Gastritis

[jeanw]

My sweetest cat, Emma, that I've had the longest - 16 years - has gastritis as diagnosed by my vet. It seems to come and go but mostly doesn't go away. Several days will go by with no throwing up and all seems fine. Then several days with more throwing up. The last couple of days has been lots of throwing up - mostly white liquid but not only that today.

Emma has seemingly always thrown up or at least in the last 6 years or so. But it's gotten worse in the last 2-3 years. I've had Emma since she was born (in my house) but I didn't know nearly enough about cats and she wasn't socialized enough. To this day she will hardly let me pick her up and giving her medication or taking her to the vet is difficult and almost always impossible. I look her to the vet twice last year. As my vet says, it makes Emma stressed and really angry. I can't give her medication at home.

Presently she eats only wild caught tuna (people food), a little bit of Iams dry food and a few Temptations treats. Generally she avoids new food like it's poison. As a result of all of this she continues to get thinner. She drinks lots of water due to dehydration from throwing up and then pees all the time and sometimes not in the right places. I love her dearly and she is super sweet but this is worrisome and about to make me crazy.

All of that to say, does anyone here have more ideas? Has anyone fed the Rawz Aujou food in pouches? I'm thinking it might be similar enough to tuna that she might eat it and it would be more nutritionally complete. Any advice or suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[neely]

What did your vet recommend for the gastritis? I have not tried the Rawz Aujou but our cat really liked the Rawz chicken and chicken liver pate. I personally try to avoid feeding human food to our cat. I fed dry food in the past until I learned that wet food is healthier and have successfully transitioned our present cat to canned food with only a small nightly snack of dry. Here is an unbiased review to help you find the best food for your cat : CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

 

[FeebysOwner]

How long has Emma been eating the tuna? It could be that this food being incomplete nutritionally is causing issues on top of the gastritis. I, too, would be interested in knowing what the vet suggested to help with the gastritis. Things like famotidine, ranitidine, pantoprazole, or omeprazole might be helpful, and you should talk to your vet about them as possibilities. As far as I know, they could be crushed and mixed with some tuna 'juice', ditto for the liquid forms, to reduce the chances of her not taking them. If not tuna juice, there are a number of lickable treats that she might be willing to eat with meds hidden in them.

You might also look into EZ Complete to add to the human food to make it nutritionally complete. The folks at this company would be more than happy to assist you with the proper dosage mixture for tuna.
EZComplete Premix Information (foodfurlife.com)

Emma really could use to, at least, have a full blood work panel done to see if that would shed any light on whether she is deficient due to the tuna only diet. It would also tell you if there is an underlying health issue such as kidney disease or hyperthyroidism. Perhaps, you could have someone come to the house to take blood for analysis. If your vet appreciates/understands the stress of a vet visit for her, they may be able to advise you on who to contact for an in-home visit and blood draw.

 

[fionasmom]

I have fed Rawz Anjou. My cats were not crazy about it, but I would encourage you to try it as it seemed entirely acceptable to me.

Applaws is another brand that makes canned food with only three ingredients...fish, broth, and rice. It is, by their own admission, nutritionally incomplete and the expectation is that you will feed their dry food with it. The meal will then be complete. I don't know if this would help or not.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Applaws...is nutritionally incomplete and the expectation is that you will feed their dry food with it. The meal will then be complete.

There are some varying opinions on how much of a cat's food must be nutritionally complete before giving them supplemental foods that are not. However, some folks on this site, as well as Cornell University, suggests that a good rule of thumb is 85-90% of a cat's diet should be nutritionally complete.