Kattfoderallergier med Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM
Ursprungligen publicerad 7 juni 2013 Tack till Dr Jean för att du tog dig tid att prata med Floppycats om kattfoderallergier. Jeans bok, The Complete Guide to Holistic Cat Care:An Illustrated Handbook, är en utmärkt bok om holistisk katthälsa och -vård.Dr. Jean tar också upp Food Allergies in Cats med Dr. Jean Hofve på hennes sida såväl som i en artikel som hon skrev på Only Natural Pet – “Översikt över allergier – del 1 av en serie i tre delar”. Här är en snabb lista över våra andra intervjuer med Dr Jean:
- Kattallergier med Dr. Jean
- Fetma hos katter med Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM
- Njursjukdom hos katter med Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM
- Kattkonjunktivit och kattherpes med Dr. Jean Hofve
- Kattförstoppning – orsaker, symtom och behandling av förstoppning med Dr. Jean Hofve
- Foderallergier hos katter med Dr. Jean Hofve
Kattfoderallergier med Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM
Ljudinspelning:Cat Food Allergies with Dr. Jean Hofve, DVM (klicka här) eller lyssna via YouTube-videon nedan:
Jenny of Floppycats: OK. Jag tror att det spelas in. Hörde du att det var?
Dr. Jean: Ja.
Jenny från Floppycats: Okej bra. Så idag är det den 7 juni 2013 och vi ska prata med Jr Jean Hofve om kattfoderallergier. Dr. Jean, tack så mycket för att du gjorde ännu en intervju med oss.
Dr. Jean: Åh, my nöje.
Jenny of Floppycats: Kan du prata generellt om vad allergier orsakas av?
Dr. Jean: Men ja. Allergier hos människor, hos hundar och katter, och jag antar att sköldpaddor och fiskar kanske orsakas av protein. Av någon anledning reagerar din kropp dåligt på ett protein. Allergier är en stor sak. De involverar hela immunförsvaret. De innebär att man gör antikroppar mot ett visst protein. Hos katter, hos katter och hundar tenderar allergier att bildas mot saker som de är kroniskt utsatta för. Medan människor kan vara allergiska mot ett bistick första gången de blir stucken, är det mycket ovanligt hos djur, och den typen av anafylaktisk reaktion är mycket ovanlig. Men vad vi ser är att vi ser allergier mot saker som pollen och damm, dammkvalster och mat, ibland till sängkläder, ibland mot saker i miljön, mattor. Inhalationsallergier är överlägset vanligast, men födoämnesallergier förekommer.
Jenny of Floppycats: Du hade nämnt när vi mailade om detta att många katter har matintolerans men inte riktigt matallergier. Finns det något sätt att skilja från symptomen vad det är?
Dr. Jean: Inte bra. Har du en katt som reagerar och du tror att det är på maten? Det finns två möjligheter. En är att det bara reagerar på något eller en eller flera saker i maten som färgämnen eller smakämnen eller konserveringsmedlen eller någon komponent i maten snarare än en allergi. Det är mycket vanligare att det är en intolerans än en allergi. Men båda kan orsaka hudtecken, och GI-tecken som diarré eller kräkningar. Men matallergier är mycket mer benägna att resultera i hudsymptom hos katter. Hos hundar orsakar inhalationsallergier vanligtvis hudsymptom och hos katter i viss utsträckning. Och folk blir lite förvirrade när det gäller inhalationsallergier. Vi skulle kalla det hos människor för hösnuva. Men hos hundar och katter får de inte hösnuvasystem. Om de är allergiska mot pollen eller damm eller vad som helst, bryter de vanligtvis ut i hudsymptom, utslag eller lite dermatit någonstans, eller så får de ett område där det kliar så att de börjar slicka och de skapar en hotspot genom att bara gå efter det för mycket. Gastrointestinala tecken är mer benägna att vara matintolerans men det kan vara en allergi. Och sättet att berätta är att byta mat. Men om det är en allergi kanske det inte räcker med att byta mat och du kommer att vilja göra en dietförsök. Nu innan du börjar testa behandling i princip finns det inte riktigt ett sätt att skilja dem åt eftersom de är så lika. Men du kan slå vad om att i fallet med diarré är det mer sannolikt att det är en matintolerans än en allergi. I båda fallen kommer du att se ett svar med en annan mat, men en matallergi måste du ändra maten helt. Som om det är kycklingbaserad mat, skulle du gå till något som kanin. Du måste byta protein.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK.
Dr. Jean: Vi kan prata lite mer i detalj om vad en dietförsök innebär. Det är en ganska intensiv process.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. Eftersom jag var en som bytte mina katter från torrfoder till våtfoder är varje dietförändring inte så rolig, men fördelarna är värda det.
Dr. Jean: Jag hade en katt, min egen katt, jag har känt att klientkatter tar två år att byta från torrfoder till våtfoder.
Jenny of Floppycats: Herregud.
Dr. Jean: Och min egen katt - han åt våtfodret OK. Men när jag började mata råfoder, åt den ena katten det. Hon skulle äta vad som helst. Hon skulle äta en elefant om jag knöt den vid marken. Hon var bra med det. Men den andra katten, Spirit, som Spiritess är hennes namn för, hon hade den där råmaten stående bredvid våtfodret i tre år innan jag såg henne ta en tugga.
Jenny of Floppycats: Wow.
Dr. Jean: Det var ett brott att omvända henne men hon såg [OHÖRLIGT 6:08] i tre år äta den maten. Hon var en envis, envis tjej. Men till slut kom hon över det och hon älskade raw food efter ett tag. Men pojken, hon var en tuff kaka.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. Jag försöker få Charlie och Trig på raw food men jag fruktar processen.
Dr. Jean: Ja. Mina äter raw food. De gillar Rad Cat och de gillar det ännu bättre om jag gör maten så där är du. De föredrar mammas matlagning. Jag önskar att de inte gjorde det.
Jenny från Floppycats: Höger. Självklart gör de det.
Dr. Jean: Ja, för att du lägger den där lilla extra smaksättningen som kallas kärlek. De vet. De vet definitivt när det är där. Men en sak jag skulle vilja påpeka om torrfoder kontra våtfoder är att torrfoder är mycket vanligare förknippat med matallergier. En del av anledningen till det är att torrfoder värmebehandlas två gånger. De tillagas vid 250 till 260 grader eller mer på destruktionsanläggningen, kötträtterna och proteinmåltiderna de görs först och sedan genomgår de extrudering som är en högvärme högtrycksprocess. Så värme denaturerar proteiner. Proteiner är mycket intressanta molekyler och de är alla ihopvikta till en mycket speciell konfiguration. Mag-tarmkanalen vet vad som väntar där inne. Den är redo att hantera vissa konfigurationer. Men när proteinerna blir denaturerade blir de förvrängda. Vikningen blir fel och de blir alla knotiga, och immunförsvaret är mycket mer benäget att reagera på det. Och det publicerades faktiskt en fallstudie av en katt som var matallergisk och den svarade inte på den torra formen av allergidieten. Men när de lade det på burkmaten av samma diet klarnade allt direkt. Konserver värms en gång till cirka 160-165 grader och vanligtvis i burken, och det är i. Det är fortfarande tillräckligt högt för att döda bakterier och det är tillräckligt högt för att denaturera proteiner. Men det verkar inte ha lika stor skadlig effekt som bearbetningen av torrfoder.
Jenny of Floppycats: Intressant. När jag var i Denver förra året och körde förbi den där Purina-fabriken vet jag inte vilken motorväg jag var på, men lukten, och det är vettigt på grund av all värme.
Dr. Jean: Jaja. Och ingredienserna som ingår i Purina torrfoder – vi behöver inte gå in på det. Låt oss bara säga att det inte är din biff och potatis egentligen.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. Kanske var det också därför jag tyckte att det luktade särskilt illa. OK, jag vet att du berörde några av symtomen, men bara för att sätta upp dem i punktlistor om du vill av vilka symtom uppvisar katter när de är allergiska mot något i maten?
Dr. Jean: Om det är hudsymtom utvecklar de vanligtvis det som kallas miliär dermatit i motsats till militär dermatit som är om du är allergisk mot att gå med i flottan eller något. Miliär betyder många små fläckar. Det är i grunden ett utslag, och du tenderar att se det särskilt i ansiktet, runt ögonen och i det där plåstret där håret är tunt mellan ögonen och öronen.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. OK, jag har sett det. Ja.
Dr. Jean: Ibland kommer de att få kliande fötter, men det är vanligtvis runt huvudet. Jag har sett det typ på baksidan av axlarna, och de kan göra enormt mycket skada där eftersom de kan komma åt det, ansiktet, de går efter det med bakfötterna eftersom det kliar som fan. Ibland ser man det på magen. Men dessa symtom kan vara inhalationsallergier, de kan vara vilken typ av allergi som helst. De kan vara många saker. Så det är viktigt att du samarbetar med din veterinär för att pilla ut vad det är för saker – låt oss prova det här då, och se till att du får – en biopsi är vanligtvis inte givande eftersom den bara säger att det är inflammation och den säger dig ingenting om orsaken. Nu även om katten utvecklar ett symptom som svar på en inhalationsallergi som pollen eller dammkvalster eller vad som helst som flyter runt i luften, utvecklar de samma symtom. Men en hypoallergen dietförsök kommer ofta att hjälpa till att klara upp dessa också eftersom min teori är och den har ingen grund i vetenskapen men den är baserad på 20 års tittande på det, när du förenklar kosten eller ändrar kosten så att de vanliga allergenerna är t där, jag tror att bara förenkla kosten eller gå till en konserverad eller rå eller hemlagad, det finns färre allergener som presenteras för immunsystemet. Det händer bara mindre skit som immunförsvaret måste reda ut. Och jag tror att bara att förenkla saker ger immunförsvaret en paus. Ibland är det svårt att säga även när de svarar på en dietförsök, det kanske inte var en matallergi. Så det är väldigt svårt att riva isär det. Det andra stora symtomet är diarré och kräkningar och ibland är kräkningar det enda tecknet. Även om inflammationen vanligtvis är lägre ner i kanalen, är det mycket svårt att diagnostisera utan en biopsi vad som händer. Men inflammatorisk tarmsjukdom, som är som turboallergier, som kommer att ha samma tecken, tarmlymfom, cancer, kan ha samma tecken. Och det finns en tanke om att en matallergi som inte åtgärdas kan utveckla inflammatorisk tarmsjukdom som kan utvecklas till cancer. Saken är att om det bara är att kräkas, under 20 års praktik är min slutsats att katter gillar att kräkas, och så ofta. Så min typ av tumregel är om de kräks en gång i veckan, ett par gånger i månaden, jag oroar mig inte så mycket för det, särskilt om det är gräs i den eller hår. Du kan krita det upp till irritation eller bara de gillar det. Så de gör saker mot sig själva för att få sig själva att kräkas, äta för fort, äta för mycket, äta en nattfjäril. Det är okej. Men om det blir mer frekvent, mer än en eller två gånger i veckan, och om du är på ett mönster med ökande frekvens, vill du kväva det i knoppen. Du vill definitivt inte att det ska gå längre på vägen. Och självklart kan du provbehandla dig själv med ett hårbollsmedel. Det kommer ofta att skilja för dig om något händer i mag-tarmkanalen jämfört med astma, eftersom hårbollshacket låter precis som astma. Så du kommer att vilja reta dem isär och ibland kommer bara att ge vaselin eller en hårbollsmedicin att lura dig på ett eller annat sätt om vad som händer. Katter är komplicerade. Det finns så många saker, men om det är en hårboll som kommer att lösas av vaselinet och astma kommer inte att göra det och matallergier blir inte annorlunda med det. Så det är en enkel sak att göra hemma och bara se vad som händer, men låt det inte pågå för länge innan du vidtar mer definitiva åtgärder.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK, och kan du bara täcka vad du menar med vaselin för förstagångslyssnare?
Dr. Jean: Jo, faktiskt ja eftersom hårbollsmedel i grunden är antingen mineralolja eller vaselin. Jag gillar vaselin. Det är helt inert i kroppen. Det är mer kol i kedjan än vad kroppen kan bryta ner. Så den stannar bara i mag-tarmkanalen precis där du vill ha den. Den sprutar ut håret hela vägen till sin destination, kattlådan. Ett finger fullt med vaselin, många katter gillar det faktiskt. Och min föredrar förstås märkesvaselin. De kommer inte att äta generiskt. Andra katter, generiska är bra. De gillar Laxatone bättre än Petromalt bättre än Cadillac, vad som helst. De bygger alla på samma principer. Du smörjer upp det, du klistrar ihop allt hår och glider ut det i andra änden, och det gör vaselin väldigt bra. Vissa människor ger vegetabilisk olja eller andra sorters olja för hårbollar och problemet med det är att de kan få ut oljan ur magen vilket är bra men de oljorna kan brytas ner och absorberas av kroppen vilket inte nödvändigtvis är en dålig sak. Men då slutar det inte med sin passplikt. Det blir bara så långt och jag oroar mig för det. Så jag gillar något som är inert, det är säkert, och det börjar till slut precis där i samma form. Det är ganska praktiska grejer.
Jenny of Floppycats: Så prova som en tesked av det och du serverar det i deras mun?
Dr. Jean: Det jag gör är att jag tar ett lillfinger fullt, jag sticker ner lillfingret i burken.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK.
Dr. Jean: Och mina katter kommer att äta det rent så. Andra de gillar smakämnena i några av hårbollspreparaten. Om du ska göra det, skulle jag göra en ganska bra dos tror jag på de som är i röret om det är en tum eller något, men gör det två eller tre dagar i rad och se. Ge det en bra prövning. Men om det inte förändrar någonting, då vill du ringa din veterinär och ta en diskussion om vilka möjligheter som finns eller vad han eller hon, det är mer sannolikt att det är en hon nu för tiden vilket jag gärna rapporterar.
Jenny från Floppycats: Åh, bra.
Dr. Jean: Ja. Min klass i Colorado State var den första klassen där det fanns fler kvinnor än män. Så det har varit länge så allt är bra.
Jenny of Floppycats: Bra. Jag har haft bättre erfarenheter av kvinnor så jag är glad att höra det, inget illa vid män som finns där ute.
Dr. Jean: Det är inte så att killar inte kan vara bra veterinärer. Men jag tror att kvinnor tenderar att förstå katter lite bättre. Kattens natur är mer feminin om du tittar på yin yang och sånt. Kattens natur är mer yin, och hundar är mer yang. Så jag tror att det är något med den där kinesiska grejen.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja jag håller med. Jag tror att det är därför kvinnor alltid förknippas med katter också.
Dr. Jean: För det mesta, ja. Förutom Jackson.
Jenny från Floppycats: Ja, precis.
Dr. Jean: Han har [ohörbart 19:00] för många roller.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. Så du har berört detta svar på några av de andra frågorna, men vad händer om en matintolerans eller allergi inte behandlas?
Dr. Jean: Tja, en matintolerans kommer förmodligen bara att bli värre och du kommer att bli trött på illaluktande smuts i kattlådan eller så kommer du att vara trött på att städa upp eller kliva i katten. Det brukar vara självbegränsande i och med att du kommer att göra något så småningom. Det kommer bara att fortsätta i stort sett oförminskad tills du fixar något. Allergier kan som sagt bli värre. De kan förvandlas till inflammatorisk tarmsjukdom. De kan förvandlas till lymfom. Så det är en väg du inte vill gå. Du vill ta reda på det så tidigt som möjligt eftersom de kommer att bli värre och symtomen kommer att förvärras och ditt djur kommer att vara mer obekvämt, de kommer att klia, de kommer att bli ryckiga eller vad de nu gör, och det kommer att blir värre. Och de kommer att börja gå ner i vikt eftersom de inte absorberar maten, de kastar ut den på mattan. Matallergier är allvarligare eftersom de involverar hela immunsystemet. And once the immune system is kind of primed to make an allergy, to create an allergenic response with antibodies, the whole nine yards, they tend to do that in response to more things. You may start off with a food allergy, but if you don’t treat it they may then form other allergies. Like if you change an allergic cat food to something they’re not allergic to, if you leave it be, this is why I really emphasize variety and rotating food, if you put them on a different protein, eventually they will probably develop an allergy to that also. I like food rotation, and since I don’t like dry foods for kitties anyway, I’m sure we’ve probably talked about that, with canned foods, once they’re eating canned or if they’re eating raw, it’s much easier. You can vary the flavor of canned food every meal. You can vary the type of protein in the raw diet with every batch, which is every couple of weeks or freeze two or three kinds. Make two or three batches, one with protein, one chicken, one bison or emu or whatever you want, or lamb, rabbit, there are all kinds of ones out there if your cats is willing to eat some of the prepared diets. Honest Kitchen makes the dehydrated diet, and they’re not cooked. The diets that aren’t cooked tend not to produce allergies but anything’s possible. But certainly if you take a cat that’s allergic to chicken and because chicken is in everything nowadays, chicken is the most common allergen in dogs and cats right now. If you look at the studies, they don’t necessarily list chicken. But the allergists and internal medicine people say oh yes, totally. It’s number one. So chicken, beef, fish, wheat, corn and diary are the top allergens. But if you change from a processed chicken diet to a raw chicken diet, there’s a good chance that they will not react to the raw chicken because the proteins haven’t been altered. There’s nothing in it that they’re not kind of designed to eat and cats can eat bird without—Chris Rock, you know the comedian?
Jenny of Floppycats: Yes.
Dr. Jean: Once did a rift about food allergies and he said that all his friends have kids that are allergic to peanuts or shellfish or whatever, and he was like “What is allergic to food? It doesn’t make sense. How could you possibly be allergic to food?” And we don’t get allergic to food. We get allergic to processed foods, cooked in some way to not be allergic to the things that are raw. Raw food diets—now I will caution people that if you have a cat with a severe food allergy, bordering or into inflammatory bowel disease, now you’ve got a leaky gut, you’ve got a gut that’s inflamed, the blood vessels are swollen, the cells are swollen, the junctions between the cells are stretched out and they’re not stable any more. So now what you have is a situation where if you feed raw, potentially the bacteria that’s in all raw meat can get through. So you have a higher risk of salmonella or some other organism getting a foot hold and causing a real bad problem in there. So if you want to switch a sever allergy or an IBD cat to raw, I would say start by cooking it a little bit just so it’s pink and not raw, raw. And then as the gut heals you can cook it less and less and less. I know people who’ve gone straight whole turkey dry food to raw overnight no problems. But it’s an increased risk and of course switching a food abruptly can cause a world of hurt anyway. Cats may be willing to eat it or they may not. So a gradual transition is always the best way to go with a kitty because you’re changing a lot of things when you do that. You’re also presenting a different form of food to the bacteria in the gut. And the bacteria are used to doing one thing and the populations have adjusted to that. If you suddenly feed a whole different thing, you’re going to probably have some diarrhea or some other reaction because if you had never eaten raw food before, you might not react well to it. Your gut may say oh that’s interesting. I don’t know what else, protein, would be different from but I’m sure there’s something.
Jenny of Floppycats: Yes.
Dr. Jean: The gut appreciates having a transition period to readjust the populations of the bacteria, to gear up the different enzymes. I think it’s just smarter to do a gradual transition. Now if you have an extremely allergic cat and you’re scared to death that something really bad is going to happen, they’re losing weight, you’re desperate, yes, try cold turkey. What have you got to lose? If you have a cat that’s on its way to a very bad state, yes, if you’re that desperate, yes, try it. But in general, we hope that people catch things earlier and you can do it in a more logical fashion.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. I like gradual in general. It makes more sense.
Dr. Jean: Yes, and if you’re transitioning do the digestive enzymes and probiotics to help with that transition. Those are always good. I’d recommend them to put them in the food regardless of what you’re feeding or what you’re changing but especially if you’re doing a transition. Definitely use the digestive enzymes and probiotics.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK. So treatment options available. You mentioned diet trials, we’ve kind of been talking about them already.
Dr. Jean: Yes, a little bit. But what people don’t understand when you’re dealing with an intolerance, you may be able to just change brands and you’ll get a different result. Because if you change the recipe and that one little thing isn’t there anymore, you can change flavors, you can change brands and probably you’ll get a good response. With an allergy, you want to be real clear about the change you’re making and you want to get a completely different set of proteins and carbs because the carbs contain some protein. Corn has a lot of protein. So if you’re going to do that, that’s why they make the venison and rice or rabbit and sweet peas or salmon and sweet potato. But a lot of times if it’s not specifically promoted as a hypoallergenic or a novel protein, that’s what we usually call it, that’s technically more correct, you have to make a complete change from whatever you’re feeding to an entirely new thing, and you have to be very religious about it. So if you’re getting away from chicken and you’re feeding rabbit and rice, and you still give [INAUDIBLE 29:20] or something or fish or something, because most cat foods also have fish meal or fish something in them for Omega 3’s. But if you give Bonito flakes or something or tripe that have chicken, you’re undoing your whole shtick right there because one exposure to that protein is going to cause a new allergenic response to be generated. So it takes 8, 10 sometimes even 12 weeks. Now if your systems are only gastrointestinal, then the response can be very fast within a couple of weeks. But if it’s a skin symptom, those take a long, long time to clear up because those antibodies have to fade out, you have to not stimulate new antibodies every day, and if you accidentally expose them to that allergenic protein, you’re going to have problems. So it’s really important to understand how strict you have to be. If you have multiple cats, they all have to be eating that because a stray molecule could really set off your cat’s whole immune system. It’s like a flea bite allergy where one flea bite can trigger a massive allergic response head to toe and they can be really, really miserable from one flea. So it’s just that easy to trigger the response when they’re already primed and ready. They’re on hyper vigilant immune surveillance in that way. If I see one of those suckers popping its head over the horizon, I am going to blast it to Mars. You really have to give the immune system a chance to settle down and say alright, OK, I think we’re in the clear. I think we’ve got them all. And then once all the symptoms are cleared up, if you’re feeling lucky you can try to reintroduce the suspect proteins back, but be ready for a bad reaction. My philosophy is why provoke it? Just stay with alternate proteins forever. It’s easy. One study not too long ago in the last couple of years, they actually went out and tested over the counter medicine formulas that were promoted to be kind of hypoallergenic. They were venison and green pea or whatever they were. And they found that one of them did not have any venison in it at all but it had soy and chicken. So there’s a lot of cross contamination that can happen. The hypoallergenic diets made by Hills and Purina and Royal Canin and whoever else is out there, those are pretty strict. I would go with the canned formula and I would maybe try and rotate those and try different things. There has been some evidence that after a few months, maybe 4, 5, 6 months, you may be able to switch back. But at that point you may be able to go to a home cooked or a raw, commercial raw or homemade raw, whatever you want. I just wouldn’t go back to the diet that you had before. If your cat reacted badly to Meow Mix, don’t feed Meow Mix ever. There’s lots of alternatives. I really like raw and homemade and even canned for cats. You’re just going to have those problems to begin with. It’s easier to rotate your proteins. It’s easier to keep the immune system a little off kilter so it doesn’t freak out every time it sees something new. That’s always a better way to go. Just don’t provoke.
Jenny of Floppycats: Höger. OK. So talking about prevention and you have mentioned this but again just to lay the question out there, how can you prevent food allergies or intolerances? Go back to rotation?
Dr. Jean: Ja. Don’t feed dry foods. If you must for some strange reason, you live in a [INAUDIBLE 34:15] and you’re always on the road, you can certainly even arrange other things for that. But if you’re traveling for some reason with your cat and it’s got to have dry food because you’re in the middle of Nevada and that’s all you can find, yes, it’s OK to have your cat be able to eat some dry food if in an emergency. That can be in the repertoire as a treat or something. But if the basic diet is not dry food, you have a lesser chance of creating allergies in the first place. And if you feed a variety of foods, then the immune system isn’t getting the same trigger every day, and it’s things that you feed every day for a long time or frequently for a long time, those are the things that are likely to cause the reaction.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK.
Dr. Jean: I think food rotation is great. Most nutritionists do not agree with that. But a few do.
Jenny of Floppycats: I think it is even from a chronic renal failure cat who’s dealing with that and trying to get him to eat anything, I think if he had been exposed to more then I would have had a little more success. So I think it’s beneficial in a lot of ways.
Dr. Jean: Höger. And there actually have been studies on a variety of animals and they found that if they’re exposed to a varied diet when they’re very young, just after weaning, 8, 12 weeks old, and you start feeding them a variety maybe then, years later they’ll still be willing to try more things. But cats that are fed dry food from kitten hood, very hard to position because they don’t recognize anything else as food. Canned food isn’t food because that’s not what they’re used to. A different dry food isn’t food because that’s not what they’re used to. I’ve seen cats get into some pretty serious trouble with that because—there was actually—this woman called me and she was looking for Friskies Ocean White Fish that was made at a certain plant because her cat wouldn’t eat anything else. And that plant was closing down. So she was looking for cans with the particular code on the top. She had 142 cans left and if she didn’t find more the cat was going to have some—if he would stop eating, get hepatic lipidosis, probably not make it or just starve himself to death. Cats will do that. Cats are stubborn enough to if they don’t want to eat they will not and they will starve themselves. They’re very unique in that way. Most other animals, when they get that hungry they’ll give in but not cats. Boy, I’m hard headed Norwegian and cats make me look like a wimp.
Jenny of Floppycats: [LAUGHTER] Yes, I experienced that stubbornness in the transition process, very annoying.
Dr. Jean: Ja. When I was raising my kittens, they got everything. They got raw, they got canned, they got dry, they got every kind, they got lasagna. They were exposed to a wide variety of things. And now they’re pretty easy to change. Put a new food down and they’ll eat it. Now there’s a syndrome in cats where you put a new food down, they’ll eat it for two days like gang busters and they’ll never eat it again. Do not rush out and buy a case of a food that you think your cat really loves. If it passes three or four days and they’re still eating it, maybe yes. Maybe they’re going to be OK. But if they’re used to eating variety—my cats—there are foods that I think are good for my cat just like my mom fed me broccoli. Never liked it, still don’t, but I’m getting over it. I’m really trying. I’ll eat it in Chinese food at this point. But there are foods that I just think are better for them, it’s variety, and I want them to maintain their willingness to eat a variety of things. I’ll put it down until they eat it. Sometimes I have to put cheese on it, or a little baby food or something. But I make them eat it. It’s like tough love in this house. They need to maintain that willingness because you don’t know, we could have a blizzard. We had a fairly good—we had 7 inches of snow on May 1st. So you might not be able to get to the grocery store for a few days and if you run out of that, then you’re in trouble like the Ocean White Fish kitty. You want them to be willing to do that and you’re just going to run into fewer problems over time.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. I talked to a Ragdoll cat breeder one time and she mainly fed her cats raw, but also can and dry food. And I was like what? Why do you feed them dry food at all if you’re into the raw thing? She’s based in Florida and she said I want to expose the kittens to everything so that if there’s a hurricane and I can’t get food they can have food. So yes, it makes sense and it goes back to what you were talking about earlier.
Dr. Jean: I keep a little dry food on hand. Sometimes I use it as a treat. If they’re really bugging me, used to keep a bowl of it in my desk drawer because one cat, between me and the computer, that’s OK, I have a good place for that. Two cats can barely fit, and when the third one comes up, it’s like OK. That’s it, and I take a handful of dry, throw it through the door out, and they would be occupied then for a while, and then [INAUDIBLE 41:00] would get to play again. But as a treat, why not? I get popcorn for dinner every once in a while. I can go to Dairy Queen once in a while. I don’t do it every day but once in a while is not going to hurt anything. I’m anti-dry as a mainstay of the diet or even every day. But once in a while as a treat, I do want them to be willing to eat it. So I keep some stashed away. There’s a bag on the top of the refrigerator.
Jenny of Floppycats: Yes.
Dr. Jean: You just want lots of options. With a kitty, it’s really, really important because you don’t know when you’re going to really, really need it.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. Hurricanes and snow are not things I really think about in Kansas City, but yes.
Dr. Jean: Yes, we had a blizzard a number of years ago in March and we had I think three or four feet of snow. My street got plowed because it was a snow route, it was the ambulances and there is a hospital a few blocks away so that was the main drag for the ambulances and fire trucks so it got plowed. But I couldn’t get my car out for days. It took me a week to dig out. And there was nothing within walking distance if you didn’t have snow shoes and a really stout heart you weren’t going to be getting anything you hadn’t stocked up on beforehand. And that was fine. We got over that. And by the way, when the post office says rain, hail, sleet or snow, they don’t really mean it.
Jenny of Floppycats: Not for three or four feet?
Dr. Jean: No, and they actually didn’t deliver for almost a week when everybody else could get out, they still couldn’t deliver the mail. It was really weird because it was way more than what it should be but you know, the post office has its problems. You know how Congress is—that whole thing. Then it snowed a couple of weeks later only 7 inches and we lost power for 4 days. I couldn’t get my car out of the garage because it was a flat roof and the snow weighed it down. The garage door wouldn’t clear it and there was no power. I couldn’t even open it manually. The door wouldn’t budge, and that was a real disaster. So you don’t know. We were out with the hurricanes, people were without power for days, weeks even. It’s good to have keep your supply handy but make sure that you have cats that will go along with that program.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. OK. I have some questions from readers but you had also mentioned that you wanted to talk about drugs. So did you want to do that before I ask the reader questions?
Dr. Jean: Yes, because that’s pretty simple. The number one drug of choice in cats with severe allergies is Prednisolone. It’s a form of steroid. Prednisone is a little different and cats metabolize Prednisolone better and it doesn’t require the liver to get involved. If there’s ever any reason to give Prednisone, you must have Prednisolone. Make sure your vet gives you Prednisolone. So that’s the number one. Sometimes they’ll give an injectable to give you a few weeks of relief in which you can be working on the other things, the diet and all that. Depo Medrol is the common one. One side effect is diabetes and I’ve seen it in cats their first shot of Depo Medrol. They get diabetes.
Jenny of Floppycats: Oh my gosh.
Dr. Jean: The very first shot. I had a client, it happened to him twice, which is why he ended up at our clinic. It’s like “I can’t believe this happened to two cats, the same thing, first shot, boom.” Overweight cats are more susceptible because their insulin is already screwed up. If they’re eating dry food their insulin is already screwed up. So you give a steroid on top of it, steroids and insulin work hand in glove. If you have a cat in a diabetic crisis, one of the drugs they give it is steroids. So closely tied in is a known side effect of the Depo drugs so you want to be very careful about that. But if your cat’s really miserable, treat it, even get a shot that lasts a few days, try [INAUDIBLE 46:36] or something that’s just short actin. But you’ve got to give them relief if they’re in pain. Inflammatory bowel disease is painful. If you’ve got an inflamed gut, you are miserable. That’s just not a happy thing. I think maybe in that case they really aren’t having a lot of fun vomiting. It’s just so severe. If they don’t respond to that, there are other drugs Cyclophosphamide, these are chemotherapy drugs. Even Prednisolone is a chemotherapy drug. So what they’re doing is thumping on the immune system and shutting down the immune response, period, right now, right away, for good. This is totally nasty immune system. Then you’re still prone to infections and other lovely things like that. These are serious drugs and they’re useful if you have a real problem and your cat is miserable. I wouldn’t say never use them but I’d say try them and see first. Try not to go there but there are cases where suppose you’ve been traveling and the cat sitter has been cleaning up vomit every day and never bothered to tell you or you weren’t accessible climbing Mount Everest, maybe and you didn’t have a cell phone. I would still carry my iPhone to take pictures I’m sure. But I can imagine scenarios where all of these things would be in the worst possible configuration. You’ve got to be prepared for that kind of thing. I can see situations that could get out of hand and you wouldn’t really realize it. You’ve got 12 cats. You don’t know who’s puking. And by then you figure out it’s the one that’s losing weight. You may be in a tough spot so those drugs do have their place. You want to use them the shortest period of time possible and really be working on getting around it in other ways. Herbs are helpful, acupuncture can be helpful, homeopathy can be helpful, all of these things take time to work. Natural therapies tend to take time.
Jenny of Floppycats: Höger. Gradual.
Dr. Jean: Yes, because you’re working with the body instead of just shutting it down. I know to dial down something it takes more time and effort than to flip a switch. People have to be prepared for something that they’re going to have to deal with for a while. Stress plays a role in all of this too because stress with the immune system, you can get all kinds of weird reactions from that. I had a kitty that we finally got her dermatitis cleared up, finally. And she came in for her vaccine. It was due for rabies, it was a situation he had little kids. And I said I really don’t want to vaccinate this cat. And he—there was a reason why we really had to do it. And I only gave rabies, and in three weeks she was back with the same.
Jenny of Floppycats: No.
Dr. Jean: I said OK, that’s it. Det är allt. We’ll never again. There are people that absolutely refuse to forgo vaccines, but vaccines call on the immune system for a big response and while it’s in the neighborhood well why not react to something else. So an allergy to anything can show up as skin systems in a cat, anything. It’s difficult to tease apart a skin condition. But very few of them are food allergies. On the other hand, ear infections in cats, more likely to be food allergies. Ear infections, you wouldn’t think, but I had a dermatologist that I worked with at CSU and she said she felt that 50% of cat ear infections were actually allergy based.
Jenny of Floppycats: Wow.
Dr. Jean: Yes, I haven’t seen anybody else say that but they don’t usually separate skins and ears and things. Ears respond to steroids, topical steroids. So then you never know what caused it. If you’ve got a chronic bad ear, yes, change the diet.
Jenny of Floppycats: Interesting. Well that kind of goes into one of the first questions, is there a way to differentiate between food allergies and environmental allergies was one of the reader’s questions.
Dr. Jean: Inte riktigt. Inte riktigt. A diet trial is your first recourse because both could respond to steroids. Allergy testing in cats, there are blood tests for allergies in dogs and there’s skin testing which requires anesthesia, big deal. Neither of them is worth a darn in cats. So really kind of trial treatment is the only way you’re going to know. And the only way you’re going to really know is once they respond to a novel diet you have to start reintroducing other food. If it’s an inhalant allergy, when they start to wear off it’s going to come back for its natural response. Inhalant allergies sometimes respond to a diet change. It gets really complicated. But there’s no good way to differentiate them in a cat, not without a lot of time and effort and you might never know.
Jenny of Floppycats: Right, process of elimination.
Dr. Jean: Right, and you may never know. You could try moving to a place that has different allergens if this cat is fighting with an inhalant allergy. But if it’s dust mites, then no matter where you are.
Jenny of Floppycats: Ja. OK, this one, my rag doll has gas. What kitten food additives could cause this and recommendations?
Dr. Jean: Well there are 27 categories of additives that are allowed in pet food and many, many additives in each of the 27 categories. So it’s impossible to say which. However, gas forming bacteria, big one. So digestive enzymes and probiotics.
Jenny of Floppycats: Would be the solution?
Dr. Jean: Ja. And if you’re feeding dry food, get them off of dry food and especially kittens should not have a major part of their diet as dry food. That’s just wrong on so many levels.
Jenny of Floppycats: You’ve answered this one but just to make it clear because it was asked, can certain foods make a cat throw up?
Dr. Jean: Yes, if it’s an intolerance, any of those additives can do it. It could be an allergy. It could be a lot of things. And like I said, cats like to throw up so they will create circumstances for themselves to throw up. They’ll eat your [INAUDIBLE 54:40]. They’ll find something. They’ll find a bug or something to eat to make themselves throw up. It’s just when it gets more frequent then you start to say OK, this may be a real problem. But a kitten throwing up, that’s a problem. So yes, definitely get that checked out.
Jenny of Floppycats: I think this is for an adult cat. Sorry, I should have told you new question. So, new question.
Dr. Jean: It would be an issue in kittens.
Jenny of Floppycats: Jaja. That’s actually good to know. Here’s the next one. My kitty has a sensitive stomach to cat biscuits/food. Is it healthy to feed them raw mince, I think this might have come from a British reader, or chicken cooked with rice/veg as their diet or will they be lacking in vitamins, minerals, etc.
Dr. Jean: Well in extreme cases where you don’t want to use steroids and they’re in bad shape, you can do a meat and rice and maybe a couple of veggies. Veggies don’t add much nutritionally. If they’re cooked then some of the vitamins are gone but they can’t digest then unless they’re cooked or puréed or broken down somehow. There’ll say give ground lamb and rice for a couple of weeks or even a couple of months. But that is not a complete diet. In fact it is very, very difficult to get all the [SILENCE]. So you can do it for a while, not in a kitten, not in a kitten because they need their vitamins and minerals, but now that I’m on kitten, kitten on the brain. But yes, cats need meat. They definitely need meat. You cannot give a cat a vegan diet or even a veggie diet. That’s just ridiculous. I have a fairly extensive article on my website about vegetarian cats on LittleBigCat.
Jenny of Floppycats: I’ll link to it.
Dr. Jean: I’ve heard mince used in a couple of different ways. Sometimes it’s the canned or what they would call tinned food. That’s fine, sir. Oh dear, my alarm is going off for some reason. I wonder why. It’s probably reminding me to call you in a different time zone or something. But yes, if you could, just get him off of the dry food because that’s probably part of the problem. But if you’re mincing the meats, sure. But not just minced vegetables and rice, and you don’t want to do it in an unbalanced way for more than a few weeks.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK. The next one, I have a rag doll with apparently a sensitive stomach. He doesn’t throw up all the time but much more frequently than the other two. If he has anything with beef, he throws up within a minute. Is this an allergy or is this hard to digest? I’m speaking of cat foods not table food.
Dr. Jean: It could be either one. I saw a remarkable video one time. They had an endoscope in a dog’s stomach that was known to be allergic, I think it was to wheat. They had the endoscope looking at the wall of the stomach and they went in with a drop of concentrated wheat gluten.
Jenny of Floppycats: Oh, how cool.
Dr. Jean: And it was like watching a volcano erupt. It touched the stomach and the inflammation was instantaneous and massive. It was just amazing. The dog was under anesthesia.
Jenny of Floppycats: Right, right, but just thinking about him and his everyday life.
Dr. Jean: It could be an allergy. I think it’s probably more likely to be an intolerance because either one could cause inflammation. But an allergy involves the whole immune system and the whole antibody response. Once that response is formed, it can be pretty instantaneous but an intolerance is still more likely because there may be something in the food that the stomach has a similar reaction to and says oh no. So it could be either one. It’s hard to say with cats but obviously don’t feed him beef and be aware that natural flavors could include beef. There’s a whole lot of things that beef could be in so you’ve got to be careful. Here’s a point that we ought to make probably is that grain free—there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with grains as opposed to any other carbs. Carbs are not good for cats and low carb diets are best, wheat free or gluten free or corn free or soy free, yes, those all can be allergens. They’re uncommon allergens and if your cat is allergic it’s much more likely to be through a meat. There have been cases where dogs have been proven to be allergic to gluten. They have celiac disease. But it’s real rare, it’s real rare. So if your cat is reacting to something that has corn in it, don’t assume that corn is the culprit because chances are it’s fish or chicken.
Jenny of Floppycats: OK, interesting. OK, the last question says not sure how to word it but with my cat Merlo, we thought for a couple of months we were dealing with food allergies but it turned out to be dry FIP. If we had had diagnosis earlier we would have had the time to try PI or interferon, is that how you say that.
Dr. Jean: Yes, interferon doesn’t work particularly well sometimes.
Jenny of Floppycats: And he would not have lost as much weight from trying new foods. So I guess it’s not a question, but…
Dr. Jean: Maybe, maybe. Still it’s a fatal disease. It might have bought him a little more time but I would not beat yourself up over that. The food would have been a very minor issue with that going on. In the case of FIP, FIP itself is already an aberrant immune response. It’s a hyper immune response. So now you have an animal that could react to anything at any moment that at the moment is reacting to corona virus or something else. FIP is not caused by the virus. It’s associated with the virus. Flies are associated with garbage. It doesn’t mean flies cause garbage. But the idea that corona virus causes FIP to my mind it’s involved certainly. But is there a causation? There’s not really proof of that in my mind. But you have an immune system that’s reacting abnormally and it’s the inflammation caused by the immune system and the immune plaque and just the crazy immune response. That is what kills them.
Jenny of Floppycats: Yep, that’s awful.
Dr. Jean: It’s a horrible disease. And dry FIP can look like anything. It’s very, very tough.
Jenny of Floppycats: Knock on wood. I hope I don’t have to hear much more about those sort of stories. Awful.
Dr. Jean: Ja. And FIP is not as contagious as everybody thinks, and the vaccine is completely worthless. Do not vaccinate your cat for FIP.
Jenny of Floppycats: [LAUGHTER] Sorry, just completely worthless just made me laugh.
Dr. Jean: Well it is, it is, and there’s not an expert on the planet, anybody that really understands the immune system, nobody recommends that vaccine, or FIV for that matter.
Jenny of Floppycats: I know that vaccinations is on our list of topics so hopefully we can cover that soon. Is there anything else that you wanted to touch on?
Dr. Jean: Well the vaccine allergy connection, that’s certainly there. Let me look at our list here. Yes, I think we’re good. I think we’re good.
Jenny of Floppycats: Well thank you so much for your time and I look forward to future interviews.
Dr. Jean: Yes, we’ll do it when I get back from my trip. I’m getting ready way early. The weather up there is pretty good even, it has been for months which is unusual. I think by the time we get there it will be all good. And bear 399, the grizzly that lives in our neighborhood, he has three new cubs. So her last three cubs are still in the area and the two surviving cubs from the previous litter are also there. So now we have at least 5 in the area. How about that.
Jenny of Floppycats: That is really cool.
Dr. Jean: Ja. We used to see mostly black bears but now we see more grizzlies, like see them. We see a lot of grizzlies up there now. So it’s wonderful that their population is rebounding and 399 she’s a very smart bear. She hangs around culture bay and the human habitation because the big males will not come in there. Her cubs are safe from males that are not the father who would kill the cubs if they catch them, but they won’t come in that close to humans. She is a smart bear.
Jenny of Floppycats: [LAUGHTER] Sounds like it. Well that’s cool that you get to experience that every year because well it’s something more to look forward to.
Dr. Jean: Ja. I’m going to go over this afternoon and repair the screen house that the curious bears kind of tore apart last year.
Jenny of Floppycats: Bra. Well thank you again and I’ll reach out next month sometime and I’ll certainly let you know when this gets transcribed and up on the site.
Dr. Jean: OK, perfect.
Jenny of Floppycats: Thanks and have so much fun.
Dr. Jean: If I just sit in my hammock for two weeks I’ll have fun.
Jenny of Floppycats: I get it.
Dr. Jean: Yes.
Jenny of Floppycats: All right, well I will talk to you soon.
Dr. Jean: OK. Take care
Jenny of Floppycats: Have a great weekend. Bye.
Dr. Jean: Bye.
