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Old June 25th, 2014, 03:52 PM
RoxieKitty RoxieKitty is offline
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Z/D Recommended ; Zane won't eat it

Hello All. This is my first post and I hope to get some help for my Zane. He's lost alot of weight and has major liquidy stools. The vet did bloodwork & nothing really showed up in his senior profile. She suggested starting out with seeing if he has IBS & has recommended canned Z/D food & is on Metronizadle 2X a day for about 8 days now. His stool is still the same. Just wondering if anyone knows of a commercial food that would be comparable to the Z/D that has the hydrolized protein as that seems to be what he needs. Any help or info would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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Old June 25th, 2014, 04:03 PM
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Loki Love Loki Love is offline
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What about trying a novel protein instead? I'm not sure anything exists out in the commercial market with hydrolyzed protein.
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Old June 25th, 2014, 05:42 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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We had a dog with IBD back in the 90s. Purina had a formula called HA...only in kibble form. It was tasteless, but at the time, it was the only option available. When Hills came out with Z/D, we found that it had too much flavor. The only way we could get our dog to eat it was to mix the two about half-and-half. Even then, he'd go through periods of not wanting to eat it.

If you decide to try the novel protein approach, you'll need to go back and check ingredients on all the foods you've fed him to date and try not to replicate any of the proteins. There are some good choices with proteins such as rabbit or duck or venison that might work for you. It's also important that you limit the number of proteins in the food. The problem is that if it is inflammatory bowel disease, he'll eventually become intolerant of the new protein, too. Using a single protein food will leave you some options to switch to in the event that happens. Once you've run out of proteins, you're back to the hydrolyzed formulas as the only option.

If you can get his gut more back to normal, you might have luck with a raw diet--but I'd wait till his stools are firmed up a little. With a raw diet, you don't have to worry about which proteins are in the formula because you'll know exactly what you're feeding him.

Good luck with this, RoxieKitty. I know how tough it is, especially when you don't really know the cause of the problem.
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Old June 25th, 2014, 08:16 PM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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We think my boy might have IBD and he's been getting Royal Canin canned low fat gastro. I've just in the past few days moved him back onto his regular kibble and, sadly, think we're having a regression from the very slight improvement noticed on the Royal Canin

I'm not sure what Z/D is but this is what we were on:

http://www.royalcanin.ca/index.php/V...al-Low-Fat-Wet

Poor boy has lost weight he did not need to lose. And it's not cheap.

Is this what your Z/D is?

http://www.hillspet.ca/en-ca/product...a-dry-dry.html
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Old June 25th, 2014, 11:31 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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As hazelrunpack mentions, a raw diet might be a good option. Many a cat with IBD has had symptoms resolve when switched to a species-appropriate diet: http://www.catnutrition.org/ibd.html
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Old June 26th, 2014, 07:02 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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Ah, sorry. Didn't notice Zane is a cat. My boy is dog.
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Old June 26th, 2014, 11:19 AM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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One of the best articles I've seen on IBD in cats (and why hydrolized diets aren't the answer), by the Feline Nutrition Education Society:

Feline Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Nature and Treatment
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Old June 26th, 2014, 07:37 PM
RoxieKitty RoxieKitty is offline
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Thank you

Just wanted to thank everyone who replied to my post regarding my poor kitty, Zane. Looks like I've got some reading & research to do this weekend. Thanks again & I'll keep you up to date on Zane's condition >^. .^<





Quote:
Originally Posted by RoxieKitty View Post
Hello All. This is my first post and I hope to get some help for my Zane. He's lost alot of weight and has major liquidy stools. The vet did bloodwork & nothing really showed up in his senior profile. She suggested starting out with seeing if he has IBS & has recommended canned Z/D food & is on Metronizadle 2X a day for about 8 days now. His stool is still the same. Just wondering if anyone knows of a commercial food that would be comparable to the Z/D that has the hydrolized protein as that seems to be what he needs. Any help or info would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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Old June 26th, 2014, 09:51 PM
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Reg Reg is offline
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Hi Roxiekitty:
Welcome to the forum and hopefully we can give you some good pointers and information that will be of value to you and to help you through these trying times with Zane.
Have you googled this drug "Metronizadle" to see what the side effects are? It looks like it is relatively free of side effects and that they are few and far between.
What I saw was that perhaps one of the issues is that the animal may stop eating after 7 to 10 days on this medication. It might be worth checking out.
We have been going through a bowel problem with one of our kitties for some years and our vet recommended "Hypoallergenic" cat food by Medi-Cal, both dry and wet, made by Royal Canin. Our problem is that our cat will not touch manufactured foods any more than for perhaps one or two meals and that's it.
The web site that sugarcatmom suggested is an excellent web site.

Here's another web site that has excellent information and has a wealth of good stuff in it. Make sure you check out the "Resources" tab.

http://felinenutrition.net/index.html

Keep us posted on how things go. There is a lot of help to be had here if you want to take advantage of it.
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