How I Cured My Cat’s Diarrhea (and Saved His Life)
When a cat begins vomiting more frequently, or having diarrhea, many cat owners become nervous; myself included. Often we begin internet search before a vet visit, or after one if the vet has no or few answers for us. Early in 2008, both my cats began vomiting a few times a week and, more upsetting, my 13 year old Persian cat started having chronic diarrhea. Here is my in-depth account about how I cured my cat of his chronic diarrhea. I made one change to his diet and the diarrhea never returned.
Oscar in 2007 while eating Nutro. Once fluffy, he had lost his fuller undercoat and often suffered from vomiting and diarrhea.
A vet prescribed antibiotic, but the diarrhea only went away for 2 days and returned midway through the antibiotic treatment. The vet said if the antibiotic didn’t help, he would need to start performing tests for more serious ailments and it could be anything, even cancer. But I thought before going that route, I’d start researching cat food to get a better idea of what I was feeding them.
I had been feeding them Nutro dry and canned for years, and although I knew it wasn’t the healthiest brand available, I was comfortable with it because it was more healthy than the grocery store brands and one of the best at PetSmart.
After some research, I tried to switch him to California Natural, which was marketed as being free of fillers and better for “sensitive systems.” I started learning that cats bodies can start to reject a food that is fed to them too long, and their bodies can become “allergic” to it. No vet had ever said anything like that to me. I would later learn about IBD (Irritable bowel disease).
My cat’s diarrhea and vomiting did not improve even after a very slow, very careful switch to California Natural. The more reading I did, the more I kept seeing the phrases “grain free” and “raw food.” At first, I scanned completely over any article that said “raw” because that seemed too far off the deep end to me. I also didn’t think you could feed RAW food to a cat that was having diarrhea…after all, the vet had prescribed antibiotics because of bacteria, so how could I give my cat bacteria laden raw food?!
Then one day I stumbled upon a post from a cat owner on a pet forum whose cat was having the same symptoms as mine – diarrhea every day, vomiting every few days. She gave her cat raw food one day, and the diarrhea stopped that very same day. She said one month later, the diarrhea had not returned. Wow. If the result was that immediate for her, maybe I could give it a try. If the seemingly best commercial cat food out there (California Natural) and raw food didn’t help, then I’d go back to the vet for those tests.
I researched and researched raw food for cats and found a site by a veterinarian that explained it fully. She explained how to make it at home and even recommended a couple of pre-made brands that she felt were the next best thing if you really didn’t want to make it yourself. So I thought I’d buy one of these brands just to see if there was any change in my cat.
Oscar in June of 2008, just 5 months after going on raw food and he is fluffy again!
The brand I bought was Nature’s Variety. (Side note here: although I would love to sell their food at my pet gift shop, GoFetchGifts.com, I am unable to get it from any distributor because I do not have a loading ramp. So rest assured I don’t sell this food, I simply love the brand for saving my cat.) They sell three pound bags of one-ounce medallions. My cat, being a small 8 pounds, would need about 3 medallions a day. I defrosted one and put it in his bowl. Much to my surprise, Oscar–who had always been an OK eater but not an enthusiastic one–wolfed this medallion down like it was his first meal in weeks, then stared at me waiting for more! He had NEVER been that excited to eat in his life, except maybe the day I found him in a cold alley in Chicago during the winter of 1997. He never wolfed down aroma filled canned food or even dry food that fast. I couldn’t believe it and quickly defrosted another medallion for him, which was again wolfed down. My other cat wanted nothing to do with this weird raw food but I didn’t care about that right now, he was more healthy than Oscar.
So I sat back and waited, and watched. At this point, about two months after Oscar’s diarrhea had begun, he was leaving me about 5 runny piles per day (all over the house!); so I didn’t have to wait long. For the rest of the day there was no diarrhea. The next morning, he used the litter box and left a mushy, but almost solid dropping. The next day, completely solid. And that’s it. I kept feeding him Nature’s Variety raw, and the diarrhea and vomiting NEVER returned!
I got another surprise, too. Being a Persian cat, Oscar at one time was very fluffy. He hadn’t been fluffy for years, and I attributed that to his age. I had told vets that he had lost his fluff, but none of them ever said anything about it or seemed worried about it. Two weeks after Oscar’s start on raw, I looked at him one day and said to my friend, “am I crazy or does Oscar look a little fuller in his coat?”
Oscar in February of 2009. Exactly one year after starting raw, fluffy, beautiful, and still diarrhea-free!
One month later there was no mistaking it – Oscar’s fluffy undercoat was growing back for the first time in years!!! He was also more energetic. He was playing again. He was singing songs and chasing “ghosts.” He was a kitten again, at the ripe age of 13! Here I had been crying, thinking he was so old his body was failing him…thinking the tests at the vet would be so expensive I’d have to put him to sleep because I wouldn’t be able to afford care. And all I needed to do, for now, was change his diet.
So what had happened? Oscar had either become allergic to the food I’d fed him for so long, or his body could no longer break down and process any nutrition from dry food or even processed canned…possibly due to age. But I am now convinced that I hadn’t been giving his body the proper source of nutrients. He is a cat and I was not feeding him like one. And the entire pet food industry made me feel like I was feeding him the best. My friends and I had sworn by Nutro canned and dry for years. My cat was simply one of those cats that could not handle processed foods.
There are many options in feeding cats raw food. Click here to learn about the different ways to feed raw to cats. Some cats do fine on dry and canned food. But some cats don’t, and I would recommend all owners of cats suffering from diarrhea, allergies, and IBD to try raw food. It is unprocessed and grain-free, and it might be just what your cat needs.
There are also some natural treatments for diarrhea in cats that can be given instead of, or in conjunction with, antibiotics. These include probiotics and slippery elm, safe treatments you can buy today at a vitamin store.
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[...] You might find, as I did with my cat, that even grain free kibble does not end the diarrhea. The only cure for him was raw food, and I hope you’ll consider looking into that option if nothing else helps. (You can also try [...]
What a great story. I’m so glad to hear that a change in diet fixed up your boy’s problems. The difference in his coat is truly amazing – he looks quite sickly in the before pictures and very healthy in the after pictures.
It can be difficult to wrap ones head around the idea of feeding raw at first – the idea of bacteria seems kind of contrary to good health until you stop and think about what cats evolved eating (and ate regularly up until the pet food industry really took hold a few years back.)
I know diet can’t cure everything, but I’m always amazed at how many chronic illnesses do get turned around by switching to a raw diet and dumping the commercial food.
Agreed, Anlina. I read just two days ago about an overweight cat who was diagnosed with diabetes. His owner put him on raw, and the cat is now FREE of diabetes! That shocked even me…I had always assumed feline diabetes could only be treated, not cured.
You have a great blog; I think I will add it to my links here tonight
I had recently rescued 2 cats. One was experiencing diarrhea. Soon after the other one did as well. The rescue had given us antibiotics thinking they had Giardia, a common stomach bug in cats. It had no effect. After a few incidences of uncontrollable defecation we looked online for a solution and found this site. We were feeding them what the rescue had been feeding them which is Natural Balance. We switched to the Natures Variety raw food diet, as well as supplemental dry food and the response was incredible. After only a few days the diarrhea was getting better. Besides that, they absolutely love it. They eat like it’s their last meal. And after a week they had completely solid stools. Also, there is a remarkable improvement in their coats which is also amazing. They are silkier and softer than before, and no accidents around the house.
Thank you Go Fetch Gifts. Your testimonials saved our cats. And our couch!
Jeff that is so great to hear! Just curious, why do you include dry food? Do you feed it separately from the raw? (Some raw feeders recommend feeding raw food in morning and dry at night if you wish to feed both, because raw food is digested within a few hours while dry food takes 8-12 hours to digest.)
Another note, remember that variety is key. Recently, Oscar started refusing the pre-made raw after over a year of eating it. He liked all the flavors, but Rabbit was his favorite so he got that more often than the rest. In some cats, it can backfire to feed them just one food. He started to develop some dandruff and his coat again was less fluffy. So I am now feeding him variety every day of actual raw food – chicken, veal, turkey, gizzards, heart, liver, and soft chicken bones. After about a two weeks of getting him lots of variety, his coat is fluffy again!
So don’t get stuck in a rut. Give them all the flavors, give them some real raw, some kibble if you want (I don’t recommend it, but if it doesn’t hurt them, the extra variety is good), and some grain free canned if they want.
Thank you so much for letting me know this worked for you. Do you know anything about the cats history? I wonder if they have IBD (irritable bowel disease) and the previous owner couldn’t deal with it….or if they had been strays eating raw for a while and couldn’t handle going back to processed foods? Or…….?
Thank you so much for the story about Oscar. We rescued Molly, a 4 year old Persian, from our local vet because the owner was going to put her down. She has been diagnosed with IBS. She is such a sweetheart but looks absolutely pitiful. She weighs only 4 lbs and the picture of Oscar before Natures Variety is pretty much what she looks like now. Her diarrhea is so severe that we are having to keep her locked up in the bathroom. The medicine the vet gave us helped for a day or two and we tried to bring her into the living room for long periods of time to acclimate her to the family. But then the diarrhea returned with a vengeance She is now once again holed up in the bathroom. I went to a local all natural pet food store and they gave me free samples of the Natures Variety raw food. By reading your testimonial and seeing the before and after pictures of Oscar- I am very encouraged. I will no longer be giving her the medicine from the vet and will start using the medallions tonight. I will keep you posted!
Oh my Cheryl, I wish you and poor Molly luck! In my research, I have found many articles that state tests that while not official or published yet, do suggest that raw food is the best therapy for cats with IBS. I have also come across many that claim the same about the possibility that non-domestic breeds such as Persians, Himalayans, Siamese etc are more prone to IBS. I certainly attract a lot of google searches regarding Persians with diarrhea!
Chances are Molly’s body might tell her she needs this food. If she isn’t drawn to it however, please start mixing into her canned food (if she eats canned). If she only eats dry and doesn’t like canned, I would suggest buying Nature’s Variety Freeze Dried medallions. You can crumble them up in with her dry food and then gradually switch her over to raw (or canned and then raw) with the freeze dried in there. This is how I switched my other kibble-addicted cat over to raw, which he now loves without the freeze-dried mixed in. (But, it took MONTHS.)
I will be thinking about you and hope to hear back from you!
Hello there,
I really enjoyed reading the wonderful story about Oscar and I’m so happy for him that he is a healthy beautiful playful looking fella!
I recently took one of my cats to the vet, yes I will admit she is a tad overweight. They x-rayed her and told me she had arthritis in her back knees and hips – 7yrs old, then the vet prescribed a terrible diet of pallet food and two types of medicine I had to give her daily. After one week of this I would wake up at night hearing her vomit prefusely and it would be all over the house. I called the Vet and they said it must be something else not the medicine, anyway I didnt believe them so I stopped giving her the medicine and have been feeding her normal food again, vomit has now stopped. My other cat vomits on a regular basis -6 years (once or twice weekly) but never appears sick and I’ve always wondered why. Reading your story tonight has made me realise things for both of my cats, firstly that the medication given to me for my first cat is probably a bad thing for her and secondly that my other cat who vomits regurarly obviously has issues with commercial pet food in his belly. Being that I’m in Australia I have no idea where to try and get some raw cat food, would you suggest pet shops or the supermarket?
Also exactly what is the raw food, what type of meet or vegetable?
Thanks I appreciate any advice you can give me! I love my cats and I want them to love their food and not get sick, don’t you just wish they could talk!
Hi Karen,
What type of medicine did the vet give you? Sometimes meds will make them sick, yes…were the meds to be used temporarily or forever?
Did you do a search to see if any pet stores around you sell healthy pet food? You might have to buy it online if no stores do. The supermarket won’t sell commercial raw cat food, but if your cats take to raw you can buy raw meat from the supermarket to feed them. This would be called the Prey model of raw feeding. Most of the diet is just plain raw meat. Usually it’s best to start with chicken, but SOME rare cats are allergic to chicken. You can also feed them lamb, turkey, rabbit, or even beef, although one of my cats cannot stomach beef and that is common. You’d need to include some raw heart as well, and liver and bone. 80% of the food is meat, 10% is organs, and 10% is bone. (My cat took to chewing up small raw chicken breast bone nicely.)
Cats do not need any fruits or vegetables.
Please visit this site to learn more about this diet: http://catinfo.org Note that some people grind the meat like she does, but I never did. I just cut up the meat, organ, and bone and fed to my cats. Right now however, I feed the Nature’s Variety or another ground mix that I buy online from a shop called Hare Today.
Thank you for sharing the great story about Oscar.
I have a 1 1/2 year old kitty, Sarah, that I adopted from a shelter. She has always been such a joy – playful and loving with tons of personality, but a total fussy pants princess.
When I first brought her home she would not eat more than a bite or two of anything, and that with a lot of coaxing. After trying everything on the market I found that she would eat best super premium/natural canned and packet foods that are either whole fish in jelly or nuggets in gravy. She ate this for a few months, and then switched to high-protein dry food like Orijen. Still, she often turned her nose up at the same food she gobbled down the day or week before. She always won these food stand offs, she was willing to go many more days without eating than I was willing to let her. I was constantly switching up her foods trying temp her appetite and to find something she would eat consistently.
I thought that I was doing the best possible for her feeding her only varieties of all natural, no by product, no trash canned and dry foods.
In the last few months she has been eating well but her personality began to be subtly different, she became increasingly less playful and spent more time alone. She got very bad fleas, and I originally thought she was uncomfortable and this caused her personality change. Then, I discovered an usual swollen condition in a few of her paw pads. A vet helped me diagnose the condition: a rare autoimmune/blood disorder called plasmacytic pododermatitis that there is no standard treatment for.
I went into a flurry of research, and saw many miraculous stories like this about cats turning around from changing their diet to raw. I thought that it wouldn’t make a difference, I was already feeding her “the best” foods, but my research did not turn up any other good solutions and I had to do something.
I bought some chicken thighs, chopped them and mixed in a bit of canned tuna (fish is still her favorite). She LOVED this. Ate it all, ran into the living room, and started playing. By the next day the difference in her energy level was so noticeable that even my boyfriend (very skeptical of all “natural” cures) agreed.
Two weeks later, she eats well and more than ever. Her personality is back to normal, she follows us around the house looking for things to play with. I am absolutely amazed at the difference! I have not seen any change in her swollen paws yet, but I realize that the change may take some months and am hopeful that her condition will improve.
Again, thank you for sharing and I hope that my story may also inspire someone. -Jane
Thank you so much for this. I am going today after work to buy this food. My cat is about 13 yrs old and for the past month (maybe longer) he has had diarrhea multiple times a day and vomits almost every day. We took him to the vet multiple times. He has been given fluids 2 or 3 times and has had blood tests done. No vet can tell us what is wrong. We’ve tried 2 kinds of medicine (tetracycline & prednisone.) We have tried “special” food from our vet, but he didn’t like it. And if he did eat it, it didn’t help. He is strictly an indoor cat and this was a sudden change. He diet has always been the same. He was overweight, but over the past few months he has thinned. He now looks so thin and frail. The last vet we took him to said it might be cancer, so she recommended an x-ray. Until now I have left all his care with my parents, but this is taking such a toll on our family, that I just had to search extensively online. I am so glad I found this site. I hope this works; I don’t believe he has cancer, I think the vets just want to give us an answer so we can try something different. I will definitely be posting again. Keep your fingers crossed! I am wondering if we should stop giving him his medication and see if the food cures him. Anyone know?
My male 9 year old cat was diagnosed with diabetes 17 months ago.
He was eating Science Diet cat food. I searched the web for an alternative to insulin as he was not a good candidate for needles or regular visits(has an attitude)
I changed his food to Arusha (raw diet) Turkey for cats. Harvey is thriving. He is still chubby but alive and kickin. Please consider raw diet to help your cat if he is diagnosed. I did and Harvey is here with me for me to tell the story.
Just a little ditty for you
Janet and Harv the happy kitty
Janet, I just wrote an article regarding raw food for diabetes and found that insulin can be eliminated when the carbs take off the weight. Did you reduce the amount of insulin when the amount of carbs went down? That is important. Congrats to finding a great cure for your young 9 year old!!! And be sure to give him other meats than just turkey. Variety is important or he may one day become intolerant to the turkey.
Marlene, good luck with your cat. What breed is it? If you have trouble switching over to raw, switch to canned first. You can mix canned and dry; You can mix canned and raw; You cannot mix raw and dry. However, you can put freeze-dried raw into dry and that helped me switch over my kibble addict cat by mixing it into the raw. He thought he was getting kibble.
One more thing Marlene – in the very beginning stages of Oscar getting sick, my experience was the same as yours. Blood tests normal, cancer a possibility. He never had cancer, he just wasn’t digesting nutrition from processed foods. If you see a big change after the raw, then yes you should try to wean him off the meds. But talk to your vet just to be sure. Those meds can reduce appetite!!
Well he didn’t take to the food like I hoped. I tried feeding it to him tonight, but he really just licked it and maybe at a little bit. So I mixed some of his usual canned food in, and he ate a bit more. I think he may be expeirencing a reduce in his appetite. He looked very frail and dehydrated today, so tomorrow he’ll go to the vet for fluids. I am definately going to keep trying the raw food. I do believe it will help him. I guess we will just have to go at his pace. I’m going to continue to be hopeful!
Did you get Nature’s Variety? Yes just keep mixing it into canned food slowly to try to get him switched over. Raw food has a lesser smell than most canned foods, so some kitties need to get used to it. Good luck to you!!! Are you on Twitter or Catster? Have you had x-rays done?
Yes I got Nature’s Variety. I really hope he gets use to a raw diet. He is actually at the vet right now getting fluids and xrays done. And I am on twitter: MScott1027. It is so nice to find a place where other people are going through similar situtations! And the fact that this is a current board and people are still posting is even better! Thanks for all the helpful advice!
I am so sorry to read about Oscar. I just decided to read your other postings and was so suprised to come across that one. Oscar’s story is very similar to Abby’s, but he was found in our front yard on a summer afternoon starving. I remember keeping him in a small basket because he was so tiny. I must have been 10 yrs old at the time and begged to keep him. My family always joked that he never stopped eating once he made it into our home, hence why he was so overweight. But now over the past few months he has withered away to only 9 lbs. He is my last link to all my other pets that have come and gone over the past 14 years. It is very hard to see him like this. -So I just talked to the vet while writting this. Abby’s x-ray is done and the vet cannot find anything abnormal. So he suggested a stool sample first and then a possible digestion panel and he also mentioned something about Abby’s B12 levels maybe being low. And if none of that comes back with answers he said we mighy want to consider an ultrasound and/or surgery.I just hope we can figure out what is wrong before it gets that far…
Marlene, have they said that Diabetes isn’t a possibility? This is so sad to hear
Oscar lived a lovely last year of his life thanks to the raw food. I now believe that his problems started over a year ago, but the raw food put them on the shelf until just recently. He really was never healthier before the raw, but he was still a senior and they have to go sometime. Liver disease is common in seniors.
Please check out Catster.com. There is a raw feeders board and a health board. Another helpful group is the Yahoo Whole Cat Heath group at groups.yahoo.com. Search for Whole Cat Health. Good luck!
I have been fighting the same exact issue with my 14 year old siamese for 5 years! it was bad we thought we would have to put her down, she was going every and having litteraly projectile diahhrea. I read this article 3 days ago bought the food and I am happy to say all is well.
Thank you!
Dana, that is so great to hear. And the fact that your cat took to the food so quickly is wonderful too. Sometimes, they just know what they need
Well it worked for a few days now shes back to the normal very very discouraging, hopeully it will pass shortly, any ideas?
Dana, is she still eating the food? If so yes I have three ideas:
1) Purchase some slippery elm bark powder. You may be able to find it at a vitamin shop or health food store in capsules or powder form. Sprinkle some into her food and mix it in.
2) Purchase some probiotics and mix some of that into her food as well. I like the human probiotics with multiple strains because we don’t know what type of healthy bacteria a cat would need, so having multiple types is more promising. I give my kitten about 3 billion organisms a day, or half a capsule from the brand I currently have. Again, just purchase from a vitamin store or health food shop, but I prefer the refrigerated ones.
3) My final suggestion would be to try another raw food, such as the ground raw from http://www.hare-today.com/ if you live on the East coast or http://www.prey4pets.com/servlet/StoreFront if you live in the West. Their ground food is just the animal with no added fruits or vegetables. Nature’s Variety has about 5% fruits and vegetables, which some cats with IBD can handle but some cannot handle ANY.
Thx for the Info. My lil cat around the age of 1 1/2 yrs has been having diarhea but my Bigger cat shows no signs of it. I will try the raw cat food fo my lil one. Thx again.
Good luck Rob! Has the younger one been tested for medical issues? I would also suggest slippery elm. http://cat-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/feline_diarrhea
My 6-month-old kitten has had diarrhea since I rescued her 2 months ago. Her sister doesn’t. I’ve had them on Hill’s i/d food for the past 3 weeks, and there is no improvement. I’ve actually noticed a little bit of fresh blood on her diarrhea when it is a little better formed and not completely liquid. The vet says she’s not worried about that unless it’s dried blood, which it never is. Both kittens have very frequent flatulence. The problem kitten has been dewormed (twice), put on antibiotics and now switched to the i/d food (she was previously on Royal Canin). Now very frustrated, I stumbled upon this website and decided to give this a try. Well Nature’s Variety had a recall on all chicken products with a sell date before Feb 2011. I went to my pet store and they had a couple chicken medallion packages, but the sell date was March 2011 and that’s just too close for comfort. So instead, I bought the rabbit medallions. My question is, should the rabbit medallions yield the same results you had with the chicken/turkey? Do you think it’ll stop the diarrhea as quickly or at all?
Justin,
YES, if your cat will eat the rabbit, and it does the trick, it will get rid of the diarrhea just as well as the chicken will. Flavor has nothing to do with it UNLESS she is allergic to a particular meat. Rabbit is much more mild, and more cats from what I hear are allergic to chicken than to rabbit.
Oscar’s absolute favorite was the rabbit. My new kitten will only eat the rabbit, and it’s my older cat’s favorite as well.
I dont know if you were feeding i/d dry or canned, but if you were feeding the canned, you can mix the rabbit into the canned if she won’t eat it at first.
The deworming and the antibiotics are both very hard on the immune system, so they were not helping. (Were worms confirmed before she was dewormed?) If I were you I would start giving probiotics and slippery elm immediately. For info on that, read my post on treating diarrhea in cats naturally.
Good Luck!!
Thanks for the quick reply! The Hills i/d is dry food. They’ve only had canned food a few times because I didn’t want them to get too picky. Ironic that I’m about to give them the best food they’ve ever tasted
Both were tested negative for worms and parasites, but the vet thought it would be a good idea to do it anyway. I’m definitely going to check out the slippery elm and probiotics, but I just want to get them started on this food asap. Do you generally defrost the medallions in the microwave or do as the package says and let them defrost in the fridge overnight? I’m assuming you cut them up until little pieces, but do you warm them at all? Like 5 seconds in the microwave or something?
I hope they like the food! As you might remember, my Oscar loved it, but my other cat wouldn’t touch it for a while. If your cats don’t like it, either mix it in with canned food, or go back to the store and ask for Nature’s Variety DEHYDRATED raw, and sprinkle some of that crumbled up with the medallions. I had to use the dehydrated version to get my other cat to eat the raw. It took months before he would eat the raw without the dehydrated on it. If your store doesn’t have it, they can order it from their supplier.
It’s important to not microwave the food, or if you do, only for 3 seconds tops. The food has bones in it, and microwaving the bone bits will cook them and we don’t want that. It’s best to thaw in the fridge overnight, or in a bag immersed in luke warm water for ten minutes if you forget to thaw it out.
PS in the future, don’t let vets de-worm a cat that has tested negative for worms. Unnecessary medicine can mess with their system, digestive tract, etc.
My 15 year old cat, Buddy was diagnosed w/high blood sugar around 5 years ago and was put on a prescription died of D/M(diabetic management) dry and canned cat food. I bring in for a blood sugar test every 6 months and it remains about the normal, but in the safe range, sometimes higher, sometimes lower. When his can food runs out in around 6 weeks I am going to try the raw food diet. I will still have quite a bit of the dry food left. Can I safely combine the raw and the D/M dry food? I lost my 17 year old Ryan due to heart failure 3 weeks ago. He had been perfectly healthy, or so I thought. One morning my foodaholic, declined breakfast, a first, but I was running late and could I call my boss and say “I can’t come to work today because Ryan did not eat his breakfast”? But I did make an appointment for the following morning. When I came home that evening, Ryan was stretched out on the floor. At first I thought he was dead, he was completely unresponsive. I rushed him to the vet, but I knew he was already dying. After very much crying, the vet administered the shot. Ryan had heart failure, according to the vet. Ryan had labored breathing, he was cold, his mouth was blue, he was unresponsive. I stroked his beautiful coat, kissed his head, told him I loved him and I would miss him so much and then I cried some more, then left and went home – alone, without my friend
Hi Kay,
Actually you are not supposed to feed dry with raw. You can do it IF you space the two apart by at least 8 hours, for example raw for breakfast and dry food for supper, but no kibble left out for grazing. Now, Nature’s Variety claims that it is ok to feed their dry and their raw together. So I don’t know if those of us who are concerned with feeding raw and dry together are over-complicating the issue, or Nature’s Variety’s food is different some how. I can tell you that raw food is VERY helpful for cats with diabetes, and has been known to put diabetes in remission. See: http://catinfo.org/felinediabetes.htm It is not just feeding raw that is so beneficial; it is replacing kibble and grains with raw completely. But any step towards more fresh food is a great step.
If your cat will not eat the raw right away and you need to transition over, you could try slowly transitioning to grain-free canned first, then to raw. My 15 year old cat Charlie was a kibble ADDICT and it took MONTHS for me to get him off his dry kibble. He did like canned, but he would hold out for his darned kibble. I found that crumbling freeze dried raw on top of the raw helped a lot. I had to mix it in for a couple months, gradually decreasing the freeze dried and increasing the raw. I used Nature’s Variety Freeze Dried, which often is not carried in stores but any store than sells Nature’s Variety’s product can order any of their foods from their supplier. (PS it IS ok to feed raw and canned together, as well as freeze dried raw and canned together.)
I completely understand how you feel about going to work when your cat won’t eat breakfast. I had to deal with that so often, and those days at work were a blur and extremely stressful. I’m sorry to hear about Ryan. Good luck with the raw food for Buddy. Is Buddy overweight?
My husband got me a pursian cat for mothers day. I been wanting one for years and finally when he decide to please me. I find myself going crazy. My cat Kingston is 9 weeks old and has had diarrhea for 2 days and i dont know if i am over reacting at this time. but i cant sleep thinking if he is going to be okay. I was goin to put him on Pedialyte to make sure he dosent get dehydrate. Its been a weeks since i got him and now see him like one of my kids. The breeder gave my husband instructions about the food the cat should eat and i am following exactly what i was told. A friend suggested to take him to the vet and run some test on him. But i googling and find myself with artlicle that suggest RAW food. I am a little ify because he is so small.
My husband was told strictly to feed him Royal Canin baby cat 34 mixed with canned food.
Would i make it worst if i change his food to Raw?
Or should i switch his food from Royal Canin to Nature’s Variety. Any suggestations?
Poor Kingston! Really, at 9 weeks old it could be ANYTHING. But you will NOT make it worse by giving raw food. Right now is the best time to give it to him! He could eat a very healthy meal for the rest of his life!
But like I said, the diarrhea could be anything. A vet will help rule it out by checking over everything. But I will say that Persians are NOTORIOUS for having digestion problems like Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), and for that raw food is really the best medicine. Many vets don’t follow that school of thought, but that is because they are paid commission by companies like Royal Canin to “prescribe” it to their clients. If I were you I would try a cold turkey switch to Nature’s Variety or any other raw food you can find near you in stores. Make sure not to vaccinate Kingston while he has diarrhea, and only worm him if indeed worms are detected. I am not a vet but I do love spreading the word about raw food when so many vets just want to give your cat shots and antibiotics and send you on your way. Good luck!
Thanks for the response… I really appreaciate it. I will definately switch to RAW, and will watch him closely. If I don’t see no improvement I will take him to the vet to rule out the problem.
Hello there. My 9 year old cat, Graycie, has been vomiting for close to a year now. She seems fine otherwise but it is breaking my heart. I have tried switching her food to the one the vet recommended, hypoallergenic. It does not help. She throws up daily now and we have a small apartment that just can’t take much more vomiting. The vets have said it is IBS but none of the medications have worked! They just mixed up another one, 50 dollars for a 2 week supply! I was wondering if you would suggest raw? Where can I buy it? Should I do the meds as well?
Please help! My husband loves her dearly but thinks it might be time to put her down and I don’t want that!
Thank you! Abby
Hi there. My 9 year old cat has been vomiting for about a year. The vet says its IBS, but none of the meds they are trying are working AT ALL. I have her on hypoallergenic food as well…not working. I just bought the Nature’s Variety in chicken medallions and want to start on raw immediately. Do you recommend mixing in gradually with her hypoallergenic dry? Or since that seems to bother her, go to raw completely? If I gradually mix it in, how long should I do that?
Desperate! Thank you!
I am definitely going to try this starting tomorrow! I have tried everything! My cat is 16 years old and has exactly the same symptoms, I’ve tried everything else. Yogurt helped for a few months, but now she turns it away! Thank you I’ll let you know how we make out!