Best Cat Food for Potential IBD Cat

[jm83]

Wellness has raw in different flavors. Everything depends on a cat's likes and dislikes, we cat people know it takes quite a bit of money, time and patience until we find a food our cats will eat. Having shared my home with cats for at least 50 yrs I always tried premium brands. I am also a volunteer with cat rescue, feeding homeless and rescue cats, we serve Friskies, because it's important to make sure they eat and it seems every cat likes that brand, but it's a brand I do not approve of to serve to mine.

Yes, I'm definitely spending a lot of money trying to find something healthy, or at least not harmful, that he'll eat!

 

[jm83]

My Joey had kidney disease and IBD, he was on medication for both conditions. Royal Canin S for the kidney problems can only be purchased from a vet unless with a script from the vet you can check prices elsewhere. the Royal Canin comes in varies varieties. Wellnes Raw Rev is what I gave him sometimes he liked it. With all his medical problems he never vomited. The most important matter was to get him to eat so I tried everything. He never liked Instinct wet because it was on the dry side but he did eat their pouches if it had gravy. Royal Canin was not a favorite of mine it's has several alphabet letters to distinguish btw the differences depending on the illness, I chose S because he preferred that one. He was also served human roast beef, turkey and I would cook chicken for him. food was never his thing he preferred sitting up high watching the world behind him or hanging around visitors. He never vomited but the medication for IBD helped with normal defecation. His daily medication consisted of an appetite stimulant, cerenia , sometimes B12. All meds except B12 which was given through the sub-q fluids lines I had compounded in marshmallow flavor because the pharmacist said that was the most asked flavor for from pet parents. Sometimes I had the Cerenia administered by injection. In the beginning he received the depo steroid rather than prednisone. I understand the danger with the depo and knew prednisone leaves the body while the depo stays but it helped him a lot. I think he only received 4 or 5 injections in a 2 yr period. He always used the litter box, he was 19, very strong, fought every doctor and vet. He never went into hiding, other than weight loss no one could tell this was a very sick cat. When his levels increased he was taken daily to the vet for treatment. He never showed signs of being in pain I would not have allowed that. His behavior was normal up till the end. The vet stressed the importance of him to eat and I must say I bought just about every food wet I saw at the pet store.

Yeah the vet put him on Royal Canin and I tried all the flavors and he hated them all.

He was constipated recently and the Dr gave him a medication that helped with that, now I think that problem has past.

The vet hasnt recommended daily medications yet, but what you listed sounds about right. He's received the Depo steroid injection, but it doesnt seem to be helping. He's also received a couple shots of Cerenia, but they dont last long (day or two and he vomits again).

He's also received the Cerenia pills, which I crush up and put in tuna broth for him, if he gets a little every day it seems to help.

The vet says he wants to try Prednisone next. I didnt know there were any risks with Depo except that it's long lasting. He hasnt had any side effects (that I can see, besides a swelling at the injection site), and the shot wears off this week.

My baby's only 12. He's losing a little weight, but not vomiting up his food. He's constantly nauseous though.

That's kind of where I'm at, buying every wet food ever.

Thanks for your input and help!

 

[jm83]

I have been researching this a lot lately as my IBD kitty recently lost a lot of weight. The only options I’ve found that don’t have ingredients generally considered to be bad, esp for IBD, are Koha, Dr. Elsey’s (though now I see it has agar agar which I know some avoid so I will have to look into this), some Stella and Chewy’s options, and other raw foods. I’m happy that so far both my kitties are liking the Northwest Naturals freeze dried raw. They like the Stella and Chewy‘s too but I am wary of feeding that after reading about the high bone content. Next time I go to the pet store I am going to pick up the Stella and Chewy’s frozen raw and see if they like that. I have samples of the Rawz canned food on the way. Until recently they had been eating nearly 100% Blue Buffalo limited ingredient turkey and potato. I am trying to minimize the kibble but I don’t want to eliminate it entirely because there are times I have to be gone for long periods of time and need to be able to leave it out for them.

A few years ago she was on the RC rabbit Rx kibble and wet food, and I tried the instinct as well (the reviews about smelly poo were very much correct), but the blue buffalo is much cheaper.

Thanks! I heard somewhere that blue buffalo wasnt good, or that it had a lot of recalls. Have you ever heard anything like that? I dont know if I have misinformation or not.

 

[jm83]

Wish you luck, do hope you have success finding the right food and a food they will eat. Because your cat as IBD may I ask if he/she is on medication to help with elimination.

He was on something briefly for elimination, because he was a bit constipated. I think that part of it has been resolved, but the vomiting is out of control. Again, when he vomits, nothing comes up, but he's 'vomiting' like 4-5 times a day now.

 

[jm83]

Visit the Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food forum for great help on feeding raw and switching to a raw diet.

So much info on Raw! It looks like some of the articles arent loading anymore, but I'm definitely going to try some raw food from the pet shop. Any recommendations on brands are welcome! Thanks so much!

 

[jm83]

Yes she has been on prednisolone for years. Luckily not a lot of trouble with vomiting and diarrhea now.

That's good. The vet wants to try prednisolone next, since the depo shot hasnt worked

 

[jm83]

That's good news, the thing about prednisone is once it's stopped it leaves the body which is good, not like more potent steroids that stay in the system. My joey initially had to be on a more powerful one but only 5 or 6 injections, maybe 7 w/o reviewing his records I don't recall but he was on other necessary meds. If it's possible, I'm still not familiar with how to maneuver the Catsite, if you can find my story "2 vets withheld info" you'll have a better understanding of what I lived through.

The vet wants to try Prednisone next. He's had one injection of Depo, but it's supposed to wear off this week. I'll look for your post, thanks!

 

[Joey's mom]

So far he's snubbed Tiki, Koha, Weruva, Authority and Instinct products. Wellness seems to have a lot of chicken ingredients and someone said that he might be allergic. I'm trying Farmina dry and Nulo today! This is so hard. I want him to eat but I dont want to give him something that's hurting him.

I understand how difficult this is for you, I suffered I think more than my 2 cats knowing one had kidney disease, IBD, the other liver problems and both had other things going on. Getting them to eat is the most important and it cost me a tremendous amount of money. Nulo is good food I think the most expensive in the marketplace, Farmina is very good had I known about it I would have tried it for my 2 sick boys but I instead followed the vets advice for dry and will never make that mistake again. May I suggest you call Farmina they have an office in NYC but I'm certain everyone is working from home these days but you still will receive the help you need. I suggest this because their food isn't cheap either but they have various kinds more than what Chewy and Amazon sell, they can advise which is the right food for your cat's condition.