Chicken & brown rice dry cat food

[Geff]

It would really be eye opening if his spinal condition (which the vets call epilepsy) was caused by what I've been feeding him. Throughout his life it's varied from moderate to obviously painful for him; in retrospect I think it may have varied based on food.

Wow, my cat has a very similar problem.  His back (spine area) sometimes jerks and twitches, even when he's just laying around, as if insects are crawling in his fur.  It can be quite intense at times.  He doesn't always lick or pick at it, but I can tell it's very uncomfortable for him.  He has also recently started having occasional mild seizure episodes (it really struck me when you said epilepsy in connection with the spine irritation) of incoordination, confusion, and odd movements.  I've been very worried, although this has recently decreased dramatically and he has gotten 90% better since I changed his food a few weeks ago.  Not absolutely sure if there was a connection or not.

Sylvester has been dealing with the sensitive spine/epilepsy issues all his life (10 1/2 years). I've been told by vets it's not dangerous as long as it doesn't become painful for the cat (which at one time it did for Sylvester, the pain APPEARED to be also linked to a uti episode) & is reasonably moderate. The only time mine jerks at all is when he's sleeping, his little paws move in rhythm. He's never had a full blown epileptic fit. His second vet wanted to put him on Prozac, which I refused (his current vet says refusing the prozac was the correct decision.). In Sylvester's case the symptoms are mostly: almost instant licking when his spine is touched & a very sensitive tail (although the tail thing seems pleasurable to him). Additionally i believe that needles entering him anywhere there is a nerve that connects to his spine are extremely painful.

I haven't studied this, the above is just my perception from years of dealing with this.  Again, so far this seems to be gone with the Cal Natural! With my guy, I'm afraid to say anything definite until he's been on it for a couple weeks, but SO FAR I'm very happy with the Cal Natural.

I strongly suspect I have an extremely allergic cat, I'm only really seeing how extreme it is now. His vets have pretty much missed this also.

I just realized I need to clarify here. Sylvester's spinal issues mostly occur when someone touches his back (or as I mentioned above I also believe with injections/blood draws).

[Davis]

Oh, then that is a bit different from my cat.  But both seem to be affected by an abnormal spinal sensitivity.  Strange that they call it "epilepsy", and now my cat who also has a spine sensitivity is having mild seizure-like symptoms.  I recall the worst seizure-like cluster he had was during a night of horrible spine irritation.  Just wondering if there is a connection with all of this. 

[Geff]

Oh, then that is a bit different from my cat.  But both seem to be affected by an abnormal spinal sensitivity.  Strange that they call it "epilepsy", and now my cat who also has a spine sensitivity is having mild seizure-like symptoms.  I recall the worst seizure-like cluster he had was during a night of horrible spine irritation.  Just wondering if there is a connection with all of this. 

Based on what I'm seeing, I'm currently thinking there is at least some connection.

[Davis]

The only time mine jerks at all is when he's sleeping, his little paws move in rhythm. He's never had a full blown epileptic fit.

I haven't studied this, the above is just my perception from years of dealing with this.  Again, so far this seems to be gone with the Cal Natural! With my guy, I'm afraid to say anything definite until he's been on it for a couple weeks, but SO FAR I'm very happy with the Cal Natural.

I strongly suspect I have an extremely allergic cat, I'm only really seeing how extreme it is now. His vets have pretty much missed this also.

Sounds like maybe his sleeping jerks are just dream activity.  Mine has never had a full blown seizure either, and in fact he has never had anything wrong with him at all, other than the irritated spine, until about 5 months ago when the partial seizure-like activity started. 

Geff, I'm glad that the Cal Natural is working okay for the moment.  I don't want to get too far off the subject of this thread, so I've started another thread on the spine problem.  I came across a condition several months ago that I thought might be the root of my cat's symptoms.  Is it what your cat has been diagnosed with?  Please check this thread:
http://thepetfoodlist.com/forums/index.php?topic=66.0

[Davis]

So far so good with the Cal Natural.  My cat made a very smooth transition.  He really likes it and I agree with what has been said here....that this is a very robust, good smelling food. Not stinky like some are.  This food is certainly decent enough, until I can figure out which wet food is safe for him, and how to transition him to mostly wet diet.  That is going to be much more difficult.

[Geff]

I have an email into Natura, asking if they use Diamond for any manufacturing or co-packing. I am coming to the conclusion that Diamond is likely another menu. As far as i know, Natura doesn't use them, but I want to know for certain. If I'm still awake when they open at 9AM, I will call them.

[Davis]

Hey Geff, I'm going to be posting about Diamond soon.  My source might be questionable, but some information has come to me that is actually quite positive about Diamond, in spite of the recall they had a while back.  That problem happened in their South Carolina plant, which uses entirely different suppliers than the California plant does (not that this is a comfort - still the company's responsibility).  My cat was eating Chicken Soup dry (manufactured by Diamond) right before I switched him to Cal Natural, and he was doing well (although I don't like some of the ingredients), so I sure hope there isn't a problem.  When I eventually have time, I'll post more about this in the Diamond forum.

P.S.  If you're still awake at 9:00 AM?  Lordy, you must be a night owl.  That makes 2 of us.  I see you posting at all kinds of ungodly hours, just like me. 

[Geff]

Hi Davis, As I've posted elsewhere my concerns about Diamond are:

1. They make Solid Gold which made my cat very sick.

2. It is rumored that they co-pack Natural Balance & that Natural Balance tried to cover that up. It appears 99% certain at this point that NB Venison dry Dog & Cat food is causing renal failure.

[Davis]

Geff, I left you a post about this over on the NB recall thread.

[catmom5]

On PetConnection.com someone talked about contacting Natural Balance to find out what was going on and she was told it was the rice gluten that was the problem.  So I called Natura and was assured that they buy only US ingredients, make the dry in their own plant in Nebraska and that they do extensive testing of all ingredients.  The woman I spoke with seemed very knowledgeable and was sympathetic to my concerns.  So I'm going to stay with Cal Nat . . . unless I have reason not to.

[catmom5]

One of my cats vomited a large amount this morning ~ fairly new bag of Cal Nat.  I have a call into Natura.  I am simply running out of options here and  I'm going nutso trying to feed my cats a safe, healthy food!

[Geff]

Catmom - Was the vomit solid with food kernals or liquid/clear or? Does the food smell bad?

[lacy]

I just started feeding my cats California Natural. Please keep us informed. I had all three of my cats blood tested today from being on Venison NB. I hope and pray that California Natural is okay. It the only brand left that I have ANY trust in...

[catmom5]

There was a small speck of orangish frothy vomit and a large area of partially digested food with some chunks, but not the whole chunks like when they eat too fast (with five cats we have done lots of different vomits :[ ).  I picked up all the food dishes ~ with five cats looking at me with a "what now?" look. 

Just got off the phone with Veronica at Natura and explained the situation. She said they have not had any other concerns, calls or emails.  Again, she reassured me that they test ALL ingredients(before and after processing), do NOT use the same supplier as Natural Balance and took all the information off the bag with instructions to save 2 cups for them to test.

I am going to exchange the Cal Nat for a bag with a different code(batch) and give it another try.  Also gave the sick kidden some Pepcid and hope that it's not anything in the food.  I am living with a recovering ARF cat right now, so have done the kidney failure/anorexia/anemia/tube feeding, etc for 5 months now.  I hope and pray that this is not happening again.

Will keep you posted.

[garypen]

I haven't had any vomiting with the Cal Nat, as far as I can tell. It's been at least two weeks now, I think, maybe 3. They did vomit immediately after eating a few different wet foods that we were trying, though. I don't belive the Cal Nat had anything to do with it, considering the timing. Plus, they aren't showing any visible signs of renal failure after the 2-3 weeks, which is good.

However, I'm probably gonna run out of it in another week or so. I really hope I don't have to worry about the new bag. The whole pet food situation is getting ridiculous.