George's Aloe Vera + Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii + MOS Probiotic

[Catmom1234567890]

Have you heard of this for IBD kitties. It was recommended by raw for IBD kitties FB group.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00014EWUO/?tag=thecatsite

Vitamin Shoppe

 

[daftcat75]

I can't speak for the George's. But the Jarrow s. boulardii can be very helpful for diarrhea, especially that caused by antibiotics since those kill good bacteria with the bad while the yeast remains unaffected.

These just soothe the symptoms. You still need to figure out the food triggers and eliminate those. Food is the best medicine or the slowest poison with IBD.

 

[Catmom1234567890]

Yes agree, but it seems like most vets treat symptoms rather than the origin that triggers IBD. I've read best way to determine allergen is to send a blood sample to a lab. Have you heard this before? My vet didn't tell me this but when my kitty was admitted to ER, one of the ER's vet told me get a blood test for allergen.

 

[crystal dawn]

I read that Aloe Vera plants are toxic to cats, so be careful with that. Companies don't always have our furry family's well-being in full mind.

 

[daftcat75]

I'm not aware of the blood test for antigens. That would be a subject of another post. I am however, sadly, aware that no amount of supplements or medication will resolve IBD or lymphoma as long as food triggers still remain in the diet.

My suggestions for determining food triggers:

1. Eliminate dry food. Just too many possibilities to conduct any meaningful food trials. Too many potential allergens and irritants.
2. Switch to a simple recipe that is free of gums and grains and other plant-based proteins or starches. If you're in the US or Canada, Rawz is the gold standard for a truly limited ingredient diet (not just some impostor wearing the label like Instinct that has peas and cranberries and other nonsense that don't belong in a limited ingredient diet.) I recommend trying the turkey, beef, or duck flavors first as the rabbit is still having shortages. Incredible Pets sells by the can. Rawz will also send you samples if you write them.
Where to Buy | RAWZ
3. A lot of people have had great success managing their cat's IBD with a homecooked or raw food diet precisely because they can control the ingredients and eliminate the nonsense.
Home

There are also vitamin premixes you can add to your choice of muscle meat and liver.

Alnutrin and TCFeline are two popular one with each offering samples for the price of shipping and maybe a minimal charge ($1?)

Alnutrin with EggShell Calcium (Regular)

TCfeline Premix

 

[daftcat75]

The other trouble with antigen tests is that the mechanism of IBD is not strictly allergenic. In practical terms, as long as the irritants that caused the inflammation remain in the diet, novel proteins can become new allergies. You must address the source of the inflammation by eliminating the irritants that cause the inflammation, and not just the allergens which are simply the tip of the spear.

This article is incredibly "meaty" (pardon the pun.) Read it a few times or come back to it frequently as I do.
StackPath

Another relevant article:
StackPath

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I have heard George's Aloe Vera is excellent for cats with explosive diarrhea. I take it myself just because it's good "all around" and can verify that it has zero taste, so it can easily be added to their food. Using that with S. Boulardi would be helpful, again, for diarrhea. Whether or not it's helpful in general for IBD I cannot say. Don't know why not.

 

[Catmom1234567890]

Problem with my kitty is she did not exhibit physical symptoms of IBD, vomiting or diarrhea with any food she ate. We only found out IBD because of recent hairball obstruction and the biopsy. So, in my case how do I know which food triggers IBD?

 

[daftcat75]

Problem with my kitty is she did not exhibit physical symptoms of IBD, vomiting or diarrhea with any food she ate. We only found out IBD because of recent hairball obstruction and the biopsy. So, in my case how do I know which food triggers IBD?

IBD usually presents itself with butt or gut issues.

Small cell GI lymphoma which cannot be distinguished from IBD on an ultrasound can be a silent disease with relentless and dramatic weight loss sometimes being the only symptom. Sometimes subtle poop issues like constipation or chronic diarrhea. How is her weight? Is it stable or is she losing weight? If she’s eating enough or more than enough and still losing weight, she might have small cell lymphoma and will likely need chemotherapy.

But if she doesn’t have any symptoms of IBD, then how would you know whether the aloe or SB was working? These are used to manage symptoms that you’re telling me she doesn’t have. They don’t treat the IBD itself.

 

[Catmom1234567890]

IBD was confirmed with tissue biopsy, but she did not exhibit physical symptoms of IBD like vomiting or diarrhea. She did have a hypomotility issue which resulted in hairball obstruction. She never had any issues with food so how do I know which food triggers IBD.

 

[daftcat75]

IBD was confirmed with tissue biopsy, but she did not exhibit physical symptoms of IBD like vomiting or diarrhea. She did have a hypomotility issue which resulted in hairball obstruction. She never had any issues with food so how do I know which food triggers IBD.

You don’t. Not easily anyway. Presumably if IBD is causing low motility, then she would become more regular on a food that isn’t causing inflammation. But it takes awhile for inflammation to subside. So you’d be conducting food trials without much or any feedback.

If she’s eating dry food, I would try to eliminate that anyway. It could save her dental and kidney issues down the road. And there’s always a number of nonsense ingredients in dry food that could be causing the inflammation.

The other food tips could still apply. But without feedback, I would take them one at a time and give them time to have an effect. Unless they make matters worse. Worse foods rarely become better. But sometimes it takes awhile for a better food to become apparent.

 

[Catmom1234567890]

She doesn’t eat dry food, we’ve always fed her high quality wet food, feline natural, tiki, ziwi peak, various protein on rotation.
ER doc suggested blood antigen test to determine allergen rather than food trial. I asked if anyone here has done that and I was told such test doesn’t exist. I mean food trial is so complex since there are so many ingredients.

 

[daftcat75]

I think there is an antigen test. I have heard that it may not be accurate.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm not sure what the exact test IS, but I've actually seen someone here post the results showing just how allergic their cat was to very specific items from food to trees, etc. It was quite interesting. Unfortunately, I cannot find that thread . But what I did find were the names of two at home kits you can buy and send in the samples from your cat and have them analyzed. What I can't do is attest to the accuracy of them. You can research them and make your own determination. They are Nutriscan and Pet Wellness Life Stress Scan.

 

[daftcat75]

"High quality" foods can still contain suspect ingredients. Tiki Cat uses gums in some of their foods. Ziwi Peak has chickpeas which may or may not be an issue. But I also see in the chicken recipe (maybe others but that's the one I'm looking at) has chicken bone. That can slow her gut down and possibly even make her constipated. I would take that one out of rotation if the flavors you are feeding also have ground bone in them. Both Ziwi Peak and Feline Natural have green lipped mussels which didn't agree with my Krista at all.

I would say if that antigen test is reasonably priced, why not? Food trials take time and a lot of trial and error. If this can leap ahead to the answers, why not give it a try?

In the meantime, I would look at the food you are feeding and find the one that has the fewest question mark ingredients. Hopefully you can narrow it down to just one food or just one brand with similar recipes between their flavors. This reduces the universe of suspect ingredients.

 

[Catmom1234567890]

"High quality" foods can still contain suspect ingredients. Tiki Cat uses gums in some of their foods. Ziwi Peak has chickpeas which may or may not be an issue. But I also see in the chicken recipe (maybe others but that's the one I'm looking at) has chicken bone. That can slow her gut down and possibly even make her constipated. I would take that one out of rotation if the flavors you are feeding also have ground bone in them. Both Ziwi Peak and Feline Natural have green lipped mussels which didn't agree with my Krista at all.

I would say if that antigen test is reasonably priced, why not? Food trials take time and a lot of trial and error. If this can leap ahead to the answers, why not give it a try?

In the meantime, I would look at the food you are feeding and find the one that has the fewest question mark ingredients. Hopefully you can narrow it down to just one food or just one brand with similar recipes between their flavors. This reduces the universe of suspect ingredients.

I'm considering making my own food. I used to do raw with my other cat that passed away. I stopped raw fear of parasites and virus but I may reconsider lightly cooking the meat and add nutrients. Commercial food contains so much fillers, it really is hard to guess which ingredient is the suspect. For those who make raw food, do you lightly cook the meat to kill off surface pathogens and what kind of meat do you give your kitties.

 

[daftcat75]

If I ever cooked it, Krista turned her nose at it. The only time she got a gut bug was actually from undercooking a turkey drumstick in the slow cooker that was making her meat stock. Apparently a slow cooker is a wonderful environment to breed clostridium. Cats have a robust immune system they eat prey in the raw all the time. As long as yours isn't taking immuno-suppressant drugs like steroids or chemo, she shouldn't have an issue with raw food.

We started with turkey. I recommend chicken or turkey as a starting point because other meats are much more expensive and difficult to source. With turkey, I would buy thighs (through trial and error, I determined Krista liked thigh meat the best) and ask the butcher to set aside hearts and liver for me whenever he cut up another turkey for the case.

I recommend a grinder. But you don't have to go with an electric grinder ($$$) to start. Get a manual crank grinder for $40 off Amazon. I got the Weston #10. It clamps to the countertop but can be torn down, washed, and put back in its box when not in use. It is not screwed into the countertop like some other grinders. However, that does mean it "dances" around the counter while grinding. It may be my counter surface which is a polished granite that doesn't grip the included no-slip foot as well as it should. But it works. It's cheap. And I believe in growing into the need for the electric grinder after you have determined the food will work for your cat.

My other tip would be to freeze your meat and organs and grind (or use a food processor if you go that route) with frozen meat (or as frozen as you can without busting your food processor.) Grinding refrigerated or thawed meat will turn to an unappetizing pink slime that doesn't grind as much as it gums up the grinder or the food processor.

Finally, start with a premix like Alnutrin. Alnutrin was well-received by Krista. However, with a BYOS (bring your own supplements) recipe, the B-vitamins smell like feet and were not very popular with Krista despite her love of feet!

 

[daftcat75]

Don't buy pre-ground meat unless you are buying it frozen. Bacteria grows on the surfaces and ground meat has a much greater surface area. If you were going to buy it pre-ground, I recommend surface-baking it. One of the links I posted above probably discusses how to surface bake it. It cooks the outer surface while leaving the inside still raw. Grocery stores mishandle the meat all the time with the assumption that you will cook away their abuses. Perhaps you should surface bake regardless of whether you buy it ground or whole cuts.

 

[Catmom1234567890]

I used to feed raw to my other cat that passed. She got sick all of sudden and her liver failed. My vet thinks she got a viral infection from raw meat. Since then, I’m more wary of raw meat.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

If you're worried about making your own raw food, you could always buy it already prepared. I feed one of mine Feline Naturals dehydrated raw. It's pricey, but I'm happy knowing it's completely balanced. There are many brands out there, and you can get them in either frozen or freeze dried. Frozen is a lot less expensive. Just make sure if you don't buy one that is nutritionally complete, that you add a pre-mix to it. When I was doing my own, I ordered my meats from Hare Today at first, then joined a local BARF group. There you can get it already ground with or without bones and organs and not worry about pathogens like in the grocery stores.