Easy On The Stomach And Wallet

[Grojo]

Frankie had clear mucus diarreah with pieces of undigested wet food on Friday and was showing signs of a uri, the emergency vet pretty much said she had fip and didn’t want to treat her uri because she had an appointment already set up with her regular vet for it today, which didn’t seem right to me and I couldn’t afford the testing for fip on top of the emergency vet bill as she was not lethargic and hungry. We ruled out parasites on the fecal and gave a dose of dewormer as a precaution, no worms in her poo. So that wasn’t it. She was given a can of e/n and sent home. Her poo pretty much got solid over night on the can of e/n and I went out and purchased a bunch of royal canin digest sensitive. She has had regular solid poo since Friday. Today we went back to her regular vet to update her rabies shot and talk about her uri, fip, and stomach upset. Her regular vet said that she want showing any signs that would even cause them to think that she had fip. Her eye that was gooping has cleared up in the past two days so they did not think an antibiotic was neccisary. They talked about the possibility of her having ibd because her guts felt swollen. We talked about her diet and agreed to keep her on a sensitive digest food, but she also is on the skinny side but they weren’t worried about that as they said she was not emaciated. We were given probiotics to add to her food and then talked about how sensitive stomach food is low calorie so weight gain might not happen on it, they suggested feeding her more of the food or switching to a high calorie food.

Ok so here are my questions.
She was eating fancy feast and normally had no problems on it, with her suspected uri she had a goopy eye and some coughing which has resolved, but, could that diarreah have been just simply swallowed mucus? (It happens to me) Her nose never ran.

And

Can anyone help me out on finding some affordable can food that is sensitive on the stomach?
Currently it’s about $4.00 a day to feed my cat the royal canin. Adding up to close to $30 a week. I’m currently struggling financially expecially after the emergency vet.

Would it be a good idea to try and mix a high calorie with the sensitive stomach, oooor would that just defeat the purpose.

Today, after solid poops since Saturday she had some diarreah after the vet, but I’m assuming a combo of the vaccine and stress causing the upset.

I’m sorry if this post is hard to get through to understand the advice I’m trying to seek and I honestly feel like such a bad cat parent knowing I can’t afford to feed her the best.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, and very warm welcomes!

I honestly feel like such a bad cat parent knowing I can’t afford to feed her the best.

I promise you, you are not a bad cat parent.

In case this helps regarding vet visits
No Money For Vet Care? How To Find Help And Save Your Cat's Life

For the uri, is your litter dusty? Do you have any scented candles, air fresheners, strongly scented dryer sheets, strongly scented spray cleaners? Also, do you know if there's any mold in your living situation?

I'm not sure about the cause of the diarrhea, there have been several members who have commented the Fancy Feast has been rejected by their cats lately and that the manufacturer made changes to the FF formula.

If the diarrhea proves to be stubborn, try mixing some plain pumpkin into her food, and you could even try some boiled unseasoned chicken and rice.

Dr Elseys cat food is high protein I believe, duckpond knows more about it.

Take a look at these below. You might want to consider commercial frozen raw like Radcat or Primal Pronto - these can help for a sensitive stomach, and you don't need to feed it every day which will help with cost over time;

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

@yeva2292 did this spreadsheet, it lists costs;
Click Below:
Wet-food.xlsx

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time

feline ibd

For these below, double check with your vet. Although these can be use as toppers for enticing a cat to eat, they can also be treats to help increase calories.

• boiled unseasoned chicken or turkey,
• sardines,
• tuna,
• tuna juice from the tuna can,
• canned kitten food,
• kitten replacement milk powder or liquid
• bonito flakes,
• parmeson or shredded cheddar cheese,
• mackerel
• raw egg yolk once or twice a week (egg white must be cooked)
• unflavored gelatin

There are also commercial toppers, Applaws is a brand that can work well as a topper - the varieties have minimal ingredients. Tiki Cat has a mousse topper, etc.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Frankie is a handsome cat ! He looks like he owns the place .
I was going to suggest a steamed chicken . When the water cools I give my cats the fat off the surface . Sometimes I actually get to have a piece of the chicken myself ! ( have to taste test it )
Good luck to you and kitty...

 

[lisahe]

Is it possible that Frankie ate something she shouldn't have? One of our cats ate a houseplant and got very sick; Edwina's main symptom was mucus. (I can't really say it was diarrhea since most of what was coming out was mucus, in fairly large quantities for a cat.) Mucus can be a sign of inflammation and it's not uncommon to find in the litter box if a cat has IBD; we saw it (albeit in much smaller quantities than what Edwina was putting out) with our previous cat, who had digestive problems.

The problem with sensitive stomachs is that they're so individual: what bothers one cat may be another cat's best food. Plain chicken or turkey, which others have mentioned, is a classic, though of course some cats are sensitive to poultry. After Edwina ate the plant, it helped to feed her Beechnut baby food; if you feed baby food, just be sure it's only meat and broth, no salt, onion, or anything artificial added.

Good luck!

 

[duckpond]

Unless the vet has said not too, i would try fancy feast again. Do you feed the classics? They are pretty good for most cats. I feed the classics, and the grilled to my guys sometimes. Some people also have good luck with Friskys wet food, and Tractor supply. Some of the Friskies and Tractor supply foods will have Carrageenan in them. There are debates on whether or not this bothers cats, but it might be an ingredient to avoid, at least right now while she is having sensitive stomach issues.

I like to look at the cat food database to check out foods. maybe it can help you too.

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

 

[foxxycat]

there's nothing wrong with fancy feast. you can always do a 50./50 diet. 50% royal and 50% of lesser costing food. then maybe it will help.

my girls do best on 4health indoor formula from tractor supply. it's $22 a big bag or $8 a 5-6 lb bag-can't remember which it is. I use gallon zip locks and put bags in airtight container with light blocking paper to keep food in dark and no moisture provided from airtight lids.

it has no corn and easy to digest. this is kibble..I don't know if the canned is same food-my girls won't eat canned or rather they lick the juice and make a mess of the rest. We didn't have good luck with wet food. most times they lick it once and ignore it. one cat likes freeze dried meats which I give as treats, the other cat won't touch them...the oldest cat likes her temptations which I don't want her having but it's the only treat she eats and can't deny her when the other cat gets treats...

 

[lisahe]

Some people also have good luck with Friskys wet food, and Tractor supply. Some of the Friskies and Tractor supply foods will have Carrageenan in them. There are debates on whether or not this bothers cats, but it might be an ingredient to avoid, at least right now while she is having sensitive stomach issues.

Yes, I would definitely avoid carrageenan if a cat has a mucus problem.

And foxxycat is right about combining foods. As long as a cat can tolerate the switch (some can't but most seem to be able to), it's a great way to offer more variety and keep the budget under control. We feed canned foods with a range or prices and brands--it keeps me and the cats happy!

 

[Grojo]

I’ve been concened about mold in my living situation since this winter, the neighbors pipes busted leaving our basement with hundreds of gallons of water in it. Our landlord did nothing except add a lock to the basement so we can’t go down there and check for mold. No dehumidifier, no sub pump, just let the water do it’s thing. They’re slumlords and haven’t fixed anything we have called about so I know it’ll be a fight to get them to check for mold. Like we had to call the fire department to cut the water to the whole building due to the landlords refusing to answe the emergency line.

She did really really good on the fancy feast pates, solid poop that never stunk, and has been trying to steal my dogs dry kibble so I have been trying to find a cat kibble that is similar to it that she will touch, with no avail. The dog eats whatever, she’s a garbage disposal with guts of steel. Right now she’s got a Rachel ray beef and brown rice food that the cat keep trying to munch on, a time I hear the crunch I’m running to the kitchen to shoo her away. Our dog is a slow eater and has been free fed her whole life and at 12 I’m not trying to stress the dog out with timed feedings.

She used to eat purina cat naturals and one day decided she didn’t want it or any dry cat food anymore, teeth aren’t an issue I had the evet check them on Friday and she still goes apeshit over her crunchy treats.

She had her rabies yesterday at the vet and today has 0 appetite, she got down a can of the Royal Canin yesterday before the lethargy from the shot kicked in, she spent the rest of the day either sleeping on me or in her crate, she’s prancing along today and drinking water just fine.

She has really only had the one bout of mucus poop on Friday, and has since then cleared up except when I gave her some applawse chicken and pumpkin food which caused her to have an upset stomach, I’m thinking the pumpkin was too rich for her.

I’m wondering if her constantly meowing at the door and doing her dance at it scratching the glass nonstop is just stressing her out, because before the mucus she was doing that for about an hour straight because I was outside. I am going to start letting her out with us in a month(vet order she was behind on rabies)

The emergency vet wanted me to put her on a sensitive stomach food because her intestines felt large and ropey. The vet yesterday told me that her guts did feel gassy.

She escaped the day before the mucus started and was munching on some plant the emergency vet called sticky weed and said it shouldn’t upset her stomach. I brought clippings of the plant in because I didn’t and still don’t know what it is. But it is sticky, like hairy sticky if that makes sense.

 

[Grojo]

Also, when the cat eats the dog food it’s like maybe two or three pieces I catch her eating a week. We do mix canned food in with the dogs dry to entice her to eat it all in one go, and she normally does but will knock a kibble or two out on the floor or splits it right down the middle and will only eat half of her food saving the rest for later. I have been trying my best to sweep up the kibble and pull her bowl when she only leaves a little bit in the bottom to try and make sure my cat doesn’t eat any of it.

 

[Grojo]

I do think I’m going to try and put her back on the fancy feast cans because she did like those. She seems to be getting bored with the Royal Canin or I ruined it by putting the probiotic in her food because she licked the probiotic off the side of her bowl licked a piece of the pate and went about her way.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! How are things today?
By the way I came across something that could help with the mold issue, if you haven't already, you could set up a dehumidifier.
--thanks to JosieQ for that thought

 

[JosieQ]

Hi! How are things today?
By the way I came across something that could help with the mold issue, if you haven't already, you could set up a dehumidifier.
--thanks to JosieQ for that thought

That's meeeee!

I had the same issue with slumlord landlords, ugh. There was mold coming out from under the paint in the bathroom and from behind light-switches, weird places, it was disturbing as faaaak! Normal living conditions are between 20% and 50%, anything over 60% will allow for mold growth. When I first plugged in the dehumidifier it read 75%. That's like... a swamp. I didn't even know it was possible to be that damp inside a house in any kind of supposedly-civilized country! O.O The landlords ignored all my emails and pleas for help (part of the problem was that the air-conditioning couldn't cool below like 80 friggin' degrees if it was more than 90 outside, so it was always hot and muggy and they ignored that issue as well), and if I had the time or money to sue I'd win, but who does have time and money for lawyers? That's how they get away with being garbage-people doing illegal garbage-people things.



/rant

If you can't afford a dehumidifier though (I had to save for a while to get mine), another option is a diffuser. It might seem counter-intuitive to put MORE moisture in the air, but when you put drops of essential oils in the water, they fight the mold. I used tea tree, but oregano, thyme and cinnamon are listed as high fighters of mold on Google, so there're lots of options.

Anyway good luck with Frankie, wish I had something to say there. She's gorgeous. :I

 

[10009891]

I feed my two cats Primal and The Honest Kitchen Chicken formula. I know these foods are VERY expensive, but I mix it with low cost ground turkey without additives I buy at the Walmart. I put in a little cat supplemental powder to the ground meat. My cats do not have diarrhea anymore and are thriving. My 9 months old Ragdoll male is already weighing almost 12 pounds and is not fat!

 

[JosieQ]

Oh hey also, I just thought, you could try a raw diet.

One of my cats had some weird intestinal issue -- she was constipated sometimes with diarrhea at others. If you picked her up or put pressure on her stomach she'd yowl, and sometimes she'd suddenly stand up all hunched over and growling, at her insides basically. DX It went on for over a year before I could finally take her for a "cheap" $70 vet-visit.

I could only afford the initial exam, and was told without the additional blood-work and possibly ultrasounds and x-rays they couldn't say what it was, but it was probably some kind of intestinal disease (I can't remember the name of) and she'd die within a year.

I found a local source for raw pet food, ground-up meat that includes the bones and all that good stuff a cat should eat but I don't want in my hamburger, and started giving my cats that twice a day while leaving the dry food out to cover the gaps.

Her problems went away completely, as did several other problems the other cats randomly had (older cat was dehydrated a lot and hanging out by the water bowl all the time, that stopped), and she's still alive now years later. Even though I had to stop the raw-food-feeding a year-ish ago because I moved away from my raw-food source and haven't yet found a cheap enough source for it online (actually looking into grinders and stuff like that to make my own, but I dunno), her problems haven't come back.

So yeah, I've become a total rabid supporter of raw-food diets for cats. I mean they are like... amazing. If you can't afford to do it 100% of their food (I couldn't), I think any small amount a day would help.

Side-rant, anyone else sick of corn being one of the top ingredients in all this cat food? Corn, corn! Cats can't eat corn! Commercial cat-food is poison and I'm certain it's the cause of like 99% of problems any of my cats ever had, because I blindly fed them that garbage for years before I realized I should be doing better. And now all the "healthy" ones use rice instead of corn like that's better. Ugggh the world, ugggh, obligate carnivores maaaaaan!!

(And I mean, I used to have a rabbit, and corn was in all the rabbit treats, and rabbits can't have corn specifically because it blocks their intestines and they can die, what is this place, why am I here?? *Goes and lives on the moon*)

 

[Grojo]

I’m sorry for the couple of days to respong, I’m literally living bad luck at the moment. My doggo sprained her paw, so another vet visit, except this one was hectic as the battery in my car died the day she sprained her paw and although the vet is only a mile or so away, there was no walking with a sprain, so I had to have multiple jumps throughout the day to get around. I tested my battery with the voltmeter while my car was running to tell that it was charging and not my alternator, never tested it for drainage after replacing the darn thing and wasting money on that to find out its my break light switch causing my battery to die. Invented some new cusswords as I couldn’t return the new one when I already sold the old one. Got caught in middle of a hail storm attempting to rig my brake lights today in a parking lot, i can’t recall ever being in a hail storm while in a car, and I can say I nearly crapped my pants in terror thinking all of my windows were going to shatter. (I’m pretty irrational)
Ok sorry for that rant which isn’t about a cat at all. I had to get that out of me.
My father is bringing me a dehumidifier here soon so I will be running that throughout the house. Question on that, is it pointless to run it if I keep all of my windows open pretty much 24/7?
Transitioned her back onto the fancy feasts and she quickly became picky about the pates, refusing to eat refrigerated leftovers heated or not, mixed with water or not. She literally only wanted half a can at a time
I went out to get some new litter today and while at the store I browsed through some cans of food again, I’m really trying not to overwhelm myself with the plethora of research and reading I have been doing, because I totally did that a few days ago. While trying to not get frustrated in the store finding chicken in a lot of the cans I picked up to read
I did find some small cans for her to try,
Merrrick limited ingredient duck
Soulistic Duck
Lid venison and green pea I think Incase she wouldn’t go for the duck flavors.
Since she’s being funny about the pates I tried the soulistic first today as her appetite has been crap and we had some vomiting diarreah and depression yesterday, since it’s in gravy I thought she’d go for it. She went right for it, gobbled it right up and immediately hopped in my lap purring up a storm after. She spent the rest of the day prancing around the house or being next to me taking small naps making sure all of her feet were touching me. She became more vocal again which I haven’t seen in a few months, Her little coos were there when she stretched or changed positions, she greeted daddy meowing up a storm tonight as well, telling him all about her day. She was more like her old self today than she has been in a while. No vomiting, I haven’t had a bowel movement after feeding her the can This afternoon so I can’t note on that, but after diarreah yesterday it’s probably good it’s staying in her.
The soulistic lists tuna broth first, duck second, and tuna third. With a cat that is always drinking on water throughout the day and has had no signs of bladder issues, should I be highly concerned about the tuna? I never was concerned about fish foods for her but on reading more today, I’m a review junkie I see that lots of cat parents are against seafood.
I’m most concerned now about getting her stomach settled, her happy and eating, and putting some weight on her at the moment.

 

[Grojo]

Oh I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before, but I really think she has developed a food allergy to chicken. Maybe it wasn’t the pumpkin in the applawse that set her off so badly but the chunks of chicken in it. Yesterday because of dogs sprain and her upset belly I boiled some chicken and rice for the dog and gave the cat just some shredded chicken hoping it would ease her belly some, and it seemed to have gotten worse after the chicken. She threw that up immediately and hid the rest of the night.

 

[lisahe]

If a cat vomits something up immediately, that's usually more of a regurgitation situation, often brought on by eating too fast rather than an allergy. Our cats something regurgitate if they're worked up (after playing, maybe seeing wildlife through the screens, etc.) before they eat. If your cat's picking up on stress (they seem to figure it out when their people get stressed about their eating!), that could contribute, too.

Soulistic makes lots of food that are pretty appealing to cats, though I think it's good that you're questioning the high fish content. It can be really good to feed when a cat's hesitant to eat (as is your case!) but I'd be careful with it because fish has a tendency to get addictive for cats and you don't want that to be all she'll eat. (Among other things, there are concerns about contamination and thyroid disease.)

I hope all's well after she ate the Soulistic. And, finally, good luck with your car. That's never any fun!

 

[foxxycat]

I’m sorry for the couple of days to respong, I’m literally living bad luck at the moment. My doggo sprained her paw, so another vet visit, except this one was hectic as the battery in my car died the day she sprained her paw and although the vet is only a mile or so away, there was no walking with a sprain, so I had to have multiple jumps throughout the day to get around. I tested my battery with the voltmeter while my car was running to tell that it was charging and not my alternator, never tested it for drainage after replacing the darn thing and wasting money on that to find out its my break light switch causing my battery to die. Invented some new cusswords as I couldn’t return the new one when I already sold the old one. Got caught in middle of a hail storm attempting to rig my brake lights today in a parking lot, i can’t recall ever being in a hail storm while in a car, and I can say I nearly crapped my pants in terror thinking all of my windows were going to shatter. (I’m pretty irrational)
Ok sorry for that rant which isn’t about a cat at all. I had to get that out of me.
My father is bringing me a dehumidifier here soon so I will be running that throughout the house. Question on that, is it pointless to run it if I keep all of my windows open pretty much 24/7?
Transitioned her back onto the fancy feasts and she quickly became picky about the pates, refusing to eat refrigerated leftovers heated or not, mixed with water or not. She literally only wanted half a can at a time
I went out to get some new litter today and while at the store I browsed through some cans of food again, I’m really trying not to overwhelm myself with the plethora of research and reading I have been doing, because I totally did that a few days ago. While trying to not get frustrated in the store finding chicken in a lot of the cans I picked up to read
I did find some small cans for her to try,
Merrrick limited ingredient duck
Soulistic Duck
Lid venison and green pea I think Incase she wouldn’t go for the duck flavors.
Since she’s being funny about the pates I tried the soulistic first today as her appetite has been crap and we had some vomiting diarreah and depression yesterday, since it’s in gravy I thought she’d go for it. She went right for it, gobbled it right up and immediately hopped in my lap purring up a storm after. She spent the rest of the day prancing around the house or being next to me taking small naps making sure all of her feet were touching me. She became more vocal again which I haven’t seen in a few months, Her little coos were there when she stretched or changed positions, she greeted daddy meowing up a storm tonight as well, telling him all about her day. She was more like her old self today than she has been in a while. No vomiting, I haven’t had a bowel movement after feeding her the can This afternoon so I can’t note on that, but after diarreah yesterday it’s probably good it’s staying in her.
The soulistic lists tuna broth first, duck second, and tuna third. With a cat that is always drinking on water throughout the day and has had no signs of bladder issues, should I be highly concerned about the tuna? I never was concerned about fish foods for her but on reading more today, I’m a review junkie I see that lots of cat parents are against seafood.
I’m most concerned now about getting her stomach settled, her happy and eating, and putting some weight on her at the moment.

I have been feeding human grade tuna for years. It's just a small amount-and if she's happy eating and not puking-feed it!

 

[lisahe]

I have been feeding human grade tuna for years. It's just a small amount-and if she's happy eating and not puking-feed it!

I agree that small amounts are fine! I'd meant to mention that Weruva (the same company that makes Soulistic for Petco) has a Cats in the Kitchen line that includes foods have chicken and fish. Some have chicken listed as the first ingredient though some of those have two kinds of fish so might have more fish than chicken over all. We feed one of those every couple of weeks. Funk in the Trunk is probably the favorite; it has a slightly higher carb level but it's just one kind of fish so chicken is definitely the larger ingredient.

 

[Grojo]

This morning searching through the house I saw no signs of vomit and a the most solid mucus free poo she’s had in a bit. She had a mild case of zoomies last night and it was joyous to hear those little feet stomping through the house again. I’m going to see if I can interest her in playing today, I have been trying daily to get her to play, kicker pillows, laser pointers, balls, dog toys, feathers, string, catnip toys, milk rings, nothing would get her attention for more than a second. I even trapped spider crickets for her and put her in our bathtub with them as the tub used to be her favorite spot to play. She killed it in one swipe and never bothered with the play till it’s dead like she used to. I almost had her playing with one of the dog toys last night because she all of a sudden was intrigued by the sound it made. I haven’t seen my cat like this in a bit. Her tail is all the way up in the air today, and she has been exploring the house like it’s all new to her, climbing in baskets she stopped using, jumping on new surfaces she’s never touched before.
Now I’m torn. I haven’t seen my cat this visibly happy in a while. Of course I will be trying the other brand of duck food for her soon but they are pates and she’s so funny about them.
If she doesn’t like the pates, is it safe to keep her on the soulistic for a little bit until I can introduce a gravy based rabbit food I found into her system to see if she handles that?