Cat Vomit/diarrhea

[szfofa]

Hello,

We have a 6yo english short hair.

we have fed her Wellness Canned and dry chicken food for years.

In March, she started throwing up in the mornings and then developed diarrhea, which is awful because it gets on herself and then she gets it on our floors and furniture when we're not home.

we tried different healthy cat foods but did keep it to poultry, didn't work.
We went to the vet and the vet suggested we try limited ingredient diet (they did blood work for cancer, negative) Vet puts her on a rabbit royal canin diet wet food. Doesn't want to eat it. then vet gives us hydrolyzed chicken cat food. Cat loves the food, doesn't throw up anymore but still has diarrhea.

we switch to Limited Ingredient dry rabbit cat food and it works, no vomit or diarrhea, but after a couple days she doesn't eat it, and refuses to eat it. But it seemed to work. Vet puts her on a hydrolyzed soy dry cat food diet (has chicken fat in it). Eats but still has diarrhea.
Mind you the vet has given us some probiotic and anti-diarrhea medicine (a band aid fix) which works a little bit.

Vet suggests we do ultra sound.

What i don't understand is that the vet has concluded that Willow(our cat) is allergic to chicken or poultry, so why have we not tried royal canin fish or beef or any other prescription food? And when we asked the vet via email, she ignored that portion of the email.

Thank you for any insights!

 

[Kieka]

Sounds like your vet is considering IBD instead of just an allergy.

At this point you can either try some non poultry options on your own to see if that works. Or do the ultrasound to check for more than an allergy or sensitivity.

Personally, I appear to have a poultry sensitivity among my cats. So I am feeding them a poultry free diet and everything is good. Should the poultry free stop working then I will try more testing and see about medical options. It is one of those personal choice of what is best.

Just so you know, chicken fat doesn't have chicken protein in it. So a cat with a sensitivity to chicken won't react to chicken fat. Hydrolozided foods are broken down to the point that the body no longer recognizes it as a specific animal protein. I personally worry about what else is lost in that process nutrition wise so I stick with just poultry free right now. If I have to I will do hydrolozided before I do further testing. But I avoid soy in all forms because from what I understand soy is one of those that is best to limit. Not only in our felines but humans as well when you really get down to how bodies react to soy.

 

[lisahe]

I like Kieka 's suggestions on this: I, too, would probably try more nonpoultry diet options on my own and avoid the further medical testing at this point. To me, the successful rabbit food days are a good sign that other meats could work for your cat, S szfofa . It's too bad your vet ignored the part of your message where you asked good questions about other proteins: pork is another good one and there are other rabbit foods available, too.

Where do you live, szfofa? Maybe we can suggest some other foods for you that don't have poultry.

 

[szfofa]

Hello, sorry for the delayed follow up. We were moving.

so we started her on Merrick LID salmon kibble. She likes it more than any other food we've given her thats not chicken. The vet also gave us purina fortiflora (who knows whats in it), and more recently, she meows for the probiotic powder to be sprinkled on the food or else she wont succumb to eating the kibble it's self for hours.

Also, since we have moved. Her symptoms have been greatly reduced. this is week 2 in the new place. and just today she threw up for the first time in a while, looked more like a hairball, but not great. her stool is firmer but still soft, and we notice if we clean the litter box after every use, she can keep it off herself. We're in LA.

 

[szfofa]

Hello again,

so last update she was Merrick LID salmon kibble, over a few weeks it made her stool pretty good, everything has been pretty good except she doesn't love the food and we think that stresses/bums her out. since she never loved it, after a few weeks we introduced Merrick LID salmon wet food. She loves it, but it has made her stool soft again, and this morning she had diarrhea again. we give her both wet and dry. this is the first super wet episode in a while, and oddly she only ate dry the night before.

I did a cross check of ingredients and basically these are the ingredients the wet food has and the dry food doesn't:
Calcium Carbonate
Sodium Phosphate*
Guar Gum*
Potassium Chloride*
Salmon Oil
Choline Chloride
Cobalt Glucoheptonate

The ones w/ * after some quick web research show they can soften stools. And one of them is prescribed as a stool softener for human patients.( I think when prescribed opioids because opioids can cause constipation).

so thats where we are, a stressed kitter and no sign of resolve.

 

[himawari]

Have you tried adding pumpkin to the wet food?

Another brand with LID is Nature's Variety. But I believe that has some time of gum to it. Here's a thread about a cat who has soft stools. I know Ziwi Peak has no binders & are limited ingredient imo, but they do have chickpeas.

 

[szfofa]

oh wow thanks for the Ziwi Peak recommendation! We did try pumpkin in the past, seemed to work for a few days and then back to the regularly scheduled program.

But we will give Ziki Peak a try, ,thanks again

 

[Neo_23]

Koha also has LID and novel proteins. It is also more affordable than Ziwipeak.

 

[szfofa]

Hello again,
so we have concluded that the Merrick LID kibble actually does cause her to vomit a bit, not every day, but every few days perhaps. so off of that now. It could be because the kibble gets wet and molds or somehting, not sure.

Neo_23 thanks for the Koha recommendation. It appears LID is not all it takes as random binders seem to also be a problem. I weary of Choline Chloride along with other ingredients in the list. It also doesn't appear to be significantly cheaper.

Himawari, thank you for the ziwipeak recommendation!! It works, she loves it, normal healthy stools and no vomiting.
The downside is that our local pet store sells it for $2.99 per 6.5oz can. And if they are out, the shop up the street sells it for $3.60 a can ($4.69 for lamb rabbit)!! with needing about 10-11oz a day for cat her weight. thats an expensive $5+ a day in cat food or $150+/mo. Unfortunately, this isn't ideal. But we are happy she isn't having these problems anymore. If anyone knows of a more economic solution, please chime in.

 

[yeva2292]

I wouldn't worry about the Choline. Choline itself is essential to all life forms, so I doubt that would be causing the diarrhea/vomiting.

Have you considered Wild Calling? They have unique proteins, non-poultry recipes, and are a cheaper option to ziwipeak.

 

[yeva2292]

Oh, a really affordable option, if your cat is ok with pates, is the 12oz cans of Redbarn. They don't have rabbit, but they do have poultry free options!

 

[himawari]

Himawari, thank you for the ziwipeak recommendation!! It works, she loves it, normal healthy stools and no vomiting.
The downside is that our local pet store sells it for $2.99 per 6.5oz can. And if they are out, the shop up the street sells it for $3.60 a can ($4.69 for lamb rabbit)!! with needing about 10-11oz a day for cat her weight. thats an expensive $5+ a day in cat food or $150+/mo. Unfortunately, this isn't ideal. But we are happy she isn't having these problems anymore. If anyone knows of a more economic solution, please chime in.

Yes, that is the slight downside to Ziwi Peak. But buying it online in a case is relativity cheaper & also if your local pet store has a discount. Regardless I'm really glad that she's taking to eating Ziwi Peak!

yeva2292 Wild Calling has Choline Chloride & Agar-Agar. But I do agree with your suggestion about it being cheaper. My cat is very fond of Rabbit Burrow from Wild Calling.

 

[szfofa]

Yeva, thank you for the insight and suggestions. We may have to try it anyway.

Last month, our cat jumped on our kitchen counter and attempted to eat our rotisserie chicken, knocking it over! She has never exhibited this type of behavior in her 7 years. When we cooked salmon for ourselves, she started crying for it. It appears she no longer likes her Ziwi Peak, she eats only after crying about it for a little. Before she would lick her plate clean and ask for more, now she has a couple bites and is bored with it....

not sure what we should do now

 

[Sica]

Hi szfofa,

Since you are located in Los Angeles you may want to check out Healthyspot. They have a lot of great raw food (and also sell Ziwi Peak.) Sadly, they are probably not going to be cheaper than any other place. Also, another good option is Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies which currently has a sale where for instance Ziwi Peak (lots of other good brands too, such as Smallbatch) is 20% off. Centinela Feed & Pet Supplies also has a frequent buyer program which Ziwi Peak is eligible for. I'm not sure what the terms of the program are as I do most my shopping at Healthyspot but I think it could bring your costs down. Oh, and also, if you do end up buying any raw food at Healthyspot since your baby seems to want a change, you get 10% off if you check in through Yelp. Lastly, we use to feed Ziwi Peak but switched to Smallbatch which our animals love (we actually had some diarrhea issues with Ziwi Peak) but again, I'm not sure if that is more cost effective than Ziwi.

I hope it's not against the terms and rules to mention stores and deals. I don't work for any of those companies, nor am I sponsored. Just for your information.