Wet Food Advice

[sami125]

Hello everyone! First time posting, but I've been a big fan of the site ever since I've gotten my two bengals, Meili and Bobbles a little over a year ago! I was hoping some of you may offer some advice/tricks or even suggestions for a new food.

Ever since we got Meili we've had problems with her having bloody stools, after a lot of negative tests we changed her diet to Hill's I/D. However, Meili is a very picky eater (such a princess ) and wouldn't touch the wet hill's i/d after some time. My boyfriend and I have tried multiple different wet foods (we try to stay grain free) and it's been a battle.. either she won't eat it or the bloody stools return. She seems to only like food in gravies.

FINALLY we found MUSE and both of our cats really enjoy it and eat every drop of it. However, they both now have explosive diarrhea (no blood and fecal test has been negative). I thought it was just the transition, but it's been a few weeks now.

I saw some people recommending using Firm up! but I'm a little concerned that using that is just masking symptoms, am I wrong?

Did you ever have these problems? What did you do to solve it?!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Can you try something like tractor supply's paws and claws kitchen selects (it's somewhat like fancy feast), or Purina one true instinct?

Before you do this though, give them 50:50 unseasoned boiled chicken and white rice for a couple meals, you need to get their stomachs settled down.
Also you might consider adding some unflavored Pedialyte because although they've been eating well they're losing it from the diarrhea.

 

[Wile]

Hi Sami,
Such cute bengals! I'm really sorry to hear Meili is having trouble. You could try some kind of product at the direction of your vet, but I personally think that you need to do more testing to isolate the cause rather than just treating the symptom. I assume the vet eliminated parasites during testing? It's not unheard of for catteries to be infected with giardia and less commonly TF. If it is definitely not that, have you ever looked into IBD with your vet as a possible explanation?

One thing you should avoid doing with a cat that has digestive issues is changing their food a lot. If she did well on the I/D I would stick to it until you can get a proper diagnosis, then make changes. Changing foods frequently for a cat that already has digestive issues is asking for trouble. If she absolutely won't eat the I/D I'd look for a simple food without too many ingredients, like a limited ingredient diet. I know Nature's variety instinct makes a few limited ingredient diets, and a lot of people on this forum like Rawz canned food.

 

[sabrinah]

I use Firm Up! to enlarge my cat's stool and better clean out her anal glands - it's the only way she doesn't get impacted and infected! It is a miracle worker in my books, so it might work a bit too well for you. It would just be covering up the fact that something in Muse doesn't sit well with their stomachs. Have you tried mixing Muse with the Hills? It might be tasty enough to get her to eat it and firm up her stool a bit.

I agree with Furballsmom . Feed plain chicken and rice for a few days. I like to boil the chicken and use that water to make extra soggy rice (they need the hydration!). For bad stomach upsets, I'll mix in a bit of pumpkin and feed this instead of their usual food until the stomach is reset and the upset resolved (but no more than a week because it's not a balanced diet!), then very, very, very slowly add back in the usual food.

 

[sami125]

Thank you all for your kind and helpful advice! It's been such a long road (over a year of this) and I still can't get it right, I only want what is best for my babies and I can't imagine how uncomfortable they must be!

Furballsmom I looked into both of those foods and Purina one true instinct has a gravy food (I know it's not the best health wise but if it gets them eating - I'm happy) and it doesn't have any of those binders that muse does (I read that may be the cause of this diarrhea), so thank you!!

I def keep pedialyte on hand for situations like these (I'm the anxious worried mom type haha)

Wile they have been ruled negative for any parasites and treated twice for giardia as a precaution (the vet even tried a third time and I thought that was overkill since it clearly wasn't helping and the stools remained the same). We spoke about TF but the vet didn't seem convinced that was the problem since my other cat had no symptoms and that would be uncommon. They basically ruled the issue as having an intolerance to something (unsure of what) in the food, hence the hills i/d. It did work! But she just didn't want to eat the wet after a while. I'm def going to look into both brands you mentioned!

sabrinah I never even thought to mix the two foods! That may do the trick! and I love your rice idea - they love anything liquid and chicken tasting.

Y'all are great! Again, Thank you so much!

 

[Wile]

They basically ruled the issue as having an intolerance to something (unsure of what) in the food, hence the hills i/d. It did work! But she just didn't want to eat the wet after a while. I'm def going to look into both brands you mentioned!

Glad to hear she's parasite free! Has your vet explained to you how to go about testing for food intolerances? Generally you want to do an 8-13 week elimination trial with a novel protein source so you can isolate the protein(s) that are triggering her reaction. Natural balance and nature's variety instinct both make limited ingredient diets that are sold widely. Unfortunately I don't know of any gravy LID foods. Maybe someone else has some ideas.

Again, if it is a food intolerance simpler is better until you figure out what the trigger is. I wouldn't go mixing foods. Just get her stable first on something she can eat without diarrhea and then you can gradually expand the range of proteins.

 

[Furballsmom]

It's been such a long road (over a year of this) and I still can't get it right,

Hang in there - I've spent a couple years with my boy since a scare of elevated liver numbers, to try and find something other than One. Certain. Food.
It's been a saga around here, and like @duckpond, a fair bit of food has been thrown out if opened or given to my nearest rescue LOL

 

[sami125]

Wile My vet never explained that to me! Just gave the prescription food and that was that. Is there any reading you recommend as far as doing these elimination trials so that I can try and get to the bottom of this problem?

Furballsmom I hope your boy is doing better now! They truly are like children and it's scary to see any kind of health problems. And oh my gosh - the amount of food that has been thrown out and the cases of unopened cans I have right now is terrible! lol

 

[Furballsmom]

Bless your heart, thank you

He and I came to a compromise, after a scare, again, earlier this year when the manufacturer changed the recipe formula, he started to refuse certain flavors, I was slow to catch on, and he actually started losing weight. Being he's a long-haired cat, without the bathroom scale I'd be lost.

I changed my search efforts from trying to get him to eat more expensive grain free etc foods to (less expensive) Walmart, tractor supply and local grocery store brands, and his weight has been stable since then.

Such a stubborn mule, and really, he's a poster 'child' for validating the reason to feed kittens different brands of foods so that they don't "imprint" on just and only one.

 

[Wile]

Here's some reading that you might find helpful!

This article is about food allergies, but much of the information also applies to intolerance: 11 Key Facts About Food Allergies In Cats

Understanding Food Allergies and Intolerance in Cats

This is a set of instructions for carrying out a food trial prepared by a vet's office: https://vetderm.ca/storage/app/media/597b60444c4f3_NWVDS_Food_Trial.pdf

https://www.cavd.ca/images/In_Clinic_Tools/CAVD_Diet_Trial_handout_for_Cats.pdf

Most of this is aimed at diagnosing food allergies. The process for diagnosing food intolerance is the same, except that you don't have to worry about extra things like scratching. Vets carry prescription hydrolyzed and novel hypoallergenic diets that they can sell you for this if needed.

 

[sami125]

Furballsmom Glad to hear he's gaining weight! I def have been trying mostly expensive grain free foods and all have failed which is why I'm starting to look into the cheaper stuff.

Wile Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it!

 

[Furballsmom]