We have an odd situation, my appologies for the long thread, long story and really need help and direction....
We have TWO 9 year old cats that had Hepatic Lipidosis, Cholangiohepatitis and Pancreatitis 16 months ago. Both had to be tube fed for 8 weeks (every 2 hours) at the same time; one is overweight the other is on the high end of normal. Both are picky, I have to make sure they are eating so we don't go through that again...the heartache, time and cost, we can't risk it.
We also have a 14 year old very active (now underweight cat), he will eat ANYTHING you put in front of him...lots of it and still not gain weight. 12 months ago we almost lost him due to a struvite crystal blockage, so we have to be careful of that. He does not have parasites or hyperthyroidism, so the vet suspects food sensitivity (we do find a lot of loose stools). We started giving him wet food to help with the crystals, but he started losing weight and the stools became much runnier with canned wet food, we've tried both EVO and Wellness...he loves it, in fact he has become insane about food ever since we started giving him wet food. It's become a catch 22, we feed wet food to combat crystals, but now he's losing weight.
Due to their feed patterns (one binges, two graze) they cannot be seperated to eat, I have tried it multiple times and we run the rist of the hepatic lipidosis if I try to feed seperately. So, I need to find a dry food that is safe for struvite crystal cats, that all three can eat. I read long term use of the c/d was not good, espeically for cats that didn't have struvite issues. We've had them on Felidae (that's when the hepatic lipidosis started with two, little wary of that feed), EVO dry (they really didn't care for that one), Natures Balance (they hated that one), Wellness (they didn't want to eat that one). They currently are on Blue Buffalo Basics, but our one cat has blown up like a balloon and the other hasn't shown any decrease in stool issues (and no weight gain).
I had a long discussion with our vet, she feels that there are poor, okay, good and overrated feeds. She gave some tips in picking foods, but feels science diet is honestly a good option. She gave many reasons as to why (as opposed to just 'feed it') and they make sense. She also explained that many of the 'designer' feeds out there are no better than Meow Mix, but cost 10 times more. How they may list their first ingredient as meat for example, but that is prior to cooking and is 80% water, so later on that first ingredient may drop to the 12th ingredient. Looking into what she said I sadly agree. She also made a very interesting point, that when people gripe about 'meal' which includes organs, skin, etc and that 'meat only' was better that in fact that is not correct. When a cat or dog kills and eats an animal, mostly they do go for the organs and tissue, which is where the nutrients are, muscle meat alone does not contain the nutrients, only protein. She feels that many of the 'organic, hollistic, natural' brands are taking advantage of the pet nutrition guidelines with misleading information to market their higher priced feeds. I surely know that after buying some of the most expensive bags and cans of food I have seen nothing but a backwards slide.
So, now I am completely confused here...instead of doing research into manufacturers claims, I am looking for cat owners actual experience...anyone go through anything similar, any luck, any advice???
Thank you in advance...
We have TWO 9 year old cats that had Hepatic Lipidosis, Cholangiohepatitis and Pancreatitis 16 months ago. Both had to be tube fed for 8 weeks (every 2 hours) at the same time; one is overweight the other is on the high end of normal. Both are picky, I have to make sure they are eating so we don't go through that again...the heartache, time and cost, we can't risk it.
We also have a 14 year old very active (now underweight cat), he will eat ANYTHING you put in front of him...lots of it and still not gain weight. 12 months ago we almost lost him due to a struvite crystal blockage, so we have to be careful of that. He does not have parasites or hyperthyroidism, so the vet suspects food sensitivity (we do find a lot of loose stools). We started giving him wet food to help with the crystals, but he started losing weight and the stools became much runnier with canned wet food, we've tried both EVO and Wellness...he loves it, in fact he has become insane about food ever since we started giving him wet food. It's become a catch 22, we feed wet food to combat crystals, but now he's losing weight.
Due to their feed patterns (one binges, two graze) they cannot be seperated to eat, I have tried it multiple times and we run the rist of the hepatic lipidosis if I try to feed seperately. So, I need to find a dry food that is safe for struvite crystal cats, that all three can eat. I read long term use of the c/d was not good, espeically for cats that didn't have struvite issues. We've had them on Felidae (that's when the hepatic lipidosis started with two, little wary of that feed), EVO dry (they really didn't care for that one), Natures Balance (they hated that one), Wellness (they didn't want to eat that one). They currently are on Blue Buffalo Basics, but our one cat has blown up like a balloon and the other hasn't shown any decrease in stool issues (and no weight gain).
I had a long discussion with our vet, she feels that there are poor, okay, good and overrated feeds. She gave some tips in picking foods, but feels science diet is honestly a good option. She gave many reasons as to why (as opposed to just 'feed it') and they make sense. She also explained that many of the 'designer' feeds out there are no better than Meow Mix, but cost 10 times more. How they may list their first ingredient as meat for example, but that is prior to cooking and is 80% water, so later on that first ingredient may drop to the 12th ingredient. Looking into what she said I sadly agree. She also made a very interesting point, that when people gripe about 'meal' which includes organs, skin, etc and that 'meat only' was better that in fact that is not correct. When a cat or dog kills and eats an animal, mostly they do go for the organs and tissue, which is where the nutrients are, muscle meat alone does not contain the nutrients, only protein. She feels that many of the 'organic, hollistic, natural' brands are taking advantage of the pet nutrition guidelines with misleading information to market their higher priced feeds. I surely know that after buying some of the most expensive bags and cans of food I have seen nothing but a backwards slide.
So, now I am completely confused here...instead of doing research into manufacturers claims, I am looking for cat owners actual experience...anyone go through anything similar, any luck, any advice???
Thank you in advance...
