A pet column in the Washington Post had a story that made me sit bolt upright!
A reader’s poor had frequent, bad-smelling diarrhea. Her coat was dull and ragged, when she went to the litterbox she meowed as if in pain, and her dark-brown bowel movement “smelled like a sewer”.
The vet treated her for parasites and worms over and over again. No change.
Her pet parents took her to a different vet who diagnosed her with “irritable bowel syndrome”. They put her on a new diet (which, unfortunately, they didn’t describe, but I’ll be it was free of corn and wheat), added omega-3 (fish oil), and within a month, the kitty looked and smelled much better!
The owner realized she had the same symptoms and ultimately discovered she had “celiac disease”, which is treated by going to a gluten-free diet.
I just want to point out that with cats, in particular, but you also see this in dogs, the addition of corn, wheat, soy, and sorghum as a protein source is often just too much for their digestive tract. They were not created to eat these grains in nature. You might not see the problems right away, but if you have a pet with truly foul-smelling bathroom problems, while you must check for parasites, you might also try changing to a pet food that only has enough brown rice to hold the kibble together (USDA – grown in America, not imported) and has real meat in it, not byproducts.
Teresa Holladay
http://IsYourPetFoodSafe.com
The Holistic Pet Food Blog
Filed under: Holistic Pet Food
