The Food Allergy Misnomer.
Perhaps the most confounding and, frankly, frustrating opinion I hear with respect to my cat is that his
IBD disappearance (after switching to a balanced, raw diet) was a fluke and that he might have responded equally well to a commercial hypoallergenic diet. He most certainly didn't. I tried so very many diets suggested by vets and none of them worked to relieve his chronic cramping, painful gas, daily diarrhea, and bloody stools. What cured him was a balanced, raw, grain-free diet consisting of meat, bone, organs, and a small handful of species-appropriate supplements to make up for what may be lost in the process of preparing and storing food. My long-suffering vet eventually acknowledged that I'd accomplished what he could not - a cure with diet alone. I didn't just "manage" his malady or mask his symptoms with steroids. What worked was getting him completely off commercial food. And, I assure you that his story is not unique.
If my IBD cat was "allergic" to anything, it was to the glut of excess grains, byproducts, and questionable additives that are packed into virtually all commercial diets, especially kibble. I'm not saying that there aren't cats with bona fide food allergies or cats that derive some minimal nutritional benefit from kibble, but in our case -and in the case of many people whom I have counseled as they try to safely troubleshoot diets for their very sick animals -calling bad digestive reactions to ingredients that shouldn't be in a carnivore's diet to begin with an "allergy" is a misnomer. If I get sick from eating ground up glass shards, would my physician declare that I"m "allergic" to them? Or that I'd mysteriously developed a hypersensitivity to glass shards? Of course not. My doctor would roll his eyes, instruct me to stop eating glass shards because they're not what I'm physiologically designed to derive nutrition from, hopefully offer me some sound nutritional advice, and then have a good giggle later with his colleagues about the nut case in his office. (I hold open the possibility, however, that if I went to a veterinarian with the problem, I might very well be sold a pricey bag of "Prescription Formula Glass-Shard-Hypersensitivity-Diet.")
But seriously, sticking as close to Mother Nature as I can manage in my kitchen is what has made and kept him well. He was ill for 6 years, and in the six-plus years he's been eating the diet, he's been one very healthy cat. He has no more diarrhea, ever. He eats all kinds of meat with no problems whatsoever--rabbit, chicken, turkey, and guinea fowl, to be exact. He's not "allergic" to anything except to ingredients that no obligate carnivore should consume in the first place. And he looks extraordinary.
It is possible that another cat, maybe one who descended from a sturdier gene pool, would have been able to "tolerate" the grains and fillers in commercial foods. But IBD cats so often cannot. In my years of trying to help people with these animals, I've learned that they are the feline nutritional equivalent of the proverbial "canary in a coal mine" among the first to exhibit dietary sensitivity to ingredients that are inappropriate for their species. I decided that I was putting my IBD cat at much greater risk by feeding species-inappropriate commercial foods than by feeding him a carefully-prepared, balanced, grainless, raw meat-based diet. This diet may not cure all cases, but it should be considered as one option for any patient with refractory IBD.
Robust Nutritional Education Based on Unbiased Sources - Just Do It.
People are desperate for sound, unbiased information from veterinarians on issues that will help them make informed decisions about how and what to safely feed their cats. I'd love to see graduating veterinarians receive an accurate nutritional education with respect to the species they will be treating. They could then offer sound and unbiased information to their clients. If that happened, I could stop writing these letters.
"Veterinarary universities do a grave disservice by letting the pet food industry act as a proxy in something as vital as nutritional decisionmaking."
Instructors at veterinary universities today do their profession a grave disservice by sweeping these issues under the rug and permitting the pet food industry to act as a proxy in something as vital as nutritional decisionmaking. I appeal to you to consider what I've written and to trust that I'm motivated solely by a desire to help sick animals and not to sneer at the mainstream veterinary community or the pet food industry. I hold out plenty of hope for you vets. You take an oath to protect animal health and your first obligation isn't to shareholders.
We've lost our way when it comes to feeding cats and it's time we found our way back.
The ball is in your court.