NV 95% Beef or Just Juicy Pork Stew for an IBD cat?

[mommytabby]

 
Good luck with finding a food for your cat. 

My guy was diagnosed with IBD last year. He is also very fussy.

Last year I found a few cans of the NV Pork. He ate it!!! However, I could not find any more of it. I never thought about the guar gum or carageen. I did buy a case of Hound and Gatos pork, he ate a few cans and then stopped. I also tried the NV lamb. He ate it, however I had the same problem with finding it. 

I tried the H&G lamb.. again--a few cans and then that was it.

If you decide you would like to try some of the H&G, then PM me, I can send some your way. I have been donating it to the shelter. 

I finally ended up switching him over to rabbit. That was the one which he seemed to eat consistently. I know you cannot use that. My guy is allergic to chicken also.

I am giving him the NV rabbit. I am using the Pride line---produced by Nature's variety.

NV is a very good line of food. Pride is also good. NV, at least the rabbit is a mixture of Pork and Rabbit. 

Another one is Wild Calling. I think I ordered it through Pet360. They are a bit pricey, you can only order a case of it, but they have a lot of novel proteins. Also, the Vet may have some limited ingredient food. I was surprised that my Vet did have some rabbit.

Cats who come down with IBD are pretty impossible to feed; and with them being so fussy, makes us humans want to tear our hair out....

Wishing you the best in your quest....

Pork, for some unknown reason is very hard to find!! I used to see a lot of it in the store, now, you can only order it...

Or try a speciality store. Is there a PetLife around you. I found they had a lot of 'different' brands...many of the smaller stores do, and will order what you may need. 

Hi Artiemom,

How is Artie doing? Does he take any medications? Hope he is doing well!

I think Tabby’s situation is really similar to Artie. AND yes, I have been donating A LOT of cat canned foods to the shelter, too! I really feel you…

Thank you for your kind offer of the H&G, but I can’t feed food that has Guar Gum.

Most of IBD kitties doing well on NV rabbit, but not for Tabby. I hope the NV rabbit agrees with him! Pride is good, too, but they use chicken-liver or something, so I can’t use it. She is allergic to poultry… I’ve never heard of Wild Calling, I’ll check it out!

Thank you so much for your response and advice!! Best wishes for Artie!! 

 

[mommytabby]

 
That's too bad

I later remembered Evangers pork canned food but it also has guar gum and it's also not a complete diet. Neither is Wysong's Epigen / Au Jus canned food which are single ingredient. It must really stink to find suitable foods for a cat with dietary needs who can't eat certain ingredients.

A lot of vets don't recommend raw or home cooked diets because they simply don't know much about it and/or have had experiences with clients who fed unbalanced diets. You don't need the vet's permission to feed a raw or home cooked diet. As long as the diet is balanced and isn't affecting the health issue, then it's great for your cat IMO no matter what the vet says

It's a lot easier to control ingredients with a raw or home cooked diet. There's a Raw and Home Cooked forum here on TCS if you want to browse around for recipies and tips.

Hi LTS3,
Yes, You are right, I don't need the vet's permission to feed a raw or home cooked diet. I’m just afraid to try it… You know, she used to eat raw food, when she was little, but the vet wanted me to stop feeding raw food, so I did. She didn’t like the raw food anyway, so it was okay back then… Hmm… I’ll read the Home Cooked forum! Thank you so much!!

 

[mommytabby]

Hi everyone, Thank you so much for your advice and kind words! 
I’ve read the forums that you gave me the links. The Nature's Logic canned food seemed good for Tabby, but my local pet store didn’t have it. I bought NV 95% Beef again, and also NV 95% Salmon. My vet told me to stay away from fish, but I’m running out of options… Tabby eats three times a day. Although, she is fussy today, at dinner, she ate okay, still she couldn’t finish all of it. I hope she is still fine with the NV 95% Beef. I don’t want to change food frequently. 

 

[artiemom]

Hi MommyTabby!

Artie is Artie---good days and bad days. He is on a lot of medications. He takes the prendisolone 0.5cc daily, has a probiotic, takes 1/2 pepcid tablet. He also has issues with constipation. For that he takes cisapride twice a day, and I add miralax twice a day to his food. 

Yes, I think you are correct about the other flavors of the Pride line. I think they do have chicken in them. That is another reason why I went to the Rabbit. 

Wild Calling is a good company. I even contacted them about what type of liver they use in their rabbit food. They were very helpful. My my issue, they use rabbit liver in the rabbit food along with rabbit. It is very stinky. 

I was able to find a couple cans somewhat locally, and then ordered a case of it. I know they also have alligator and bison, and venison. 

Good luck...

 

[LTS3]

 
Wild Calling is a good company. I even contacted them about what type of liver they use in their rabbit food. They were very helpful. My my issue, they use rabbit liver in the rabbit food along with rabbit. It is very stinky. 

Widl Calling also has guar gum which MommyTabby is trying to avoid.

 

[artiemom]

Oops I did not realize that

 

[lisahe]

You are welcome! The EZcomplete supplement is AAFCO approved so it is a balanced diet. (Our vet is skeptical about raw and homemade foods, too, I think she's seen some bad situations where people didn't feed balanced diets...)

EZcomplete does have chicken liver in it, though, which might make it not work for your cat. (The ingredients are here.) There are other supplements, though, Alnutrin and U-Stew among them.

 

[mommytabby]

 
Hi MommyTabby!

Artie is Artie---good days and bad days. He is on a lot of medications. He takes the prendisolone 0.5cc daily, has a probiotic, takes 1/2 pepcid tablet. He also has issues with constipation. For that he takes cisapride twice a day, and I add miralax twice a day to his food. 

Yes, I think you are correct about the other flavors of the Pride line. I think they do have chicken in them. That is another reason why I went to the Rabbit. 

Wild Calling is a good company. I even contacted them about what type of liver they use in their rabbit food. They were very helpful. My my issue, they use rabbit liver in the rabbit food along with rabbit. It is very stinky. 

I was able to find a couple cans somewhat locally, and then ordered a case of it. I know they also have alligator and bison, and venison. 

Good luck...

Hi Artiemom, Thank you for sharing! Oh, I’m sorry that he’s still on a lot of medications.  

How often does he eat a day? When Tabby was in bad shape, I gave her meal four times a day. Which helped her a lot. Now she eats three times a day. (Before she got IBD, she used to eat twice a day.)  

I really hope he will get better soon! 

 

[mommytabby]

 
Widl Calling also has guar gum which MommyTabby is trying to avoid.

Hi LTS3, Thank you for the info again! 

 

[mommytabby]

 
EZcomplete does have chicken liver in it, though, which might make it not work for your cat. (The ingredients are here.) There are other supplements, though, Alnutrin and U-Stew among them.

Hi LisaHE, Oh no… But thank you so much for looking it up for me and Tabby! That’s good to know that there are other supplements! 

 

[mommytabby]

Thank you everyone for the replies and advices!!

This morning, Tabby refused to eat NV 95% beef… So I gave her NV LID Lamb, and she ate half of the plate…

This afternoon, she didn’t want to eat Lamb, so I gave her beef, then she ate it.

For the dinner, I gave her Beef, and she cleaned her plate!!

My vet wants me to stick the same canned food for as long as possible, but for now, I will rotate her food with beef and lamb. 

 

[goholistic]

 
Thank you so much GoHolistic! 

...

Could you tell me which fresh lean cooked beef do you give him?

....

Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I would buy a fresh lean cut of beef at the grocery store; he seemed to like "chuck steak" (that's what the package said). I was supplementing homecooked with Balance It at the time because he was a super sensitive kitty, and I needed to start with something more hypoallergenic.

 

[mommytabby]

 
Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I would buy a fresh lean cut of beef at the grocery store; he seemed to like "chuck steak" (that's what the package said). I was supplementing homecooked with Balance It at the time because he was a super sensitive kitty, and I needed to start with something more hypoallergenic.

Thank you GoHolistic! 

 

[mommytabby]

 
Oh, how about that...I just checked Chewy.com and I don't see the NV LID Pork listed. Interesting. 

I'm glad Tabby has been doing well overall. I will say that one thing I learned from having a cat with chronic pancreatitis/IBD is that sudden fussiness can mean that they're having a flare and not feeling well. Sometimes you still have the change the food either way, but it might be worth checking in with your vet and temporarily adjusting Tabby's IBD treatments if you start noticing other symptoms that indicate a flare-up.

Sebastian actually did really well on the NV Beef for quite awhile, but I was mixing it with another food (FirstMate Salmon) to bring down the fat content a bit. If Tabby could handle the lamb without a problem, then fat must not be an issue for her (the lamb is fattier than the beef). Anyway, I kept going back to the beef/salmon mix when a new food I would try wouldn't agree with him. (Yes, I've tried ALL kinds of foods!) He seemed to handle beef really well. I also gave him fresh lean cooked beef that was supplemented, and he did well with that too.

There was a time when Sebastian was on Lotus Just Juicy Pork, and he did well with it then. He was on a rotational diet. When his disease progressed, he didn't seem to tolerate the pork any longer. Maybe it was the pork. Or maybe it was the agar-agar. I know it wasn't the potato because he was still eating the FirstMate Salmon okay, which contains potato. Just Juicy Pork might be okay for Tabby. You really won't know until you try. Every cat is different. I know it's easier said than done with these IBD kitties! 

  I hope the beef agrees with her! 

Tabby had a bad day yesterday. I opened both of canned foods, Beef and Lamb, but she just ate a half of her plate. I bought NV 95% Salmon, so I'll try this morning. Some people don't like giving fish to their kitties, but I'll try. Glad to know @GoHolistic uses salmon!

 

[artiemom]

When Artie has a really bad day or 2,  and will not eat, open up a can of Solid Gold Tuna. Or the Tuna with Sea Breem, but usually just the plain tuna.

Solid Gold is a good company. I only buy the Tuna from them. They are fish based. 

If Artie refuses that, then I know he is really sick.

I only use the Tuna in case of an emergency. Usually 1/2 a can is enough to jump start his appetite. 

 

[Kat0121]

 
When Artie has a really bad day or 2,  and will not eat, open up a can of Solid Gold Tuna. Or the Tuna with Sea Breem, but usually just the plain tuna.

Solid Gold is a good company. I only buy the Tuna from them. They are fish based. 

If Artie refuses that, then I know he is really sick.

I only use the Tuna in case of an emergency. Usually 1/2 a can is enough to jump start his appetite. 

How is that handsome little sweetheart doing? 

 

[mommytabby]

 
When Artie has a really bad day or 2,  and will not eat, open up a can of Solid Gold Tuna. Or the Tuna with Sea Breem, but usually just the plain tuna.

Solid Gold is a good company. I only buy the Tuna from them. They are fish based. 

If Artie refuses that, then I know he is really sick.

I only use the Tuna in case of an emergency. Usually 1/2 a can is enough to jump start his appetite. 

Hi Artiemom,
That’s good to know! I’m sure Tabby will love it too! She’s never tried a cat can of Tuna, but she goes crazy if I open the canned tuna for my salad!! This morning I tried to feed her Beef and she only ate a little, so tired Lamb, but she refused it, so I opened the salmon canned food, then she ate it okay. My guess is she will eat a few can and then stop…

BTW, I don’t know why, but Tabby really loves bananas! This morning, I had a banana, and she wanted to eat it, so I gave her a little bit. She was so happy! So, I guess she is not really sick, then. Haha. 

 

[mommytabby]

I hope Tabby doesn’t having a flare, but I’m worried. I emailed my vet and told her fussiness. If my vet wants to check her, I’ll take her…

poor Tabby,,, she really hates visiting the vet… 

 

[lisahe]

I wonder if Tabby just doesn't like the NVI food very much: our cats (not IBD cats but with picky stomachs and palates) had similar reactions to it. They'd eat some but not very enthusiastically after the first few bites, and rarely would they ever finish even a small can. I gave up on it because it's expensive and I was always picking out the peas and carrots anyway!

 

[artiemom]

I agree with LisaHE, He could be fussing.. My test is by feeding only ONE can of the tuna, that would tell you if he is fussing or not.

You do not want to feed more than one can because Tabby will end up being spoiled to that one type and brand. Too much fish is not good for cats. 

Once he gets a whiff of the tuna, you could try using it as a topper for his regular food. Perhaps you can 'trick' him.

I think you have tried other foods also. 

Are there other beef or lamb foods available to you, without carageen or guar gum?

I know, you can drive yourself crazy to get these cats to eat something. My regular vet told me that it seems to her that the fussy cats are the ones who end up with IBD...wonder????

@Kat0121   Artie is Artie... He is slowing down. He is 12 yrs old now. He sleeps a lot. He has been since he had his last b-day and his last dental (coincidence) at same time. Then he had that "flare'. Artie came out of the flare, but he has just not been as active or vocal since then. He eats somewhere between 2 1/4 to 3 small cans of food a day. Holding his weight.

His latest thing is leaving me pieces of "poop" presents everywhere or a schemer of a 'present' on my pillow cases...

I am not sure if I should cut back on his miralax or not.. I absolutely hate to call the Vet..As it is he sees the specialist at the end of June. I think I may just contact his regular vet.. He is a puzzle.. Hate to take him off the cisapride or cut the miralax because it is a good dose now... He does have  a lot of gas...

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• artiemom
• May 26, 2016

Ok-- I am not hijacking this thread anymore...PM me if you would like to chat about Artie...