Unable To Meet Daily Requiements For Kitten's Diets

kyli

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Hello all! I am new to this site but have been reading the threads in search of various info for some time. I have been having a difficult time with my kittens diets and was wondering if anyone had suggestions. I'll try to keep my summary short ...

I have a 16mo old female kitten who suffered from constant itching and mowing of her fur.

I'm having a tough time with her diet because All commercial food and supplements cause her to itch and become very inflamed to the point she stops moving and sleeps hidden away most of the day. It got so bad that we had to take her to the emergency in October where she stayed over nite, was given fluids, they ran tests and gave an ultrasound (due to what I know now was perennial pseudo-cyst her left kidney). They said there was nothing they could do about the pseudo-cyst and sent her home with antibiotics.

Lucky for us the fluids and antibiotics seemed to work, her conditioned improved to the point she began eating and moving again. But she also was still itching profusely. And she stopped eating her wet food. I began adding bits of cooked bison to her wet food to encourage her to eat but she would just pick it out and leave her Ziwi canned food in the plate.

Fast Forward to the beginning of December- I began feeding her Plain Cooked Ground Beef (grass fed 90/10 lean) because she has stopped eating her canned food. Once I began this she stopped almost all scratching, her hair grew back, she gained weight, got stronger and she was running and playing again!

I knew this was a complete imbalanced diet but is was a start. Since then I have been struggling with trying to introduce supplements, organs, calcium etc. to her diet. Which has been a very delicate situation because everything causes her to become inflamed again.

I've had to separate each part of her diet and slowly ease in organs, supplements etc. to keep her from getting inflamed again.

1. I'm at the point now where I feed her cooked beef, different cuts. (she's allergic to most other meats and fish). I've also tried raw, which she eats with no problem, But it inflames her so that's a no go for now.

2. I give her Only Natural Pets Ultimate Daily Vitamin Bites (she's supposed to get 4. Shes up to 1 1/2 per day. But I'm sure she'll get to 4 with the next month).

3. I give her Grass Fed Freeze Dried Beef liver treats as her organs (as close to the 10% requirement as I can). (The Freeze Dried Liver calculator said to give her approx. 6g for the amount of food she currently eats approx 6.5oz per day) shes eats about 2-3g so far. Again, I'm sure she'll reach her requirements with the next month or so.

4. I give her 4 drops of salmon oil ever other day. For now, until she can handle more.

5.Calcium is an issue... I used to give her ground eggshells (ones i ground myself and then Pet's Friend EggShellent Power) she does not respond well to it. Now I give her Animal Essentials Seaweed Calcium. If I give her too much calcium she become inflamed, so I've been giving her about 1/3 of the required calcium amount that is required. She's building up to the ratio requirements, BUT i know THIS IS BAD. Of course now she's decided she does not like calcium in her food. So she's hesitant to eat the meat when the calcium is in it, but I know she need it AND this isn't even close to the amount that is required.

I've tried to come up with treat that I can put the calcium in with the Freeze Dried Liver and a little water. But She does not like it. Does any one have a suggestion on how I can begin incorporating the required amount of calcium into her diet?

So sorry for the lengthy post. I am appreciative of anyone who has read this far and has any suggestions. Thanks
 

Ardina

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Hi kyli! First of all, welcome to TCS!

Sounds like you've been having a tough time with your kitten. What's her name, by the way? The most important thing to make sure you supplement is taurine. The others are also important, but taurine is especially so, so I'd focus on incorporating that into her diet.

I'm also wondering if she might be reacting to an environmental trigger like dust or pollen since she seems to be intolerant of so many different foods.

Maybe others will have better ideas on how you can balance your recipe without causing issues for your kitten.
 
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kyli

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Hi Ardina, thanks for you response and the warm welcome! Oh my Kitty's name is MUSE. She's a sweet all black kitten.

Oh yeah, as soon as I posted I realized i did not mention Taurine... Taurine is the same as everything else as far as her response. Too much makes her itch etc. BUT she does get about 20-30mg in the Only Natural Pet Daily Vitamin (that will be 80mg once she reaches her full 4 daily tablets). Also, I give her Freeze dried beef hearts and Freeze Dried liver, based on my research they both contain Taurine, as well as I have been giving her about 30mg of Taurine supplement in one of her meals. So that approx 50-60mg of Taurine so far. I'm working on including more.

As far as environmental triggers, I've definitely considered that. But the progress that I've seen with her diet changes and how bad she gets when her diet is off has pointed me in the direction of her diet.

Also, I wanted to add, once I started her on cooked meat, her pseudo-cysts went completely away :)!

Thanks for your input Adina.
 

mschauer

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Wow. You really seem to be having a tough time of it!

First, when you say she has "a reaction" to something, so you mean just scratching? When you say she gets "inflamed" what exactly does that mean?

When it comes to scratching, a food allergy can certainly be a cause but so can fleas. Especially if she is allergic to fleas. Does she go outside at all? Is she on any flea prevention?

If you are sure it is a food allergy, remember that allergies are to proteins. Given that it wouldn't make sense for her to be allergic to supplements unless they contain a protein. Whole bone supplements, like bone meal and MCHA, will contain protein because there is protein in bone marrow. MCHA is made from cow bone and since you think she isn't allergic to beef you should be OK with using it as you say in another thread you are planning to do.

If she likes beef she should like the MCHA. It has a slight beefy odor that my cats love.

I wouldn't think calcium from eggshell would have any chicken protein but I guess it is possible for there to be a trace amount and if she is very allergic even a trace amount could make a difference.
 
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kyli

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Wow. You really seem to be having a tough time of it!

First, when you say she has "a reaction" to something, so you mean just scratching? When you say she gets "inflamed" what exactly does that mean?

When it comes to scratching, a food allergy can certainly be a cause but so can fleas. Especially if she is allergic to fleas. Does she go outside at all? Is she on any flea prevention?

If you are sure it is a food allergy, remember that allergies are to proteins. Given that it wouldn't make sense for her to be allergic to supplements unless they contain a protein. Whole bone supplements, like bone meal and MCHA, will contain protein because there is protein in bone marrow. MCHA is made from cow bone and since you think she isn't allergic to beef you should be OK with using it as you say in another thread you are planning to do.

If she likes beef she should like the MCHA. It has a slight beefy odor that my cats love.

I wouldn't think calcium from eggshell would have any chicken protein but I guess it is possible for there to be a trace amount and if she is very allergic even a trace amount could make a difference.
Hi mschauer, thanks for taking the time to respond to my post.

When I say 'inflamed' I mean something she has eaten is ill-affecting her in a way where she is in bodily pain to the point she stops moving unless she has to. I believe this is because she is in a lot of pain all over. I know this because if she has to jump off of the bed she makes a little chirp almost like she's saying "ouch." She also become very lethargic, and stays to herself most of the day. When it's real bad she hides under the bed. It's very scary and sad to see. So, when I feed her something I always watch to see if she starts to 'shut down' in this way. This means she's 'inflamed.' This is what happened when I had to take her to the emergency in October. I thought she was just tired :(. But it turns out The Air Dried Raw Ziwi Venison I was giving her was causing it.

The eggshell seemed to make her respond in this way. But it was subtle, taking a few days for me to notice. Not right away. So it took a little while for me to see that she'd been shutting down more and more each day. When the 'inflammation' happens subtly like this, she gets bad and it takes about 2-3 days for her to get back to a normal state - once I take away what is causing it. And in most cases I have to pull back on all supplements for a day or two until she recoups. It's kinda like starting over.

Itching and scratching, on the other hand, happens instantly. As soon as she eats something that she's allergic to or is 'too strong' for her she begins to itch, scratch and mow off her fur.

It's all very confusing. I've been dealing with it all since May. But I noticed she had a little 'itch' almost since the day I adopted her in December 2016. I believe now that it could've been the fact that she was given her Annual shots at 3months, and the next day or so she was spayed. But who knows, I really don't know why she has these issues. But I'm doing my best to fix them for her so she can enjoy being a kitty. On the bright side, she has come a long way. I believe we're almost there ;)

Also, I ordered the Now MCHA. it will be here tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed that she will like it AND that her body can handle it.

Thanks again for your help.
 

karrotlover

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Kudos to you for figuring out, step by step, what works and doesn't work for your cat! We've gone through a similar journey with our (now 1.5 year old) cat. After trying what seemed like every commercially available food out there (dry, canned, raw) and many vet visits later, we tried plain cooked pork, which stopped all digestive problems and itching that plagued him before. We very, very slowly introduced EZ Complete fur Cats to his pork to make it nutritionally balanced, and that's all he eats. We tried cooked chicken with EZ Complete and he was scabby from scratching himself within a few days. Allergies / food intolerance is weird, because he is obviously allergic to chicken meat, but not chicken liver (EZ Complete has dried chicken liver powder). EZ Complete also has egg shell powder as the source of calcium so maybe that will not work for your kitty, but I have read/experienced that when it comes to food intolerance often it is the speed of introduction that causes a reaction rather than the introduced food itself. I think the people at EZ Complete send samples to those interested, might be worth checking out. I wish you and your kitty success and health!! Good luck!
 
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kyli

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Kudos to you for figuring out, step by step, what works and doesn't work for your cat! We've gone through a similar journey with our (now 1.5 year old) cat. After trying what seemed like every commercially available food out there (dry, canned, raw) and many vet visits later, we tried plain cooked pork, which stopped all digestive problems and itching that plagued him before. We very, very slowly introduced EZ Complete fur Cats to his pork to make it nutritionally balanced, and that's all he eats. We tried cooked chicken with EZ Complete and he was scabby from scratching himself within a few days. Allergies / food intolerance is weird, because he is obviously allergic to chicken meat, but not chicken liver (EZ Complete has dried chicken liver powder). EZ Complete also has egg shell powder as the source of calcium so maybe that will not work for your kitty, but I have read/experienced that when it comes to food intolerance often it is the speed of introduction that causes a reaction rather than the introduced food itself. I think the people at EZ Complete send samples to those interested, might be worth checking out. I wish you and your kitty success and health!! Good luck!
Wow, your story is very inspiring, thanks for sharing it! Makes me feel like I'm no alone ;). What is your kitty's name? How long did it take before you were able to feed him the complete dosage of EZ Complete? How do you keep him interested in eating the same thing all the time?

That's interesting bout the "speed of introduction." I've been so stressed out about Muse not getting enough nutrients and too much phosphorus etc. in her diet. I find myself caught between 'racing' to incorporate everything she needs. But that always works against me, and I'm force to start over, and she has to suffers as well. But throughout this long grueling process I've learned to listen to her body, not so much the 'required daily amounts' that I'm trying reach with her. Bottom line her body ALWAYS wins.

I will keep you posted!
 

karrotlover

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Glad to be of some help! Our kitty’s name is Bagheera and it took about 10 days to gradually get him to full dose of EZC supplement mix. But I've read that every cat is different and that if something causes a reaction you back off completely and start even smaller and go even slower. For me that meant making 2 batches of food, one plain pork and the other a nutritionally complete supplemented pork. I started with him only eating plain pork and then replace a teaspoon of his meal with the supplemented pork. Watch for any symptoms, and if everything seemed fine, the next day replace 2 teaspoons with the supplemented pork. And so on until he was eating only supplemented pork.

Thankfully Bagheera really loves his homemade pork food, and only feeding him at set mealtimes certainly helps him look forward to his meals. I don’t know what we will do if he ever starts disliking or showing allergic reactions to the pork... fingers crossed for now!
 
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kyli

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Yes, fingers crossed! That's interesting how you approached incorporating the EZC supplement mix. I've been in a similar situation with my kitty. She seems to be in a better place now, We're almost at the finish line with being able to incorporate all of her supplements - separately. I just started giving her MCHA yesterday and she seems to be responding very well to it AND she seems to like the smell and taste. This will be getting over a big hurdle if I have found a calcium source for her. Fingers crossed ;)!

Looks like Bagheera and Muse are both beautiful black kitties...
 

valentine319

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Has there been any allergy testing? I know it's not highly accurate but I'll throw it out there.

Most common allergens are poultry and fish. But it can be many things plus a mix of environmental.

On the environmental end I'm going to say I switched to Molly Suds (prefer the powder) with vinegar as a fabric softener. I have horrid allergies and we spend our life wrapped in the chemicals of laundry soap and fabric softener. This is a personal decision on my part.

Air fresheners seemed to bother all my cats.

What kind of fish oil are you using?

My cat is allergic to many things. I feed her whole carcass rabbit with supplements added from hare today. I don't know if you're in the USA or not.

Maybe someone else can answer but I'm assuming there would be poultry proteins in the egg shell?
 

karrotlover

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Yes, fingers crossed! That's interesting how you approached incorporating the EZC supplement mix. I've been in a similar situation with my kitty. She seems to be in a better place now, We're almost at the finish line with being able to incorporate all of her supplements - separately. I just started giving her MCHA yesterday and she seems to be responding very well to it AND she seems to like the smell and taste. This will be getting over a big hurdle if I have found a calcium source for her. Fingers crossed ;)!

Looks like Bagheera and Muse are both beautiful black kitties...
Oh GOOD! Glad to hear you guys are getting somewhere! :) :cheerleader::bigeyes:
 
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