Canned food too rich for kitty, doesn't eat kibbles enough, not sure what to feed

[runekeeper]

I've discussed my kitty here before, who I think might have IBD. He never got a biopsy, but has the symptoms. The biggest issue right now is his bowel habits, namely his passing of completely liquid stools that smell absolutely horrendous and pooping on the floor despite a clean litter box.

He has a good appetite, and since I started him on slippery elm bark a few weeks back, his vomiting is also under control and now the only time he throws up everything in his belly is when he's eaten a 5.5 ounce can of food. I guess it's too much for him to have at once, and sadly, he will absolutely not eat canned food unless it's fresh out of the can. If it's refrigerated, frozen/thawed or just left out on the counter with plastic wrap on it, he won't touch it. I also usually find stains around the house, not from full-blown vomiting, but just him spitting up fluid that's the same color as his food.

He was eating just Fancy Feast for a while, but then I also found he really liked Sheba. But I'm thinking these might be too rich for him because he never has solid bowel movements when he eats them. It wouldn't be so bad if those BMs went in the litter box, but he prefers to go on the floor, usually right in front of the box (and I clean the box several times a day and change the litter weekly). His most recent thing is pooping on the carpet, and it's not fun trying to scrub liquid diarrhea out of carpeting.

For the last couple days, he's been getting string cheese to sort of give him a break from the diarrhea. He tolerates cheddar pretty well and, shockingly, his stools have become completely solid again. Not like constipation solid, but healthy solid. He also has not vomited. As much as I like his litter box habits improving, I know he can't subsist on cheese long-term, but I don't know what I can possibly feed him that won't create an unholy mess.

Also, he has been to the vet for the floor pooping. He was given antibiotics for enteritis along with FortiFlora and it didn't do anything, so I assume it's now just behavioral. Kitty associates the box with pain because I'm sure diarrhea isn't very comfortable for him and now he goes on the floor. Well, usually. Sometimes he actually does poop in the box, but I'd say 3/4 of the time, it's on the floor.

I'd love to give him kibbles again, but he doesn't seem to want to eat them much and also with his lack of front teeth, he doesn't actually chew the dry food. He swallows it, and then vomits it back up. I also think he has a hard time getting it in his mouth and just gets so frustrated with trying to eat that he walks away from the kibbles. I tried sticking some kitten chow in a freezer bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin to break up the pieces and I think it helped a bit, but no matter what dry food he gets, he just nibbles at it because it's new. I kind of wish I could get him back on dry food because I think it would stop the diarrhea.

Is there any affordable store-brand food I could give to him? I kind of have no job right now, so I can't be buying him prescription food or $2-per-can Wellness. I'm just wondering if there's anything I can get at a grocery store that would be gentler on his belly and bowels, or maybe kibbles in very tiny pieces. I got him something from Purina when I was out of town once in a resealable bag that had these really itty bitty kibbles and he not only loved it, but he didn't vomit if he swallowed the pieces whole.

I've also considered trying something I often do when I bake: sticking a slice of bread into a container of crunchy cookies makes them soft and chewy. I wonder if the same would happen with dry kibbles? Maybe he'd have an easier time eating them if they were more like chewy treats than crunchy kibbles. And I'd really like to try to get him on kitty food rather than meat because I know chicken won't have all the nutrients he needs.

 

[autumnrose74]

Have you ever considered a raw/ homemade diet?

 

[bonepicker]

I hope you fed FF classics with no gluten. Have you thought of getting his favorite kibble moist with water? Stick to 3 oz cans. Do not give him so much at once. Also try a larger litter box with lower sides maybe he cannot make it in time.

 

[Willowy]

Will he readily eat raw/cooked meat? Are you willing to prepare his meals? If so, with the addition of a few supplements you could provide a balanced homemade diet. This is usually ideal for IBD kitties because you can control the ingredients and avoid his triggers. Check out the raw/homecooked section if you think this could be an option.

If you want to stick with commercial food, for most IBD kitties it's best to avoid kibble altogether. It's a little hard on the digestion, plus usually has a LOT of ingredients so it can be harder to avoid his triggers.

What flavors of Fancy Feast/Sheba have you tried? One way to see which flavors might work better for him is to feed just one flavor for a week or two, see how he's doing, write down which flavors cause what reaction, then when you're done you could have a list of foods he tolerates well. . .unless his trigger is in all the flavors and then it won't work :/.

Hope you can figure out what works for him soon!

 

[aoi chan]

Pick a protein he hasn't eaten yet. Maybe you can give 4 to 5 smaller meals a day which is usually ideal for a cat. It might help to give him a probiotic, the ingredients should be simple.

 

[runekeeper]

I only ever feed him the pate/classic Fancy Feast flavors because he tends to vomit the chunky ones. I have never fed him raw meat, so I don't know if he'll eat that, plus I'm not sure if his lack of teeth would present any issues. He was eating cooked chicken for a while, but he acted really out of it when he ate it and he still had horrible, putrid diarrhea from it. As far as canned food flavors, I give him anything pate from either Fancy Feast or Sheba. It seems like he has worse diarrhea when he eats just the salmon flavored FF, but that could just be a coincidence. I also have tried soaking kibbles in water and he won't eat it.

I'm thinking of trying to add Metamucil or pumpkin to his food and seeing if he eats it and hoping it maybe results in slightly firmer deposits.

 

[bonepicker]

Maybe he is allergic to fish, it is not good for him. Try skipping fish. Classic liver and chicken or chopped grill have NO Fish. Give him dry with no fish maybe natural balance limited ingredient pea and duck or pea and chicken.

 

[goholistic]

 
I have never fed him raw meat, so I don't know if he'll eat that, plus I'm not sure if his lack of teeth would present any issues.

If you start out with commercial raw food (already prepared and ready to serve), many of them have a pate-like consistency when defrosted and mashed.

 

[runekeeper]

I didn't know there was a such thing as commercial raw cat food, though I imagine it's very expensive. I also worry that he might be able to taste any supplements I add to raw meat. He has turned up his nose before at drugged food. I can try giving him a little raw meat sometime just to see if he'll eat it.

Also, I've been giving him BeneFiber lately and I haven't seen any improvement in his bowel habits. He's also only been getting chicken, turkey and beef Fancy Feast flavors lately and still no difference in anything.

 

[pinkdagger]

Nature's Variety is a popular commercial raw company, and they're pretty widely available in North America. Big chain pet stores like Petsmart and Pet Valu will carry them in the locations that have freezers: http://www.instinctpetfood.com/cats

Plus, their website has a place for you to request a $3 coupon by email.

I paid something like $11 for a 2lb lamb chub, which is a giant balanced frozen lamb pate sausage that I just cut into small servings and refroze. They have sample bags too, so if you want to try something like raw bites, you can get a small trial bag 10.4oz bag for something like $5? You do pay for the convenience, but I cut the cost by feeding canned food mixed with raw. The raw bites are a bit bigger than kibble sized, but once they're defrosted, they're very soft and I just mash and mix them in with the wet food I feed. It comes by chance, but I like checking the freezer section whenever I hit up a pet store for more litter or something, and I'll grab some raw if I see it on sale and have the freezer space.

I never see my cats use their front teeth. They usually lap raw pieces of food up with their tongue and then chew it with their back teeth. If you're concerned about offering raw meat, you can just cut the pieces smaller. You can supplement his diet with up to 15% raw, I believe, before you need to start worrying about balancing. If you already buy meat for yourself, you can offer him some too and save a wee bit of money there.

If you leave wet food out on the counter, will he eat it later if it's been a bit rehydrated? Whether my cats take a while to finishing the rest of their wet food or I refrigerate it or leave it out, I always have to get some warm to hot water and just pour a bit over the food and mix it in. Mine aren't super picky, but if the food has had time to dry out and and the flavours aren't as strong anymore, reheating it with more water helps bring the smell out more.

 

[runekeeper]

Just wanted to update on Kipper. I tried some different things since my last post, including cutting out all fishy food, dairy (including Friskies with cheese already in it), and letting him try raw and "novel protein" food. Not seeing any differences in either litter habits or weight or energy levels. His stools are kind of random - sometimes they're just a puddle, other times they have some form to them. I have yet to find any rhyme or reason to this pattern, but he tends to leave puddle poops in the litter box and semi-solid ones on the floor. His watery diarrhea seems to have decreased a little tiny bit since cutting out dairy, but that's a very little tiny bit. Tried giving him some raw chicken - not a total 100% switch, but just a little to see how he liked it and it seemed to make his diarrhea worse (he did like it a lot, though). I bought him a variety of grain-free novel protein canned foods like Nature's Variety, Natural Instinct (something like that) and some other one with a lynx on the label with a name I forget. I got flavors like rabbit, venison and duck... he either vomited those ones back up or still had diarrhea after eating them and keeping them down.

He was also getting food pretty much any time he meowed during the day, and was eating upwards of 4-5 cans of Fancy Feast. Now he's on more of a schedule, getting two cans of Fancy Feast (once in the morning, once at night) and a 5.5 ounce can of Friskies for lunch. From what I've been told, this is a lot of food for a cat to eat in a day. He also gets Purina kitten chow to nibble on at night in case he gets hungry. Yes, he has been doing better with kibbles and now only vomits them up once in a while, like if he eats them too fast. In spite of eating so much, he has not gained an ounce and is still skin and bones. I get that at his age, he might just be skinny no matter what, but I just can't believe he can put away so much food and not gain any weight at all.

In addition, he finished up his slippery elm bark and I introduced BeneFiber to his food in the hopes of him having firmer stools. He's actually been off the SEB for a couple weeks and I'm not seeing any difference in his litter box habits, so I don't think it ever helped him at all. He also isn't vomiting any more or less than when he was on it. The fiber was also a flop. Despite being flavorless, he would hardly eat the food I put it in, and when he did eat it, he just had horrible, putrid diarrhea twice as much.

So as far as I can tell, nothing is going to fix his bowel habits. Everything I try seems to either make him worse or does nothing at all. I'm stumped.

 

[goholistic]

How old is your kitty again? What color are his stools? While IBD would be more likely, has he been tested for feline EPI (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency)? It is more common in dogs than cats, however. Symptoms of this can be chronic diarrhea and weight loss despite a good appetite. You've experimented quite a bit with food. Have you tried canned pumpkin, probiotics and/or digestive enzymes to help firm up his stools? You could also look into this product: http://www.vitalityscience.com/v/AllProducts/luxolite/white-bentonite.asp. Or contact Vitality Science directly and they can help you with a protocol for vomiting and diarrhea. I have only tried their Luxolite, but I have heard people say good things about this company.

 

[runekeeper]

Oops, double post! The one below has my full updated reply.

 

[runekeeper]

Not 100 percent sure on his age since I found him as an adult in the backyard many years ago. But if I had to guess, I'd say between 13 and 15 years old. And no, he hasn't been tested for anything but FIV (for which he was negative), and that was last summer. I assumed IBD because his symptoms fit, but didn't want to put him through a biopsy. I have not yet tried pumpkin (I think I bought a tiny can some time ago to try it, but not sure where it went to), and I did try FortiFlora for a month. Kip loved the FortiFlora, but I didn't see any changes in his litter box habits.


I've never heard of Luxolite, but would be willing to try it if it's safe. The thing is Kippy tends to know when I "drug" his food and sometimes he won't eat if it feels or tastes funny. I think he tolerated slippery elm bark okay because, unlike most supplements, SEB doesn't seem to smell or taste bitter, but more sweet. From what I understand, kitties can't taste sweetness anyway. Half a teaspoon doesn't sound like a huge dose, but I bet he'd find it if it tasted awful. If I could get a refund for it should he refuse to eat it, I'd be willing to try. Money's kinda tight now, and as much as I hate putting a price tag on his health, I just really don't want to spend $30 on something he won't eat. He knows when I put flavorless fiber in his food and won't eat all of it because he's a little too smart for his own good. But the reviews on Luxolite all sound good and from people whose kitties seem to have similar issues to Kip's. Plus I looked at some of the other things on that site aimed at kitty diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss and I think Luxolite would be best. Kip doesn't do so good with tinctures (as in they don't stay down) and does notice them easily in his food. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I don't notice any changes in his bowel movements when he has Fancy Feast or Friskies. In fact, considering he eats like a horse, I'm thinking about switching him entirely to Friskies canned food. I know, lousy quality food, but he loves it and those dinky 3 ounce cans don't do much for him in one sitting. He tends to get done eating and then goes over to the fridge to meow at the door for more food! I'll trade metabolisms with him any day.


His stools are usually tan in color regardless of consistency, so I assume there is no GI bleeding. The vomiting isn't all that bad anymore. He used to throw up more frequently, almost every day. Now when he does, it's either when he's eaten his dry food too fast or he just spits up a little fluid that's the same color as whatever he last ate. Once in a great while, he'll vomit up a whole can of food. The main thing right now is the diarrhea. I assume if he has a little more energy, he might not be so inclined to go on the floor. I think that particular habit is nothing but laziness. But thanks very much for the info! I'll keep Luxolite in mind in the near future.

 

[LTS3]

Have you considered freeze dried raw food or dehydrated raw food? Both might be easier on your cat's tummy and won't take up freezer space like frozen raw does. Nature's Variety Instinct has a freeze dried raw food for cats. Stella and Chewy's is another brand. Freeze dried raw comes in small kibble shapes. Freeze dried raw should be rehdyrated in water before serving butit can be fed dry. Don't let rehydrated freeze dried raw sit out at room temperature for more than half an hour. Like raw meats, harmful bacteira can quickly grow in it.

The Honest Kitchen is a brand of dehdrated raw food. This is powder so it MUST be rehdyrated in water before serving.This brand is only sold in specialty pet stores, not chains.