Need help with diet choices

willmcneice

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My wife and I have a cat who seems to have an extreme intolerance to fat. Since we got her from the shelter she has had chronic diarrhea (it just runs out of her and she spends at least half an hour in the toilet squeezing out drips). The vet ran multiple tests, including ultrasound, x-ray, blood analysis, and found nothing wrong with her. Even putting her on prescription diets didn't work.

So we started on the assumption that she has a food allergy, and on the vet's suggestion we cut her down to a diet of hake fish and red rice. This appears to work, for the most part. Her stools are soft and misshapen, but at least she can go once and then she's done. We've tried adding other things to her diet, but everything makes it worse. We tried chicken, bacon, a mix of fish and regular cat food, but every time we add a new item, her diarrhea returns with force.

Can you recommend anything that we might try next? We want her to have a balanced and healthy diet, and I'm pretty sure that eating only fish and rice is not that. Also, as an added bonus, it would be nice not to be woken up in the morning to the smell of fish in my face!
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Have you tried rabbit? It's very low in fat. Maybe something in freeze dried raw? At least it's 100% nutritionally complete, and most cats get rid of their digestive issues on raw. I'm thinking something like Stella and Chewy freeze dried rabbit.

AND I completely agree with adding in S. Boulardi to her food.
 

She's a witch

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Just seconding S.boulardi, but get the Jarrow brand with MOS.
did they run PCR diarrhea panel, to rule out all the parasites, including Tritrichomonas Foetus?
 

white shadow

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Hi willmcneice and welcome to the forum !

Tell me if I'm right on this: what you're feeding is homemade food consisting of fish and rice...........nothing added into it, just those two ingredients.

Is the fish cooked ?

How long have you been feeding this ?
.
 

white shadow

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OK, W willmcneice - here's the critical missing ingredient in what you've posted>>>>>>>>TAURINE.

Without it.........cats go blind, and that degenerative process starts shortly after Taurine goes missing.

Also, without Taurine, cats begin to develop a serious heart condition:
"Without enough taurine, the heart muscle cannot contract normally, which eventually leads to congestive heart failure. Dietary supplementation (usually 250 mg taurine given by mouth twice daily) can reverse dilated cardiomyopathy caused by taurine deficiency as long as the condition is caught early enough."​
Taurine - petmd.com [my emphasis]

You'll need a quality, pure Taurine such as this: nowfoods.com - Taurine
.
 
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willmcneice

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Thanks, white shadow white shadow , I didn't know about this. I'll check it out and talk to my vet about it.

She's a witch She's a witch I'm not sure if they did a PCR test, but they certainly did a stool analysis and it came back negative for parasites, but I'll check with the vet.

mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens V verna davies thanks for the tip on S.boulardi. I'll get that and see if it helps her.
 

cataholic07

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Have you looked into premade raw? It has helped some cats with diarrhea :) It's easy to digest and less allergens in it.
 
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willmcneice

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I've been contemplating it, although I haven't found anything like that yet. I live in Spain, and a lot of these things aren't easily available here. I've been considering just buying the meat, chopping it up and freezing it, and seeing how that goes. I've ordered the S.boulardi, and it should arrive in a few weeks.
 

She's a witch

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I've been contemplating it, although I haven't found anything like that yet. I live in Spain, and a lot of these things aren't easily available here. I've been considering just buying the meat, chopping it up and freezing it, and seeing how that goes. I've ordered the S.boulardi, and it should arrive in a few weeks.
That will not be nutritionally complete. You’d need to add the missing minerals and vitamins, the easiest way would be through meat completer: you can buy Felini Complete from zooplus.
 
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willmcneice

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Thanks for the advice. I've ordered the Felini. The vet gave us something called Nutri-Plus gel, which is a vitamin supplement, but it doesn't have any taurine, but I'll use it till the new one arrives.
 

maggie101

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I've been contemplating it, although I haven't found anything like that yet. I live in Spain, and a lot of these things aren't easily available here. I've been considering just buying the meat, chopping it up and freezing it, and seeing how that goes. I've ordered the S.boulardi, and it should arrive in a few weeks.
I am excited to get Food Fur Life complete. If I understand right it has all the nutrients a cat needs. So buy some ground meat,cook it,add some bone broth or water and ez complete. I have never fed her homemade in 7 yrs so if she doesnt like it I can make something in my slow cooker. It's a powder
 
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