Feeding savannah chicks

[Doubletrouble]

Hi I'm just curious if anyone could help me. My savannah Zeus has been in and out of the vets for the past year with stomach problems always been sick. when we took him the first couple of times they did blood tests and xrays both came back fine he was given some medicine to stop him been sick and this was all good for a couple of months. However he's been sick on and off this last month until 2 days ago he was sick with anything he ate so we took him to the vets again and did the same blood test and xrays (he's still there now, stopping over night) he was 1yr in Dec... the vet has called to say he's constipated and dehydrated due to him been sick. They found bone fragments in his feceas when they cleaned him out and asked about his diet. Zeus only eats raw chicken which we buy from natural instinct which is all minced up and I've felt the food, the bones in there feel soft like cartlidge and very small.... we use to give him chicks as a treat the last one he had was about 6mnths ago or further back maybe... could it be the bones from these chicks that have got stuck in his stomach?... the first time we took him to the vets there wasn't anything found on the xrays though

 

[WitchyWoman]

My first instinct is to get him to eat different proteins other than, or in addition to, chicken. If there is no evidence of illness or disease, it seems the likely culprit is the diet. I've taken a quick look at the products offered. The country banquet states 80% meat and bone but doesn't break down the percentage of bone. The bone should be only 10%. It's possible there's too much bone in the blend. He could have an allergy to chicken. Their pure cat food is totally unbalanced and if that's what you're feeding and not supplementing it properly with bone/organs then that might be the problem. The country banquet line has a lot of stuff in it cats don't normally eat on a regular basis and any one of those may be a culprit.

If you are not interested in feeding a whole prey diet (mice, rats, guinea pigs, quail et al) or making home made ground raw, try to find a canned cat food with meat and meat by-products as the first 3 ingredients, no grain, and slowly wean him onto that to see if it makes a difference. By slow weaning, I mean mixing a 1/4 tsp to his usual food for a few days, upping it to 1/2 teaspoon for a week or so, then 3/4 tsp, etc while reducing his regular food by the same amount until he is eating the new food.

Bone fragments in stool is not a problem. They become a problem only if there is an improper ratio of bone to meat. Too much bone can cause constipation. Day old chicks don't have bones yet...they're mostly cartilage. There is little nutritive value in the chicks making them appropriate for snacks only.

Here are good sources of info about raw feeding that can help you evaluate the food you're feeding now and assist with planning a well-balanced diet if you choose to make your own cat-food.

http://catinfo.org/
http://www.rawfedcats.org/practicalguide.htm

 

[Doubletrouble]

Thank you for reading and replying
We differ from the different range of meat natural instinct have to offer to make sure he's getting enough nutrition. chickens the one we buy most of. Thank you for the links I'm going to portion his food a lot more and look into less bones. I honestly don't think it is the natural instinct but you just never know I guess.

That's what I thought with the chicks but that's the only thing I could pin point it on. I'll have a read through the links you sent to get some ideas of what to try him on next

Thank you ☺

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Hi I'm just curious if anyone could help me. My savannah Zeus has been in and out of the vets for the past year with stomach problems always been sick. when we took him the first couple of times they did blood tests and xrays both came back fine he was given some medicine to stop him been sick and this was all good for a couple of months. However he's been sick on and off this last month until 2 days ago he was sick with anything he ate so we took him to the vets again and did the same blood test and xrays (he's still there now, stopping over night) he was 1yr in Dec... the vet has called to say he's constipated and dehydrated due to him been sick. They found bone fragments in his feceas when they cleaned him out and asked about his diet. Zeus only eats raw chicken which we buy from natural instinct which is all minced up and I've felt the food, the bones in there feel soft like cartlidge and very small.... we use to give him chicks as a treat the last one he had was about 6mnths ago or further back maybe... could it be the bones from these chicks that have got stuck in his stomach?... the first time we took him to the vets there wasn't anything found on the xrays though

I'm not clear on what has been the issue with Zeus. You say he's "always been sick" and "stomach problems"...does that mean he vomits? Has diarrhea? Or the dehydration and constipation that was reported this most recent vet visit?

Was the blood test a CBC or was it testing anything specific?

 

[John Popp]

Hola Dos Problemas!

I'm on the same page as Witchy, I'll just add a little insight on the raw product from Nature's Variety.

Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Chicken has a lot of bones in it and it can also have a lot of skin or fat. The additional fat your cat can handle without much issue, the extra bone is really cat dependent. In nature, they can regulate themselves pretty well, choosing not to eat some bone and discarding it. Grind it up, and then they don't have any choice.

Catinfo.org has a really good sortable chart that has nutrition data on the commercially available raw and canned foods. For me, even though we grind our own raw, it was good to have the list so I could survey what the local pet food stores had available. That gave me a back up plan in case I ever ran out, and stuff to experiment with.

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

As a maximum, phosphorous mg per 100 kcal should be 300 or less, and I would opt for even less. Phosphorous is going to be a pretty good indicator of how much bone content there is. With our home made raw, one boy had no bone tolerance issues and the other we needed to cut out about a third of the bones in chicken thighs. We also used pumpkin for a while, we gave it up but that's a different story.

The food you're currently using has what I would to be about 60% more bone than I would feel comfortable with. Putting the word "instinct" on the packaging and a brand called "natures variety" one would believe we were doing the absolute best we could for our pet, and we are all too often let down.

 

[Patti]

I am also wondering what you mean by 'sick' - in what way has he been sick? If he is constipated and dehydrated then it would be easy enough to add water to his diet, but it sounds like you might need to find a better diet than what you are giving, from what the others have said.

 

[catsindogtown]

I have a 7 year old Bengal male and he was on strictly Stella and Chewys or Natural Instinct chicken for years and had become "sick". Lots of vet visits, a load of meal transitions, and a medication plan later my Kyan has become a lot more healthy. It seems like he might have IBS as he's bug free and whatnot, we've done all the expensive tests. After landing on Ziwi Peak Lamb and Lamb and Rabbit and also getting the inflammation down in his intestine from his meds, he's acting like his old self again. I think the raw chicken for all those years didn't do the best things to his stomach and if I went back to raw Id have to prep it myself. Reading your story truly reminds me of my own, he's just about to wean off meds and I hope he stays like he is, but ill never go back to store bought raw chicken. Raw is still totally doable and great in my eyes just very... fragile! Nothing against raw chicken but it didn't work for us.

 

[John Popp]

I'm also very cautious with the raw chicken we use and one of our boys just flat out won't eat it. We landed on a rabbit/lamb/venison we make that seems to do the trick. Really had to work on getting him to tolerate the lamb, as he would prefer super lean meats which aren't necessarily ideal for our cats.