Am I back to square one???

Hannah531

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I'm going to try and summarize as best as I can but I'm afraid we have to go back to square one with Koda's food. :(

1. Koda was on basic, dry food.
2. Having accidents, diagnosed with crystals (struvite) and put on RX dry (barf)
3. Stopped eating RX dry completely, picked at RX wet - lost almost 2 lbs.
4. Vet said he should only be RX or he'd get a blockage and die but said he just needs to 'get over himself' and eat :bawling: Did not offer any other tips
5. Tried 19 different kind of foods, monitored pH levels - no recurrence of crystals, finally found food he'd eat (Freeze dried raw duck)
6. Ate this food for almost 3 weeks consistently. Gained 1 lb.
7. Possible stress during week of thanksgiving, Koda began barfing about 1-2 hours after every meal ( mostly undigested food)
8. Still puking after some meals 1-2 hours after eating.
9. Took him to the vet (different vet) who did a few tests for a lot of money and their only suggestion was that he may be allergic to duck (primary protein in food)


Am I back to square one?? He's a picky boy and it's stressful to sample foods.
I want to go raw (commercial frozen) but we're military and moving soon and it's hard enough to find retailers that sell it/online who will deliver it.
 
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Hannah531

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Also, I realize I have so much anxiety about this - it's keeping me up and night and I'm starting to doubt that I'm cut out for cat ownership. :(
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Are you stationed in the U.S. right now? I buy freeze dried raw from Chewy.com and they deliver anywhere in the U.S. Not sure which brand you are feeding, but check the ingredients and see if there is something else in there he might be allergic to. Or try another brand of raw duck to see if he has the same reaction. OR, have you tried another raw protein? Rabbit is usually one that is used with allergies, and I know for a fact that Stella and Chewy have rabbit. Whether he'll like it or not is another story, but most cats DO.. And I think Primal carries Quail, which might work. I haven't heard of many cats being allergic to Duck, so I'm really wondering if it's something else in the food. What brand are you using? Is there ANY chicken in it?
 
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Hannah531

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Are you stationed in the U.S. right now? I buy freeze dried raw from Chewy.com and they deliver anywhere in the U.S. Not sure which brand you are feeding, but check the ingredients and see if there is something else in there he might be allergic to. Or try another brand of raw duck to see if he has the same reaction. OR, have you tried another raw protein? Rabbit is usually one that is used with allergies, and I know for a fact that Stella and Chewy have rabbit. Whether he'll like it or not is another story, but most cats DO.. And I think Primal carries Quail, which might work. I haven't heard of many cats being allergic to Duck, so I'm really wondering if it's something else in the food. What brand are you using? Is there ANY chicken in it?
we get the vital essentials duck from chewy.
because of the bout of crystals I’ve been trying to keep the phosphorus and magnesium content low so I’ve been hesitant to try other proteins from the same brand. Stella and chewys is too high (I think, I’ve heard mixed info on that)

The VE food is just duck and added vitamins/minerals. He grew up on chicken based food so I’m hesitant to think that’s the allergy.
 
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Hannah531

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Could I be rehydrating it wrong?
 

mrsgreenjeens

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"Hannah531, post: 5269844, member: 10053592"]
Could I be rehydrating it wrong?
[/QUOTE]

I don't see how that could be the issue, really. But I do know that the expiration date on Vital Essentials is quite short. Did you check that? And I do see that the Duck is the lowest in Phos of all their proteins, but didn't realize you were needing lower phos. as long as you were monitoring his PH. Many people whose cats have had crystals just feed a good quality wet food and monitor their PH and don't necessarily buy low phos and magnesium. You did hear correctly in that Stella and Chewy has a lot of bone in it, so I think the phosphorus level would be high. I feed it, but I add extra freeze dried raw muscle meat to it to try to compensate for that. Anyway, Vital Essentials chicken isn't too much higher in Phos than the duck, so you might want to give it a try to see how he handles it, unless you want to check out some other brands, like Primal, which Chewy also sells. They even have a Pork one! But I can't find the phos % on that brand
 
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Hannah531

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"Hannah531, post: 5269844, member: 10053592"]
Could I be rehydrating it wrong?
I don't see how that could be the issue, really. But I do know that the expiration date on Vital Essentials is quite short. Did you check that? And I do see that the Duck is the lowest in Phos of all their proteins, but didn't realize you were needing lower phos. as long as you were monitoring his PH. Many people whose cats have had crystals just feed a good quality wet food and monitor their PH and don't necessarily buy low phos and magnesium. You did hear correctly in that Stella and Chewy has a lot of bone in it, so I think the phosphorus level would be high. I feed it, but I add extra freeze dried raw muscle meat to it to try to compensate for that. Anyway, Vital Essentials chicken isn't too much higher in Phos than the duck, so you might want to give it a try to see how he handles it, unless you want to check out some other brands, like Primal, which Chewy also sells. They even have a Pork one! But I can't find the phos % on that brand
[/QUOTE]

i did check the expiration date, we’re good through the spring.

we’re trying to keep it low (some foods I’ve seen have a 2%+ ) but not RX food low necessarily.
I’ll check the chicken. It could be a protein sensitivity? Maybe?
 

maggie101

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My cat Peaches was doing much better on freeze dried. My cat Maggie had constipation one day so no longer feeding that. Peaches still gets one morsal mixed in her food. I have started giving my cats cooked ground meat mixed with ez complete. It's from Food For Life, hard to get. Shipping takes 2 weeks. That has worked so far. For years I was back to square one and iit still happens. The company is very helpful. They responded the next day I asked a ?
 

maggie101

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I now give her northwest naturals freeze dried.
S&c I threw away. The pieces were
very hard. They should be crushable
Peaches licks her food so no dry. She just swallows it. No chewing, and eats fast. Maggie chews her food and eats slow. I still only give her wet
 
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