Hydrolyzed Protein Diets

Sohalia

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My cat was recently diagnosed with IBD, and the vet recommended that we do a Hydrolyzed Protein diet. I have found some diets such as Hills z/d, Purina HA, and Royal Canin. (Blue HF is not available in Canada) Does anyone here know of any other hydrolyzed diets that are available on the market? Any help would be appreciated! I'm kind of at a loss.
 

verna davies

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Two foods were recommended to me by a specialist. Purina HA dry which has been recommended to you and Dechra Specific food sensitivity wet food. They are supposed to have had good results using these.
 
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Sohalia

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Two foods were recommended to me by a specialist. Purina HA dry which has been recommended to you and Dechra Specific food sensitivity wet food. They are supposed to have had good results using these.
Thank you so much I will have to look at Dechra. I really want her to be on wet food as she will be losing quite a few teeth soon. A vet tech recommended just buying dry and pouring water on it to make it mushy. Would doing that work with Purina?
 

verna davies

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I would try mixing some dry and wet together, it will help soften the dry. Try adding water to the Purina but I would think it will turn to mush and may not look very nice but that doesnt matter as long as your kitty will eat it.
 

LTS3

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Instead of a hydrolyzed prescription diet, you can feed any novel protein limited ingredient commercially available food. You can certainly ask your vet about this but your vet may still insist on the prescription food. It's ok to disagree with the vet and feed whatever you want :agree: My IBD cat eats raw even though the vet prefers him to be on Hills Z/D junk.

Here are two web sites with more info on managing IBD:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD

The first link has a support group on FB if you wish to join for more help and info.
 
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Sohalia

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Instead of a hydrolyzed prescription diet, you can feed any novel protein limited ingredient commercially available food. You can certainly ask your vet about this but your vet may still insist on the prescription food. It's ok to disagree with the vet and feed whatever you want :agree: My IBD cat eats raw even though the vet prefers him to be on Hills Z/D junk.

Here are two web sites with more info on managing IBD:

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD

The first link has a support group on FB if you wish to join for more help and info.
Thank you.

I don't understand the push for hydrolyzed. They insist that the food is better because it's formulated specifically for IBD cats, and that they come with a level of quality that no other foods can boast. (Theyve told us a few times that Royal Canin for example, will shut down their entire factories, sanitize their machines, and have certain days dedicated to producing only one type of food to prevent cross-contamination.)

I'm hesitant to put her on hydrolyzed, as her current food (Fancy Feast) has her very stable.
She was on Natural Balance L.I.D for a while and was stable on that, but I messed up and left the lid to the food open. It went stale I guess, and she decided to start starving herself, refusing to eat Natural Balance L.I.D salmon.

We bought a new bag, and gave her some. She ate so fast that she didn't even chew, which made her throw up. I got the idea to give her the canned version, which she happily ate, (only a tablespoon) but her system was still sensitive, so she threw that up too and started to refuse to eat that.

From there it was a struggle of her starving, eating tuna and rice, etc. We were at a loss for what to do, as we had been struggling for 6 months with "possible allergies" and "possible IBD". (All because the shelter that we adopted her from didn't disclose her condition to us, we've spent a lot of time and money trying to figure out what's wrong.)

She is currently on Fancy Feast, and is doing well on it. No diarrhea, no vomiting, nothing. The only "symptom" that she showed is a lack of appetite, but no one can be sure if it was due to IBD, or due to the large hairball that was in her system just hours before her ultrasound. Her ultrasound came back, and showed several things, but it confirmed their suspicions of IBD.

I explained to the vets that I'm not sure about their hydrolyzed diets, as she specifically needs canned food due to her needing several teeth removed. They are insisting on hydrolyzed, even though there are only 2 canned options, and the food cost for those comes out to about $3-4 a day. (My husband refuses to pay that much)

I don't know what to do, honestly. She is on pred to calm her system down and to help her adjust to food. My husband wants to keep her on fancy feast and to see if the pred helps her adjust to it. The vet wants us to use prescription food, and see if the pred helps her adjust to it. I'm just lost because before all of this she was on Whiskas dry (at the shelter) without any medication and doing fine just 6 months ago.

I just want to find a food that she is stable on (hopefully without the need for medication in the long-term.)
 

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My guy is also possible ibd and I went though almost a year of hell....

My advice- if she is stable, bloodwork normal, not loosing weight or throwing up or pooping her pants, leave her on the current food.

I’ve tried every can of food, plus dry diets (vet, boutique pet store, regular pet store) and I’ve got mine 100% stable on friskies indoor turkey flavours and Science Diet sensitive stomach dry (although they just changed this formula so iliteraly bought up every bag I could find and should be good until July 2020 lol). Even my vet agrees to not change anything.

My guy would not eat the hydrolized stuff.
 
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Sohalia

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My guy is also possible ibd and I went though almost a year of hell....

My advice- if she is stable, bloodwork normal, not loosing weight or throwing up or pooping her pants, leave her on the current food.

I’ve tried every can of food, plus dry diets (vet, boutique pet store, regular pet store) and I’ve got mine 100% stable on friskies indoor turkey flavours and Science Diet sensitive stomach dry (although they just changed this formula so iliteraly bought up every bag I could find and should be good until July 2020 lol). Even my vet agrees to not change anything.

My guy would not eat the hydrolized stuff.
Thank you. I'm thinking of agreeing with my husband and keeping her on Fancy Feast. I just don't know what to do because with all of the foods we've tried and failed with over the past 6 months I feel like I'm always making the worst decisions. :(

It's good to hear of other cats that are fine with not being on a pure-prescription diet.
 

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Yes. No meds at all. Big, healthy, 15lb make Bengal.

Once you figure out what works, I wouldn’t mess with it.

Which ff are you feeding? Nothing wrong with the pates.
 
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Sohalia

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Yes. No meds at all. Big, healthy, 15lb make Bengal.

Once you figure out what works, I wouldn’t mess with it.

Which ff are you feeding? Nothing wrong with the pates.
Yeah, it's fancy feast turkey and giblets pate. We got it because this all started with the vet thinking she has suddenly developed a chicken allergy right after we adopted her.

After trying a lot of other foods, she just plain wouldn't eat fish-based proteins after a while. She's so picky. We sort of caved in and went for a turkey-based diet against their recommendations, and she loved it and started eating again.
 

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Pred has been amazing for my cat, and while I do feel her diet makes a difference and is important, Pred has done much more for her stability. My vet would also prefer that my IBD cat eat Purina Veterinary Diet GA, but a mix of dry and wet. The dry is mainly made of soy, and she just does so much better on foods that are high in protein and low in carbs.

My cat eats a mix of raw, wet, and some dry 1-2 times a week in a puzzle feeder, or when I'll be out for a long time. I rotate all kinds of brands and proteins, including Fancy Feast Pates. I just have rules for each type:
Raw - must be less than 10% bone and supplemented with Taurine
Wet - must have less than 10% carbs, and I prefer that the protein percentage is higher than the fat percentage
Dry - must be less than 15% carbs and grain free. There are just a few dry foods that fit into this category.

All this to say that with a safe, low, dosage of Pred my cat enthusiastically eats a very varied diet. My philosophy is all about high protein, low carb, moderate fat and lots of moisture. She has been very healthy on this diet; much better than she was doing on the Purina Veterinary Diet. Now, this varied diet took quite a few months to achieve - you do have to go slowly with IBD cats. If I were you, I'd keep her on the Fancy Feast. You know it's working, that she likes it, and that it's a really good food for the price!
 
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Sohalia

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Pred has been amazing for my cat, and while I do feel her diet makes a difference and is important, Pred has done much more for her stability. My vet would also prefer that my IBD cat eat Purina Veterinary Diet GA, but a mix of dry and wet. The dry is mainly made of soy, and she just does so much better on foods that are high in protein and low in carbs.

My cat eats a mix of raw, wet, and some dry 1-2 times a week in a puzzle feeder, or when I'll be out for a long time. I rotate all kinds of brands and proteins, including Fancy Feast Pates. I just have rules for each type:
Raw - must be less than 10% bone and supplemented with Taurine
Wet - must have less than 10% carbs, and I prefer that the protein percentage is higher than the fat percentage
Dry - must be less than 15% carbs and grain free. There are just a few dry foods that fit into this category.

All this to say that with a safe, low, dosage of Pred my cat enthusiastically eats a very varied diet. My philosophy is all about high protein, low carb, moderate fat and lots of moisture. She has been very healthy on this diet; much better than she was doing on the Purina Veterinary Diet. Now, this varied diet took quite a few months to achieve - you do have to go slowly with IBD cats. If I were you, I'd keep her on the Fancy Feast. You know it's working, that she likes it, and that it's a really good food for the price!
Thank you for this. It's been a struggle and I've recently been keeping a log of how much food she's been able to eat. Before it was 1oz for a while, then 2-3 oz, which is basically nothing. Fancy Feast was the only food that got her up to 4-4.5 oz unmediated, which to us showed that she just hated tuna, salmon, etc. with a passion. Now with the pred she has been eating a solid 6oz for the past two days. So she will gain her weight back.

I just hope the Fancy Feast sticks. when we start weaning her off of pred.
 

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Thank you for this. It's been a struggle and I've recently been keeping a log of how much food she's been able to eat. Before it was 1oz for a while, then 2-3 oz, which is basically nothing. Fancy Feast was the only food that got her up to 4-4.5 oz unmediated, which to us showed that she just hated tuna, salmon, etc. with a passion. Now with the pred she has been eating a solid 6oz for the past two days. So she will gain her weight back.

I just hope the Fancy Feast sticks. when we start weaning her off of pred.
Glad she's doing better! One of the nice things about Pred is that it's an appetite stimulant, so it will definitely help her eat more while she's recovering. My cat put all of her weight back on, and is now on 2.5 mgs of Pred every other day.

My vet feels very comfortable that it's a low enough dose to make side effects quite unlikely. I had also hope to wean her off of it, but that just hasn't been possible. She would be having terrible flare ups every 2 months without it. So don't feel bad if she ends up on Pred long-term, if it makes her day to day life happy and healthy.
 
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Sohalia

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Glad she's doing better! One of the nice things about Pred is that it's an appetite stimulant, so it will definitely help her eat more while she's recovering. My cat put all of her weight back on, and is now on 2.5 mgs of Pred every other day.

My vet feels very comfortable that it's a low enough dose to make side effects quite unlikely. I had also hope to wean her off of it, but that just hasn't been possible. She would be having terrible flare ups every 2 months without it. So don't feel bad if she ends up on Pred long-term, if it makes her day to day life happy and healthy.
My thing is that just 6 months ago she was on dry food from the shelter and supposedly doing fine, no meds or anything. I'm just nervous about having her be on pred long-term because of my last cat, who was on it until she died just before turning 6. To be fair, her dose was ramped up to the max for her weight, but it still makes me nervous. :/

I just feel like I messed it all up and that if she needs pred long-term now right after we adopted her, it's like that I caused it.
 

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Not all IBD cats need to be on pred long term. My IBD cat was on pred for 10 months before he was able to stop taking it.
 

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My thing is that just 6 months ago she was on dry food from the shelter and supposedly doing fine, no meds or anything. I'm just nervous about having her be on pred long-term because of my last cat, who was on it until she died just before turning 6. To be fair, her dose was ramped up to the max for her weight, but it still makes me nervous. :/

I just feel like I messed it all up and that if she needs pred long-term now right after we adopted her, it's like that I caused it.
You definitely didn't mess anything up or cause it. My cat was in the hospital with a terrible IBD flare up 6 days after I brought her home. It turns out the rescue either didn't disclose, or didn't put much effort into diagnosing her, so I can empathize with you. Shelters and rescues are amazing places, where people do their best. But sometimes there are just so many little pals to take care of and not enough humans. My cat lived in a foster home with 13 other cats; I know the foster did her absolute best, but with a disorder like IBD which needs such careful monitoring and tracking, how could she? This could have happened to your cat too.

IBD is stressful, honestly, and it's a bit of a day by day disorder. It's very possible your cat could be weaned off of Pred! I was just hoping to reassure you that it may not be the worst thing if a cat does need to be on it long-term. But I didn't know you had a cat pass away while on it, which obviously makes it tougher.
 
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Sohalia

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You definitely didn't mess anything up or cause it. My cat was in the hospital with a terrible IBD flare up 6 days after I brought her home. It turns out the rescue either didn't disclose, or didn't put much effort into diagnosing her, so I can empathize with you. Shelters and rescues are amazing places, where people do their best. But sometimes there are just so many little pals to take care of and not enough humans. My cat lived in a foster home with 13 other cats; I know the foster did her absolute best, but with a disorder like IBD which needs such careful monitoring and tracking, how could she? This could have happened to your cat too.

IBD is stressful, honestly, and it's a bit of a day by day disorder. It's very possible your cat could be weaned off of Pred! I was just hoping to reassure you that it may not be the worst thing if a cat does need to be on it long-term. But I didn't know you had a cat pass away while on it, which obviously makes it tougher.
I'm glad I'm not the only one. We didn't find out about her IBD until recently. The shelter kept insisting that her months-long diarrhea was "stress" and kept telling us to feed her this food or that food and to use pred and whatnot.

Now it's 6 months later, the ultrasound makes it look like very clear IBD, and the insurance company got back to us and refused to cover it because she had all these symptoms when the shelter first got her.

Don't worry, you did reassure me. I might still be adverse to it, but my last cat was on an extremely high dose. I'm sure that a low dose every other day or so won't cause the same issues.

I just blame myself because when I first got her, I tried to transition her off of Whiskas and onto a canned diet and it sort of... caused all of this. It was just unlucky, because the girl that handed her off to us was new, and I'm sure that if we had gotten a veteran volunteer we would've at least gotten a "sensitive stomach" warning and I would have either never changed her food in the first place, or taken much more care with it.

Hearing you guys reassure me that long-term pred can work without issue, and to get your opinions on keeping her on the food that works really does help a lot. I feel like all of my decisions have fallen flat because she's been suffering for so long. So it's good to hear that my decision to keep her on the non-prescription diet can work.

I really do appreciate the feedback from all of you guys. It's kind of tough and honestly no one in my family understands. They usually just try to suggest that I take her back but I can't, not when I know that we can fix it and that we just need the right food or medicine.
 

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As far as Purina HA goes, I guess my question to Purina would be why on earth does a cat suffering from inflamed and painful GI problems want to eat a food that has trans fat listed as the 3rd ingredient :dunno::headscratch:
 
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