Pets and Keto

(Stephen Price (Lythix)) #1

So I’m wondering how similar to humans cats are.
What would I feed my cat if ketogenic pet diet is possible.
Attached is my before photo of my cat, Tammy.

IMG_20170109_180035.jpg3036×4048 1.56 MB

Species specific nutrition -duh!
A veterinarian's take- our pets go through the same thing
#2

Ever heard of the catkins diet? As in Atkins for cats.

(Stephen Price (Lythix)) #3

I’ve just been reading this site about cat health http://www.catnutrition.org/diabetes.html
I’ve been a cat owner for years but never thought about what they eat.

I’m doing this. Switching my cat entirely off dry food and onto a quality canned and/or fresh meat. Poor things are carnivores and I’ve been feeding them like cows.
The weird thing is one cat is skinny and the other is fat. We got both from cat haven and Tammy (pictured) was pretty freaked out. Think she’s a lot calmer now but it’s taken some years of love. Will post an after photo here when noticable results.

(Steven Cook) #4

We have two cats, one is a large cat to begin with but he was definitley overweight. We tried often to get his weight down using lower portions and lower calorie food from the vet. Surprisngly (or not! :stuck_out_tongue: ), nothing worked until we stopped giving them dry food and went with a high quality natural “wet” feed, free from grains and vegetables. It’s still a work in progress, but the large cat has dropped to 7.2kg from 8.1kg and our other one to 4.7kg from 5.5kg (he’s at an ideal weight according to our vet) in 4 months.

(Cathy) #5

I switched my dog over to raw/keto a few yrs. ago and she is doing really well. She lost a bit of weight that I had not even noticed was an issue but most of all she has seemingly resolved her skin, anal gland, ear infections and the big one ~ irritable bowel problem (read diarrhea). She is about to turn 11 and looks and acts much younger. My only regret is that I didn’t make the switch sooner.

The ketopet sanctuary is a wonderful organization that helping progress the science. Worth looking them up!

(AnnaLeeThal) #6

Thanks for this. I’m interested in getting a couple of my dogs on raw/Keto for a couple different reasons. One we just found out has a cancerous tumor, he will be having surgery in one week. Another has allergies and skin issues, plus we call her sausage dog because she is a fatty mcbacon. Yet another also has cancer. The thought of it overwhelms me though.

#7

Working on weight loss for our cat. He is losing since switching him from Blue Bufflalo no grains dry to “low carb” canned varieties of other brands. Surprising (though it shouldn’t be?) that there is so much starchy carbs added to many of the canned cat foods. :confused:

Cat is 7 years old and his physical endurance is increasing. :slight_smile:

(Cathy) #8

Sorry to hear of your dogs’ issues. I can only imagine how difficult they must be to deal with. I would suggest that you do your research and make the changes you are comfortable with and in a way that is easiest for your pups. I know that there is a lot of one minded attitudes out there and one ‘correct’ way of doing things but I disagree. I think you do what you can in a way that is sustainable for you. I couldn’t do the whole animal type feeding and opted for a frozen, ground product that is from a supplier that I trust. It has worked very well. Best wishes to you and yours.

(Cathy) #9

I think cats are a type of ‘canary in the coal mine’ type of animal. They are meant to be carnivores and the modern day kibble is making them very sick.

#10

Yep. I still can’t believe that someone at the chain Pet Store actually knew about insulin and nutrition. She isn’t a store employee, but a rep for one of the big name brand pet food companies. (one of the expensive “no grain” types of companies). Says she will probably lose her job one of these days.

(David) #11

Damn. We are three weeks into a 12 Kg bag of dried food with my cat. It should last 240 days, but the way she is putting weight on sine I got her (about a kilo since I got her (she only weighs 4.7Kg) I might have to turn her keto.

She doesn’t like Salmon though,and begrudginly ate chicken that I left out for her the other week.

She won’t even eat those kitty treats that I bought a packet of and left a few scattered around the lounge.

I sense a pet experiment (petexp ?) coming on.

(No I'm not mad - that's just my face) #12

I have a veterinarian friend who put an elderly near diabetic cat on this diet with great success. (Yet she is still a skeptic about human keto)

#13

Cognitive dissonance

(No I'm not mad - that's just my face) #14

Dogs can develop pancreatitis with too much fat. My GSD eats grain free (and most common proteins free due to allergies). She does great on a salmon sweet potato kibble. (Fromm, to be exact).

(No I'm not mad - that's just my face) #15

It doesn’t help that her crazy FIL went from being a crazy Ornish pusher to a crazy Wheat Belly pusher. Probably if not for him she’d be more receptive.

(Karen Fricke) #16

If you think logically, cats and dogs in the wild are carnivores. They never eat grains of veggies. Seems like keto is their natural diet.

#17

I’m reading a book titled “Dogs, Dog Food, and Dogma” by Daniel Schulof, and he mentions Dr Robert Lustig’s work and others who have debunked the CICO theory. Pet owners are vilified as lazy and not caring enough to keep their dogs lean, he says. I haven’t gotten far into the book, but it sounds like he’s leaning toward doggy Keto and maybe homemade food. I’ll let you know how it turns out

(Keto in Katy) #18

We just started our dogs on raw beef with eggs. I have noticed that they don’t hang around the kitchen as much when my wife is making dinner, so I suspect that they are more satisfied with the higher protein and fat than the crap in a bag we have been feeding them.

I am interested in hearing about others’ experience with this. It is my understanding that a dog’s metabolism is similar to ours, but I still have much to learn.

(No I'm not mad - that's just my face) #19

I agree they don’t eat grains in the wild and don’t count fat grams, but they also don’t forgo protein to prioritize fat intake. So I’d agree that low/no/incidental carbs would be a natural diet, not necessarily keto though.

(Mike W.) #20

Our husky is on grain free Fromm as well. The best part? No more farts!