[BRUMI1968]

I'm not sure. I feed by dog grainless food, and he seems to do fine.

The best my dog was, though, was when he was getting raw food. His farts stopped stinking, his poop was awesome (to pick up - or just leave there if it was in my yard because it basically turned to white powder and disappeared). It was going along great. He lost weight, his coat was great....was nice. Then suddenly he didn't want to eat it anymore. WE think part of it was that he was in pain from an arthritic elbow, and that was making him cranky about a lot of things. Then he got D, ... I don't know, I'm so frustrated with feeding him.

I'm actually trying to go back to raw food because his gas is not only bad for us, it seems to be keeping him awake now too.

Anyway, I think the animals do well on it.

[jenvan]

lindalee, on Aug 7 2006, 08:25 AM, said:

Where do I find the list for Gluten Ingredients? LL

It is always listed on the package...but go here to see the different Eukanuba formulas, then click on the pink ingredient tab at the bottom to see the ingredients: http://us.eukanuba.com/eukanuba/en_US/jsp/....jsp?pageID=CAP Go here to see Iam's formulas and then choose one and that page will list the ingredients: http://us.iams.com/iams/en_US/jsp/IAMS_Pag...#productListTop Hope that helps ! I prefer Eukanuba...

[susan p-r]

lindalee, on Aug 6 2006, 08:54 AM, said:

I've been searching and cannot find this thread. Need to get my cat Hannah another cat food. Thanks, LL

We've used Iams and Felidae; we are now using California Natural. California Natural is a dry cat food with the fewest ingredients. I chose to switch foods for the sake of my cat, who is struggling with her own autoimmune disorder. Both of my cats like all three foods; we have also used Innova's canned cat food, but they don't like the potato and carrot chunks in it! Our dog eats Canidae, which is also made with non-gluten-containing ingredients. We got started on the gluten-free food originally to reduce my husband's allergic response to our first cat - the healthier cat meant less dander and thus fewer allergy symptoms!

[mesmerize]

susan p-r, on Aug 8 2006, 10:42 AM, said:

We've used Iams and Felidae; we are now using California Natural. California Natural is a dry cat food with the fewest ingredients. I chose to switch foods for the sake of my cat, who is struggling with her own autoimmune disorder. Both of my cats like all three foods; we have also used Innova's canned cat food, but they don't like the potato and carrot chunks in it! Our dog eats Canidae, which is also made with non-gluten-containing ingredients. We got started on the gluten-free food originally to reduce my husband's allergic response to our first cat - the healthier cat meant less dander and thus fewer allergy symptoms!

Have you found that your kitties gained weight at all with California Natural? I started getting that for my cat after doing a bunch of research on dog & cat foods when I got my puppy... After about 2 months though, my cat had gained a TON of weight, she's literally turned into a little butterball overnight! I even took her to the vet and they said it must just be the food. So I switched her to a different brand that has a "light" formula... I guess maybe she just liked the California Natural toooo much?

[ravenwoodglass]

GlutenFreeGirlfriend, on Aug 7 2006, 11:37 AM, said:

Thanks! Maybe I'll try that! Has it made a difference with your animals? The problem we have with my cat is that he throws up a lot. We joke around and call him a "bulimic kitty" because he gorges himself on his food and then vomits, but it may be that the food is just not agreeing with his little kitty stomach.

He sounds like mine, mine was also losing patches of hair and was grossly overweight at about 26 lbs. We changed to the Evo dog food and suddenly that was all he would eat, He wouldn't even eat the canned food anymore. So we had my health food store order the grain free for cats and he has stopped vomiting at least 6 times a day (and boy does that get old fast!) and it has only taken about 2 weeks and he doesn't have any bald spots anymore. And best of all I don't have to wash my hands 10 times just to feed and clean up the dishes. Grain Free is the way to be - Unless your a bird.

[Felidae]

GlutenFreeGirlfriend, on Aug 7 2006, 03:06 PM, said:

Oh jeez, I feel stupid haha. I thought you guys were talking about getting gluten free cat food because your cats needed it, not because of handling it. Our vet thinks my cat has some trouble digesting his current cat food, so I thought maybe he needed to be gluten-free too!

My cat is allergic to chicken. He had problems digesting his food for quite a while before my vet and I figured this out. There's a lot of research on this topic currently.

[gfp]

GlutenFreeGirlfriend, on Aug 7 2006, 09:37 PM, said:

Thanks! Maybe I'll try that! Has it made a difference with your animals? The problem we have with my cat is that he throws up a lot. We joke around and call him a "bulimic kitty" because he gorges himself on his food and then vomits, but it may be that the food is just not agreeing with his little kitty stomach.

Other than making sure you change slowly I think any cat is better off on an all meat diet, its just not equiped to digest anything else. Human, dogs and pigs are all omniverous and have problems with gluten, pigs also have a disease very similar to celiac disease with soy protein, of course there is far more money avaialble to research this than celiac disease! If omnivores have problems then I'm sure its far more of a problem in something with a digestive system as specialised as a cat.

A bit of throwing up is OK, it could be he's not getting any fibre outside his food (does he have access to grass?)
On the opposite scale if he's hunting for himself then it could be he swallowed a whole head or something, our cat did this a couple of times and bird heads with sharp beaks seem to be particualrly painfull when the stomach fills up so they try and vomit it out. We went through a lot of panic until the vet stuck her finger in his stomach and said he'd be fine and would digest the bones over time. (also blood in stool so we were really panicking)

[suziew]

My cat is diabetic and on the felinediabetes.com, there is a list of foods that are gluten free. I buy the fancy feast ones, they like it better than the science diet formula.

[gfp]

nini, on Aug 12 2006, 04:32 PM, said:

my one cat was actually dx'ed with bulimia! Once we switched his food, the binging and purging stopped! The brand we use is One Earth Naturals... I switched his food because he was losing his fur in patches, he was also losing weight and was very lethargic and throwing up A LOT... the vet actually suggested gluten intolerance!

I couldn't remember the name of the food earlier, but we had to get more yesterday, so there ya go. within a week of switching his food, the vomiting stopped and he started gaining weight again and got his energy back.

Many commercial cat foods are laced with addictive items for cats... which explains the eating to vomiting.
If they weren't most cats would not eat when expected or catch their own food etc. and not choose the right bowl in 9/10 cat's preferred it tests

[Franceen]

My Kitty (pictured here and one of 3 in the house) eats very little meat. She will eat tuna in water. We call her the "lettuce cat" because she eats lettuce like it was kittly chocolate. Acutally it's not lettuce, it's "Nappa Cabbage"........she thrives on that and melon (!). (prefers cantaloupe, but also likes honeydew and watermelon).

I've asked the vet about this unusual dietary preference and she said "perfectly normal for cats" to need and want "grasses, greens, and things like melon and fruit"......
NOTE: None of her preferred plants are wheat, barley or rye and not really "grains"!! So that still supports the notion that cats are not designed to digest grains."
She doesn't get sick or D from it. She doesn't vomit from that, but she DOES vomit her dry cat food often, but not all the time.

SO, I've concluded that RAW (whether meat, veg or fruit) is best for this cat and maybe all cats..

We have tried to give her beef, chicken and pork, but she sticks her nose up at it.

So, just tuna and lettuce and melon for my kitty (she's 13 yrs old and very healthy, not overweight). And no CC this way either. (Hubby handles the dry food and dishes washed separately).

[Felidae]

GlutenFreeGirlfriend, on Aug 12 2006, 12:02 AM, said:

Yea I'm not sure what's up with my cat! Does he need to be allergy tested to figure it out?

It was a long road of trial and error and testing before we figured out what was going on. The poor guy was sick for so long. Hey, kind of like me before the gluten-free diet. LOL. You may have to try various foods over the long term because changing their food too often may cause more problems. It's a lot of trial and error, basically.

Allergies in cats can show up as a skin problem or as a digestive problem. There are many other symptoms too, but I'm not a vet so, I'll stop there.

[lindalee]

Bully4You, on Aug 6 2006, 09:57 PM, said:

Cats are carnivores and don't need any grains - grains just flummox their systems.

INNOVA brand makes EVO food, which has ZERO grains. That's what I feed my dog. They are a very reputable company. The food is expensive, but you do feed less. In fact, if you overfeed, you'll have troubles with poop issues. But if you follow the instructions and/or adjust out, I think it's good food.

You could also feed your dog raw food, but that is even more expensive, and grosses lots of folks out. Good for the kitties though.

Bully, Hannah seems to like the Innova so far. I have noticed the litter box seems to have large clumps. He also seems to not be coughing. Thanks, LL