Feline inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), like that in humans, is a group of diseases involving seemingly uncontrolled gastrointestinal inflammation both caused by and contributing to GI motility problems, typically presenting as frequent vomiting and/or severe or chronic soft stools or diarrhea (depending on where in the GI tract the inflammation is located). An early warning sign is frequent hairballs - "frequent" being more than once every month or two (!!!). In humans, IBD has been definitively linked to gut dysbiosis (bacterial imbalance) that creates the inflammation. Technically an autoimmune disease, IBD was thought to have a genetic component, but recent research has discovered that the process that triggers IBD is actually transmissible.
Unfortunately, traditional treatment of Feline IBD does not address the underlying cause, it treats the symptoms. Healing of the GI tract can only begin by recognizing our cats as the obligate carnivores they are. Feeding them food that supports their proper intestinal pH is imperative to long term healing. We do not claim that a raw diet “cures” Feline IBD - but feeding cats the high quality, human grade, fresh meat-and-organ based diet their digestive systems are designed to metabolize enables those systems to return to physiological balance - and when combined with appropriate probiotics, many cats experience healing of the inflammation caused or aggravated by commercial (even "prescription") diets.
The files and links to information and resources available in this website help walk you through the process. You can receive additional support specific to your cat and situation in the Raw Feeding for IBD Cats group on Facebook.
This website and its resources evolved from the Facebook support group Raw Feeding for IBD Cats formed in early 2014. Group co-owners, Carolina Lima and Laurie Goldstein, additionally announced the formation of Food Fur Life in February 2016. Food Fur Life supports (super) easy balanced & complete raw or cooked homemade food with its true meat-completer product, EZcomplete fur Cats, appropriate for cats of all ages, and for cats with (anything other than late stage) CKD, Diabetes, FLUTD, Hyper-T, IBD, and/or Pancreatitis.