Still struggling with food issues

Mrsty1203

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I’m having a problem with my newly adopted 4 year old. She apparently has chicken allergy so food is an issue. She’s been sort of diagnosed with IBS/IBD. Plus she is picky… usually refuses most new foods. Her proteins she seems to be able to eat are turkey, duck (sometimes) and fish. One day i offered a different Fancy Feast turkey that had a creamy gravy on it… surprisingly she gobbled up the whole can. About 36 hours later had diarrhea for 3 days. Just once a day thankfully. Finally got her on a boiled turkey and sweet potato diet that seemed to straighten her out. Put her back on regular food and a day later it started again so went back to the bland diet for a few more days. She’s been back to her usual food and good for at least a week, had a nice normal poop yesterday and was eating well. Yesterday I mixed a little bit of a new turkey food in with her usual food. She didn’t want to eat it, so I don’t think she got much at all. Woke up this morning to find 2 small vomit piles and a small pile of diarrhea and she will not eat anything, not even a treat. Obviously doesn’t feel well at all. Everything had been going so well! This drives me nuts. I’ve had a lot of cats and I understand sometimes when something just doesn’t agree with them they won’t eat anything, but then things usually go back to normal pretty quickly. If she isn’t a little more interested in food by supper time tonight I’ll call the vet for an appointment.
 

KSKat

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HI. I am sorry you are having food issues, I know how frustrating that can be. I went through that with my beloved Luna, but with persistence we figured out what she could and couldn't have, and she lived to be almost 17 years old. One thing to be aware of is that even if the label says the food is turkey or duck, it probably has a good amount of chicken in it. Check the ingredient list. What I did with my cat was switch to limited ingredient formulas, and figure out from there what worked best for her. She did exceptionally well on freeze-dried raw foods, Primal I believe was the brand that worked best for us. In the end, she was on Halo brand canned food, we did quail and rabbit formulas. Anyway, these are all things you probably already know. It just takes a lot of trial and error with food sensitivities. It's frustrating and hard to see your baby not feel well. Hang in there!
 

maggie101

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I’m having a problem with my newly adopted 4 year old. She apparently has chicken allergy so food is an issue. She’s been sort of diagnosed with IBS/IBD. Plus she is picky… usually refuses most new foods. Her proteins she seems to be able to eat are turkey, duck (sometimes) and fish. One day i offered a different Fancy Feast turkey that had a creamy gravy on it… surprisingly she gobbled up the whole can. About 36 hours later had diarrhea for 3 days. Just once a day thankfully. Finally got her on a boiled turkey and sweet potato diet that seemed to straighten her out. Put her back on regular food and a day later it started again so went back to the bland diet for a few more days. She’s been back to her usual food and good for at least a week, had a nice normal poop yesterday and was eating well. Yesterday I mixed a little bit of a new turkey food in with her usual food. She didn’t want to eat it, so I don’t think she got much at all. Woke up this morning to find 2 small vomit piles and a small pile of diarrhea and she will not eat anything, not even a treat. Obviously doesn’t feel well at all. Everything had been going so well! This drives me nuts. I’ve had a lot of cats and I understand sometimes when something just doesn’t agree with them they won’t eat anything, but then things usually go back to normal pretty quickly. If she isn’t a little more interested in food by supper time tonight I’ll call the vet for an appointment.
My cat peaches does not always want to eat in the morning. A food timer at night has helped. Just small portion. She is fed 3x a day plus 6am with a timer. She licks her food so I no longer give her pate. Thinly shredded chicken which I know your cat can't eat or farmina quail and pumpkin. She can eat weruva chicken Frick a zee but not tiki which has bigger pieces. Also cooked ground pork with ez complete. Fish is a high allergin so be sure to read the ingredients. Also give her proviable dc probiotic
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Totally agree that you must read the ingredients vs the name of the food. Almost of the FF foods contain fish, even though they may say Beef Pate, or Chicken Pate or whatever. So it's very probable that they may also contain chicken. Chicken IS a common allergen, as is fish.

There is a big difference between IBS and IBD, so it would be good is you could get a firm diagnosis. IBD can be treated somewhat with certain meds and good foods play a huge part in controlling it. Freeze dried raw, or frozen, or homemade might be the way to go. You can get pre-mixes to add to the meat and make them 100% nutritionally complete, even with your turkey and sweet potato mix that she did well on.

Here is the link to our raw and homemade forum: Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food
 
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Mrsty1203

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My cat peaches does not always want to eat in the morning. A food timer at night has helped. Just small portion. She is fed 3x a day plus 6am with a timer. She licks her food so I no longer give her pate. Thinly shredded chicken which I know your cat can't eat or farmina quail and pumpkin. She can eat weruva chicken Frick a zee but not tiki which has bigger pieces. Also cooked ground pork with ez complete. Fish is a high allergin so be sure to read the ingredients. Also give her proviable dc probiotic
Thanks so much for the helpful hints. She is already on Proviable daily. I haven’t tried ground pork with her yet, but great idea. What is EZ complete and where can I get it? What brand of cat food have you found with quail? I’ve tried lamb, venison… she won’t eat it. Occasional luck with duck but not regularly and it’s expensive to be throwing away all the time. I’ve never had any luck with pumpkin for any of my cats so I didn’t even try it with Stella. I was very happy to see her willing to eat steamed sweet potato so I’m sticking with that for now. I’ve been giving her a few Stella & Chewy freeze dried raw daily. She’ll eat the duck or turkey. Bad part is she doesn’t like them soaked, she wants them dry… so I always put a small bit of water underneath the biscuits which she’ll lick up. But she’s a good water drinker so as long as she does that. I would cook food for her regularly if that’s what it takes but I know that is not nutritionally complete, especially without taurine, so I only do the bland diet when she’s had a bout of diarrhea. She’s a nibbler unless she’s really hungry, which I try to avoid. I feed her in the morning when we get up, usually a 3 oz can of food which she’ll eat by noon. Then she gets a light snack at noon. At supper she gets a can that she’ll nibble at and I put out a little food at bedtime which is usually gone by morning. Funny she just always seems to want something whenever we sit down to eat. I hate leaving food out too long if it’s not dry food, but that’s the only way she’ll eat. If anything gets too dried up looking I pick it up but she doesn’t like me to do that and starts screaming at me for something. She always wants something in her bowl whether she’s eating it or not, lol!
 

maggie101

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I was following this thread. I might try it if the probiotic doesn't help. Ezcomplete is a powder from food for life. Just Google ezcomplete for info. Peaches likes Farmina quail,duck,or venison.expensive

 
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Mrsty1203

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I went to the pet store that I know and got some things to try. I am DETERMINED to get her off FF. At least I have found she’ll do Stella & Chewy biscuits. But she doesn’t like them with water…. I got a brand Just Turkey, Just Pork, some of the Famina ND formulas. She has had that Just Turkey before also and seemed to like it so I don’t feel like I have nothing to give her or transition too fast with nothing else that she’s used to. I have gotten her off all the Temptations treats and only give her freeze dried 1 ingredient treats already. So I’m really hoping things will get better now. Thanks for all the encouragement.
She’s not a very agreeable patient at the vet’s… next time I bring her in they want me to give her a big dose of Gabapentin. But I am definitely going to ask for a more detailed check up with all these issues. She’s had dewormers and antibiotics and has now been on the probiotics for quite a while. She was eating by the afternoon, so whatever if was has passed.
 
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Mrsty1203

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Just for anyone interested in this issue that runs into it searching for answers for their kitty. Stella is in very good shape now. She gets fed mostly Applause. While it does have a lot of rice in it, it must be helping because her stools are consistently normal. Sometimes she’ll eat a brand called Just Juicy. They have a pork flavor she’ll eat. She does not have a chicken allergy at all affecting her digestion. Unfortunately she only seems to like any flavor of fowl, chicken, duck, turkey, And she does like tuna. No dark meet, lol…. She gets some Stella & Chewy biscuits on occasion. She gets only 1 ingredient freeze dried treats. Absolutely no Temptations! She gets a daily probiotic (Proviable) that I think has really helped. Can get it without prescription from Chewy.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Just for anyone interested in this issue that runs into it searching for answers for their kitty. Stella is in very good shape now. She gets fed mostly Applause. While it does have a lot of rice in it, it must be helping because her stools are consistently normal. Sometimes she’ll eat a brand called Just Juicy. They have a pork flavor she’ll eat. She does not have a chicken allergy at all affecting her digestion. Unfortunately she only seems to like any flavor of fowl, chicken, duck, turkey, And she does like tuna. No dark meet, lol…. She gets some Stella & Chewy biscuits on occasion. She gets only 1 ingredient freeze dried treats. Absolutely no Temptations! She gets a daily probiotic (Proviable) that I think has really helped. Can get it without prescription from Chewy.
So glad things have straightened themselves out. Thanks for the update.
 
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