What is the best canned food to help cats recover from uri?

[nancyd]

I am with an animal shelter and just about all our cats have come down with goopy, watery eyes and sneezing. However, this has been lasting longer than a round of uri usually lasts. The cats currently eat Science Diet Adult dry with either the same canned or Friskies canned (I do not like Friskies, personally). They are currently taking a lysine supplement and, if needed, an eye ointment and/or oral antibiotic. I have been researching top quality canned foods to give them to help improve their health as well as vitamin supplements. Today I picked up some canned Taste of the Wild as well as Primal Formula freeze dried nuggets which I will add water too. Unfortunately, the place I went to didn't have any good vitamin supplements or probiotics. Can anyone recommend what they would feed/do in a situation like this. These poor cats just aren't getting better and they need a boost to their system to help.

Thank you!!

 

[stephanietx]

The best for any cat recovering from anything is Science Diet a/d.  I'm not a fan of SD in general, but this is chock full of nutrients and good stuff.  Good for malnourished cats and kittens and for those recovering from URIs. 

 

[mohamadghaddaf]

It sounds your cat might need kitty medince

 

[stephanietx]

Taste of the Wild is a very good high quality food.  The SD a/d is a prescription food and available from the vet.  If you warm up the food a bit, it enhances the aroma and entices kitties to eat.  If they're not eating, you'll need to syringe feed them.  One of the other things you can do is add L-Lysine to their water and/or food.  Get the 1 lb. powdered variety and add 1/4 t to wet food (to each cat's serving) two times a day.  You can get the powder at either a health food store or online.

 

[catpack]

High protein, low carb canned food is the best. Nature's Variety Instinct or Cat's Pride; Merrick; Wellness/Wellness CORE; Soulistic (Petco); and PetSmart's Simply Nourish are some options of good canned food.

I am in the SE US and we have had cats with what started out as herpes flare-ups and then progress to something worse, with a secondary case of what looked like Calicivirus a week or two later.

Famciclovir (anti-viral) and Doxycycline (antibiotic) have helped everyone here. Most have had to also use Idoxuridine (eye drop anti-viral) and either OxyPol or NeoPolyBac eye ointment (antibiotic.)

Good luck with all the kitties!

 

[nancyd]

Thank you to everyone for the replies. The animal hospital where we have to board is not fond of changing food in case it gives them diarrhea. Argh...it has been a trying day. I have the food I purchased earlier today so I will just give it to my cats. My old guy is 20 so anything good will help him even more. Now...on to find a good vitamin supplement! I have read about Transfer Factor, Spirulina, and Sun Chlorella. Research time! Thanks everyone!

 

[Willowy]

L-lysine is a good supplement for URIs. You can get loose powder for fairly cheap (NOW brand on Amazon), and it's mostly flavorless so you can add it to their food or water. The most important thing is stress reduction, but that would be difficult in a shelter situation :/. I'm not really sure what other supplements might help.

Friskies pate foods aren't terrible. High in meat protein, low in grains. . .definitely could do worse. It wouldn't hurt to add some extra water to keep them hydrated. That and the l-lysine should help.

 

[nancyd]

Thank you. I found out the adult cats aren't getting canned food, just the science diet dry. They are all getting the lysine chews (one a day, 2 for kittens). I asked where we board (at an animal hospital) about vitamins added to their diet but was told it wouldn't really help. Now that our fiv+ cat has come down with stuffiness and sneezing I am sending him to a foster home, and would like to send some vitamins with him. Do you (or anyone) have recommendations for a good vitamin that can be added to the diet along with a lysine chew? I don't want to spend the money on a no-name brand since we are short on funds.

Thank you!
Nancy

 

[peaches08]

ldg has a lot of information on how to care for FIV+ cats.

 

[ldg]

First of all, I doubt the lysine chew has enough lysine in it. To fight the URI, and adult cat needs 1,000mg (500mg in the morning and 500mg at night) during an active flare.

The single most effective supplement to combine with that and to provide proper immune system regulation for an FIV+ kitty would be bovine lactoferrin. I buy Jarrow brand, it's bovine. It comes in 250mg capsules. I open them and sprinkle it on the food - but Chumley (my FIV+ kitty) will just lick it out of a bowl. :lol3: The dose should be around 20mg per pound, but for most adult cats, 125mg (1/2 a capsule) twice a day works just fine.

It is important you confirm that whatever is bought is, in fact, bovine lactoferrin though. It's all just marketed as "lactoferrin," but much of it is actually human lactoferrin produced in transgenic rice.

And if I had to pick just one supplement to give an FIV+ kitty for life, again, it would still be lactoferrin - herpes or no. Many give it one month on, one month off, or every other week. Some just give it all the time. I give it daily to Chumley.

 

[nancyd]

Thank you very much for the information on fiv cats. I have my fingers crossed that we have a foster home for him to recover in. I just found out last night that he isn't even eating his lysine chews! Fat lot of good that does. He gets 500mg daily and the kittens get 250mg daily. I will try to attach a picture of him. He has the biggest cheeks I have ever seen and once he is healthy we will have him neutered. I will call the feed store to see if they carry the bovine lactoferrin. If not, I will try online. It is just so annoying because the cats are taking forever to get better and because they are all in the same room some that have gotten better are now worse again. Luckily Domino, fiv boy, is in a different room away from the sick cats. But he caught it anyhow.