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TB being diagnosed in UK Raw fed cats

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
Hi guys,

I'm a veterinary nurse in the uk, recently the veterinary industry have been concerned that a number of raw fed house cats in the UK have been diagnosed with TB (tuberculosis). The number has climbed to 6 reported cases so far, however there could be many more non reported cases.
The cats that have been affected have been fed well known, recommended, DEFRA approved, commercial raw food diets.

I am just here to ask any UK Sphynx parents to keep an eye out and please be careful when feeding raw.

The symptoms of TB in cats are as follows:
'intestinal infection usually results with inflammatory granulomas in the intestine leading to diarrhoea, vomiting, inappetence and weight loss'
'The lymph node swelling may be marked, and sometimes this is the only (or most obvious) sign. As the disease progresses, infection may spread elsewhere, including to the cat's lungs, and so may cause progressive coughing or difficulty breathing. Disease usually progresses slowly, and cats often develop lethargy and weight loss with disseminated infections' - icatcare.org

I'm aware these Symptoms can be present in a non TB infected Sphynx (especially diarrhoea), so please don't panic and just get your little one checked.

This is the relevant news article:
Vets warn cat owners over raw diets after TB strikes
 

Lunasphynx1995

Lairian
Joined
Mar 3, 2019
Messages
13
Points
14
@Gisele Hi Gisele,

Do you know what companies are involved?
As I use natural instinct which is a raw food supplier in the UK.
Although I have not seen any signs with Luna , it is a concern none the less.
Luna will only eat the raw chicken and even then we cook it slightly as she doesn't like it completely raw, She wouldn't touch any of the beef ones. Is the TB contracted only through the beef? or can it be through any of the meats?

Thanks
 
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Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
@Gisele Hi Gisele,

Do you know what companies are involved?
As I use natural instinct which is a raw food supplier in the UK.
Although I have not seen any signs with Luna , it is a concern none the less.
Luna will only eat the raw chicken and even then we cook it slightly as she doesn't like it completely raw, She wouldn't touch any of the beef ones. Is the TB contracted only through the beef? or can it be through any of the meats?

Thanks

I'm not sure what i'm legally allowed to say in regards to what company it is, as it isn't 'Official' yet. I can say that It's mostly been found in the venison and beef varieties of the raw food, so don't panic.
However for the safety of your little one, I would strongly recommend that you change your raw food diet, and monitor for signs of gastrointestinal upset, (Diarrhoea, etc). If she does have any symptoms then take her to your vets and explain this news information, (a lot of vets aren't aware).
 
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Lunasphynx1995

Lairian
Joined
Mar 3, 2019
Messages
13
Points
14
Hi Gisele,

That's fine, she has shown no signs of any illness, she will occasionally eat the beef and chicken mix, but she is a chicken girl at heart. I have tried her on other forms of cat food like dry and wet cat food but this really upsets her tummy and causes her serious farting and diahorrea, her stomach and health have been the best on raw food, hence why I am reluctant to take her off it, especially as she has had no signs of issues on it. She did also recently go to the vets and have bloods and a fecal test, which came back all fine, I was worried that she had a parasite, but as soon as I changed her food to raw everything improved dramatically. It is however, important that people are made aware of the risks of giving their cats a Raw food diet and can know the signs if problems do occur. I willl see if I can source/ make my own raw food for her instead of purchasing from suppliers, this may be a long term solution to maintaining her health.
Thank you so much for your reply :) xxx
 

Gisele

Lairian
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
41
Points
44
Hi Gisele,

That's fine, she has shown no signs of any illness, she will occasionally eat the beef and chicken mix, but she is a chicken girl at heart. I have tried her on other forms of cat food like dry and wet cat food but this really upsets her tummy and causes her serious farting and diahorrea, her stomach and health have been the best on raw food, hence why I am reluctant to take her off it, especially as she has had no signs of issues on it. She did also recently go to the vets and have bloods and a fecal test, which came back all fine, I was worried that she had a parasite, but as soon as I changed her food to raw everything improved dramatically. It is however, important that people are made aware of the risks of giving their cats a Raw food diet and can know the signs if problems do occur. I willl see if I can source/ make my own raw food for her instead of purchasing from suppliers, this may be a long term solution to maintaining her health.
Thank you so much for your reply :) xxx

That's fine, our Sasha really struggled with diarrhoea for a couple of months initially, we found that the royal canine gastrointestinal moderate calorie diet worked wonders for us.
However If raw food works for your little lady and you're aware of the risks then thats fine. I will say that I wasn't advising you stop raw feeding, I was just advising that you change to another supplier, to be safe.

As for TB, the only way to test for it is with specific TB testing. It isn't something that we would pick up in normal blood and faecal tests. It's a 'special' request, if that makes any sense. So just keep an eye on her and if similar symptoms crop up it may be worth requesting tb testing. Based on the fact that the diarrhoea has improved and she's thriving on raw it's likely that she is ok.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
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Apr 7, 2014
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4,070
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568
Thank you. I know my vet in Canada does not agree with raw food diets.
Many vets don't, this is true. The raw food movement is relatively new so a lot of vets still look at it skeptically. That's well and good, but no matter what you feed there is some risk involved. Look at commercial pet foods - first it is made with ingredients that are not allowed to be put into the human food chain, second it is often partly or entirely sourced from countries where you can't trust the quality control, and third it is highly processed.

At the end of the day, if a cat is doing well on a certain food, probably that person is not going to change it. Many of the people that try raw are doing so after their cat had some issue. If the raw works for these cats, more power to them.
 

moodyxmoon

Lairian
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Messages
37
Points
29
Thank you for the heads up, we usually use Natural Instinct but changed recently due to picky eating.
I'll mention this at the vets with my newest on Wednesday, he has some stomach issues due to the recent diet change so I hope some of these similar symptoms are due to this as my regular-raw kitty is just fine at the moment.
 
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