[Simkie]

My IBD cat is still a little pukey and my vet recommended a novel protein trial. I feel like I'm limited on options, but I thought the group here might have some ideas.

We currently feed Before Grain Chicken or Turkey.

Before Grain also makes Beef, Quail, Salmon and Tuna, but they all contain egg, so I'm not sure if any of those would be considered "novel" enough.

I know EVO also does an only meat canned food, and we used to feed that, but stopped after some issues following the P&G purchase. I suppose we could go back, but I'd prefer to find something else.

Who else does a canned food that is only one protein plus nothing else besides vitamins? Anyone?

[Horsegal984]

With cats your options are a little more limited, I know people have done well with natural balance LID like duck, or you may have to go to prescription.

Nothing with egg in it, and it has to be a protein source she has never had before, so going back to EVO would be a wash unless they have rabbit or duck

[animaldoc]

There was a recent study done (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?t...ood%20antigens) that found that OTC diets contained antigens that were not on the labels - so if you need to do a novel protein diet trial, you really need to use a prescription diet......

[Simkie]

With cats your options are a little more limited, I know people have done well with natural balance LID like duck, or you may have to go to prescription.

Nothing with egg in it, and it has to be a protein source she has never had before, so going back to EVO would be a wash unless they have rabbit or duck

Natural Balance all seems to have pea protein. Not really interested in feeding the cat non-meat ingredients.

There was a recent study done (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?t...ood%20antigens) that found that OTC diets contained antigens that were not on the labels - so if you need to do a novel protein diet trial, you really need to use a prescription diet......

Well, they tested four dry dogs foods versus wet cat foods and brands weren't listed, at least in the abstract. It seems that study is far from condemning all novel protein options for my cat other than RX. While I'd prefer not to, but if we really can't get her happy on a high quality food, then we'll try z/d.

[RedMare01]

Wellness has a line of 95% single protein canned foods, including lamb and salmon, but they're marketed to dogs. And I'm not sure they represent a complete diet, as there aren't any vitamins or minerals added. But maybe worth a look.

[MSE]

The AvoDerm Wild by nature canned food is a single ingredient only. It has no peas or eggs. It comes in salmon, swordfish, sardines, and tuna with prawns (the only one with more than one protein). I've got it in my rotation and my kitties love it. The sardines is literally chopped up little fishies in broth with vitamins. My monsters went nuts for it. Petco carries it too. Good luck!

[Ruth0552]

Try Blue Buffalo. They have a selection of grain-free novel protein diets that do not contain egg.

http://bluebuffalo.com/products?animal=cat

[Louise]

Blue Buffalo duck looks like a possibility. I didn't check any of the others. One other thing, totally not germain to your cat but maybe making a difference to you, is that Blue Buffalo is made in the United States. http://bluebuffalo.com/cat-food/wild...f=1&animal=cat

[lilitiger2]

we tried everything with my old girl but finally had to go to D/D duck (prescription diet) which I THINK has no egg. She just gets the wet stuff and wow, likes it and has done very well on it (she has also had to do Z/D and done well on that too). Lots of reasons NOT to do Hills but sure worked for her when she needed a novel protein. Also used Serenia (sp?) for nausea which also helped a lot (the injectable).

[Marshfield]

Check Nature's Instinct canned. I think they make a canned rabbit. Www.catinfo.org has information on making homemade raw using rabbit, if that is an option for you.

[andreab]

Disclaimer: I am not a cat person. I have, however, been quite happy with Ziwipeak for my dog, and I know they make a cat version as well. Protein options are Lamb, Venison, or Venison and Fish. It is an air-dried raw food, all meat.

[Simkie]

Thanks for the ideas, all. Lots of places to look. Still so tough to find something that will work.

The Wellness stuff appears to be "supplemental feeding only" without vitamins. Evangers also sells a lot of this stuff, but I'm just not comfortable feeding something that's not actually complete, since it's all the kitty will be getting.

Blue Buffalo Duck has turkey broth as the second ingredient, and potatoes as the third, so that's also out.

Avoderm might work. Any concerns with feeding only fish? I have stayed away due to reports of urinary issues with kitties fed a lot of fishes.

I can't find anything called Nature's Instinct. Marshfield, are you talking about Nature's Variety Instinct? They all look to have pea protein. (Or an assortment of fruits and vegetables!)

Homemade raw would be a last resort, but an option if we get to that point. Just sounds like a LOT of work.

Ziwi Peak certainly looks promising--they have a canned lamb that could work. We might give that one a try!

Any other suggestions?

[MunchingonHay]

Can you do raw until the issue subsides then into canned back into the diet?

I will be honest, I dont know a lot about IBD, but cats do not get vitamins in the wild, so why not just go organic raw for a month and see what happens?
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood




Not sure if this helps you....so I will send jingles instead and positive vibes that kitty gets better soon.

ETA; link

[MSE]

Marshfield is talking about Nature's Variety. They have a line called Instinct (made the same wording mistake myself). The instinct canned does have peas. Personally I would try their raw or freeze dried products. If you have a Petco near you, they do carry the frozen raw food. It is confusing because it is formulated for dogs too so it is in the dog section. My vet (holistic vet) sells and recommends their products highly. They also have a freeze dried raw which would work. http://www.naturesvariety.com/
My kitties are on an almost exclusive fish diet since I have a chicken sensitive kitty. My little boogers don't like raw because they can't stand cold/cool food. Microwaving just defeats the purpose of raw so... They do love the freeze dried foods, it's just hard to find one that doesn't have chicken.

[alto]

Homemade raw would be a last resort, but an option if we get to that point. Just sounds like a LOT of work.

Much easier to try a locally available high quality raw - ask shops for samples of the various proteins you're considering or enquire about palatability guarantee.
All of my local shops offer a palatability guarantee but I prefer samples if possible to reduce waste: Mss Cat always surprises me with her continued existence & apparent health given her limited diet - she gets the dog version as she will.not.eat. any cat versions; she does not get any supplements as their presence means that she wil.not.eat.period (for days); a new lot number on a previously acceptable food may mean that it is no longer an acceptable food.
Mss Cat was obviously a large predator in a previous life as she will eat Venison, Buffalo, Elk, Beef, Llama
Freeze dried (human grade) chicken, salmon (not often), duck liver, duck heart "round out" her diet.

For 2 years every meal time was a struggle as I tried to insist that she eat a balanced diet, finally I concluded that her hunger strikes & all the stress were worse.

If there are any local raw food pet shops, go in & talk to the staff/managers about feeding raw. As with any new food, you may have to work to transition your cat.

[wendy]

a lot of the petstores around here have put in freezers and sell a wide variety of pre-made raw foods, and you can get most of these in freeze-dried forms as well- you'd want to soak in water before feeding, of course.
Stella n Chewy have two that are just fish + vitamins, nothing else.


However, if you're just doing a "novel protein" trial, the safest thing to do is home-prepare- thus you know exactly what's in it. When doing feeding trials, it's not important that the diet be balanced because you're only going to be feeding it for a short period of time. So go to the grocery store and buy your "novel protein" and offer it, either cooked or raw, for a few weeks and see if the cat improves.
Then you can try the commercial, balanced version.
Some pets are reacting to the vitamins etc. and not the primary proteins in the food.

[SquishTheBunny]

We have a client who homecooks for her cat. He wont eat "chunks" of things, so she cooks (venison?) and blenderizes it. Freezes it, and lasts for a while.

She also leaves out a small amount of dry z/d so the cat can graze throughout the day. So far this combo has worked very well for her and the cat has gained significant amount of weight and no more diarrhea.

[Simkie]

Well, I tried to talk my husband into feeding the cat some of the organic, pasture raised pork we bought this winter, but he was not amused with the idea.

I went to the feed store to buy some Ziwi Peak, but they no longer carry it. Ran into Hound & Gatos which is a brand I'd never seen before--maybe new?--and picked up the rabbit variety. We will see how it goes.

[cowboymom]

One of my customers is having very good luck with a rabbit variety of some food-she just told me about it today and of course I can't remember anything else about it. I don't think it was rabbit and pea though, something else...

[wendy]

check the labels- the Hound & gatos rabbit cat food has duck liver in it as well as rabbit. I also see no mention of added taurine, and cats fed on non-supplemented rabbit diets often suffer from taurine deficiency. It's possible the duck liver was added for that purpose? they haven't added duck liver to their other cat foods.