Anyone have a cat with IBD?

Hi there... So you have an IBD cat too. Welcome to the world of diarrhea and vomit. UGH! Been there done that. So sorry to hear about your kitty. :o( Mine had the same problem... until I put him on a Raw diet and he never ever had another IBD symptom again.

I cannot beg you enough to consider RAW for your IBD cat. If you can take the time to make your own... start here for good information.

http://www.catnutrition.org/

and here:

http://www.catinfo.org/

If you don’t' want to deal with making your own you can purchase a great pre-made raw from here. I have used it and my cats love it.

http://www.felinespride.com/

I can not stress to you the importance of wet food with an IBD cat. And I totally understand the problem you cat is having with canned. Been there done that. Try the Raw. You have nothing to lose except diarrhea!

Here's my standard raw food advice that will give you a great start on healing your kitty:

I personally feed a ground Raw Meat, Bones and Organ based diet to my cats and they are incredibly healthy on it. I HIGHLY recommend it. While scary at first, once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it it's a snap to prepare.

Cats are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. True and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat!

If you are interested in feeding a raw diet some great places to start learning are http://www.catinfo.org/ , http://www.catnutrition.org/ , and http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/ .

If you would like to try raw with your cats and don’t want to get all technical about it but want to try a trusted, time tested and balanced raw diet you can order from http://www.felinespride.com/products/catfood.aspx . I purchased this myself when I first started and my cats loved it!

Another premade Raw you can try is Natures Varity. I personally have never used this but know many people that do and it’s pretty easy to find http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.lasso?page=1...

You are on the right track. Try to stay away from the steroids if the vet recommends it unless necessary.

Diet is what will help with this

Hi

You have unfortunately probably been feeding dry foods

You need to either switch to canned foods with no grains or as little as possible or a raw diet where there are no grains at all.

What you also want to do is cut down on the fats

A human grade quality canned food like Merrick or wellness with chicken breast added would be great.

Diet plays a huge part in most IBD cats, If a no grain diet doesn't do the trick,

A novel protein like rabbit,vennison ect with no grains,

For a raw diet which is the best choice, you can buy something like nature's variety or you can make your own

These sites shows you how

http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm

http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.php

Here is a link about ibd

http://www.felineoutreach.org/EducationDetail.asp?...

http://www.catnutrition.org/ibd.php

My info comes from working with diabetic cats worldwide and many of them have other issues including ibd. I am giving you info that works

My friend has a cat that had IBD as a young kitty. She put the cat on a homemade raw diet and the cat's symptoms disappeared. After about a year or so, the cat was able to eat commercially prepared cat foods but with no grains. Kitty is healthy and no longer has IBD symptoms.

I have a kitty who was not diagnosed with IBD, but she tended to have diarrhea more often than not, and vomiting . This was when we were still eating kitty junk food, before I became savvy to cat nutrition and health. She has been on a diet of raw meat (rabbit is her favorite, and buffalo that I fortify with a commercial nutrient mix) along with grain free canned (Wellness) for almost 2 years now, and she no longer has any diarrhea or vomiting.

We've never tried Dick Van Ps, but I'd definitely keep kitty off anything with grains, including that i/d crap.

I have fostered two cats with IBD. One had such an extreme case when we took her that she had no fur at all on her hind legs due to her severe diarrhea. After treatment with the metro and steroids, we tried her on a grain free diet. To this day, the only food she can tolerate is Innova's EVO - dry only. She cannot eat the canned. She needs the occasional round of steroids if she undergoes any stress at all, as it makes the IBD really flare up. For the most part though she maintains very well on the EVO. The other cat eats the EVO canned and dry, and does well on that. She can also eat California Natural canned. The trick seems to be going grainless, trying to eliminate as much stress as possible, and the occasional dosing of steroids when they cannot be avoided.

Others claim that a raw diet will do the trick. I can't speak for that, but that's how we stumbled on EVO as an option, as it's as close to feeding raw as you're going to get.

I don't have an IBD cat but I have used the Natural Balance foods.

It sounds to me like you're thinking of their dry food products, but you'd do better to serve canned food. Grainless of course.

Their dry duck & green pea is a pretty decent dry food in general. I've reviewed the ingredients a few times and wasn't horrified.

I used to feed the canned venison & green pea and it worked wonders for both my cats (long story, not applicable here).

I have since changed to other brands. Although it is a good brand - far better than many others out there - it's not as good as what I switched to. But even so I will gladly recommend it for just about any cat. It is reasonably priced which is nice.

I have a dog with IBD who has been helped with probiotics. One problem with chronic diarrhea is that it both causes and is a symptom of poor digestion, so your cat isn't getting the nutrition she needs from her food. You can get pet probiotics at a vitamin store or a pet store. Sprinkle it on their food or mix it with a little milk for cats (Cat Sip or Whiska's Cat Milk). It hasn't made my dog's diarrhea go away completely but it's helped a lot.