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Old October 26th, 2012, 04:51 PM
Kittystylez Kittystylez is offline
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It's been over a month!! I just don;t know what to do anymore!!! HELP!

I have 2 Bengal kittens 1 male and 1 female - same breeder, different litters, but they are half siblings. We got the male (Neko) first and the female (Snooki) 10days later.

When Neko first came (Sept 8) he had great looking stool - firm tootsie rolls

Then when Snooki came (Sept 18), her first stool was the consistency of pudding and within days Neko's was the same.

At the breeder both kittens had been on science diet and performatrim canned (sp?), and after getting Neko I had started to read about Hills SD and decided this was not the most nutritional food on the market for my babies so I slowly started moving him off the breeders food and onto Wellness kitten dry and wet... 10 days later when we got Snooki (on a whim - she was our unplanned kitten) Neko was completely off the food he was eating at the breeder and still doing good! Within days of us having the new addition, both cats had pudding poops... so I chalked it up to stress since the kittens did not get along the first few days and they had gotten their shots.

A week later and no improvement I saw Neko poop a clear mucus on a Friday afternoon. I wasn't sure what to do and so I looked on the net to see if this was enough cause for alarm warranting an emergency visit to the vet. I read that to settle their stomach I could make a home made boiled chicken and rice dinner, which I did and left them on all weekend. By Tuesday there was no improvement from the earlier pudding poops so I called the vet... explained and he advised to keep giving them the chicken and rice and to mix in a small spoon of lactose and fat free yogurt, which I did and by thursday no real improvement so we booked a vet visit for the friday, but longer story a bit shorter we ended up leaving another stool sample (our second as I opted to check for worms and such when we gave them shots and this was a more "indepth" test) we went back the monday and they got meds for colitis (salazopyrin)

5 days no improvement back to the vet, (I started reading on wellness for kittens and read some complaints that this food caused bad poops for some kittens so I changed their food and now we are on Blue buffalo kitten food). Vet told me that was naughty and not to change their food again and now they are on panacur for 7 days but I am not seeing any improvement!

I called my breeder yesterday and told her how the kittens have been doing... and she immediately said - too much protein, the meds are not good for them and that stuff kills their intestines - take away the wet food give them dry only. But then... that goes against everything i ever read and knew about cats that they should be having wet to get more mosture in their diet (which was the downfall of my older cat who started to develop kidney and liver problems for lack of moisture). Why would my vet give me panacur for my kittens if it's bad for them? I asked about learning to use a raw diet, and she said it's amazing... but only for the female and not the male? But I can't do that... they eat together and share food. And that left me confused also... why can't the male have raw?

I am just on information overload and is seems that every corner I turn I read that what I think is bad is good and what is good is bad, vet says SD is not bad for cats... despite the corn and meat by product??? I just dunno anymore what to do... fact of the matter is... I have 2 kittens who are playing... eating well and seem content, but they have had diarrhea for over a month now!

What do I do???
This is a lot to read!
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  #2  
Old October 26th, 2012, 06:27 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Ummmm you may want to tell your "breeder" that cats are carnivores and their diet should be all meat protein/bones, no corn, wheat, vegtables, or soy gluten.

Was it your vet that said raw was great? If so, that's a great vet! And is the only way your cats will get their nutrition by natural means (in other words the way nature intended them to).

BOTH cats should be on a properly prepared raw diet, don't know why she feels a male cat has different nutritional needs???? , they are the same species.

You are right, ditch dry food!

Here is my favourite website (you may have already seen this one), but it's the one I listen to:

http://www.catinfo.org/

And another one:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites...en-becker.aspx

My cats get a mix of homemade raw and canned:

My fav foods are:

Nature's Variety Instinct canned
http://www.naturesvariety.com/produc...Fc5cMgodYFIA-Q
Hounds & Gatos canned
http://houndgatos.com/faqs.aspx

Wellness grainfree canned
Wellness does have potatoes in it that can be irritating to some cat's colon.

Weruva
http://www.weruva.com/

Nature's Variety has a great selection of single source proteins that you may want to try your kitties one. They may have a sensitivity to chicken/beef or fish.
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #3  
Old October 27th, 2012, 10:44 AM
Kittystylez Kittystylez is offline
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Love4himies - Thank you for these links!

I have been reading DrPierson's site and I think I am ready to switch over to raw!

I did speak to a commercial reseller of the raw food diets in my area and was told that they have raw food for cats and dogs (same package) which confused me a bit because I was always under the belief that cats and dogs had different dietary needs. They have raw beef, lamb, bison and chicken... they used to carry rabit, but that is apparently on back order due to a shortage in rabbit.

I don't feel confortable making my own yet! I would like to try and buy commercial until I am confortable enough to make my own and get into the initial expense of doing so. I do have a meat grinder as I currently grind my own beef, but I am not sure if i could grind bone with it as the machines insides are a hard plastic not metal.

One thing the seller did also mention was that I need to completely bring them off dry and canned... is this something that I would do as a hard stop?
Being that I just switched their dry food and took them off the boiled chicken he suggested I wait a couple weeks wefore doing the switch.

So two questions:

Besides the chicken diet... is beef, lamb, bison ok to offer as a meal to my cats? I have only really ever seen references to Chicken and Rabit for cats

When putting a cat on a raw diet... am i totally stopping all other foods such as dry? My guys seem to eat alot of the dry stuff (about a cup and a half a day between the two and they were getting chicken in the morning and at dinner time), so I am wondering if the just raw will satisfy them.
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Old October 27th, 2012, 11:37 PM
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Reg Reg is offline
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Location: Thunder Bay, ON
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Hi:

I'm glad to hear that you are seriously contemplating going the raw food route.A vet that I was using years ago turned me in that direction due to a kitten's compromised immune system from stress, and other factors. Where conventional drugs wouldn't work we had to use alternative meds and raw food to overcome the problems.

I see L4H recommended catinfo.org and my personal feelings is that it is one of the better websites for cat information, and it's a very good spot to start. I could suggest a couple other sites but it would just be confusing the situation. Pretty well everything you need to know is on this site to get started.

After reading your Post a couple of times it would appear to me that the cats are suffering from stress big time. I would expect that the breeder had the kittens into the vet before you got a hold of them for their vaccines. Had they been neutered? Then you pick them up, put them in a new home, changed their food, had them to the vets, got a second kitten, as you can see the list goes on, and for an animal that really doesn't like change there was a fair amount of it.

Was there an introduction period for the new kitten, even though they are from the same breeder just different litters. They would still be strangers even though a short period of time between bringing each one home. It's like a new cat to the first one.

I can sympathize with you because I did almost the same thing, part of the reason for raw feeding in our house.One of the side effects from this was extremely loose bowels mixed with mucosa. It was that bad that the vet even suggested using Pepto-Bismol to treat the problem "bad idea" cats hate the taste. If you are unable to get the bowels under control in a few days send me a private message and I can give you some suggestions you might want to look at.

The meats that are being offered are by far much better than dried or canned. We have fed all of the meats to our tribe, but their favourite is pork because it's a milder meat. I'd need to have the web site for the food so I can check it out for nutritional value.

There could be a small difference between the dog and cat food, but it would likely be minimal so it would be a start for you.
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  #5  
Old October 28th, 2012, 06:25 AM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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What brand is the raw food that is being sold at your local pet food store?

Cats have a more specific dietary need than dogs. Such as dogs don't need taurine, cats do; dogs can use carrots to turn beta carotene into Vit A, cats can't, they get theirs from raw liver. Dogs can live very nicely off cat food (quality cat food).
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Cat maid to:


Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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Old October 29th, 2012, 03:53 PM
Kittystylez Kittystylez is offline
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The name of the food is "nature's variey"

Reg I have to agree with you on there having been too much change at once. I was in a hurry to get them off the Science diet and put them on better quality food which benefitted no one!

As far as introduction... I was very limited as to where I could leave her as I had him in my bedroom and ensuite bathroom to ensure he had a smaller place to get familiar with. Since they were previously socialized I hoped they were still familiar with one another, but that was not the case. It took 2 days for them to get used to eachother and they have been inseperable and sleep together in the same bed (cat or human bed) since always cuddled up.

One thing that I would like to point out is that while on Dr. Pierson's site I encountered a link not sure which but one of 2 gave me a computer virus... I want to ensure that I do not discourage anyone from the site itself as it really DOES have great information... but I think that some of the 3rd party links to other websites she had listed may have gotten compromised and hacked.

The I had two other links up at the time and so I am unsure which did it...

- One was a website to where she orders rabbit meat from
- The other was "the truth about cat food"

Again... cats.org itself is safe... but use caution when clicking links on that website.

I am having trouble with my email, but I will send her an email as soon as I get all my computer issues resolved to advise her.

Thanks!
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  #7  
Old October 29th, 2012, 05:57 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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My cats eat different brands/flavours of food every day. I never feed them the same twice in a row and with all the fosters, I've never had a problem with changing their food too fast, too often.

I have found that lower quality food or kibble will affect their digestion more so than changing from a crappy to a quality one.

You may try Slippery Elm Bark (comes in capsules) to sooth the colon. Add a bit of water to their canned as it may inhibit the absorption of water.

I fed my kitties Nature's Variety Raw for years before I started making my own. It was a bit pricey for my budget. The only problem I found is that some older bags did have a bit of freezer burn on it.
__________________
Cat maid to:


Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #8  
Old November 6th, 2012, 08:29 PM
Kittystylez Kittystylez is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Just wanted to post a quicky here to thank you guys for turning me on to raw! It's been almost a week now and I am pudding poop free with both my kittens!

Starting them off was not that easy... my female kitten prefers the rabbit to the chicken but even to start her on rabbit it took me having to mix a quarter of a can of their regular food. Both eat rabbit now without the canned and I hope to be able to say the same of the chicken on their next tub!

They are just thriving on the food and I sometimes feel like I can't feed them enough! 1lb tub is gone in 3 meals! And they LOVE it!

I am hoping to try following Dr. P's recipe and make my own. Already spoke to a local butcher who does carry rabbit but sells frozen. I asked if they would call me when they get a new shipment of fresh in to sell me before freezing. So now I have to start collecting all the additional ingredients (vitamins and such) so that she can call me when she is ready! I am super happy!

Thanks again!
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