EXTRAS!

DAISY and the LITTER BOX LURKER

By Molly Barr

DAISY: 7/92 - 9/07 (may she rest in peace, she will live forever in my heart)

This is an adventure story about two long time friends and their journey together—Daisy and myself.  Daisy is the cat, but doesn’t know it; and I’m the human—or so we assume.  Our odyssey began in 1992 with the death of Paisley, one of my beloved kitties.  She died at the age of 13 from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).  Paisley was a rescue cat from an animal shelter.  Her death left a hole in my heart and my household, so I decided to get two new kittens.  I’d always wanted a Himalayan, so I began my search and eventually tracked down some “Himmys” not too far from where I live, and I came home with two magical kittens--Josephine and Daisy.

That was many years ago.  HOWEVER, that was only the beginning of our story!  In 1995, when Daisy was only three years old, one day, to my horror, she deposited a steaming mass of diarrhea on my carpet right in front of me.   She was subsequently diagnosed with IBD, the same disease her predecessor had died from.  IBD can be definitively diagnosed via a biopsy of the intestine.  Nine long years of prescription diets and various medications followed with no improvement.  I had resigned myself to cleaning up diarrhea almost daily (she would not use the litter box for these episodes).  Repeated visits to the veterinarian for the diarrhea produced nothing new.   I was told that sometimes IBD can be controlled with prescription diet and medications, but never cured.    By February of 2004, I began to brace myself for the loss of Daisy; she was a walking skeleton and getting sicker every day.  I decided on a last-ditch effort and began researching the Internet.  To my surprise, I found quite a lot of information on feline diet in regards to IBD, and a number of anecdotal accounts of amazingly positive responses to a high protein, no grain diet.   My research indicated that a home prepared raw meat diet was best if you could manage it, with quality canned food coming in second.  Food with corn, wheat, or soy was on the list of “no-nos” and ANY kibble was out of the question.

I am not a person to jump on the alternative bandwagon.  Only too aware of the dangers involved in venturing off the well-researched track of commercial feline diets, I continued my research until I became convinced that it was worth a try.  This was NOT an easy decision!   The plethora of feeding plans, feeding theories, raw diet recipes, and special interest groups was over-whelming.  Trying to decide what was best for my life style and my cats was not easy and continues to evolve to this day.  I knew from the onset that I needed to find an uncomplicated plan that would make it feasible for me to do this day in and a day out, and a recipe in which I could be confident.  I settled on a diet and recipe that was developed by a commercial company who manufactures a supplemental powder to add to raw meat, there-by creating a balanced feline diet.  This option appealed to me because I felt that I would not be over looking something essential since someone else more knowledgeable than myself had already done the research and feeding trials. In addition, it was something I could easily do.  As it turned out, this was a great way to get started.  I later became confident enough to source my own supplements allowing me a modicum of control over the individual ingredients.  

I decided that I would start out carefully, keeping meticulous records so that I could back track at the slightest sign of trouble.  On the other hand Daisy was so ill; I couldn’t afford to waste time.   I had three other cats to consider at the time as well, and I decided to transition them all at the same time to the new diet.   This was a bit more daring.  As luck would have it another of my kitties, was diagnosed about that time with heart disease, and a third cat was still recovering from intestinal lymphoma surgery.  SO, I had four cats to feed—three with serious health issues!

I was previously a dry food feeder--and believe me when I tell you, I miss those days!!  Dry food is economical and EASY, and the cats love it.   However, I am not the only one who is beginning to question the use of kibble.   I won’t go into the problems it is associated with.  Those who are ready to listen will be invited to research further on their own via resources listed at the end of this article.   SO, I began to transition my kibble junkies from dry food to canned, then to raw.  At the same time, I also weaned Daisy off of the medication, which was obviously doing nothing for her.   Just a note here before I continue:  I am NOT suggesting that anyone do this without the help and supervision of their pet’s veterinarian.

Making a change of this magnitude is NOT for the faint of heart!  I was crazy with worry much of the time as our journey progressed.  I kept charts and notes and track of everyone’s weight; I joined several support groups through Yahoo.  These proved invaluable as a source of information and encouragement from people who were also making a change in the way they fed their cats.  I stay in contact with them to this day.

Gone were the days of blissful ignorance.  I had once been that person with the blank look on her face when the Vet asked if her cat was eating well – how was I to know?  I set the food out and it disappeared.  I didn’t know who ate what.  Now I knew who ate what and how much.  I knew how much everyone weighed and if they’d lost or gained an ounce.  I became a Litter Box Lurker!!  I knew who pooped where and how much and what consistency.

But I digress.  By the first of March 2004, I had all the cats transitioned to a 100% home prepared, balanced raw diet.   On March 14^th, 2004 Daisy's chronic, daily diarrhea stopped!   The utter miracle of this is indescribable.  Other things I noticed early on with the new diet, was the quality of their fur, the litter boxes were less odiferous, and everyone’s energy level had noticeably increased.  Over the next few months they all put on, or maintained their weight as appropriate and, without exception, thrived.  I missed the simplicity of the kibble diet, but there was no turning back now.  How could I, NOW, knowingly give food to Daisy that would cause her to be so sick??  She was not only free of the diarrhea for over a year and for the first time in a decade, but she was also off of the medication.  Our journey towards health was not over when the diarrhea stopped, and I think it’s important for everyone to know this.  Although I’ve read of overnight successes with this diet, that was not the case with Daisy.  It took two weeks to banish the diarrhea and another six to eight months for her system to return more closely back to normal.  She continued to have intestinal distress for months, which showed its self by pooping (but WELL formed) outside the litter box.  But that, too, slowly began to diminish. 

Preparing a raw diet is not for everyone.  If done properly, it can be one of the best things you can do for your cat; but if not done properly, it can be one of the worst.  Anyone who is considering it MUST do his or her research.  If raw is out of the question for you, another option is a quality canned food diet.  For anyone who is interested in learning more, I’ve listed a few Internet resources below.

I feel that it's only prudent to include the updates on Daisy's progress, or lack thereof.  You can read those below.  As you can see, my hope that Daisy would find a complete cure was not realized, but we soldiered on and, I believe, extended her life considerably ....

2/8/06 - Update on Daisy and the raw feeding saga.  After a year and a half of apparent success on the raw diet, Daisy began to regress again, with the diarrhea and IBD symptoms returning.  She'd begun to refuse to eat the raw diet.  Several months of experimentation ensued in an effort to keep her eating, however without the raw food, the diarrhea raged on.  She would eat only some of the more "smelly" canned foods.  Again, I braced myself for her inevitable deterioration.  I decided to try, again, the prednisone as an appetite stimulant in the hope that I could get her back on the raw diet.  As of the writing of THIS update, she is now eating 50:50 raw and a quality canned food, and is on a low dose of prednisone.  

6/4/06 - Daisy is now back to eating her raw diet with gusto!  Vitamin B12 injections have helped improve her appetite, I think.  I'm not sure what, if anything, the prednisone is doing, but she still gets a daily dose of that medication.  Her diarrhea is intermittent and Daisy has both good and bad days.  The roller coaster continues, and we are taking it one day at a time.  She will be 14 next month.

8/30/07 - Daisy is STILL with me and has made it to her 15th birthday.  I never thought we would see this day.  She's not doing well, but I continue with the diet described in this article and for the last few months, the diarrhea is mostly under control.  It's possible that there are other extenuating conditions involved, but at this point she is quite frail, and I've chosen to give her what quality of life I can here at home.  She greets me in the mornings for cuddles and purrs and sleeps much of the day, but it eating well, and able to climb the stairs, jump on the bed, etc.

9/7/07 - I'm in tears as I write this, well after the fact, as I couldn't bear to write sooner.  Daisy's condition had become more and more acute and miserable for her.  When she developed an horrible abscess on her face in addition to everything else she was enduring, and had endured for so long, I decided it was time to let her go.  Daisy, my sweet, magical little kitty is now over the Rainbow bridge.

http://www.catinfo.org A website written and maintained by a veterinarian who has taken a lot of trouble to write out many cat care issues in a clear and concise manner.  Don’t miss her how to clean a litter box video!

http://www.catnutrition.org/ An extremely informative website focused on feline nutrition and raw diet.  This is the method and recipe I have chosen for my cats.

http://www.felinefuture.com/ This is the commercial company I initially purchased the supplemental powder from, however they have also taken great pains to include a great deal of feline nutritional information on their website--for that alone, it is well worth the visit.  Be sure to read the article: “The Backyard Predator.”