During the terrible times of March and April of this year, I, like many others, switched cat foods several times in an effort to find ones that were safe for my cats.  Two of my cats refuse to eat much canned food, so dry food has always been part of the diet I offer.  Although this spring I banned anything with wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate, I did not avoid corn gluten, because I felt that since it was sourced in the USA, there would be no “China connection.”  After all, my cats had eaten foods with corn gluten for many years and seemed to be OK, right?  These two cats have taught me otherwise in the past couple of months.  I’d like to tell you their stories.

First, Cameo.  Cameo is a female Manx about 6 years old who was rescued in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.  Her stomach was so rounded and bulgy in proportion to the rest of her that she was thought to be pregnant when picked up by the rescue.  (Turned out she was already spayed.)  She was treated by the rescue for several minor problems, including worms, but her abdomen remained very rounded.  I adopted her in December 2005.  Over the course of the next 6 months she was treated for tapeworm and diagnosed with mild asthma.  Despite being free of parasites, her abdomen was still always very round.  We’ve also felt that Cameo has some type of allergies, since she often has watery eyes in addition to the mild asthma. (She shows no signs of other problems that would cause this symptom, such as feline herpes.) 

Then there is Phantom, a short-hair cat of unknown ancestry.  I’ve had her for almost 10 years, since she walked into my house as a pregnant 2-year-old stray.  Phantom is terribly picky about food, and seems to have a touchy stomach.  For as long as I have had her, she has vomited about once a week, generally right after eating dry cat food.  I’d assumed that this was completely caused by her habit of food bolting.  Phantom for several years has also been subject to occasional brief attacks of what we called the “heebie-jeebies,” where the skin on her back would twitch, she would begin frantically licking the end of her tail, and then dash off, only to return in a minute or two as if nothing had happened.  I learned that this is sometimes thought of as a type of seizure, or labeled feline hyperaesthesia (however, in Phantom the behavior occurred spontaneously, not in response to being touched.)

Earlier this fall, I ran out of some of the foods in my dry food rotation, and so Cameo and Phantom were corn gluten free for about a week.  I was impressed to note that Cameo’s watery eyes almost disappeared.  Her tummy also looked less distended.  I began to wonder.  A trial of another dry food containing significant amounts of corn gluten caused the symptoms to return significantly, and I began to see a connection.  The cats also just could not seem to get enough to eat of that food, like they could never fill up.  I stopped that food; one food with lesser amounts of corn gluten remained in their diet, with two corn-free foods.  Two days after I stopped the higher-corn-gluten food, Cameo had a large stool with what looked like gooey mucus, which had never happened before.

In early November I stopped feeding the final food with corn gluten, and now use only three dry foods that do not contain it.  Here is what has happened since:

Cameo’s tummy is much less distended-looking, although she is still rather fat overall.  She has almost no eye drainage.

Phantom has had no more attacks of the “heebie-jeebies.”  Her personality has also changed; she has become much more playful and affectionate, much less edgy.  She has not vomited after eating dry food at all.

The only difference is that Phantom and Cameo are not eating corn gluten.

I will never again use a cat food with corn gluten if I can help it.

One of my younger cats used to get the "heebie-jeebies", too.  It was almost like she had gotten bitten by something and her skin was "rolling".  I never thought about it possibly being food-related.  Interesting.  I can't remember her doing the "rolling" in awhile now.

No corn gluten here anymore either.  When we said goodbye to corn gluten and grains in our pets' foods, we also said goodbye to vomiting, diarrhea, mucousy stools, dry skin, greasey skin, runny eyes, various sores.  Two of our cats have irritable bowel disease.  One is a 14-year-old cat who used to have blood and mucus in his stools quite frequently.  It just became commonplace to see it there.  He even had an exploratory laparotomy (surgical exploration of his intestines) at one point and they only found thickened bowel loops.  Since he has been off glutens and grains, no more loose, disgusting stools, no vomiting. 

Tessa was diagnosed with hyperesthesia syndrome.  She'd shriek, jump around, had rippling fur, and chewed herself relentlessly.  It started about 6 weeks after I switched foods. I turned down the steroids and the anti-psychotic medication the vet wanted to give her. (She's way too young for a lifetime of heavy duty meds.)  She improved on Wellness grain-free and is now perfectly normal on grain-free homemade.  I had it narrowed down to sensitivity to either fish meal or corn.

MissKitty wants her name put on the list cuz her mommie took away her Science Diet around March 11th. From July 2006-March 2007 was WAY TOO LONG for her mommie to wake up. She admits addiction to dry, but is trying really hard to eat more wet now than dry.

Her skin doesn't itch, she has no more bare spots, hasn't had to have another cortisone shot, she likes to be petted, she plays like a kitten and she lost weight.

straybaby,

That's a good question.  I would hardly be shocked if they were using GMO/GE grains and corn.  I'm trying to use only products without GMO/GE ingredients.

I should add, my dogs haven't had any episodes of diarrhea or vomiting either since they have been on grain-free either.

Cats and dogs do get treats that contain organic rice.  Cats occasionally get food with organic rice.  No problems.

GMO grains--an interesting question.  Although Phantom had the vomiting during the entire time I'd had her (nearly 10 years), she only developed the "heebie-jeebie" problem a few years ago--I'd say about 2003 or 2004.  Does anyone know when the use of GMO corn became commonplace?

I also wonder what sort of corn they use for pet food.  As a person who has lived in an ag state for a long time, I've always distinguished between sweet corn (what humans eat as corn on the cob and the like) and field corn (the stuff that is fed to cattle, pigs, etc.  That is what is in most of those tall green cornfields that you see.)  Humans get incredible diarrhea if they eat field corn--it was joked about when I was a kid.  I'd bet that the cheaper field corn is what they put into pet food.  And I believe that the GMO varieties are designed as field corn, although I don't rule out the sweet corn being GMO too.

Also interesting that many French people still consider corn inedible, fit only for animal food.

There are several on the market - brands I've tried - Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul (stopped because of the diamond connection - however, cheaper than the others), Innova REGULAR (important note here - no kibble problems with THIS BRAND ONLY), Eagle Pack Hollistic (however, not all the cats liked it),  Castor & Pollux (a little expensive, and only one cat liked it), Wellness Core (there are other versions of Wellness - but didn't like the ingredients, since more supplements added for indoor, lite, etc formula - which I don't believe in).

No matter where you end up - these foods will COST A LOT MORE THAN MANY ARE USED TO.  So its a difficult decision with 20 cats.

Good Luck.

catbird I believe on the organicconsumers.org site they list the percentage of corn, soy, wheat, canola etc that is genetically modified. Going from awhile back I think corn was 89%, soy 60% and the others I do not remember off hand. We do not eat anything with corn, wheat, soy, canola, and now probably rice in it due to the factor of it being genetically modified aka/Franken Food.