's also adamantly against a raw diet.
I, on the other hand, am thinking that raw might be the way to go here. A few things though:
1. I've reached the conclusion that the FIV status isn't a reason to NOT feed raw, but is there a certain meat that would be best for them? One of these cats seems to have an allergy to beef, so beef is off the table. I know that chicken carries a higher risk of food borne illness when served raw, but I also know that cats are built to handle stuff that human stomachs can't handle. With the FIV though, I wasn't sure if it that's something that needs to be taken into consideration though.
*Please note that I will NOT feed rabbit. I completely understand that it's a popular food for cats, but for personal reasons I just can't feed it. I actually rescued rabbits long before I ever became a cat person, and I just can't tolerate the idea of it being food that I serve. I promise I'm not a crazy "I'm vegan so my cat needs to be vegan" person. I understand cats have specific nutritional needs, and I will feed them absolutely ANYTHING except rabbit (and beef since there seems to be an allergy to beef).
2. Is there a brand of raw food that is best for FIV+ cats? I have some friends in the rescue world who use Darwin's Pet Food and they love it. But they feed it to FIV- cats. It looks like my choices with them are beef, chicken or turkey (and beef won't work so my options are chicken or turkey). Raw food is a completely new thing for us so I like the idea of using a brand that comes with personal positive reviews. At the same time, I don't know all of the brands that are out there and maybe there's one that comes more highly recommended for FIV cats.
Any info, experiences or suggestions are welcome. We're on our own with this since the vet is really against it. I'm hoping that I can produce positive results to show the vet, but ultimately I'm going at this alone and with no experience. So any help is appreciated! And yes, I've searched this forum for answers but most of the results were from a few years ago unless I somehow missed more recent information.
Edit to add: I forgot to mention that they've both had bloodwork done, they've both been dewormed multiple times, and they've both had stool tests done. The result of the stool test was that they're lacking good bacteria in their stool, which is likely a symptom of the FIV.
Of course, out of all of the cats in our rescue, these 2 are by far, the pickiest eaters, and therefore they're extremely difficult to find a solution for.
This is a list of what's already been tried, and the results that we've had:
1. Tylosin powder on their food. Result: They would NOT eat it. They took a few bites and then no more. We sprinkled it over dry food, we mixed it into the pure gravy packets, we tried tuna, Churus, baby food, multiple brands of wet food...and they will starve themselves before eating anything with this medicine in it. I've honestly never seen cats this stubborn about what they will and won't eat. That being said, when they did eat just a little bit of the medicine, it DID help the diarrhea. But after those first few bites, we haven't been able to get it into their system again.
2. Metrodonizole. Result: We had this compounded into a chicken marshmallow flavor so they actually ate it. But it made their diarrhea even worse than it was.
3. Nutri-Vet Anti-Diarrhea. Result: This seemed to help, but not cure. It's also not supposed to be given every day for the rest of their lives so we've used it sparingly when the diarrhea gets exceptionally bad.
4. Hills Gastrointestional Biome DRY food. Result: Both cats took one bite of this and gagged. Literally gagged. I've never seen a cat react to food like that before, let alone two cats at once. If I hadn't seen it for myself I probably wouldn't have believed that BOTH of them reacted exactly the same way. Needless to say, they WILL NOT eat the food. It will sit in their food bowls untouched for days. Starvation is clearly preferable to eating this food.
5. Hills Gastrointestional Biome WET food. Result: They'll eat this, but it does absolutely nothing for the diarrhea. It doesn't make it worse, but it also doesn't make it better.
6. Slippery Elm Bark. Result: I'm surprised that they'll actually ingest this. But it doesn't seem to help at all.
7. Pumpkin. Result: They won't eat it.
8. Sweet Potato/Pumpkin treats (unsure of the brand off the top of my head). Result: They love the treats but they do absolutely nothing for the diarrhea.
9. Forti-Flora sprinkled over their dry food (Blue Buffalo Sensitive Stomach). Result: Unknown. There are some days when it seems like the probiotics are helping, and other days where it seems like they're making it worse. I've concluded that ultimately, since we can't see a marked difference then its not helpful.
I feel like I'm probably forgetting something else that we've tried, but we are at our wit's end here.
Our vet is also at a loss at this point, but she's also adamantly against a raw diet.
I, on the other hand, am thinking that raw might be the way to go here. A few things though:
1. I've reached the conclusion that the FIV status isn't a reason to NOT feed raw, but is there a certain meat that would be best for them? One of these cats seems to have an allergy to beef, so beef is off the table. I know that chicken carries a higher risk of food borne illness when served raw, but I also know that cats are built to handle stuff that human stomachs can't handle. With the FIV though, I wasn't sure if it that's something that needs to be taken into consideration though.
*Please note that I will NOT feed rabbit. I completely understand that it's a popular food for cats, but for personal reasons I just can't feed it. I actually rescued rabbits long before I ever became a cat person, and I just can't tolerate the idea of it being food that I serve. I promise I'm not a crazy "I'm vegan so my cat needs to be vegan" person. I understand cats have specific nutritional needs, and I will feed them absolutely ANYTHING except rabbit (and beef since there seems to be an allergy to beef).
2. Is there a brand of raw food that is best for FIV+ cats? I have some friends in the rescue world who use Darwin's Pet Food and they love it. But they feed it to FIV- cats. It looks like my choices with them are beef, chicken or turkey (and beef won't work so my options are chicken or turkey). Raw food is a completely new thing for us so I like the idea of using a brand that comes with personal positive reviews. At the same time, I don't know all of the brands that are out there and maybe there's one that comes more highly recommended for FIV cats.
Any info, experiences or suggestions are welcome. We're on our own with this since the vet is really against it. I'm hoping that I can produce positive results to show the vet, but ultimately I'm going at this alone and with no experience. So any help is appreciated! And yes, I've searched this forum for answers but most of the results were from a few years ago unless I somehow missed more recent information.
Edit to add: I forgot to mention that they've both had bloodwork done, they've both been dewormed multiple times, and they've both had stool tests done. The result of the stool test was that they're lacking good bacteria in their stool, which is likely a symptom of the FIV.
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