gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

I spend so much time fussing over my 3-year-old’s diet, it only stands to reason that now I have two new kittens I must fuss over their diet too.

I lost my last cat to kidney problems, and co-blogger Mandy also said goodbye too soon to a furry friend this year.

One of the questions she asked at the time was whether gluten was afflicting our beloved pets in the same way it does some of our children.

She discovered that some vets are saying that cats shouldn’t be eating the carbohyrdrates that make up the bulk of many pet foods, leaving her to wonder whether this might be the cause of so many chronic illnesses and degenerative diseases in our pets.

With this in mind, I have had my eagle eyes on everything I buy for my cats. Read the rest of this entry »

gluten free pets

Honeysuckle was an excellent cat. Before she passed on last week, though, she had her struggles with processed food just like the rest of the family.

The expensive stuff you buy at the vets gave her a rash which cleared up when we switched to a supermarket brand but then her kidneys started to play up. Sadly kidney failure was the most like culprit of her sudden demise.

It got me thinking about gluten and pets.  According to Celiac.com, some vets say that though it is the main component of most dry food, cats shouldn’t eat carbohyrdrates.

And apparently you can’t avoid the problem by switching to soft food like I did with my puss as wheat gluten is a big component of these foods too.

The trouble is cats and dogs have not traditionally had to digest plant proteins and this leaves some people questionning if all this could be causing chronic illness and degenerative diseases in our pets.

Vets like John B. Symes (aka Dogtor J) in the US point to gluten and other proteins as a cause of chronic and acute kidney failure in our fluffy friends.

He is a proponent of home prepared pet meals but you can also google gluten free commercial brands – which I will do once I can bring myself to get a new little furry buddy.

MB

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