Food for my poorly cat?
Discussion
I going to pick up Molly in a couple of hours, and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for decent cat food for her in light of her problems.
We have been feeding her on 1 pouch of food a day (1/2 in am, 1/2 pm), usually gourmet perle in gravy, and having a bowl of dry food for her to graze on, usually costco chicken and rice, occasionally go cat.
She also sometimes gets a bit of plain chicken or tuna, and for treats whiskas temptations.
Recently she has had a lot of problems with vomiting - tried all sorts - boiled chicken diet, anti sickness and pain killers (from vet, of course!), changing diet, katalax - you name it we have tried it and still no improvement. I have noticed she has started losing weight so it was back to the vets again.
They took her into their main base (other side of the county, and she hates travelling, but needs must!), to do further investigations on her. Bloods came back normal. X-ray showed she was severely constipated, so they gave her an emema to sort that out. Re x-rayed after clearing her out shows a tumour positioned extremely close to her kidney. They say it is too risky to remove due to proximatey of kidney, but believe it to be benign as her lung are clear with no sign of mets. This tumour is also pressing on her intestines, which they believe is what is causing her bowels to become sluggish.
They hope she doesn't need long term medication, that feeding her little and often will be enough to prevent it happening again. If this doesn't work they will give her a gut stimulant.
Sorry to waffle on, but I thought her history is important. The main question I am asking is whether we should change her to a high quality brand of food? Or if there is a particular type of food that will help stimulate her bowels/prevent constipation? Also on the days I work (3 days per week) I am out of the house from 7.30am til 6pm, and if the weather is okay then she will be outside. Do I need to leave food for her?
Gratuitous photo of Molly before she started getting poorly:
We have been feeding her on 1 pouch of food a day (1/2 in am, 1/2 pm), usually gourmet perle in gravy, and having a bowl of dry food for her to graze on, usually costco chicken and rice, occasionally go cat.
She also sometimes gets a bit of plain chicken or tuna, and for treats whiskas temptations.
Recently she has had a lot of problems with vomiting - tried all sorts - boiled chicken diet, anti sickness and pain killers (from vet, of course!), changing diet, katalax - you name it we have tried it and still no improvement. I have noticed she has started losing weight so it was back to the vets again.
They took her into their main base (other side of the county, and she hates travelling, but needs must!), to do further investigations on her. Bloods came back normal. X-ray showed she was severely constipated, so they gave her an emema to sort that out. Re x-rayed after clearing her out shows a tumour positioned extremely close to her kidney. They say it is too risky to remove due to proximatey of kidney, but believe it to be benign as her lung are clear with no sign of mets. This tumour is also pressing on her intestines, which they believe is what is causing her bowels to become sluggish.
They hope she doesn't need long term medication, that feeding her little and often will be enough to prevent it happening again. If this doesn't work they will give her a gut stimulant.
Sorry to waffle on, but I thought her history is important. The main question I am asking is whether we should change her to a high quality brand of food? Or if there is a particular type of food that will help stimulate her bowels/prevent constipation? Also on the days I work (3 days per week) I am out of the house from 7.30am til 6pm, and if the weather is okay then she will be outside. Do I need to leave food for her?
Gratuitous photo of Molly before she started getting poorly:
They said she can carry on with what we normally give her. I was just wondering if we could help her stay healthier with something of better quality, and if so what people thought was best. They did say it would be better if she didn't hunt though, as fur and bones from prey could bung her up - this could be difficult!
She is back home now and feeling very sorry for herself. She is still very wobbly on her legs - which we have to keep an eye incase she doesn't recover well from the sedation. I have given her a tiny bit of tuna, and she has licked the bowl clean and sitting there waiting for more! I am going to give it another hour thoughbefore giving her more, just to be on the safe side.
They showed me the xrays (both prior to the enema - I misunderstood)and I am shocked at the size of the tumour, which is saying something since I work in oncology. Fingers crossed it wont cause her to many problems, I will not let her suffer.
She is back home now and feeling very sorry for herself. She is still very wobbly on her legs - which we have to keep an eye incase she doesn't recover well from the sedation. I have given her a tiny bit of tuna, and she has licked the bowl clean and sitting there waiting for more! I am going to give it another hour thoughbefore giving her more, just to be on the safe side.
They showed me the xrays (both prior to the enema - I misunderstood)and I am shocked at the size of the tumour, which is saying something since I work in oncology. Fingers crossed it wont cause her to many problems, I will not let her suffer.
Jas&Jules will be along shortly I'm hoping, as he appears to be the 'forum expert' on foods to feed
Personally, I would continue with smaller portions of what she is used to, as a change in diet can upset them... unless done gradually.
With your job however, the smaller portions more often may be difficult
Personally, I would continue with smaller portions of what she is used to, as a change in diet can upset them... unless done gradually.
With your job however, the smaller portions more often may be difficult
Thanks - I take note of the changing foods gradually if we do decide to try something else. My job does concern me - I will have to feed her as soon as I get up, then a little more before I leave, then as soon as I get home, then a couple of more times before I go to bed. I just wonder if I should leave a small bowl of dried food outside for her. Only problem with that is there are quite a few cats in the neighbourhood, and one of them is pure evil and they often fight over territory.
I'd suggest making sure she gets plenty of water, to improve 'digestive transit'.
A drinking fountain may help, however I've improved on that by leaving water bowls in strategic locations around the house.
Incidentally, most commercially available cat food is 30% meat (or less), the rest being cheap cereal fillers cats don't need.
I'd suggest Applaws pouches, or make your own. I'd agree that a raw meat diet is closest to what they'd eat in nature, however it isn't always practical.
My cat Bob gets Applaws chicken breast pouches, James Wellbeloved kibble, plus steamed organic salmon and broccoli once a week. His teeth are great and his coat is like silk.
He doesn't poo a lot, and moreover they don't smell. Up the protein content of the cat's diet I'd say, but leave plenty of water everywhere.
A drinking fountain may help, however I've improved on that by leaving water bowls in strategic locations around the house.
Incidentally, most commercially available cat food is 30% meat (or less), the rest being cheap cereal fillers cats don't need.
I'd suggest Applaws pouches, or make your own. I'd agree that a raw meat diet is closest to what they'd eat in nature, however it isn't always practical.
My cat Bob gets Applaws chicken breast pouches, James Wellbeloved kibble, plus steamed organic salmon and broccoli once a week. His teeth are great and his coat is like silk.
He doesn't poo a lot, and moreover they don't smell. Up the protein content of the cat's diet I'd say, but leave plenty of water everywhere.
If possible I'd be inclined to put her (slowly) onto a raw diet. I know the vet said that bones etc would be bad for her but I am not sure how - hopefully Bex will clarify that one.
You can get chicken mince, which is raw chicken carcasses minced. The same goes for rabbit. Online companies can deliver frozen 1lb packets to your door. That way you know you are getting actual meat into her - i.e. what she'd eat in the wild. Our cats also love to gnaw on chicken wings (raw of course) and the other day a half a rabbit leg.....
You can get chicken mince, which is raw chicken carcasses minced. The same goes for rabbit. Online companies can deliver frozen 1lb packets to your door. That way you know you are getting actual meat into her - i.e. what she'd eat in the wild. Our cats also love to gnaw on chicken wings (raw of course) and the other day a half a rabbit leg.....
Bast & Pepi have glass bowls of water in various places (and are getting a ceramic fountain next week 
)Avoid bones, if she is getting constipated on soft foods due to the mass pressing on her guts then I don't think bones will be sensible.
Foods like applaws are easy to feed and highly digestible (they do a dry food as well) Orijen is another high quality food which is dry.
Raw could be worth a try but you need to make sure it is balanced and I know cats that have never had raw don't always take to well to it.
Foods like applaws are easy to feed and highly digestible (they do a dry food as well) Orijen is another high quality food which is dry.
Raw could be worth a try but you need to make sure it is balanced and I know cats that have never had raw don't always take to well to it.
Thanks everyone.
As for water - she has always been a good drinker, taking for her water bowl or bathroom tap, or whatever is on offer!
Thanks for the advice on brands of food, I will look into trying her on some. As for raw food - I have given her the odd bit of raw chicken before and she loves it. I will pop to the butchers tomorrow and see if I can get some chicken mince or such like to try her on.
Jasandjules can you recommend an online company that delivers raw pet meat?
I feel very mean at the moment - she has had a couple of small portions of tuna, but she is still sitting by her food bowl waiting for more! She must be so hungry after not being able to digest properly for ages and now having a completely empty bowl. I will give her a bit more before going to bed.
As for water - she has always been a good drinker, taking for her water bowl or bathroom tap, or whatever is on offer!
Thanks for the advice on brands of food, I will look into trying her on some. As for raw food - I have given her the odd bit of raw chicken before and she loves it. I will pop to the butchers tomorrow and see if I can get some chicken mince or such like to try her on.
Jasandjules can you recommend an online company that delivers raw pet meat?
I feel very mean at the moment - she has had a couple of small portions of tuna, but she is still sitting by her food bowl waiting for more! She must be so hungry after not being able to digest properly for ages and now having a completely empty bowl. I will give her a bit more before going to bed.
We use The Dog Food Company and sometimes Landywoods. We are looking at other places too. Also your local butcher might do raw beef (the offcuts from their stuff) which is good for them to chew down on.
If Bex says to avoid bones then that might be best for a bit. Also as she says it can be difficult to get older cats onto it - ours took a couple of weeks but now she loves it. Have heard of other cats who simply refuse.
If Bex says to avoid bones then that might be best for a bit. Also as she says it can be difficult to get older cats onto it - ours took a couple of weeks but now she loves it. Have heard of other cats who simply refuse.
We moved our dog to a raw diet when she was poorly as we wanted to give her immune system the best chance we could, she loves it and we'd never go back to processed food.
I know bog all about cats but we feed raw chicken, tripe, liver (they can have it raw but ours likes it lightly flash fried (!), she loves raw eggs, we give her the whole egg and she takes it outside, breaks it open and eats it, shell and all! We also feed tinned tuna, tinned sardines (apparently they love tomato sauce but ours prefers brine).
We've used Landywoods, you'll probably need a small freezer to set aside but the food is quite cheap. Worth talking to your local butcher as well.
Given her issues I'd probably stick with soft, wet foods, mince is probably a good choice.
Good luck!
I know bog all about cats but we feed raw chicken, tripe, liver (they can have it raw but ours likes it lightly flash fried (!), she loves raw eggs, we give her the whole egg and she takes it outside, breaks it open and eats it, shell and all! We also feed tinned tuna, tinned sardines (apparently they love tomato sauce but ours prefers brine).
We've used Landywoods, you'll probably need a small freezer to set aside but the food is quite cheap. Worth talking to your local butcher as well.
Given her issues I'd probably stick with soft, wet foods, mince is probably a good choice.
Good luck!
Second though... whilst I've said raw, my view is actually that feeding proper food is the best approach, regardless of whether it's raw or cooked (obviously not cooked chicken bones).
We used to make chicken casserole & rice for the dog when she was poorly, I'd cover a chicken with water, oven cook it for a couple of hours with some carrots, pull the chicken out, strip if off the bones, blitz up the gravy and veg, add some rice and put back the chicken. We used to makes a big batch and freeze it in individual bags that we could take out each day.
We used to make chicken casserole & rice for the dog when she was poorly, I'd cover a chicken with water, oven cook it for a couple of hours with some carrots, pull the chicken out, strip if off the bones, blitz up the gravy and veg, add some rice and put back the chicken. We used to makes a big batch and freeze it in individual bags that we could take out each day.
Thanks to you all for your advice.
I gave her a little bit of Applaws wet chicken food this morning and it was devoured in seconds! I am going to very slowly introduce raw meat to her (minus bones), in the hope that in a few weeks she will have a much more natural healthy diet.
I really hope this will be enough for her digestive system to cope with pressure of the tumour, as she is such a friendly and affectionate cat who I will not allow to suffer.
I gave her a little bit of Applaws wet chicken food this morning and it was devoured in seconds! I am going to very slowly introduce raw meat to her (minus bones), in the hope that in a few weeks she will have a much more natural healthy diet.
I really hope this will be enough for her digestive system to cope with pressure of the tumour, as she is such a friendly and affectionate cat who I will not allow to suffer.
AMLK said:
I gave her a little bit of Applaws wet chicken food this morning and it was devoured in seconds! I am going to very slowly introduce raw meat to her (minus bones), in the hope that in a few weeks she will have a much more natural healthy diet.
Natural rearing.com should have some basics of raw feeding for cats if you don't already know.My friend buys Natural Instinct food for her dogs from http://www.naturalinstinct.com/ Might be worth a look. It's quite a user friendly way to start feeding natural food.
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