cat food intolerance

Question
I have a four year old female DSH who has serious vomiting and diarrhea as in every day. This has been going on for several months. I have four cats and they all live indoors. She is the only one with these problems. I have tried various commercial pet foods with no success. At one point I was feeding her canned tuna in water, but nothing seems to help. I have had her to the vet twice. The first time he took a stool sample and said she had a slight bacterial infection and gave her a shot of Gentamycin and Antirobe Aquadrops to give her at home. He said I might have to change her food and I said I had thought I might have to end up making her food myself from a recipe. He made some comment about having to use all the right ingredients, which I thought was obvious, but that is all he said so I didn't change food at that point. After a couple of days her diarrhea and vomiting went away and she gained weight and was getting back to her old self. (She had become very skinny and lethargic and I really thought she was going to starve to death.) A few days after I gave her the last of the medicine, the vomiting and diarrhea came back and she started losing weight again. (I had changed her food to Authority lamb and rice (canned) and Authority turkey and oatmeal (dry) hoping the different meat would help.) I took her back to the vet and told him she had gotten better on the medicine, so he gave her the same treatment plus a steroid shot. (I had run out of the canned Authority and went to his office and asked what I should feed her. He gave me some Science Diet m/d and she was still eating the Authority dry as well). Again, she got much better. She gained more weight than the first time, she started grooming herself, and she even started playing which she hasn't done for I can't remember how long. A few days after I game her the last of the medicine, she started with the vomiting and diarrhea again. I really feel that this is a food issue or IBD based on how much better she got on the medicine, but I am not very happy with this vet. When I first went he said Cinderella could have any number of things from an infection to cancer and at some point if things didn't get better I would have to basically decide how much money I wanted to put into it before I gave up. With three other cats and a my child and myself both in college, I truly don't have a lot of money, but I find it obscene to basically be told that I should have a pet destroyed because she is inconvenient. I really don't want to give her Science Diet and that is what most, if not all, the vets in my town sell. If I have to give her medicine every day for the rest of her life, that is fine, but I can't finance these expensive vet visits to diagnose her for much longer. I would appreciate any advice you could give me.  Thanks, Lily.

Answer
Hi Lily,

I will get back to you soon. I need to really go through this more to make sure I answer all your questions.

Hugs,

Jules and my bubbies

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Hi Lily,

Okay, from going over your question and getting to the root of what may be going on, it seems to me that the foods you are feeding would be the problem because they contain grains.

I feel that you are on the right track thinking this may be IBD.

If I were you I would change your kitty over to canned foods only, and ones that do not contain grains. Here is a link to help you find grainless canned foods: http://www.holisticat.com/Choosing-a-good-commercial-food-for-cats.html

And because I would say the same things (because I am co-administrator at this online forum) relating to IBD, here is more information on how to treat IBD, including supplements that can help: http://www.holisticat.com/Inflammatory-Bowel-Disease.html

As far as your vet recommending putting her to sleep, I find his/her lack of empathy sadly a fact of life with some vets. It makes me want to spit fire when they do this. Kitties aren't "disposable" and we love them. And steroids are only going to cover up the root of the problem and can lead to diabetes and any number of other issues.

So, my suggestion would to go with a balanced raw diet or go with a human-grade specific meat (no meat by-products) canned food with NO grains or other things like potatoes, fruits, etc. I would not feed Wellness because that has caused problems with kitties on the Holisticat group. I don't know if they put more than the "normal" amount of carrageenan (I'm not a big fan of this "ingredient") in their food or what, but something causes problems. Hopefully the link above will give you some good ideas on what to look for.

Please, if you would, get back to me on how your sweet baby is doing. I am concerned and hope she is okay. And by all means, post again if you are having problems.

Huge (((hugs))),

Jules