The Gluten Free Kitty

Believe it or not, but the first member of our family to go gluten free was our cat. This is the story of Sophia, our kitty, and how we learned about her special needs.

Sophia came to be apart of our family when she was 3 months old. She was my birthday present from my lovely husband. I've always had a pet, but when we got married we didn't have any and I missed having something soft and fuzzy to love. So we went to PetSmart and picked out this cat. I was kinda shocked that there was a kitten still in the system. Most of the time kittens are the first to go, but she had been in the system awhile. Her paper work said she was abandon at birth my her mother and said she was 9 weeks old and had a history of having worms. We decided to get her. I was a little surprised that a 9 week old kitten would be up for adoption and still not under care. Anyone who knows cats knows that kittens nurse until 14 weeks. We got her some cats milk, but she would just throw it up or have bad gass. We took her to the vet and found out she was only 3 lbs. The doctor thought she was 9 weeks old too, until she checked her teeth and discovered that she was 3 months old! She was malnourished. We also learned that she was lactose intolerant, most cats are, and that is why she couldn't tolerate the cat's milk. We were told to give her yogurt every day to help her digest. So our now our spoiled cat gets yogurt everyday or she throws up, a lot.

The first few days at home.

After her vet visit she stated growing and gaining weight really well. She was perfectly healthy and full of spunk and energy. When she was a year old we started slowly switching her to adult food. She was on Purina kitten chow and we were giving her the adult version. She started throwing up everyday. Ok, cat's throw up, it's a fact of life so we just brushed it off as a cat thing. Then she started throwing up several times a day. We rushed her to the vet and found she was very dehydrated. They gave her a bag of fluids and we all chalked it up to her just not drinking enough, plus we were moving for the second time in her little life and thought she was stressed out. Not soon after that visit she started throwing up multiple times a day again. So I thought maybe some cat grass will settle her stomach since she's an indoor only cat maybe she is missing that aspect of an outdoor cat. We got her some and she stopped throwing up, for awhile. Then one day I thought she got into one of my plants and she was sick from that and was throwing up several times a day again. I rushed her in and found out the cat grass was making her sick and that she was allergic to wheat and other grasses. We were also told not to give her chicken based food because of the feed they give the chickens could also make her sick. They gave her another bag of fluids and sent us home with some special food that she wouldn't eat.

Healthy again

 We were now on the hunt for a cat food that she could eat that wouldn't make her sick. Do you know how many pet foods are made from wheat? Almost all of them! So we started giving her Nutro Natural white fish indoor formal food. It worked great. She stopped throwing up right away and stayed at a healthy weight of 10.5 lbs. We did switch her food later to Blue Buffalo Basic which is even more wheat free and is better balanced for her then the Nurto was, and PetSmart has it on sale more then the Nutro brand too. However, we are in a new battle for Sophia's health. She lost some weight. She had a period of time where she didn't want her food and just wanted ours. She is eating again and gained back almost a pound that was lost, she only lost 3, but that is a lot for a small animal. The hardest thing about having a cat with a special diet is that she really loves our food! Anything made with Pamela's Baking Mix she goes nuts over. She is constantly stealing our food and jumping up onto the dinning table. The one good aspect of that is if she does get our food I know she wont get sick. She only gets sick now if she has too much dairy from my husband's cereal bowl or we forget to give her her yogurt. We don't giver her our food, she's spoiled rotten as is. She gets her own special treats and yogurt everyday, and now that she lost a bit of weight she gets chicken broth (homemade) and meat baby food (which she really doesn't eat, I don't blame her). So hopefully she cat put back on a few pounds. I really hate to try and find a new food for her. There isn't must of a choice for her out there, outside of making our own. But Blue Buffalo just came out with a new food that is perfect of food allergy pets, so that might work better. I honestly think her weight loss is due to stress. Our daughter has been picking on her more, as most toddlers do. So we will see how things go this month with Sophia's weight gain.