Cat Diet Help

[lolitameows]

Back in December my cat was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and it's been a huge struggle to get her back to her normal self, but I've made it and I'm so so proud of my little Nalita Chiquita. For about 4 days she went without eating (except for Delectables Squeeze-ups, which she would have about 2-2.5 packages a day). Eventually, she started to get syringe fed, and after a few weeks, she started eating VERY happily on her own again.

Nala is a 10 yr old DSH/possibly Bombay (about 12.5 lbs) who was adopted at 3 y/o in college-- she would have Blue Buffalo dry to graze on throughout the day and half a tin of fancy feast around 5 pm. Before the pancreatitis, she was (stupidly on my part) on dry food only. After basically a month of scouring these cat sites and google, I've switched her to primarily wet food with dry food to graze on throughout the day (she's a bit chonky and enjoys her food). Luckily, she only lost about 2-3 ounces during this pancreatic month.

My questions are:
I've attempted all of the "best for pancreatitis" cat foods--Publix brand and Fancy feast are the only ones she'll eat--how horrible is this?
The box says to give her two cans a day based on her body weight--but even at one tin, she seems to be gaining weight... should I be giving her two tins, even with dry food to graze on?
I've started adding digestive enzymes AND cosequin (one day on, one day off) into her food-- anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[daftcat75]

Dry food is very calorie dense. If she gets dry food to graze on throughout the day, you need to calculate those calories and subtract how much wet she should have.

Or better yet, they have timed feeders for wet food. I like the clamshell feeders (Catmate C20 is one) over the wheel feeders. With the wheel, uneaten portions can get rotated back inside the feeder. With the clamshells, there’s no time limit on a portion making it more grazer-friendly. You can use the timed feeders to fill in the gaps between meals (usually a lunch and an overnight feeder.) I’d rather see her eating all wet food than trying to subtract wet from her diet to account for the dry she eats. An all wet food diet will be better for weight management. And it will be a whole lot easier on her pancreas.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I can't speak to the pancreatitis, but Fancy Feast - primarily the pates - aren't that bad at all! Feeby likes many of them, but when a particular flavor wasn't available, I tried substituting the Publix version and she wouldn't eat it. You could compare the ingredients of each and see how similar they are. Even the FF that aren't pates aren't too bad.

The FF pates run around just under 100 calories - give or take a few - so two 3 oz cans would be just under 200 calories. If you use the basic guide of 20-25 calories per pound of body weight, just the two cans without dry food would theoretically sustain an 8-10 pound cat. So, I would guess she is eating a fair amount of the dry.

You need to start measuring how much dry she is eating in a day just to determine how many calories she is actually consuming. Once you know that, you can start to slowly reduce the amount of dry you leave out for her to eat, and see how her weight goes. Canned is better for her overall, but if she is used to dry, then a gradual reduction to a smaller amount might be just enough, and still let her have some of the dry if she really likes it.

I also can't speak to the digestive enzymes (probiotics?) and Cosequin, but there are many members who use these types of products on a regular basis for their cats and think they are very helpful.

 

[daftcat75]

Are these prescription digestive enzymes? I know those are sometimes prescribed to kitties with damaged pancreas (eg from pancreatitis.) If they weren’t prescribed, then Optagest is a good brand that I used with Krista. They seemed to help.

And yes. Fancy Feast gets a bad rap. But it’s one of the better foods out there simply because it has fewer nonsense ingredients like fruits and vegetables, grains, and starches. Even their gravy ones have only a touch of starch to make the gravy thicker than water. Much better than foods that have chickpeas and sweet potatoes.

Still. Your worst wet food will be better than your best dry food solely on a moisture and digestibility basis. Both are very important for preventing recurrences of pancreatitis.

 

[lolitameows]

Are these prescription digestive enzymes? I know those are sometimes prescribed to kitties with damaged pancreas (eg from pancreatitis.) If they weren’t prescribed, then Optagest is a good brand that I used with Krista. They seemed to help.

And yes. Fancy Feast gets a bad rap. But it’s one of the better foods out there simply because it has fewer nonsense ingredients like fruits and vegetables, grains, and starches. Even their gravy ones have only a touch of starch to make the gravy thicker than water. Much better than foods that have chickpeas and sweet potatoes.

Still. Your worst wet food will be better than your best dry food solely on a moisture and digestibility basis. Both are very important for preventing recurrences of pancreatitis.

Hi daftcat75,
Thank you so much for all of your helpful responses. My vet suggested the cosequin because with xrays, Nala was shown to have some arthritic issues with her shoulder, but the digestive enzymes was not prescribed--just suggested, so I will definitely be purchasing your suggestion because a lot of them seem to be for both cats and dogs.
As for the wet food, general consensus does seem to favor wet food--which logically makes sense, but selfishly, dry food produced less stinky waste. Ive learned a very emotional and expensive lesson from selfish pet care taking!

 

[daftcat75]

These are the digestive enzymes. And yes. They’re pretty much the same whether they are cat, dog, or even human. The difference is the dose.
In Clover Optagest Organic Prebiotic and Natural Enzyme Powder for Healthy Stools and Less Gas, Without Foreign Probiotics. Daily Digestive and Immune Support For Dogs and Cats, 3.5oz. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LO2QEG/?tag=thecatsite

The digestive enzymes should help with stool quality. That’s odd that her stool is better with dry. It’s usually the other way around. Dry food being less digestible than wet food should produce bulkier and stinkier poops.

Cosequin (and anything similar with glucosamine and/or chondroitin) did not agree with my Krista at all. Every time I tried to give her one of those products, she had awful runny poops. That could be the case with your kitty. You could try the transition to wet food with timed feeders first without the Cosequin to see if the Cosequin is responsible for the smelly poops.

There is also a chance that there’s an ingredient in her wet food that’s not agreeing with her. Maybe fish. Maybe cheese. Maybe any non-animal filler ingredient like fruits, vegetables, grains, or starches. Tiki Cat makes some really good, clean recipes especially the After Dark line.