Self Regulation?

[admin]

Not at all Paige. I had them in the mix that I stated above. I thought that I'd mix the organ meat, thighs, legs, and white meat. I figure I'd give parts of the entire animal, just like they would eat in the wild. If I had a processor, I might try a whole chicken, bones and all. Fat content is good, AFAIK, to burn off quickly in supplying a young cat's energy.

Cool Joe! That is why I was asking...because the fat is good...I have been tempted to grind a whole chicken myself...

 

[admin]

I'll try, but if he turns up his nose then they get tossed. Somebody mentioned having this problem earlier in the thread. May have been you, and I noted it earlier.

I believe that servals on the African Savannah's specialize in catching rodents, probably meercats as they are plentiful there. Explains the small head and the way they like to stick it into places where it doesn't belong.

If a breeder has serval servals then they surely must have a constant supply of serval different kinds of food for them, including serval kinds of fowl and serval kinds of rodent.

Not really Joe...Shelby has a serval and he gets canned food and chicken legs except when I bring mice, quail and chicks to NC when I bring Zuri...and he is a happy, healthy, boy!!!!

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Thanks B. I ordered the Probios Equine (see earlier post) on Tuesday. I reasoned that I didn't need the pectin-kaolin paste as there's no emergency or need for a stat ending of fluid loss. The Probios and ProViable have essentially the same ingredients, and although the ProViable has an additional two bactirium, I opted for the Probios because the gel will be MUCH easier for me to administer.

In all honesty, I'm NOT expecting this to work...................especially after reading all of the very informative feedback here. If and when the "flora" fails, then the plan will be as follows:

1. Start a bland raw diet and then S L O W L Y transition back to the EVO Turkey and Chicken Formula. Gradually increase kibble portion until stool is no longer firm. Use this proportion as a baseline.

2. If 100% kibble is not tolerated, then start with baseline and substitute other less nutritionally "rich" kibble for the EVO until a kibble product is found that will be 100% tolerated.

I do not have a food processor. I'd prefer not to feed any rice or vegetable filler. Please let me know if this will be OK. My initial thought is to buy chicken gizzards/livers/hearts as well as white/thigh meat. I'd like to chop all into more or less bite size pieces (except the livers) and quickly blanch all of it. Then mix in the diced liver meat and refrigerate for later use. I thought I'd prepare a week's supply at a time. Th doc mentioned blanching, above. Is this necessary, or not?



...........................Oh, I just read your post above about your not having a firm recipe. That's OK as I can find plenty online. The main thing I need to know is whether or not sterilization, ie: blanching is necessary. Also, remember that I do not intend this to be a long term solution, simply a transitioning and reset process.


I SURE WISH THAT THE EDIT FUNCTION HERE, WOULD ALLOW MORE THAN 5 MINUTES BEFORE IT "TIMES OUT".

IF trying the bland diet I wouldn't so much worry about balancing with organ meat in the beginning, just feed the muscle meat for a week or two. I know that seems unbalanced and terrible but this is about settling the digestive tract and I do not believe he will run into deficiency issues in that time period. Then add in the organs to balance. I wouldn't wait until after trying the Probios. Give the paste while feeding the raw. This likely will get you to the right place soonest.

It's important to note when I advocate a bland diet, I am NOT advocating it as a permanent diet. It's meant for a short-ish period before transitioning back to a completely balanced diet.

 

[SV Dad]

Joe, (louie's dad), to clarify, I have two F3 full brothers from different litters, and my boys are half brothers to John Popp's Chongo, and Amanda's Cappy. John and I compare notes because of the close relationship and we have discovered many behaviors and attributes that seem to be genetic. (For those of you who want a very active and charming SV, we would recommend the the stud Commando from Select Exotics.)
I only use commercial pet foods. It took a while to find the best outcomes. The worse I get now is soft stools. The boys are now 3.5 and 2.5 years old, healthy and happy.

 

[Louie'sDad]

Thanks all for a very helpful exchange. After trying the ProZyme for almost 1 week the situation has, as expected, not changed. If anything, the BM has gotten looser than it was before.

Next week I will start from square one: eliminate the EVO kibble and begin with a bland raw diet. I'll experiment with various chicken organs and meat with no vegetable fillers. The question is: can I immediately make the change, or must I do it in stages? It would certainly be easier to changeover in one shot, as long as he's willing to cooperate. What say you, and, is the diet change considered a "shock" or "stressir" which necessitates continuation of the probiotics for another few days or so.

Thanks,
Joe

PS: He LOVES solid white tuna from the can. Is this OK to feed?

 

[John Popp]

I definitely had issues with the EVO Kibble as I probably had already mentioned. The Royal Canin Kitten 36 kibble seemed to be much better tolerated and that's part of what I was sent packing with from SE. The one caveat was when I inadvertently ran out of the food I had transitioned him to, and abruptly went back to the RC Kitten 36, again loose stools.

On the Tuna, it's fine for a treat but shouldn't be a staple food in their diet. I'd still try to get the duck into the diet as it's definitely widely used for the sensitive tummy issues.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Thanks all for a very helpful exchange. After trying the ProZyme for almost 1 week the situation has, as expected, not changed. If anything, the BM has gotten looser than it was before.

Next week I will start from square one: eliminate the EVO kibble and begin with a bland raw diet. I'll experiment with various chicken organs and meat with no vegetable fillers. The question is: can I immediately make the change, or must I do it in stages? It would certainly be easier to changeover in one shot, as long as he's willing to cooperate. What say you, and, is the diet change considered a "shock" or "stressir" which necessitates continuation of the probiotics for another few days or so.

Thanks,
Joe

PS: He LOVES solid white tuna from the can. Is this OK to feed?

I can't remember, have you tried a probiotic instead of the Prozyme? I think that I remember that the Prozyme was sent by your breeder so kudos to you for listening to their advice though!

You can change immediately to a bland raw diet. I would however recommend starting first with a relatively unbalanced one of just the muscle meat... and then add in the organs gradually.

I would not give canned tuna, that almost always gives looser stools in my cats...in fact can be used when I WANT to induce stools!

 

[SV Dad]

Maybe it's me (and it can be), something in the back of my head is nagging me about exposure to heavy metals (mercury) when consuming tuna frequently....

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I think you are right, there is something about the negatives of feeding a lot of canned tuna to cats and I think it might be the tendency for high heavy metal contamination...

 

[WitchyWoman]

From the ASPCA (but I've seen this info nearly everywhere -- webmd, cat info. etc.)
An occasional tuna treat given to your cat is probably relatively harmless. It’s true that mercury is often present in tuna, and at low levels, this may not be a problem. But if tuna is fed nearly exclusively, it could potentially pose significant problems.
Nutritional deficiencies are also likely to arise in a cat consuming tuna as a staple part of his or her diet. For example, vitamin E is not present in significant amounts in tuna, which could lead to a deficiency of this vitamin. The resulting disease is called yellow fat disease, or steatitis. This disease causes fever, loss of appetite, and hypersensitivity to touch due to inflammation and necrosis of the fat under the skin. Since tuna is not formulated to meet all of the nutritional needs of a cat, companion felines could also develop other nutrient deficiencies. Most de-boned fish are deficient in calcium, sodium, iron, copper and several vitamins. However, these issues are not likely to be a concern with cats who are getting tuna only as a small, occasional treat.