Posted in Human nutrition and health, tagged cheesecake, IBD, low-fat, recipe on February 11, 2010|
In my attempts to lose weight last year, I discovered it was FAT that aggravated my digestive disorders. So, I need to stick to a low-fat diet or I suffer the consequences. It was my birthday recently – and as cheesecake is one of the things I miss a LOT – I decided to try to come up with a low-fat version I could eat without getting ill.
Inspired partly by my friend Mary’s “chocolate eclair cake” and partly by Keebler’s “double chocolate pudding pie”, here’s what I did.
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cats, cholongiohepatitis, feline, IBD, Latifah, liver, lymphoma, pancreas, pancreatitis, Rumpelmintz, triaditis on September 29, 2009| 46 Comments »
Feline triaditis is actually three conditions occurring simultaneously: pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), cholongiohepatitis (inflammation of the liver), and inflammatory bowel disease or IBD (inflammation of the intestines).
There may be no known “cure” for triaditis, though I would argue that proper nutrition is the absolute BEST method of treatment and prevention. By proper nutrition, I mean a raw diet or a canned diet – and most definitely no dry food/kibble of any kind.
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, cat nutrition, cats, dry food, feline nutrition, IBD, pancreatitis, raw food on December 11, 2008| 4 Comments »
This post has actually been a work-in-progress for some time, but a phone call today pushed me to try and finish it. That phone call took place with the internal medicine specialist treating Studley. The specialist has diagnosed Studley with pancreatitis and IBD, based on an ultrasound performed Tuesday. Today he got back the results of Studley’s GI lab, and expressed some confusion that while he KNOWS Studley has IBD (based on the ultrasound results), his GI lab results (cobalamin and folate) were normal.
I do NOT generally openly disagree with most vets (to their face). I’ll express my opinions to my regular vet, who acts very open to my ideas and thoughts – but I’ve learned not to waste my time and breath on many vets who really don’t care what I think about anything. They just want me to do what I’m told. However, today for whatever reason I felt the need to tell this specialist my suspicions on why Studley’s results were normal. I told him I had worked with many cats with IBD, adopted and fostered, and I fed all my cats an “IBD friendly” diet. This diet had eliminated symptoms and normalized GI lab results for the other cats I’d worked with – and my thinking was, if Studley was fed this “IBD diet”, and it’s treated these other cats with IBD, it made sense to me that it’d also treated Studley, without my knowing he even had IBD.
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged canned food, cat food, cats, feline nutrition, IBD on December 10, 2008| 13 Comments »
Another of the “frequently asked questions” I get is *which* canned food to feed. Well, in general the answer is simple – look for one with little-to-no grains, fruits, or vegetables. You want something as close to “mouse in a can” as possible. Poultry and/or rabbit is best – as these are closest to a cat’s natural prey. (Cats don’t naturally hunt, kill, and eat cows, sheep, fish, or swine – they do consume birds and rodents.)
Generally, there are compromises to be made. Canned foods that contain higher-quality ingredients generally also contain higher amounts of vegetables and fruit, and are also generally higher in fat than the canned foods that use more byproducts and “meat” of undefined origin. Personally, I don’t object too strongly to byproducts and lower-grade meat. Cats would consume the entire carcass of their prey – they wouldn’t spit out the kidney, for example. However, I do want SOME muscle meat in their food, and for some cats (particularly some with severe IBD), “meat” of undefined origin isn’t an option. “Meat”, when the source isn’t identified, is most often beef or pork – and some cats don’t tolerate beef or pork.
Some people want a more specific list of brands and flavors. I’m always reluctant to do that, as brands and flavors change in ingredients and availability and I’d rather people learn to look at labels and exercise judgement. However, here’s a list of my current “favorites”. These are the canned foods I almost always have at my house, for my own adopted cats and fosters:
Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, IBD, pancreatitis, raw food, Studley on December 9, 2008| 5 Comments »
Once again life has gotten in the way of my writing. Seems I’ve been doing a LOT of writing about Studley lately – and apparently Studley likes having the spotlight shown upon him as yet again he’s “inspired” a post.
It started on Saturday, pretty innocuously. Studley didn’t eat breakfast. At the time, I thought little of it. I’d walked toward him to give him his pill, and he ran away. When he didn’t come back and eat, I figured he was just nervous about pilling, and it wouldn’t hurt him to skip a meal. (I did get him later, napping, for the medication.)
However, he seemed fairly lethargic throughout the day. Around 4:00 p.m. he vomited. By evening, he wasn’t interested in dinner and was drinking a lot of water (highly unusual, especially for a cat on an all-wet diet). In fact, at one point, he just lay by the water dish with his head over it – and that was enough to convince me a visit to the emergency vet was warranted.
(more…)
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged amino acids, cat food, feeding cats, feline nutrition, homemade cat food, IBD, making cat food, raw food, vitamins on December 4, 2008| 3 Comments »
I feed my cats a homemade raw diet. I think raw diets are the “gold standard” in feline diet. However, I will state loudly and adamantly up front – I THINK CANNED FOODS ARE A PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE CHOICE! However, there is NO DRY (KIBBLE) FOOD I deem acceptable. I will occasionally use a freeze-dried food, freeze-dried treat, or dehydrated treat as a TREAT, but not a meal… and you have to be CERTAIN they are truly freeze-dried, air-dried, or dehydrated, not processed – as many food labels are deceptive. Even if these items were ideal in every other way (low in carbohydrates, little-to-no veggies, fruit, grains, etc.) they are LACKING IN MOISTURE and that moisture is imperative to proper kidney and urinary tract health.
Doing it “right” does not mean it has to be difficult! Personally, I buy a pre-ground meat/bone/organ product (Hare Today) and add a few supplements. It is SIMPLE. See the video below!
(more…)
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, constipation, diarrhea, diet, IBD on September 2, 2008| 38 Comments »
Catchy title, huh?
Some of my friends have deemed me the “Queen of Poop and Puke”. While not a particularly flattering title, the sentiment is actually rather nice. I’ve worked with six cats with gastro-intestinal issues now – adopted and fostered. Generally, vets lump these cats into the category of “IBD” or Inflammatory Bowel Disease – meaning their intestines are inflamed, reasons unknown.
The thing is the reason generally *isn’t* unknown – at least not to me. The reason is an inappropriate diet – most often DRY KIBBLE. Of the six cats I’ve worked with – not a SINGLE ONE needed to remain on a prescription diet or medications. They were all “cured” by a diet change and nutritional supplements.
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cats, CRF, diabetes, IBD, vitamins on August 29, 2008| 75 Comments »
My friend Adrienne said if vitamin B12 was a person, she thinks I might marry it. Maybe she’s right. I’m a big fan. Oh, I like lots of the vitamins, don’t get me wrong… love me some vitamin D for example, but you can overdose vitamin D, so you need to exercise some caution, and some feel supplementation of vitamin D can cause problems if you suffer from a autoimmune disease. As far as I know, while B12 is the only B-vitamin that seems to be stored by the body (in the liver), there are no known risks of overdose.
Where does vitamin B12 come from? It’s found in meat and dairy products. Vegans should consider vitamin B12 supplementation. Of course, my interest is in cats and if they’re fed properly (recognizing they are true carnivores) they should be getting vitamin B12 in their diet, but most commercial foods and homemade recipes supplement all the B-vitamins, just in case. The B-vitamins are water-soluble and, as I noted, generally not stored by the body, so there’s no known risk of overdose.
What can cause deficiency of Vitamin B12 in cats? Anything that causes excessive drinking and/or urination (diabetes, hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, etc.) can deplete B12 and the other B vitamins as they are “washed out” of the body. Giving sub-q fluids could deplete vitamin B. Chronic diarrhea can also deplete B12 as most B-12 is lost in fecal matter. Cats with an inflamed gastro-intestinal tract (such as cats with IBD) may not absorb B12 properly as it’s absorbed in the intestines. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause anemia, neuropathy, other neurological issues, etc.
(more…)
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, diabetes, feline nutrition, IBD, obesity, raw food on August 25, 2008| 3 Comments »
I’m pleased I’ve had more and more caregivers talk to me about putting their cats on a raw diet. For those new to raw, I often recommend a pre-ground meat/bone product such as Hare Today, supplemented with a multi-vitamin/nutrient for cats such as Platinum Performance, as described in Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins in her book “Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer Stronger Life“.
One problem – it seems some of these caregivers view this Hare Today/Platinum Performance combination to be some magical “cure” for what ails their cat (diabetes, IBD or chronic diarrhea, obesity, “allergies”, etc.) In a way, it is a “cure” in that the cat becomes healthier and may no longer show any symptoms of their prior ailment (no more need for insulin, no more anemia, no more diarrhea, etc.) However, in my opinion, it’s not so much that the particular food is a cure in that you’ve eliminated the *problem* (dry food).
(more…)
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, IBD, raw food on June 15, 2008|
Well, I avoid lying – but I often evade the truth.
People often ask how veterinarians respond when I tell them I feed my cats a homemade raw diet. Honestly, I don’t generally tell veterinarians that I feed a homemade raw diet. The vets at the general practice clinic where I take my cats know. I don’t really now how they all feel about it. I’m fortunate there was a holistic vet that practiced acupuncture that used to work in this clinic, and I know she fed raw. I generally ask for two particular vets at the clinic. They know, and they seem fine with it. They know I credit my cats’ health (and “recovery” from IBD and diabetes) to the diet. One of these two prefers that I’m feeding homemade than a commercial raw diet, he thinks it’s safer. There’s a third I’ve seen a few times and she’s voiced the typical concerns about bacteria like salmonella, warning me to wash their bowls each meal. I wonder if she warns caregivers feeding commercial dry food about salmonella? We know with certainty that dry food often contains pathogens like salmonella, do vets express the same concerns to their clients about the bags lining their own shelves? I tell caregivers, regardless of what they feed their pets, to handle food and bowls with care and wash their hands well after handling food, bowls, and scooping litter boxes.
(more…)
Life of the Lintee Bean 