Me again - how common are grain intolerances in cats? Honestly?

[fjm]

I don't think cats need grains, but nor are they necessarily harmful. High protein, medium fat, low carbohydrate seems the best option - such evidence as there is seems to indicate that cats are much more likely to be intolerant of specific proteins (chicken, beef, etc) than wheat and other grains - this article by a vet is a typical summary: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/ ... free-diets

[Mollycat]

Good article, thank you fjm. It's not grain like a bowl of cereal anyway, it's processed and who knows that could be the problem rather than the grain source in cats that do have sensitivities. In humans a gluten-free diet could potentially be harmful for a person who doesn't have gluten intolerance, no idea if that applies to our feline friends.

I'm dying to say something about a can of worms but I wouldn't feed a cat worms even if they are really high protein but feline nutrition is quite a topic and people get pretty hot under the collar about it. Some people swear by raw, but as the article hints the cat's digestive tract has grown a good deal longer during its domestication and that is likely to help it deal with cooked meats as well as other foods their ancestors would not have had. In other words, they have already adapted to domestication so their ancestors' wild diet may not be appropriate any more, just like us. It's true that you never see a wild cat munching on a sweet potato or a cranberry, but neither do you see a wild cat get much past 12 years old. I'm not advocating any way, except to agree with you against jumping on bandwagons without thinking.

Just to add a little caveat though - tinned food and specifically fish flavoured cat food is under investigation as one of 3 possible causes for the rise in feline hyperthyroidism in the past few decades. Without going into too much detail histamine - which I researched pretty extensively due to my own health issues - could be the culprit as the levels in fish and especially heads and guts rockets rapidly, and histamine is practically indestructible. Its increase is paused while food is frozen but levels keep increasing above freezing regardless of cooking and preserving methods including canning.

[fjm]

Well, worms would be a novel protein and pretty wet... (ducks before Raych can throw computer at me!).

[Kay]

if she is bringing up mostly bile early in the morning, is it before she's been fed? I had a cat that did this almost every day, but stopped when I bought a timed feeder, containing two small meals, which I set for 2am and 5am