New cat, new diet

[paulla-tilly]

Hi there... *this is a bit long!*

I got a cat from the rescue centre about 2 months ago, she was on the hill's(?) dry biscuit food, which is EXTREMELY expensive! and also not too common to buy...

we changed her to the go-cat dry biscuits slowly (intergrating it in with a bit of the hills)

we found out the other week that she was being sick in places, behind the sofa, under the window, out the way etc. we took her to the vets, he told us she might be allergic to a certain protein found in the biscuits, and that she would need to be put onto wet food.

fine... paid the vet bill (was poor by the end of it !), put her on the special sensitive food that he suggested, plus some medication - pro-kolin and anti-biotics - she was lovely! no vomiting, no loose stools, everything was wonderful...

the special food stopped and we carried on giving her the wet food, she vomited again, back to the vets! more bills later, he suggested that she may need a blood test doing to see what she is actually allergic to...

she's been back a week now, the vet suggested giving her 1 special bland food pouch and a 'normal' wet food pouch a day... thing is, she's just sat basically begging us for food all the time, she's now on 3 pouches a day, which i don't know is normal, but then she's gulping this all down and then begging for more about 2 hours later...

is this normal? should we be giving her more than this? i've never really owned a cat before so i have no idea... and i don't want to be phoning the vets every 10 minutes to ask him...

sorry to go on!

 

[lmunsie]

I don't know a ton about this. But when I got a new cat and was switching his food (nutrience to wellness/orijens) he threw up everyday, sometimes twice a day for about 2 weeks (even though I did it gradually). I was really worried and also took him to the vet but it turns out he was just sensitive (no allergies) and between the move, new owner and the new food he was being tummy sick. It's been a month and a half now, he is completely on wellness and orijens and hasn't been sick since! (ok once, because he ate waaaaaaaay too fast)
Maybe you aren't giving the foods enough time and he is just sensitive, I know it's hard seeing them sick though!

 

[urbantigers]

3 pouches a day sounds about right if no dry is being fed (that's how much Jaffa eats). Is she used to set meal times or free feeding? If she's used to the latter it may just be a case of her getting used to being fed at certain times only. Mine don't ask for food between mealtimes because they know when they get fed and that there is nothing in between those times.

I'd keep your cat on the sensitivity food for a little while longer. Which 'normal' wet food are you feeding her? It may be a long process of trial and error to find out what foods she can tolerate. Natures menu, hi life, applaws, almo nature and bozita are all good quality wet foods that don't have any grains in them. Perfect Fit also do a sensitivity version (but Perfect Fit has a lower meat content compared with the others I've mentioned and I don't think it's grain free).

I'd also recommend a probiotic if you're not already using one. Lacto B is excellent. Worked great with Jaffa when he had loose stools and I know of someone else whose bengals had diarrhoea and nothing the vet suggested worked until she tried Lacto B.

http://www.petmeds.co.uk/Products/La...4Pa38Ta38Ochz0

 

[paulla-tilly]

when she was at the rescue centre they used to just give them a bowl of biscuits, which she obv just grazed on all day, which i must admit, we carried on this when we brought her home...

then when the 'hills' food had finished we put her on to 'go-cat' dry food, which she was then being sick on... so thats when we took her to the vets.

we gave her 'whiskas' for a little while, but i think that's made her loose, so we then went to the 'go-cat' wet food, which i think (finally) she's settled, although she is still a little loose at the moment....

when we next go to the vets (they have to sign the insurance forms) i will ask him about the pro-biotic things because she obv needs something.

with the pouched food we've been giving her 2 pouches in the morning (due to us both being out the house from 7:30am to about 6:30pm through the week. then one on the night, the vet said this was fine, and shouldn't effect her, but i don't know if i should increase it? or am i just being a soft touch haha