# Best food for IBD cat???



## katwill10 (Jan 25, 2007)

My cat was just eating dry Natural Balance Venison and Green Pea, but obviously not anymor.e :? Although I would love to switch him to all wet, he is not very food motivated and loses weight very easily, so he does need some dry. 

I was wondering what dry food those out there with IBD cats feed? I am very interested in alternate protein food options besides Hills..

Thanks,
Karie and crew


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Royal Canin has a line of prescription foods geared towards IBD using rabbit, venison, duck and lamb...all with peas.

Eagle has a Duck and Oatmeal. Not sure whether your cat is affected by grains, it may be a choice...

California Natural has a venison and brown rice...again not sure of the grains for your cat. They also have a herring and sweet potato...that one I'd be concerned about the fish.

Nature's Variety has a Lamb and Oatmeal

Pinnacle has an allergen free food, but it's chicken and fish based...I'm not sure I'd be comfortable...

Anyway...maybe some stuff to investigate. Do you have any idea what triggers issues?

ETA: My Callie was an IBD kitty and I found the best thing for her was to cut out the dry completely.


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## katwill10 (Jan 25, 2007)

Thanks for your fast response! I am desperately trying to find him something good to start on for tomorrow! (He has dry I/D he can eat tonight, although that doesn't sit so well with him.) I don't know exactly what causes his issues...generally he has loose, VERY stinky stool, sometimes diarrhea, but he does not tend to throw up at all. I know that Hills R/D, W/D, I/D, and Eukanuba Low Residue have all struck out with him...but with what I know about cat food nutrition nowadays, I don't want him eating that anyways! :? Honestly, his stool didn't look so great on the Natural Balance Venison and Pea, but I was in the VERY slow process of moving him over (two weeks) so he still had a bit of I/D in there. I was thinking the alternate protein and grain free would be really good for him, though. I wish I could cut out dry, sigh...

I will look into Royal Canin and the others, but I am with you on avoiding the fish!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Karie and crew


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Unfortunately all of the general market grain frees (EVO, Wellness Core, Natural Instincts and I think one other that I'm drawing a blank on) have fish meal in them and they're all chicken or turkey based. So something like the Royal Canin might be your only choice. Callie was on it for a while...didn't do anything for her.

Callie had chronic loose stools...on a scale of 1-10 (10 being firm) she never got higher than a 7 or 8, generally was a 4-5. Couldn't find a food that agreed with her. Then one day I got some digestive enzymes...added it to her food that night and she had firm stool the next day and never had another problem with diarrhea. Don't know if it will be the same miracle cure for you, but it may be worth a try. The IBD may have caused some damage in the digestive tract that us causing inadequate enzyme production. Or if that's his only symptom, he just may be enzyme deficient to begin with. How old is he? Sometimes enzymes production reduces as they age...


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## katwill10 (Jan 25, 2007)

I think I should be able to locate some Royal Canin Venison and Pea fairly easily tomorrow, knock on wood. I would rather keep him on something Venison and Pea for now since I have to make a complete switch and then move him over gradually to something different if I need to. 

What kind of wet food did you feed Callie? And what kind of digestive enzymes were you giving her? I checked out some at Whole Foods the other day, but was not sure if there was something special that I should look for, but I would definitely like to try some out with Dizzy. 

Dizzy is 8, and he used to have perfectly normal stools until about a year a half to two years ago. I had another cat, Pepper, who has now passed on, who had IBD since I got her at 1, so I was pretty familiar with the symptoms. For some reason, for the last few years of her life, she went into a kind of "remission" on R/D. (I can't explain it, but I wasn't complaining, either.) 

Pepper was on prednisone for a bit before that, but I would like to avoid that with Dizzy. He has had some immune system issues (he may or may not have herpes, and for each of the past two years he has developed a bad URI around Jan./Feb.) He HAS had 1 cortisone shot (he overgrooms), and his poop was great for about a month, until it wore off!

Karie and crew


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## Gudewife (Jun 27, 2004)

The Royal Canin is IVD...prescription. Hills' also makes a prescription d/d (I think) that has a venison variety (going off memory here).


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Yes, the Royal Canin is prescription...you'll have to have your vet order it if they don't carry it. Mine didn't. 

The enzymes I used were these: 

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/ ... 48017.aspx

They're a powder, I used to mix it with wet food and she didn't seem to notice at all. The small bottle will last for months, you only use about 1/8-1/4 tsp per meal. I had good luck ordering from this website...


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## nanook (Jun 12, 2005)

> Then one day I got some digestive enzymes...added it to her food that night and she had firm stool the next day and never had another problem with diarrhea.


I had the same experience with my IBD kitty. I was doing some other things as well but I think the enzymes and wet food made the biggest difference.
I think, if there is any way you can try him on wet food it's really worth another shot too. I had mine on Wellness and later added Venison and Pea to the mix.


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## katwill10 (Jan 25, 2007)

Doodlebug: Great, I will get some of those enzymes, thanks.  

Gudewife: The Hills alternate protein products all have ethoxyquin in them, ugh, but thanks for the suggestion.

Nanook: Dizzy pushes the wet food around more than he eats it if it is more than just a little bit...seems to be a bit mentally challenged that way, sadly... :? 

My vet doesn't carry the Royan Canin prescription, but I searched my zip code on their web site, and it looks like there were a lot of vets around here that do that I was going to call....but maybe they won't let me walk in and buy it "off the street" if I am not a paying client? Anyone tried that before :?: I could always get a "note" from my vet saying it is ok! :lol: 

Karie and crew


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I'd give one of the other vets a call and ask how it could be done. Maybe your vets office can call it in for you. 

I hope the enzymes work for you. I couldn't believe the difference. I was also feeding Wellness. Any of the grain free wet foods would be fine. Even though Callie is gone, I'm still feeding grain free wet. Turns out Maggie does better on it as well. I'm using Nature's Variety Prairie now...they love it. Prairie also has duck, rabbit and venison wet foods, in addition to chicken/turkey, beef and lamb.


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## katwill10 (Jan 25, 2007)

I found the Royal Canin Green Pea and Venison, and my vet is going to call it in for me. I think it is a bit odd that you can't just go in and get it, but I guess they don't want a bunch of people just feeding their cats the wrong thing and messing them up? 

And, of course, it is more expensive than the Natural Balance. 8O I am getting some wet food, too, to mix the enzymes with, but I am going to wait and see how he does on the food alone first...because if it isn't helping, maybe we can try something more "normal", plus the enzymes!  My youngest is on California Naturals Chicken and Brown Rice dry, and she seems to be doing well on that, knock on wood.

Nature's Variety looks great! I will keep it in mind. I wish they made a dry venison and pea! 

Karie and crew


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