First Entry: October 20, 2010
I adopted my first cats, Pookie and his sister, Bonnie, when they were about 8 weeks old from a co-worker who took in a stray
that later accidentally got pregnant by another stray. Pookie was the only male of the litter. I free-fed commercial dry food and
gave them some canned in the morning and evening. All was fine for a while but now and then, even before they were a year old,
one or the other would vomit or regurgitate their food. Experienced people told me that cats sometimes throw up and told me not
to worry about it. It seemed odd to me, but since I was new to being a cat mommy I took their word for it.
By 1 year old, the vomiting and regurgitating was happening almost daily. I asked my vet about it and he mentioned it could be
food allergies. There were tests that could be run, he told me, but they were expensive and may not be conclusive. Since he didn’
t seem very confident that it would be worth the expense, I decided to do a food journal of everything they ate, when they threw up
and where (in case it was environmental), and who did it (if I was home). I started the journal in June 2005 and switched them to
Purina One Sensitive Systems. A month later I started giving them smaller portions of canned food, thinking perhaps the
problem was that they were eating too fast. A few months later I started mixing Eukanuba Sensitive Stomach with the Purina
One. In January 2006 I added large beads to their dry food to slow them down, still thinking at least part of the problem was that
they were eating too fast. I also tried Natural Choice dry food with the Purina One and began giving them pepcid as needed.
In February 2006 I switched their dry to Hills ZD and also began feeding the canned formula. They stayed on the canned for
about 10 days. They would still bring the dry up for another look, though not as often. I did find that they usually regurgitated foods
that contained fish products. Even if it only contained salmon oil, they couldn’t tolerate it. So I made sure the canned didn’t
contain fish, and fed a dry that I thought didn’t contain fish, however it took me until their next vet visit a few months later to realize
that just because the bag says “chicken & rice” doesn’t mean that there’s no fish in it. I switched them to a dry with no fish
products and things did improve, though they would still have hairballs a lot.
In April I began mixing the Purina One (no fish) back in with the ZD. In May I pulled the ZD completely, since it hadn’t seemed to
make much difference. August 2006, after Pookie’s sister had 4 teeth pulled (both were 2 years old) I added a dental rinse to
their water and started to brush their teeth. Pookie’s teeth were fine. September 2006, I started mixing Science Diet Hairball
Light (no fish) with the Purina One, since they seemed to have a lot of hairballs.
By the time they were about 3 years old, they were vomiting/regurgitating several times a day and night, every day and night.
September 2007, I began weaning them off the Science Diet. The vet stated that it was like feeding them cappuccino (high
calories) and I needed to watch their weight so they wouldn’t become diabetic. At that time Pookie weighed 15 pounds.
In November 2007 I added river rocks to their dry food. At some point I had removed the beads but don’t remember when. In
December 2007 I removed the Science Diet dry completely. A few days later I replaced the Purina completely with Hill’s ZD after
Bonnie had a severe bout of vomiting which led to an endoscopy. I added a little of the Purina One back in a few days later.
In January 2008, Pookie couldn’t keep down any dry food. I called my vet and asked how I could get him back on the dry and was
told that he “didn’t have a clue.” I took Pookie to a different vet who suggested pepcid, and advised giving him the canned with 1-
2 kibble mixed in, making sure they were coated in the gravy, and over time increase the number of kibble. I did that, and also
gave him dry softened in water, and over several weeks I was able to get him back on his dry food. Looking back, though, I’m
amazed that no one ever suggested that I not feed the dry food at all and feed only canned, and that I never thought to ask. I had
been told that cats should eat dry food to clean their teeth and I’d never heard of anyone feeding only canned food.
In February 2008 I bought a timed feeder and started putting very small amounts in the feeder so Pookie would have some to eat
without (hopefully) irritating his stomach. It was set to dispense at certain times throughout the day. In April I started giving him
Excel for his hairballs and later switched to Petromalt.
By May, the vomiting/regurgitating had started up again so I began switching them off the ZD dry and back to the Purina One
Sensitive Systems. June 2008 I switched Pookie to Kitty malt for his hairballs, even though it did contain fish. I also was using the
Furminator on him but it seemed to make the hairballs worse, probably because it loosened up so much hair. Pookie doesn’t
care too much for brushing so I couldn’t do it for very long.
In July I started giving them canned pumpkin to help with the hairballs. I stopped using the Furminator and at some point I
stopped giving the pumpkin. In August I took them to a completely different vet, who prescribed Lax’aire for the hairballs and told
me that “a cat will throw up as soon as look at you.” He felt the tummy issues were “genetic” since they’re litter mates and
because their mother and sister also had similar problems (I was still in touch with the woman who gave them to me, who kept
one of their sisters and their mother). Lax’aire contains cod liver oil, and while Pookie seemed okay with it (I assumed due to the
low amount I was giving him), his sister became violently sick.
In January 2009, Bonnie had a very bad episode, I suspect due to my dry pilling her medication. No one had ever told me to
follow a pill with water or food, and I didn’t know the pill could dissolve in the esophagus and erode it. I took her to the vet and
asked if she had IBD. He said that she could, so I began feeding Hill’s Prescription Diet I/D dry food to both, thinking that Pookie
might have IBD as well since he also would vomit his food (at no time were either of them “officially“ diagnosed with IBD). Pookie
continued to get his normal canned food and Bonnie got the I/D canned. In less than 3 months, Pookie gained 1 pound and
Bonnie gained 3. Both were 16 pounds! Bonnie became lethargic and groggy, and both drank a lot of water. The volume in the
litter box went up dramatically. Pookie seemed to be having problems tolerating canned food with beef products in it.
I mentioned this to a co-worker and she asked if I’d considered home-cooked diets. I was desperate and began searching the
internet, where I found Dr. Pierson’s site, www.catinfo.org, and that’s when I FINALLY began to understand what was going on. I
eventually was directed to Dr. Hodgkin’s book, “Your Cat: Simple Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life.” That book has become
my cat Bible, and it’s what finally motivated me to remove the dry food and begin feeding a grain-free canned food. Amazingly
enough, once they went grain-free they could eat food with fish without any problems!
I also wanted to raw-feed and the first time I gave Pookie a small piece of raw chicken, he didn’t know what to do with it. He
licked it off my finger several times and I finally had to hold it for him before he ate it. He really liked it and when I took the plate to
his sister in her basket, he followed me. She knew immediately what to do with it.
About 2 months after I removed the dry, Pookie’s coat became like silk, soft and shiny. Bonnie’s coat got much better, too, and
they both slowly lost weight. I tried giving them the Nature’s Variety chicken raw medallions, but neither seemed to care for it and
Bonnie couldn’t keep it down. I’ve tried the Bravo raw with Pookie and he likes it, though he did regurgitate the turkey once and
had an upset tummy for a couple of days after that, which was resolved with pepcid.
In April 2009, I made the mistake of leaving out a string toy and Pookie ate it during the night. I didn’t know who’d eaten it so both
went to the vet for x-rays. Pookie was given 3 doses of hydrogen peroxide but was so nervous at the vet’s that he wouldn’t vomit.
I had to leave him there and they gave him something else to induce vomiting, which worked. I brought him home that night and
he began vomiting every couple minutes, and every time the bile was a darker pink. I called the vet and they told me he’d be fine,
but when he kept vomiting I called back and they told me to bring him in. He stayed for 5 days because he was so nervous he
wouldn’t eat, and they wanted him to have a bowel movement to make sure there wasn’t any more string in him. They finally had
to force feed him and when he had a bowel movement (no string in it), I brought him home.
Late October 2009, I began giving Pookie the Chinese herbal, shen calmer, to try to calm him down so he wouldn’t upset his
sister so much (she didn‘t seem to like him anymore). He was on it for a month and it didn’t seem to make a difference. Pookie
has been in the kibble addiction recovery program for over a year now, and I am happy to say that he is no longer on pepcid or
any medications and is enjoying his grain-free canned food. I rotate Wellness and Nature’s Instinct (he doesn’t care for Evo) and
continue to try other grain-free can foods to see if he’ll like it so I can add them to the rotation. I also give him raw chicken
gizzards a couple of times a week and a raw turkey breast tender or chicken tender at night.
He just had his annual check-up in August 2010. He’s 7 years old, 13 pounds, which the vet says is a perfect weight for him, and
his teeth look great. The only time he throws up/regurgitates now is if he eats too fast or is overly excited, like when I open a can
of Weruva as a treat or if I come home really late (he’s such a momma’s boy), but once he calms down he’s fine (knock wood). I
still keep the food journal as a precautionary measure. I no longer feed him anything with beef, I don’t think he cares for it too
much, and since he seemed to have developed a sensitivity to it while on dry food, I don’t want to give it to him if he doesn’t want
it. He was eating the Wellness beef & chicken, though it wasn’t his favorite, but the last case of that flavor really turned him off for
some reason. He wouldn’t eat it, so I’ve taken it out of the rotation. I may give him some at a later time to add to his variety.
At some point I may try to do more raw-feeding, but after all these years of internet searches and trying to find answers, I’m just
enjoying having a healthy cat and the peace of mind that comes with knowing he’s being fed in a way that’s healthier for him. I
brush and comb him daily to help with the hairballs he had in early spring/summer, but I do it now partially because he likes the
attention. I no longer give him dental rinse or hairball gel. I had brushed their teeth for a time but don’t do that anymore, either.
I no longer get Pookie vaccinated and got a waiver from my vet. Both Pookie and his sister were given FVRCPC annually
through age 4 (I didn't know that vaccines are labeled for use only in healthy animals and the vet I had at the time continued to
vaccinate despite their obvious health problems). When they were 5, I went to another vet who told me that they'd been getting
the three year rabies vaccine, so they weren't due for a couple of years. They haven’t been vaccinated for anything since they
were 4. Pookie was due for rabies this year (the others aren't required by law in New Jersey at his age), which is when I
requested the waiver. It took years to get him to a better place and I don't want to "fix" what isn't "broken," especially since he's
strictly indoor, doesn't have access to the attic and I don't have a fireplace for bats or other animals to get inside. He also doesn’
t get boarded and he’s not a show cat. I have a strong suspicion that over-vaccination contributes to, if not causes, IBD, and after
everything he's been through, I'm not taking any chances. He'll continue to get annual check-ups to make sure he's doing well.
I adopted my first cats, Pookie and his sister, Bonnie, when they were about 8 weeks old from a co-worker who took in a stray
that later accidentally got pregnant by another stray. Pookie was the only male of the litter. I free-fed commercial dry food and
gave them some canned in the morning and evening. All was fine for a while but now and then, even before they were a year old,
one or the other would vomit or regurgitate their food. Experienced people told me that cats sometimes throw up and told me not
to worry about it. It seemed odd to me, but since I was new to being a cat mommy I took their word for it.
By 1 year old, the vomiting and regurgitating was happening almost daily. I asked my vet about it and he mentioned it could be
food allergies. There were tests that could be run, he told me, but they were expensive and may not be conclusive. Since he didn’
t seem very confident that it would be worth the expense, I decided to do a food journal of everything they ate, when they threw up
and where (in case it was environmental), and who did it (if I was home). I started the journal in June 2005 and switched them to
Purina One Sensitive Systems. A month later I started giving them smaller portions of canned food, thinking perhaps the
problem was that they were eating too fast. A few months later I started mixing Eukanuba Sensitive Stomach with the Purina
One. In January 2006 I added large beads to their dry food to slow them down, still thinking at least part of the problem was that
they were eating too fast. I also tried Natural Choice dry food with the Purina One and began giving them pepcid as needed.
In February 2006 I switched their dry to Hills ZD and also began feeding the canned formula. They stayed on the canned for
about 10 days. They would still bring the dry up for another look, though not as often. I did find that they usually regurgitated foods
that contained fish products. Even if it only contained salmon oil, they couldn’t tolerate it. So I made sure the canned didn’t
contain fish, and fed a dry that I thought didn’t contain fish, however it took me until their next vet visit a few months later to realize
that just because the bag says “chicken & rice” doesn’t mean that there’s no fish in it. I switched them to a dry with no fish
products and things did improve, though they would still have hairballs a lot.
In April I began mixing the Purina One (no fish) back in with the ZD. In May I pulled the ZD completely, since it hadn’t seemed to
make much difference. August 2006, after Pookie’s sister had 4 teeth pulled (both were 2 years old) I added a dental rinse to
their water and started to brush their teeth. Pookie’s teeth were fine. September 2006, I started mixing Science Diet Hairball
Light (no fish) with the Purina One, since they seemed to have a lot of hairballs.
By the time they were about 3 years old, they were vomiting/regurgitating several times a day and night, every day and night.
September 2007, I began weaning them off the Science Diet. The vet stated that it was like feeding them cappuccino (high
calories) and I needed to watch their weight so they wouldn’t become diabetic. At that time Pookie weighed 15 pounds.
In November 2007 I added river rocks to their dry food. At some point I had removed the beads but don’t remember when. In
December 2007 I removed the Science Diet dry completely. A few days later I replaced the Purina completely with Hill’s ZD after
Bonnie had a severe bout of vomiting which led to an endoscopy. I added a little of the Purina One back in a few days later.
In January 2008, Pookie couldn’t keep down any dry food. I called my vet and asked how I could get him back on the dry and was
told that he “didn’t have a clue.” I took Pookie to a different vet who suggested pepcid, and advised giving him the canned with 1-
2 kibble mixed in, making sure they were coated in the gravy, and over time increase the number of kibble. I did that, and also
gave him dry softened in water, and over several weeks I was able to get him back on his dry food. Looking back, though, I’m
amazed that no one ever suggested that I not feed the dry food at all and feed only canned, and that I never thought to ask. I had
been told that cats should eat dry food to clean their teeth and I’d never heard of anyone feeding only canned food.
In February 2008 I bought a timed feeder and started putting very small amounts in the feeder so Pookie would have some to eat
without (hopefully) irritating his stomach. It was set to dispense at certain times throughout the day. In April I started giving him
Excel for his hairballs and later switched to Petromalt.
By May, the vomiting/regurgitating had started up again so I began switching them off the ZD dry and back to the Purina One
Sensitive Systems. June 2008 I switched Pookie to Kitty malt for his hairballs, even though it did contain fish. I also was using the
Furminator on him but it seemed to make the hairballs worse, probably because it loosened up so much hair. Pookie doesn’t
care too much for brushing so I couldn’t do it for very long.
In July I started giving them canned pumpkin to help with the hairballs. I stopped using the Furminator and at some point I
stopped giving the pumpkin. In August I took them to a completely different vet, who prescribed Lax’aire for the hairballs and told
me that “a cat will throw up as soon as look at you.” He felt the tummy issues were “genetic” since they’re litter mates and
because their mother and sister also had similar problems (I was still in touch with the woman who gave them to me, who kept
one of their sisters and their mother). Lax’aire contains cod liver oil, and while Pookie seemed okay with it (I assumed due to the
low amount I was giving him), his sister became violently sick.
In January 2009, Bonnie had a very bad episode, I suspect due to my dry pilling her medication. No one had ever told me to
follow a pill with water or food, and I didn’t know the pill could dissolve in the esophagus and erode it. I took her to the vet and
asked if she had IBD. He said that she could, so I began feeding Hill’s Prescription Diet I/D dry food to both, thinking that Pookie
might have IBD as well since he also would vomit his food (at no time were either of them “officially“ diagnosed with IBD). Pookie
continued to get his normal canned food and Bonnie got the I/D canned. In less than 3 months, Pookie gained 1 pound and
Bonnie gained 3. Both were 16 pounds! Bonnie became lethargic and groggy, and both drank a lot of water. The volume in the
litter box went up dramatically. Pookie seemed to be having problems tolerating canned food with beef products in it.
I mentioned this to a co-worker and she asked if I’d considered home-cooked diets. I was desperate and began searching the
internet, where I found Dr. Pierson’s site, www.catinfo.org, and that’s when I FINALLY began to understand what was going on. I
eventually was directed to Dr. Hodgkin’s book, “Your Cat: Simple Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life.” That book has become
my cat Bible, and it’s what finally motivated me to remove the dry food and begin feeding a grain-free canned food. Amazingly
enough, once they went grain-free they could eat food with fish without any problems!
I also wanted to raw-feed and the first time I gave Pookie a small piece of raw chicken, he didn’t know what to do with it. He
licked it off my finger several times and I finally had to hold it for him before he ate it. He really liked it and when I took the plate to
his sister in her basket, he followed me. She knew immediately what to do with it.
About 2 months after I removed the dry, Pookie’s coat became like silk, soft and shiny. Bonnie’s coat got much better, too, and
they both slowly lost weight. I tried giving them the Nature’s Variety chicken raw medallions, but neither seemed to care for it and
Bonnie couldn’t keep it down. I’ve tried the Bravo raw with Pookie and he likes it, though he did regurgitate the turkey once and
had an upset tummy for a couple of days after that, which was resolved with pepcid.
In April 2009, I made the mistake of leaving out a string toy and Pookie ate it during the night. I didn’t know who’d eaten it so both
went to the vet for x-rays. Pookie was given 3 doses of hydrogen peroxide but was so nervous at the vet’s that he wouldn’t vomit.
I had to leave him there and they gave him something else to induce vomiting, which worked. I brought him home that night and
he began vomiting every couple minutes, and every time the bile was a darker pink. I called the vet and they told me he’d be fine,
but when he kept vomiting I called back and they told me to bring him in. He stayed for 5 days because he was so nervous he
wouldn’t eat, and they wanted him to have a bowel movement to make sure there wasn’t any more string in him. They finally had
to force feed him and when he had a bowel movement (no string in it), I brought him home.
Late October 2009, I began giving Pookie the Chinese herbal, shen calmer, to try to calm him down so he wouldn’t upset his
sister so much (she didn‘t seem to like him anymore). He was on it for a month and it didn’t seem to make a difference. Pookie
has been in the kibble addiction recovery program for over a year now, and I am happy to say that he is no longer on pepcid or
any medications and is enjoying his grain-free canned food. I rotate Wellness and Nature’s Instinct (he doesn’t care for Evo) and
continue to try other grain-free can foods to see if he’ll like it so I can add them to the rotation. I also give him raw chicken
gizzards a couple of times a week and a raw turkey breast tender or chicken tender at night.
He just had his annual check-up in August 2010. He’s 7 years old, 13 pounds, which the vet says is a perfect weight for him, and
his teeth look great. The only time he throws up/regurgitates now is if he eats too fast or is overly excited, like when I open a can
of Weruva as a treat or if I come home really late (he’s such a momma’s boy), but once he calms down he’s fine (knock wood). I
still keep the food journal as a precautionary measure. I no longer feed him anything with beef, I don’t think he cares for it too
much, and since he seemed to have developed a sensitivity to it while on dry food, I don’t want to give it to him if he doesn’t want
it. He was eating the Wellness beef & chicken, though it wasn’t his favorite, but the last case of that flavor really turned him off for
some reason. He wouldn’t eat it, so I’ve taken it out of the rotation. I may give him some at a later time to add to his variety.
At some point I may try to do more raw-feeding, but after all these years of internet searches and trying to find answers, I’m just
enjoying having a healthy cat and the peace of mind that comes with knowing he’s being fed in a way that’s healthier for him. I
brush and comb him daily to help with the hairballs he had in early spring/summer, but I do it now partially because he likes the
attention. I no longer give him dental rinse or hairball gel. I had brushed their teeth for a time but don’t do that anymore, either.
I no longer get Pookie vaccinated and got a waiver from my vet. Both Pookie and his sister were given FVRCPC annually
through age 4 (I didn't know that vaccines are labeled for use only in healthy animals and the vet I had at the time continued to
vaccinate despite their obvious health problems). When they were 5, I went to another vet who told me that they'd been getting
the three year rabies vaccine, so they weren't due for a couple of years. They haven’t been vaccinated for anything since they
were 4. Pookie was due for rabies this year (the others aren't required by law in New Jersey at his age), which is when I
requested the waiver. It took years to get him to a better place and I don't want to "fix" what isn't "broken," especially since he's
strictly indoor, doesn't have access to the attic and I don't have a fireplace for bats or other animals to get inside. He also doesn’
t get boarded and he’s not a show cat. I have a strong suspicion that over-vaccination contributes to, if not causes, IBD, and after
everything he's been through, I'm not taking any chances. He'll continue to get annual check-ups to make sure he's doing well.
| Pookie Hooper - New Jersey, USA Male, Domestic short hair Born May 20th, 2003 Diagnosed with suspected IBD in January 2009 |
While Pookie was on shen calmer, she was on the Chinese herbals Jade Lady and later, Eight Gentleman. After Pookie came
home from the “string incident,” Bonnie hissed at him and never quite got used to him again. She would hide under the sofa and
hiss or growl when he came by. I tried the Feliway diffuser and over a couple months things seemed to improve, until August ‘09
when both of them must have had a fight, and hacked up huge hairballs within 10 minutes of each other. He couldn’t keep his
food down so I put him on pepcid for a couple of days, and he was fine. Bonnie couldn’t keep food or water down (vomiting pink
bile) so I gave her pepcid as well and moved her to the spare bedroom with the thought that I’d reintroduce them once she
calmed down. That never happened. I also noticed that she would smack her lips after eating, like she was going to vomit, and/or
sort of burp (with a closed mouth). My vet told me not to worry about it, but I wasn’t comfortable with that and took her to a holistic
vet who gave me probiotics and colostrum to add to her food. A couple of months later, she couldn’t keep down the tiny piece of
raw chicken I would give as a bedtime treat, and she began vomiting her grain-free canned food. This is when I tried the Chinese
herbals vet, but the herbals didn’t help. By February of 2010, using the food log I realized that she was developing allergies to
chicken, turkey, beef and fish (she had been able to tolerate the turkey & salmon grain-free canned for a while). I contacted a
homeopathic vet and we tried various remedies, but the lip smacking and burping only got worse. This vet had recommended
“cool” foods like duck, so I gave her Evo duck which she tolerated. I was feeding her a tiny portion, waiting 13 minutes, another
tiny portion, etc. to make sure she got enough food/moisture, and did this 3 times a day. With the vet’s approval, I tried a tiny
amount of a pre-made raw rabbit with bone but she couldn’t keep it down. The vet had also suggested browned ground turkey,
but she couldn’t keep that down, either.
I began researching NAET, but on Saturday, April 17, 2010, Bonnie had a small hairball and regurgitated her food. I had to run
out for an appointment and when I returned, she had vomited pink bile several times. (I’m sure she had drunk some water and it
was irritating her throat which triggered the vomiting). I followed the homeopathic vet’s instructions on what remedy to use and
how often, and also gave her small amounts of food throughout the day and into the early morning. Sunday night she had
diarrhea, which she’d never had before, and the next morning she began vomiting again. I had started adding water to her food
that morning and she couldn’t keep it down. At that point I made the heart-breaking decision to surrender her to the Chinese
herbal vet (who also does NAET), who earlier that year had offered to take her if I couldn’t care for her anymore, and on Monday,
April 19th, I gave up my Sweetie Girl.
One month later, a week after she turned 7 years old, the vet contacted me that Bonnie had a seizure, was blind and couldn’t
walk or lift her head. She suspected Bonnie had a microscopic GI cancer that had reached her brain, and Bonnie was scheduled
to be put to sleep the next day. When I called the next morning, her euthanasia had been delayed because she was responding
to light. The vet now suspected GME, a form of encephalitis. The last I’ve heard, Bonnie could see, was slowly improving, and
though she would fall down often, she could walk.
Pookie's Update: June 23, 2011
Pookie’s been doing well. He’s had the occasional hairball or regurgitated his food once in a while, the latter usually due to
nerves such as my neighbor doing renovations (Pookie startles easily and can be jumpy). Starting in August/September 2010 he
would occasionally burp or smack his lips, which was new, but was fine until late November when I made the mistake of giving
him some raw chicken tenders which I hadn’t frozen until after they had expired. I had thought he wouldn’t eat it if it was bad. He
did eat it, but after a few days he didn’t seem interested in eating his regular food. I added a probiotic to his food for several
days and his appetite came back, and I’ve continued to add the probiotic to his food every other day.
The lip smacking/burping seemed to increase in January/February of 2011, which concerned me because his sister Bonnie
began doing that, and that was the beginning of her becoming allergic to several proteins. On March 5th, I gave him his first
dose of B12 (methylcobalamin 1,000 mcg) & folic acid (400 mcg) in his food. I did this almost daily for a month and have been
doing it several times a week since, and it seems like the burping has decreased (knock wood) though he still does it now and
then. I also started increasing the times between mini-meals, from 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
As a result of the Wellness recall, I have had to take Wellness out of his rotation, only because for some reason, Pookie will not
eat the food that comes from the manufacturer with “7w” on the bottom of the can, except for the grain-free Turkey & Salmon.
After the recall, I have been unable to find Wellness that isn’t marked “7w .” Now he is currently eating mostly the Nature’s Variety
Instinct grain-free canned, with an occasional treat of Weruva grain-free (none of the fish varieties) and raw chicken hearts and
gizzards. I’m also continuing to try to find more foods to add to his rotation, but he can be picky.
Also as a result of the recall, I decided to add spirulina to his food to give him more nutrients, however even though I was giving
much less than the recommended dose, it seems to decrease his litter box usage, so I only give him a tiny amount once a week.
His last dose was May 22nd. I haven’t given him any since then because of other issues.
On June 3rd, he had a very large hairball which upset his tummy and caused him to regurgitate his dinner. I gave him a dose of
the homeopathic remedy nux vomica, waited an hour and fed him small amounts about 40 minutes apart and he was fine. In fact,
the next night he caught a mouse in my basement and ate it. While he’s caught mice there before, this was the first time he
actually ate one. He caught another mouse the next night, but I was able to get it away from him before he could eat it, though not
before he killed it.
On June 10th, he regurgitated his dinner, so I gave him another dose of nux vomica and followed the same process I did a week
earlier, and he was fine. As a result of doing this update, however, I went back through the food log and it seems Pookie may be
developing an intolerance to lamb. On several occasions, he has either burped/smacked his lips or regurgitated his food after
eating the lamb, usually in the evening. He has also occasionally burped/smacked his lips after the raw chicken hearts/gizzards,
but this has not been consistent. I need to keep an eye on this situation, but may have to remove the lamb from his rotation. Right
now, I’m starting to add a couple more brands to his rotation, so I’m hoping that feeding the lamb with more days in between will
help, but again, I will keep a close eye on this.
Update: May 13, 2012
Pookie is still doing well, though I did pull the lamb from his rotation. I continue to try brands of grain-free wet food but he can be
picky, or else he doesn’t tolerate them. So he’s currently getting 4 wet foods, 2 that contain chicken or chicken and turkey, 1
rabbit and 1 duck. I have noticed that when he eats the chicken or turkey canned foods his lips swell. Sometimes in the corner of
his mouth, sometimes on the bottom lip near the middle of his mouth. The swelling and redness goes down after a day or so, and
I deliberately alternate the days when I feed the chicken with the days I feed rabbit or duck. I’m concerned that this is an allergic
reaction, esp. since he seems to scratch more on those days, and am trying to give him more raw. I don’t see the swelling when
he eats raw chicken, but he doesn’t seem to tolerate raw very well in the morning.
I have added whole prey mice (frozen mice from Petco) to his diet as a “bedtime snack” every other day or so. He loves them
and tolerates them well. I have also been giving him canned pumpkin twice a day to help with hairballs. I freeze the pumpkin in
ice cube trays and give him ½ a thawed cube before his 1st breakfast and the other half before his 1st dinner. It seems to be
working well. I no longer give the spirulina but Pookie still gets a probiotic (Wholistic brand) almost daily, and the Superior
Source No-shot B12 (with B6 and folic acid). The burping/lip-smacking is almost totally gone, and it seems to come back if I go
too long without giving him the B12. I’ve also added a digestive enzyme (NaturVet Digestive Enzyme) to his food.
home from the “string incident,” Bonnie hissed at him and never quite got used to him again. She would hide under the sofa and
hiss or growl when he came by. I tried the Feliway diffuser and over a couple months things seemed to improve, until August ‘09
when both of them must have had a fight, and hacked up huge hairballs within 10 minutes of each other. He couldn’t keep his
food down so I put him on pepcid for a couple of days, and he was fine. Bonnie couldn’t keep food or water down (vomiting pink
bile) so I gave her pepcid as well and moved her to the spare bedroom with the thought that I’d reintroduce them once she
calmed down. That never happened. I also noticed that she would smack her lips after eating, like she was going to vomit, and/or
sort of burp (with a closed mouth). My vet told me not to worry about it, but I wasn’t comfortable with that and took her to a holistic
vet who gave me probiotics and colostrum to add to her food. A couple of months later, she couldn’t keep down the tiny piece of
raw chicken I would give as a bedtime treat, and she began vomiting her grain-free canned food. This is when I tried the Chinese
herbals vet, but the herbals didn’t help. By February of 2010, using the food log I realized that she was developing allergies to
chicken, turkey, beef and fish (she had been able to tolerate the turkey & salmon grain-free canned for a while). I contacted a
homeopathic vet and we tried various remedies, but the lip smacking and burping only got worse. This vet had recommended
“cool” foods like duck, so I gave her Evo duck which she tolerated. I was feeding her a tiny portion, waiting 13 minutes, another
tiny portion, etc. to make sure she got enough food/moisture, and did this 3 times a day. With the vet’s approval, I tried a tiny
amount of a pre-made raw rabbit with bone but she couldn’t keep it down. The vet had also suggested browned ground turkey,
but she couldn’t keep that down, either.
I began researching NAET, but on Saturday, April 17, 2010, Bonnie had a small hairball and regurgitated her food. I had to run
out for an appointment and when I returned, she had vomited pink bile several times. (I’m sure she had drunk some water and it
was irritating her throat which triggered the vomiting). I followed the homeopathic vet’s instructions on what remedy to use and
how often, and also gave her small amounts of food throughout the day and into the early morning. Sunday night she had
diarrhea, which she’d never had before, and the next morning she began vomiting again. I had started adding water to her food
that morning and she couldn’t keep it down. At that point I made the heart-breaking decision to surrender her to the Chinese
herbal vet (who also does NAET), who earlier that year had offered to take her if I couldn’t care for her anymore, and on Monday,
April 19th, I gave up my Sweetie Girl.
One month later, a week after she turned 7 years old, the vet contacted me that Bonnie had a seizure, was blind and couldn’t
walk or lift her head. She suspected Bonnie had a microscopic GI cancer that had reached her brain, and Bonnie was scheduled
to be put to sleep the next day. When I called the next morning, her euthanasia had been delayed because she was responding
to light. The vet now suspected GME, a form of encephalitis. The last I’ve heard, Bonnie could see, was slowly improving, and
though she would fall down often, she could walk.
Pookie's Update: June 23, 2011
Pookie’s been doing well. He’s had the occasional hairball or regurgitated his food once in a while, the latter usually due to
nerves such as my neighbor doing renovations (Pookie startles easily and can be jumpy). Starting in August/September 2010 he
would occasionally burp or smack his lips, which was new, but was fine until late November when I made the mistake of giving
him some raw chicken tenders which I hadn’t frozen until after they had expired. I had thought he wouldn’t eat it if it was bad. He
did eat it, but after a few days he didn’t seem interested in eating his regular food. I added a probiotic to his food for several
days and his appetite came back, and I’ve continued to add the probiotic to his food every other day.
The lip smacking/burping seemed to increase in January/February of 2011, which concerned me because his sister Bonnie
began doing that, and that was the beginning of her becoming allergic to several proteins. On March 5th, I gave him his first
dose of B12 (methylcobalamin 1,000 mcg) & folic acid (400 mcg) in his food. I did this almost daily for a month and have been
doing it several times a week since, and it seems like the burping has decreased (knock wood) though he still does it now and
then. I also started increasing the times between mini-meals, from 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
As a result of the Wellness recall, I have had to take Wellness out of his rotation, only because for some reason, Pookie will not
eat the food that comes from the manufacturer with “7w” on the bottom of the can, except for the grain-free Turkey & Salmon.
After the recall, I have been unable to find Wellness that isn’t marked “7w .” Now he is currently eating mostly the Nature’s Variety
Instinct grain-free canned, with an occasional treat of Weruva grain-free (none of the fish varieties) and raw chicken hearts and
gizzards. I’m also continuing to try to find more foods to add to his rotation, but he can be picky.
Also as a result of the recall, I decided to add spirulina to his food to give him more nutrients, however even though I was giving
much less than the recommended dose, it seems to decrease his litter box usage, so I only give him a tiny amount once a week.
His last dose was May 22nd. I haven’t given him any since then because of other issues.
On June 3rd, he had a very large hairball which upset his tummy and caused him to regurgitate his dinner. I gave him a dose of
the homeopathic remedy nux vomica, waited an hour and fed him small amounts about 40 minutes apart and he was fine. In fact,
the next night he caught a mouse in my basement and ate it. While he’s caught mice there before, this was the first time he
actually ate one. He caught another mouse the next night, but I was able to get it away from him before he could eat it, though not
before he killed it.
On June 10th, he regurgitated his dinner, so I gave him another dose of nux vomica and followed the same process I did a week
earlier, and he was fine. As a result of doing this update, however, I went back through the food log and it seems Pookie may be
developing an intolerance to lamb. On several occasions, he has either burped/smacked his lips or regurgitated his food after
eating the lamb, usually in the evening. He has also occasionally burped/smacked his lips after the raw chicken hearts/gizzards,
but this has not been consistent. I need to keep an eye on this situation, but may have to remove the lamb from his rotation. Right
now, I’m starting to add a couple more brands to his rotation, so I’m hoping that feeding the lamb with more days in between will
help, but again, I will keep a close eye on this.
Update: May 13, 2012
Pookie is still doing well, though I did pull the lamb from his rotation. I continue to try brands of grain-free wet food but he can be
picky, or else he doesn’t tolerate them. So he’s currently getting 4 wet foods, 2 that contain chicken or chicken and turkey, 1
rabbit and 1 duck. I have noticed that when he eats the chicken or turkey canned foods his lips swell. Sometimes in the corner of
his mouth, sometimes on the bottom lip near the middle of his mouth. The swelling and redness goes down after a day or so, and
I deliberately alternate the days when I feed the chicken with the days I feed rabbit or duck. I’m concerned that this is an allergic
reaction, esp. since he seems to scratch more on those days, and am trying to give him more raw. I don’t see the swelling when
he eats raw chicken, but he doesn’t seem to tolerate raw very well in the morning.
I have added whole prey mice (frozen mice from Petco) to his diet as a “bedtime snack” every other day or so. He loves them
and tolerates them well. I have also been giving him canned pumpkin twice a day to help with hairballs. I freeze the pumpkin in
ice cube trays and give him ½ a thawed cube before his 1st breakfast and the other half before his 1st dinner. It seems to be
working well. I no longer give the spirulina but Pookie still gets a probiotic (Wholistic brand) almost daily, and the Superior
Source No-shot B12 (with B6 and folic acid). The burping/lip-smacking is almost totally gone, and it seems to come back if I go
too long without giving him the B12. I’ve also added a digestive enzyme (NaturVet Digestive Enzyme) to his food.
| Pookie and his sister Bonnie |
Side note on Bonnie: Bonnie had always had more health
problems than Pookie. Her first episode of vomiting pink bile
happened at 2 ½ years old, and she had several episodes
over the years. She had an endoscopy and was diagnosed
with food allergies, and was put on metronidazole, amoxicillin,
pepcid, sucralfate and prednisolone. At no time was she ever
“officially“ diagnosed as IBD, but in looking at her endoscopy
results and reviewing the “Cat Owner‘s Home Veterinary
Handbook“ I concluded a year later that she had IBD.
problems than Pookie. Her first episode of vomiting pink bile
happened at 2 ½ years old, and she had several episodes
over the years. She had an endoscopy and was diagnosed
with food allergies, and was put on metronidazole, amoxicillin,
pepcid, sucralfate and prednisolone. At no time was she ever
“officially“ diagnosed as IBD, but in looking at her endoscopy
results and reviewing the “Cat Owner‘s Home Veterinary
Handbook“ I concluded a year later that she had IBD.
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Living with IBD - Pookie H.
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