Need input on KOHA food

Robin&BB

Robin&BB

Member Since 2013
Hi, all!
Old timers here may recall that my black diabetic kitty, Bat-Bat died back in 2017. Now I have a sweet Blue Point Balinese, (Jillian, who just turned 11 yrs old on New Year’s Day), adopted from a shelter last May after her lifelong owner died.
But she’s always vomited hairballs frequently, despite every remedy I’ve tried, including 4 diet changes over the past 9 months (NO dry food; only low-carb pates). Unfortunately, we could get NO health history on her from the family member who gave her up to the shelter. When I expressed my concerns re: the vomiting to my vet, he just shrugged & said, “It’s a CAT!” — because all tests at her senior check-up were w/in normal limits.
Jillian was just diagnosed (different vet) with IBD on Tuesday, 3/17, & is now on Prednisolone every 12 hrs. The vomiting has completely STOPPED - & I’m thrilled about that, but worried about the risk of steroid-induced diabetes after treating Bat-Bat’s diabetes for 7 long years. (Old timers: Any thoughts on this?)
No doubt some FDMB members treating their kitties for DM may also be also dealing with IBD, so wanted to know if anyone here has experience with KOHA Limited Ingredient canned pates. I’d be so grateful to hear from any members who have fed/ are feeding KOHA to their cats.
Jillian is eating Smalls low-carb, human-grade chicken/ turkey/chicken & salmon formulas since late January. She really likes her Smalls, but there are serious delivery issues where I live with this frozen food (one box arrived already thawed out!) so am considering the canned KOHA as an alternative - especially during the hot months here.
And a special note to any ‘newbies’ with diabetic kitties: You’ve landed on the BEST place you can be here @ FDMB! I never could have managed Bat-Bat’s DM journey without the wisdom & support of so many others on this amazing Board!!
 
It is an amazing web site for FD, I know because the dedicated members here saved my Corky's life, now that I have gained some knowledge, I am paying it forward, I am not familiar with most feline illnesses, just what I read here, but I will tag a member that has incredible knowledge on Feline illnesses and medical diagnosis, symptoms, and meds, hope Julian gets better soon 🤗
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
 
Leroy is a steroid-induced diabetic. The pred he was taking for IBD caused the diabetes. I knew the pred would likely cause diabetes but it was also helping the IBD symptoms. Personally I would rather deal with bgs than with diarrhea and vomit everywhere. Leroy is on budesonide now which affects his bgs but doesn't for other cats.

Leroy has always eaten a commercial raw diet. He currently eats a freeze dried raw food in rabbit. For his daily snacks he gets Koha LID rabbit. It's low carb for the diabetes. Rabbit is the only protein his tummy can handle. The LID venison and bison of a different brand were iffy with his bgs even though both were low carb. I tried the trial pack of LID kangaroo once and Leroy liked it but it's pretty pricey.

Egg yolk lecithin supposedly helps with hairballs. There's info here: How Best to Manage Hairballs
 
CORKY said:
It is an amazing web site for FD, I know because the dedicated members here saved my Corky's life, now that I have gained some knowledge, I am paying it forward, I am not familiar with most feline illnesses, just what I read here, but I will tag a member that has incredible knowledge on Feline illnesses and medical diagnosis, symptoms, and meds, hope Julian gets better soon 🤗
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
Click to expand...
Thank you!
 
squeem3 said:
Leroy is a steroid-induced diabetic. The pred he was taking for IBD caused the diabetes. I knew the pred would likely cause diabetes but it was also helping the IBD symptoms. Personally I would rather deal with bgs than with diarrhea and vomit everywhere. Leroy is on budesonide now which affects his bgs but doesn't for other cats.

Leroy has always eaten a commercial raw diet. He currently eats a freeze dried raw food in rabbit. For his daily snacks he gets Koha LID rabbit. It's low carb for the diabetes. Rabbit is the only protein his tummy can handle. The LID venison and bison of a different brand were iffy with his bgs even though both were low carb. I tried the trial pack of LID kangaroo once and Leroy liked it but it's pretty pricey.

Egg yolk lecithin supposedly helps with hairballs. There's info here: How Best to Manage Hairballs
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your info. Can you tell me hhow long Leroy was on the pred before he was dx’d with diabetes? Jillian has only been on it since Tues pm (3/17) - so about 4 days. Started @ 1ml Pred every 12 hrs (3 mg/ml) that night; vet’s ofc told me I could drop her to 0.75 ml dosing instead, which I did, starting yesterday morning. Have followup appt with primary vet tomorrow about the IBD. I really don’t want to her to start chronically vomiting again, but I don’t want her to end up with DM from a steroid, either. So am hoping we can find a ‘sweet spot’ on her pred dose to avoid that.
 
We've rotated Koha in and out of our cats' diets prior to one getting diagnosed. Mine did not care for the chicken or turkey, but have been good with the kangaroo. The quality always seemed good as well. Another they rotate to is from Rawz. They like the turkey pate from them (especially the one with goats milk). I only mention that because the texture and consistency are very similar.
 
Robin&BB said:
Thank you so much for your info. Can you tell me hhow long Leroy was on the pred before he was dx’d with diabetes? Jillian has only been on it since Tues pm (3/17) - so about 4 days. Started @ 1ml Pred every 12 hrs (3 mg/ml) that night; vet’s ofc told me I could drop her to 0.75 ml dosing instead, which I did, starting yesterday morning. Have followup appt with primary vet tomorrow about the IBD. I really don’t want to her to start chronically vomiting again, but I don’t want her to end up with DM from a steroid, either. So am hoping we can find a ‘sweet spot’ on her pred dose to avoid that.
Click to expand...

All the info is in Leroy's spreadsheet. He was diagnosed with IBD In 2018 and put on pred. The pred was compounded into pills. Leroy takes pills better than liquids. He was diagnosed with diabetes in 2024. He was showing symptoms of possible diabetes for awhile before diagnosis and I did mini curves which occasionally showed diabetic numbers but the vet just said to keep an eye on the numbers and symptoms.

4 days isn't long enough to put a cat into diabetes. You can ask the vet about budesonide as an alternative to pred.

Have you seen these web sites on IBD?

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD - Healing can happen!

If your cat is a weirdo and ends up diabetic (not your fault at all. Just the cat's body wanting to do its own thing), you already have the experience on how to manage that :)
 
I have a non-diabetic kitty with IBD. Gizmo is on a very small dose of prednisolone and has been for years. I haven't had any issues with his blood glucose levels.

I would encourage you to experiment with novel proteins if you haven't done so already. When Gabby, my diabetic, was diagnosed, my cats were all switched to a diet that was entirely poultry based. Silly me. Poultry and beef and fish are among the proteins that can cause IBD flares. Both of my cats now eat a mostly raw diet -- some is homemade and either pork or venison, Stella & Chewy's rabbit Dinner Morsels, and ZiwiPeak venison. The only time Gizmo has a flare up is when the techs at my vet's office were so delighted with her they kept giving her (chicken) treats.

I'm a big fan of this website -- Raw Feeding for IBD Cats. Even if you don't opt for a raw diet, there's great information on managing diarrhea, supplements, and other info. They also have a Facebook page and members are great about sharing information.
 
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