Keto for pets? Keto strips for cats?
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Be very very careful and absolutely ask your vet first.
Different breeds of dogs can have vastly different nutritional needs. Miniature Schnauzers are prone to pancreatitis, which is triggered by too much fat in their diets, so they do best on lower-fat foods. Dalmations are prone to kidney issues, and are vulnerable to too much protein. Dalmations often do very well on vegetarian kibble.
In general, a high-quality pet food is almost always going to be a safer bet.7 -
100_PROOF_ wrote: »I'm well aware of all the myths and bunk that surrounds the keto diet in humans. I know it can't magically cure athletes foot and grow new limbs for amputees but I'm wondering if there's any benefit for pets? I know there's some benefits for humans with certain medical conditions but would it be the same for pets? Fwiw my pets don't have any known medical condition and neither do her cats.
It still won't cure your pets athletes foot or cause them to grow new limbs.
Dogs in the wild (wolves, coyotes) are naturally carnivores. They don't get a lot of carbs in their diet and any they would get are natural from vegetation. Many pet foods these days consist of fillers and byproduct. I don't see why a high protein low carb diet would really be all that bad for your pet. But taking to the extreme of testing their urine to confirm ketosis is a little much.6 -
100_PROOF_ wrote: »I'm well aware of all the myths and bunk that surrounds the keto diet in humans. I know it can't magically cure athletes foot and grow new limbs for amputees but I'm wondering if there's any benefit for pets? I know there's some benefits for humans with certain medical conditions but would it be the same for pets? Fwiw my pets don't have any known medical condition and neither do her cats.
It still won't cure your pets athletes foot or cause them to grow new limbs.
Dogs in the wild (wolves, coyotes) are naturally carnivores. They don't get a lot of carbs in their diet and any they would get are natural from vegetation. Many pet foods these days consist of fillers and byproduct. I don't see why a high protein low carb diet would really be all that bad for your pet. But taking to the extreme of testing their urine to confirm ketosis is a little much.
Coyotes are opportunistic feeders. I see their scat almost everyday, sometimes it has seeds and sometimes he has fur. When they are hungry, and I’m sure they more hungry than full, they will eat anything. I have even seen phone wire in their poop.5 -
kommodevaran wrote: »Aren't predators, even domesticated predatotor like dogs and cats, but especially cats, natural carnivores?
Cats are (they need taurine and vitamin a -- they can't synthesize vitamin a from carotene). However, dogs are omnivores, and not carnivores.4 -
First world problems.8
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If your cat is showing positive for ketones, get them to a vet asap. This is potentially a sign that your cat has unregulated diabetes and is heading towards diabetic ketoacidosis. When I had a diabetic cat, and tested her pee regularly for ketones (yes, it is possible), the only times she showed positive were when her blood glucose (yes, you can test that on a cat too) was out of whack. She was on a very low carbohydrate, species-appropriate diet. If the reading is high or moderate, you're potentially looking at a medical emergency.
In my experience, even cats fed a raw diet using the 'whole prey' model (ie very low carb) will not produce ketones, because that is their natural diet.11 -
She told me that she waits at the litter box with the strips and sneaks it under the cat when he goes to make pee pee.
I'm not a cat owner though so don't have a litter box and don't have keto strips. Lol!
My dogs like potatoes too much for a keto diet but it did peek a curiosity when I heard about people doing this. I was wondering just how popular it was amongst pet owners. Apparently there's many people who think the keto diet is the saving Grace for humanity so I guess it trickled down to their pets diets as well.0 -
I think if you release your pets into the wilderness, the menu in the natural habitat will not include ice cream, hydrolized vegetable protein or modified corn starch. They might swing by once a month or so if they're within walking distance to say hello. But the rest of the time they'll be paleo and feeling great.
Now this is an idea too ! They'd miss getting ice cream from the ice cream truck though and probably would miss the lovely D&G perfumes that they like to wear so often. @newmeadow0 -
Is this a joke...the poor animal has a 10-15 years life span and you want to force them on a keto diet? Unless the vet gives you the order to do that because of health reasons, just let the animal be.5
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100_PROOF_ wrote: »She told me that she waits at the litter box with the strips and sneaks it under the cat when he goes to make pee pee.
Yep, that's how you do it! You have to wait for kitty to start peeing though, once they start they won't stop, but they will look at you with horror and indignation. I've also heard of people sticking a ladle under kitty's butt mid-stream (my Goo would never have allowed that!). The easier way is to replace the litter with something non-absorbing, such as aquarium gravel (unpopped pop corn kernels work well too), then just test once kitty has done their business (my cats are indoor/outdoor, so stalking Goo in the garden was my only option). Also useful if you need to collect a specimen for the vet if you suspect your cat has a UTI, though of course not as good as a sterile sample collected via cystocentesis at the clinic.0 -
OMG some woman who runs a blog on facebook was saying how she is putting her dogs on the keto diet because they are both overweight and one or both have seizures and it will prevent them from getting cancer. she said she put them on a diet to lose weight and neither one lost weight.so she was trying keto for them. I told her its not a special diet and so on and blah blah blah.
she argued with me saying her vets and her holistic pet provider recommended it to her and she thinks the same keto woo a lot of human ketoers believe. she was buying canned sardines and oysters, coconut oil and other things for her pets(she took pics and posted them),not to mention these things will also be raw (aside from the canned fish and seafood).
she said that the seizure meds werent working as well so she was trying the diet.she thinks it will help them magically lose weight. I just shook my head. I unliked her page because now she is touting more nonsense about other things that could be dangerous to a pet.1 -
Is this real?2
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or just fantasy?4
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I'm sort of surprised at how some people are so against feeding cats or dogs a diet that is low in carbohydrates. A ketogenic diet does not have specific foods, it just has a low carbohydrate macro, a low to high protein macro, and a high to moderate fat intake. The easiest, and most natural, way to hit that for dogs and cats would be a meat based diet. Cats naturally eat meat, and dogs mostly do. Seems like their natural diet to me
I appreciate that there is some backlash from the word, keto. Im sure someone is thinking of fat bombs for dogs or bullet proof cream for cats, but a diet with meat, dairy, eggs and a few carbs would probably suit most dogs well.
Course if this was about ketogenic rabbits or something, sure! Bad idea.
Or my vegetarian in laws planning on raising a vegetarian dog... Probably not ideal for the animal.
This thread has been amusing.8 -
kommodevaran wrote: »Aren't predators, even domesticated predatotor like dogs and cats, but especially cats, natural carnivores?
Dogs are considered omnivores with noticeable carnivore traits; cats are obligate carnivores.
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It's one thing to stop feeding your pets kibble and cheap food full of fillers. It's another thing to test their urine to be sure they are in ketosis. That's just pathetic, I'm sorry.
I have mixed feelings about raw food diets for pets. Yes they would be eating raw meat in the wild, but it would be freshly killed. Not sure I'd trust the raw meat available to me, my ability to handle it safely, and def wouldn't trust commercial raw pet food. If they can manage to get salmonella and euthanasia drugs in dog chow, they'll eventually get it into those cute little frightful expensive packages of raw food.
People always have to take stuff too far smh. If you want to make your pets food yourself, go for it. They should be eating mostly meat anyway, rather than some of the corn kibble that's out there. You can do that with better label reading too. But it doesn't matter if you can confirm they're actually in ketosis or not.
You're right @kimny72. Yes, they would be eating raw meat in the wild but they die in the wild, too, a lot sooner than in captivity. Also, they don't get vaccinations in the wild, would you stop giving them vaccinations too so they can live "as nature intended?"3 -
cmriverside wrote: »Cats are not only carnivores, they're obligate carnivores - so they are in ketosis or dead.
On another note though, Vets think they are people doctors. Their costs/fees are higher than my regular doctor. Such a scam. No insurance agencies watching over their costs.
Humans don't usually try to bite, or piss and *kitten* all over the room for a basic check up. Humans have seperate doctors for teeth, heart, breathing, xrays bones or whatever, the vet does it all. Humans don't wait until maggots are eating them before they notice theres an issue, or expect the Dr. To trim thier toenails. Humans can answer questions and describe invisible symptoms, pets can't.
I used to hear the same complaint when I was grooming. "You charge more to cut my dogs hair than my hairdresser charges me!"
"Well does your hairdresser scrub your entire body, brush your teeth, clean your ears, brush and style the hair on your ENTIRE body (not just your head), including shaving pubes, and throw in a full mani/pedi all while you are jumping around like an idiot and refusing to stand still for 10 seconds?"21 -
I'm sort of surprised at how some people are so against feeding cats or dogs a diet that is low in carbohydrates.
I'd be against feeding a cat a diet that high in fat (as a normal human keto diet), as it goes against the advice my vet gave me.
I am also in FAVOR of minimizing carbs in cat diets, they normally would have pretty low amounts (not none, freshly killed meat has some).
Trying to get a cat in ketosis would, of course, be irresponsible for the reasons Nony said.
I believe dogs have more carbs than cats do in their normal diet, but I don't have a dog so only go by my memory of what a friend of mine said when telling us about what she did to prepare homemade dog food for her dog.5 -
cmriverside wrote: »Cats are not only carnivores, they're obligate carnivores - so they are in ketosis or dead.
On another note though, Vets think they are people doctors. Their costs/fees are higher than my regular doctor. Such a scam. No insurance agencies watching over their costs.
Humans don't usually try to bite, or piss and *kitten* all over the room for a basic check up. Humans have seperate doctors for teeth, heart, breathing, xrays bones or whatever, the vet does it all. Humans don't wait until maggots are eating them before they notice theres an issue, or expect the Dr. To trim thier toenails. Humans can answer questions and describe invisible symptoms, pets can't.
I used to hear the same complaint when I was grooming. "You charge more to cut my dogs hair than my hairdresser charges me!"
"Well does your hairdresser scrub your entire body, brush your teeth, clean your ears, brush and style the hair on your ENTIRE body (not just your head), including shaving pubes, and throw in a full mani/pedi all while you are jumping around like an idiot and refusing to stand still for 10 seconds?"
Having working in a spa many years ago, you are describing a lot of the similarities in behaviours.6 -
I have a diabetic cat, and switching from dry food (with carbs) to a wet food meat diet (low carb) has successfully kept him off insulin for years.
I'm not sure about ketosis. I may test his blood glucose because that is medically necessary, but not ketones.0
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