IBD and raw diet?

[DoesItWearingWellies]

My friend's cat has been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and is thinking of a raw/BARF diet.

Does anyone have any experience of feeding this diet?

Is a grain-free, high meat/low carb commercial diet worth a try?

He's currently on Hill's z/d dry and has fewer symptoms, but it hasn't eradicated them (DD said it is because Hill's is cheap food in expensive packaging!)

TIA

I don't have any experience of cats with IBD, but I myself have IBD, and I would recommend as a first step that your friend eliminates wheat and dairy from your cat's diet - I know that for me and for many people with IBD these can be massive triggers. (Hence the success of the "Specific Carbohydrate Diet".)

And in fact, "grain free/ low carb" should be appropriate for the cat because the Specific Carbohydrate Diet actually eliminates all complex carbohydrates which includes starches/ grains.

I would definitely give it a try! Any medication options for the cat?

As a vet who has treated several cats with IBD firstly I would say this is never going to completely go away you will be able to control the symptoms most of the time, but there will always be occasional flare ups.

As long term management one of the most successful food strategies I have found is using an alternative protein source to what they are normally fed this is a slightly less costly route than the z\d, but roughly the same principle. Dairy should never really be part of an adult cat's diet as most are lactose intolerant. A comerically avaliable food that can be good is the wet Applaws using probably the tuna and seaweed flavour as these are protein and carb sources that are not commonly used in cat food. You need to stick with an exclusion diet like this for a minimum of 10 weeks to see if it is working.
However, when the cats are having a flare really the best thing is prednisolone to get the flare under control quickly

Many thanks. AFAIK, he's been treated with steroids (I assume prednisolone?) for a couple of months now but there is obviously some food-related aggravator as he is worse on a 'standard' diet (not sure what brand exactly, but is a dry kibble) than on z/d.

I will tell her about Applaws and using an alternative protein source as the poor boy has shown symptoms for nearly 2 years now but has only just been diagnosed, so the sooner it can be brought under control the better.