Tummy troubles food recommendations

ladytimedramon

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Over the last few weeks, it seems both my girls are having tummy troubles, so I'm fairly certain a food change is necessary.

It's been 2 weeks since I got the girls off the food with the fish and, despite the food change and the probiotic, the poo smells strong enough to kill a horse. They've been eating Fancy Feast, non-fish varieties. I noticed that there have been both very light and very dark stools that are somewhat soft. I called the vet, who is giving an antibiotic and sent me a list of their "recommended foods" - Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, Purina One, and Iams. I'm not 100% crazy about any of those brands to be honest. In the past Delilah has refused the Royal Canin and Science Diet wet, and I didn't like the quality of the Iams wet. We haven't tried the Purina yet.

I feed them a mix of wet and dry (mostly wet with dry for 2am in a timed feeder).

If it was me with a funky tummy I'd do the BRAT diet. Has anyone done any kind of a "food detox" to clear their kitty's tummy? Like dry food only for a week? I need to do something because the 2 of them are close to stinking me out of the apartment... and I'm under quarantine until Sunday 😭
 

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Over the last few weeks, it seems both my girls are having tummy troubles, so I'm fairly certain a food change is necessary.

It's been 2 weeks since I got the girls off the food with the fish and, despite the food change and the probiotic, the poo smells strong enough to kill a horse. They've been eating Fancy Feast, non-fish varieties. I noticed that there have been both very light and very dark stools that are somewhat soft. I called the vet, who is giving an antibiotic and sent me a list of their "recommended foods" - Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, Purina One, and Iams. I'm not 100% crazy about any of those brands to be honest. In the past Delilah has refused the Royal Canin and Science Diet wet, and I didn't like the quality of the Iams wet. We haven't tried the Purina yet.

I feed them a mix of wet and dry (mostly wet with dry for 2am in a timed feeder).

If it was me with a funky tummy I'd do the BRAT diet. Has anyone done any kind of a "food detox" to clear their kitty's tummy? Like dry food only for a week? I need to do something because the 2 of them are close to stinking me out of the apartment... and I'm under quarantine until Sunday 😭
I hope you don't have to go the route of a prescription diet. As they are pricey. My older boy now 3.5 yrs. Got I'll off some Blue Buffalo Adult canned Chicken. The vet put him on a bag of prescription science diet. 10# bag in excess of $50.00. Once the bag ran out. I went back to Blue Buffalo Wildness but no canned chicken. There hasn't been a problem since.
 
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ladytimedramon

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I hope you don't have to go the route of a prescription diet. As they are pricey. My older boy now 3.5 yrs. Got I'll off some Blue Buffalo Adult canned Chicken. The vet put him on a bag of prescription science diet. 10# bag in excess of $50.00. Once the bag ran out. I went back to Blue Buffalo Wildness but no canned chicken. There hasn't been a problem since.
I made a mistake on that once before with Delilah in my earlier days with her (turned out to not be a food issue whatsoever). The vet didn't say I needed prescription thankfully.

I can't give Delilah the Blue Buffalo anyways because of the menhaden fish meal.

This was the exact list in the email
Screenshot_20220119-140526_Docs.jpg
 

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Are the cats still taking the antibiotics? Depending on what they were/are taking, that could be causing the diarrhea.

As for the diet list, hm. If we didn't feed our cats grain-free, raw, and/or home cooked diets we would be in big old trouble. Cats need to eat meat, not grains or other carby vegetable matter like potatoes or peas. I'd take a good look at the ingredients of what you've been feeding: nearly anything, from grains to vegetable fillers or thickeners, could cause digestive issues.

If our cats seem a bit off, I usually feed them sometimes like Sheba chicken pate (since they really love it and it's fairly simple food, not too many ingredients) or some of Chewy's shredded Landmark food, which is very good stuff, just chicken and broth. The simpler the better for cats with tricky stomachs. One of our cats was very stinky until I realized potato was her problem. Once it was out of the cats' diet, she started smelling much nicer. :)
 
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ladytimedramon

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Actually I just picked up the antibiotics. They haven't had a dose yet. The name is Metronidazole.

I'm frustrated at the lack of Sheba varieties. Delilah got tired of just turkey and chicken. I would alternate those with the medleys and the chicken/beef.
 

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Actually I just picked up the antibiotics. They haven't had a dose yet. The name is Metronidazole.
That medicine tastes nasty to cats, both the liquid and pill. A Pill Pocket might help some if you have the pills. Nothing will mask the taste of the liquid unfortunately.

It's ok to disagree with the vet about food and to feed what you feel is best for your cat. I'm not surprised to see raw and home cooked diets on the vet's list of "no no foods". It's far too easy for pet owners to incorrectly feed those diets without proper supplementation.
 

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Over the last few weeks, it seems both my girls are having tummy troubles, so I'm fairly certain a food change is necessary.

It's been 2 weeks since I got the girls off the food with the fish and, despite the food change and the probiotic, the poo smells strong enough to kill a horse. They've been eating Fancy Feast, non-fish varieties. I noticed that there have been both very light and very dark stools that are somewhat soft. I called the vet, who is giving an antibiotic and sent me a list of their "recommended foods" - Royal Canin, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, Purina One, and Iams. I'm not 100% crazy about any of those brands to be honest. In the past Delilah has refused the Royal Canin and Science Diet wet, and I didn't like the quality of the Iams wet. We haven't tried the Purina yet.

I feed them a mix of wet and dry (mostly wet with dry for 2am in a timed feeder).

If it was me with a funky tummy I'd do the BRAT diet. Has anyone done any kind of a "food detox" to clear their kitty's tummy? Like dry food only for a week? I need to do something because the 2 of them are close to stinking me out of the apartment... and I'm under quarantine until Sunday 😭
Are you reading the ingredients? Maby cans say chicken but fish is included.or no longer feed dry and see if that's the problem
 
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ladytimedramon

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I've double checked the ingredients on everything. Since the girls don't seem too interested in just kibble I may try that.
 

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I have taken some pretty extreme measures when cats have diarrhea. I have fed boiled chicken breast (though we are having a chicken shortage here right now due to COVID) with Beachnut baby food chicken for a week or so with maybe a little white rice because it was a way to make sure no gums were involved and then started back on a limited-ingredient wet food. Of course, if you are quarantined, access to stuff might be harder. I was just thinking that some Fancy Feast cans have guar gum which might be upsetting their tummies. The Gravy Lovers Fancy Feast use wheat gluten and corn starch rather than guar gum. So maybe no gums for a while would help.

Also, I respect that everyone here has budgets and products they do not want to feed or cannot afford, and some people live in remote areas, so delivery might be an issue if you are quarantined. Plus, the best food will not help if they won't eat it.

If I were desperate and had access to Petsmart, I would try the Royal Canin Sensitive Digestion dry food (you can start with a few kibbles with some Fancy Feast maybe to see if it helps), but they want $28 for 7 lbs, but I tried it with one of my cats years ago, and it really helped stop the diarrhea. It was called Special 33 back then but is same formula - or even the wet (think they are having issues with shortages of the loaf pate, though, which has no fish but the slices do, but they have a pouch in my Petsmart stores here Royal Canin® Feline Health Nutrition Sensitive Digestion Chunk in Gravy Wet Cat Food | cat Wet Food | PetSmart).

Please, keep us posted on how things go!
 

mysterylover

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Oops! I missed where you said she did not like the Royal Canin wet, but the reviews on the Sensitive Digestion Dry use words like "miracle" and such. It might be worth buying a bag and seeing if you could get them to eat a handful as a treat, so you know who ate what. If it helps, you could maybe do "treats" of it for a while (and maybe you get a break while in quarantine LOL!). Royal Canin® Sensitive Digestion Adult Dry Cat Food | cat Dry Food | PetSmart

I was thinking they might deliver to you, if you have one where you are. I am not a fan of the ingredients necessarily, but in the end, if it worked for my cats, I'd feed some. It might not even take that much to help without constipating them -and maybe keep with the Fancy Feast for now.
 
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ladytimedramon

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Well, the "dry only" was a failure. I tried giving them dry for dinner last night and the 2 of them acted like Mom had lost her mind. They know when it's "gushy food time" and when it's "kibble time". They know their kibble is in the timed drop feeder and their gushy food is in plates or bowls or now their microchip feeders (which one cat has accepted and the other cat is scared of). I never free feed. Delilah is 2 pounds overweight, Fancy is 2 pounds underweight (she was adopted at 4.5 pounds, got her up to 6.5).

This morning I gave them what I had in wet. I'll try to do some research and see what I can get delivered.
 
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ladytimedramon

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I had a thought. How long does a food take to "get out of their system"? It's been about 2 weeks since I stopped feeding the girls the food with the fish in it.
 

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Things used to be so much simplier, didn't it?! I am having issues with my one cat and getting ready to start my own thread.
I feed mine Fancy Feast but have noticed when giving them the tuna pate, the one throws it up within 15 minutes or so. That tells me something. The tuna pate even looks odd to me and smells strange. I think the other flavors are OK. Sometimes I think in an effort to please them, we end up creating monsters by opening up cans of food, trying different dry foods. I am making a mistake right now doing that and I have bags of food that they don't like. Why can't they make sample pouches of dry food instead of 10 lb. bags?
 
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ladytimedramon

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Things used to be so much simplier, didn't it?! I am having issues with my one cat and getting ready to start my own thread.
I feed mine Fancy Feast but have noticed when giving them the tuna pate, the one throws it up within 15 minutes or so. That tells me something. The tuna pate even looks odd to me and smells strange. I think the other flavors are OK. Sometimes I think in an effort to please them, we end up creating monsters by opening up cans of food, trying different dry foods. I am making a mistake right now doing that and I have bags of food that they don't like. Why can't they make sample pouches of dry food instead of 10 lb. bags?
It was easier when I had just one cat lol! Fancy doesn't seem to be as picky as Delilah in general (knock on wood).

I discovered a while back I can't give Delilah anything with fish, and for some reason Wellness (even though I don't see fish) seemed to set her stomach off as well. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that fish is probably a no-no for Fancy as well.
 

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My Fiona cat will throw up Fancy Feast tuna pate, but she tolerates the flaked tuna very well. I think a lot of cats are allergic to seafood. There are so many other options, we really have other things to choose besides fish.
 
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ladytimedramon

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Thankfully the antibiotics are doing the trick. They've been on them for 3 days, along with the probiotic, no food changes (other than getting rid of the dry with fish). This morning one of the girls had used the litter box just before I got up (there is a 20 min timer on the scoop cycle) and no smell. I can take my time on finding a new food.
 
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