Nutro Max & Ibs Kitty

[ZepMom]

Nutro Max is discontinuing my IBS kitty's food. We have tried one prescription food from the vet's office during flare ups, but he would eat it last time. IMO the ingredients aren't great (corn is the one that comes to mind). So, I've called vet's office for suggestions & been researching (hours reading ingredients, called several pet food companies & such).

The formula he's eating (have about 4 weeks supply) is the Chicken & Liver (5.5oz pate). Nutro/Mar's suggestion was to try one of their 3oz formulas, but I think at that price I should be able to get abetter quality food. The other Nutro formulas are not identical anyway. We also have his "brother" on Nutro Max Turkey & Giblets.

Any suggestions? Vet suggested Blue Buffalo Freedom Indoor Cat Adult Chicken Recipe (carrots, sweet potatoes, cellulose, cranberries & blueberries are a hang ups with this one). or Nulo Turkey & Chicken Grain Free (tuna, cranberries, tomato, dried kelp, yucca schidigera extract are the hang ups with this one).

Also, looked at Hound & Gatos, Natural Balance Ultra to name a few.

 

[duckpond]

I think the nutro minced foods, like the minced chicken and sliced turkey are good if he can tolerate them. I feed my cats these a lot, some of the chicken with tuna as well. It does have guar gum, in these flavors, but not as much as a lot of foods do. and no Carrageenan in these flavors. I am a fan of the nutro minced foods, they are higher in protein, low carb, and dont have all the odd ingredients that many foods do these days.. some of their others do have Carrageenan which many, myself included, think causes digestive problems.

personally i am not of Blue food, almost all of their foods have Carrageenan. they also have a lot more fat, and less protein than the Nutro minced foods. Blue has recently been purchased by a different company as well, they may or may not change the food, i dont know. But i would be a little hesitant to get my guys on it, just in case.

I do feed some of the Nulo Minced foods. not the others, but my guys do like the minced flavors.

if you guys like the minced and chunky foods look at some of the american journey minced foods you can get on chewy, and merick back country in those black pouches. and Whole earth farms has some chunky/minced type foods that might be similar.

a few places to check foods that i like to look at

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

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Gosh, I'm really surprised your cat does well on Max Cat since it has both guar gum and carrageenan, but you did say he has IBS vs IBD, so maybe that's why .

Of all the foods you listed, my choice would be Hounds and Gatos, but really, it's whatever your little furry friend will eat. You already said he wouldn't eat what the Vet gave you during flare-ups (I think that's what you meant to say ), so you may just have to experiment until you find something you both can agree to.

 

[ZepMom]

I meant he wouldn't eat the one prescription food from the vet (Hill's i/d I think).

The Nutro Max we use is in 5.5oz cans & is a pate (ground). The 3oz cans would cost almost double what we have been paying. Guess I'm a little hung up companies repackaging into these new "portion" (tiny servings) & charge a premium for less. Nutro is an mid grade food at best IMO. Prefer not to pay $1 a can for 3oz unless we can't find something else he will eat.

We are also giving him about 1 tbsp of dry Nulo duck & cod as a treat each dry. He did eat 4Health grain free chicken recipe for 7-8 months. He had a flare up in January & finally starting eating his brother's food (the Nutro Max).

As far as IBS/IBD, they're guessing. No way to know unless they do an invasive procedure.

 

[duckpond]

If you have not, you may want to try the fancy feast classics? My son has a IB cat, and this is the only food she can tolerate without the Diarrhea returning. and she has been on all the meds, all the prescription foods, nothing worked for more than a few weeks until they started feeding her ff classics. she is fine, as long as that is all she eats. She cannot have ANY dry, or it gets bad again. And most wet foods set her off as well.

 

[ZepMom]

I appreciate everyone's post & will check out the links (thanks duckpond).

I'm continuing to research online, but its a slow process & I don't have a lot of time. Besides, its starting to get to me. Seriously, there's so much to consider... If I find what I think is a good food, it expensive (or at least a lot more than Nutro Max) or has some ingredient that's questionable and so on.

Guess, I just need to pick a few & just let him try them. Just hate have to switch him around since he's doing so well. Took 3 to 4 weeks on new food to see "solid" results everyday after his flare up last May. Last flare up in January was pretty mild compare to the previous one in May. Just trying to do my best to keep him healthy & happy.

Thanks again for share your thoughts.

 

[ZepMom]

UPDATE - We are currently feeding 2 wet foods from Natural Balance in the Premium Ultra line. Mostly Turkey & Giblets and a little of the Indoor Chicken formula. Transitioned slowly over 8 weeks or so back in May/June.

So far both kitties are doing well on this food. The one with sensitive stomach/IBS seems to have gained weight. Has annual vet appt later today. So we'll see.

There are some controversial ingredients (guar gum & carrageenan), but the other wet foods we've used also contained one or the other (or both). However, these Natural Balance formulas seemed quite similar to Nutro Max.

IB kitty is also on Purina Fortiflora Probotic recommend by vet since May 2017. Did try another, but he still had issues.

Still using Nulo dry as treat & have increased slightly. Gets 2-3 Greenies Chicken treats most days. I'd like to cut these out, but his brother gets these for dental issues. Actually both have stomatisis & only IB kitty tolerates getting his teeth brushed.

So, I wanted to give an update & say thank you again for the help back in April.

 

[verna davies]

So pleased that they are doing better, what a relief for you. On the dental issue, one of my cats has gingivitis so doesnt like having her teeth cleaned so I put a little toothpaste on the end of a cotton bud and put the paste in her mouth. I use Logic and it claims to work without brushing. For me it's better than nothing
.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

So glad things are going well