Help transition to different dry food?

[fenderrae]

My cat had gone through a bout of vomiting/loose stool, so my vet prescribed some medication as well and recommended some Hills wet food (digestive care) to help her stomach recover. Since I can have a hard time getting her to eat wet food I usually feed her a combination of both wet and dry, so I got the dry version of the Hills digestive as well. For about two weeks she didn't throw up and seemed to have normal stool, however towards the end of the second week she started to get constipated and I'm guessing it was probably due to the digestive food.

I started transitioning her to her usual food (Blue Buffalo indoor), but a few days ago she was feeling unwell and threw up a hairball and had loose stool again, and then seemed pretty uncomfortable the rest of the day. I'm not sure if the loose stool was just because of the hairball, or if it has something to do with her old food, but I'm kind of at a loss as to what I should feed her next. I don't want to stress out her stomach with too many food changes and was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations. I might try to just feed her wet food for a while but am not sure the portioning of wet food - she's 11 years old and 11 pounds, if that helps

 

[zoes]

Did your vet have any guesses as to the root cause? Possibly a food intolerance, or IBD or something?

If she were my cat and depending on what my vet said about the root cause, I'd switch to limited ingredient wet food - one protein at a time (for 4-6 weeks, then try a new protein) - and see if you can pinpoint what the problem is.

I find portioning matters less with wet food - my cats tend to eat as much as they want and not too much. I would start with 1/2 of a puck-sized can, and give her more when she's hungry for more, or check the calorie calculator for her size, weight, and ideal weight and feed that in 2-3 meals per day.

 

[LTS3]

For an 11 lb cat you would feed roughly 275 calories daily. Canned foods vary in calorie content so look at the label and feed enough food to get about 27 calories daily. Adjust the amount of food if your cat leaves too much uneaten or is still hungry.

What brand of canned food do you plan to feed? Canned food in general are easier on tummies than dry food and a whole lot healthier.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

It is hard to say how much to feed her because cans of wet food vary vastly in the amount of calories they contain. At 11 years o age I'm guessing she's not too active, but could be wrong. If that's the case, you might want to feed about 220 to 250 calories per day, assuming she's her perfect weight. Just look at the cans of food to determine how to reach her caloric need

 

[fenderrae]

Did your vet have any guesses as to the root cause? Possibly a food intolerance, or IBD or something?

The vet did an exam and ran blood panels and everything looked okay, though her thyroid was slightly elevated from usual and she wanted to keep an eye on that. A few days before the illness started she had bumped her nose into a table while running and was bleeding, so I brought her to the emergency vet since my regular vet wasn't open. The injury ended up being fine, so I'm not sure if it was just a reaction to the stress of the visit or if she picked something up while she was there waiting to be seen (due to Covid the wait times were pretty crazy, she was there for about 6 hours). She doesn't do well at all with traveling/vet visits/any changes in scene really and has been grooming a little more than usual which might be part of it?

What brand of canned food do you plan to feed?

I've been using Hill's or Royal Canin since those are the one's my vet had originally given, but I know some people aren't a fan of their formulas. I usually give a little bit of pumpkin with the wet food since it makes it more appetizing to her and she is also prone to hairballs/constipation. Will try looking into the limited ingredient formulas...

Thanks all for the input everyone! I will keep trying to find something that works. In terms of dry food, does anyone know how long you should mix the old food with the new before fully switching over so as not to shock their system?

 

[cataholic07]

I would stop the dry entirely and see if she will eat non carrageenan free wet food as it will be easier on her tummy. Dry food isnt great for cats but much worse is they have chronic diarrhea as they will get extremely dehydrated. With wet food you do tend to need to find the type they like which can be a lot of trial and error. I find if they threw up on something they wont want it for a long time. And I usually rotate brands/flavors. I have one cat who wants something different twice a day. She will not eat the same wet food the entire day.