Organic Food - Sensitive Stomach

My husband's cat is an older female who has always been sensitive to foods. He has had trouble with her since she was a kitten. She has always struggled with hairballs, though she is shorthaired, and has a tendency to vomit easily if she overeats or gets upset. She is 15 years old and has had some health issues recently, but is doing better and still hanging in there. But she has the STINKIEST bowels and it drives me bonkers. Her urine is extremely dark and odorous, and I know she needs to get more fluids in her, but I can't seem to get her to drink enough without having to force it down her with a syringe (which I did not long ago when we almost lost her due to dehydration after she refused to eat or drink - the vet wanted to check her in for the weekend but at the time we couldn't afford the $1500 they wanted to charge us as it was a weekend and this was an emergency vet, so I sat up with her all weekend using the syringe and hydrating her myself every 15-20 minutes. They said I brought her through until we could check her in to our regular vet the following Monday. We have since taken out a pet line of credit to cover for emergencies like that for the future.)

Anywho.... My question is because of her sensitive stomach and nasty smelling bowels and urine,  would switching her to an organic pet food be advantageous or would it cause her more stress at this point in her life? The poor old girl has gone through enough already and changing up her food is hard enough as is, so I hate to stress her system any more than need be, but at the same time if it is going to make it easier on her body and prolong her life further and possibly make her feel better than I want to do whatever I can to help her. I have never tried organic foods with my pets because I was not in a place financially where I was able to afford supporting me and my own children, much less invest in something healthy for my pets. But now being remarried with a husband who actually works and supports my family and my work from home job, I have the chance to take explore options such as organic foods. I just need advice and education on the subject.

Suggestions? Thoughts?

Thanks!

What food (brand/formula/flavor/etc.) is she currently eating? How much does she eat every day?

The best way to get more moisture into a cat is to feed wet food (canned, raw, homecooked). Organic or not is up to you (and is not the most important factor in the cat's health---meat content and moisture being the most important), but cats really need a moist meaty diet. Especially at her age, when her teeth may be getting weaker and her kidneys are certainly at least a little stressed. Wet food is also more easily digested so it may help with the stinkiness too. It can be hard to get an elderly kibble addict to switch to wet food, but with time and patience it can be done. Most cats seem to like Fancy Feast, and the Classic varieties are actually quite decent (meat first, no grains, etc.), so that can be a good way to start the transitioning process. Check out this site for more on the subject, and some transitioning tips too: www.catinfo.org

We have been feeding her two cans of fancy feast mixed with some softer cat food each day, one in the morning and one mid-afternoon, in the back bathroom. When we went through the bad run with her where she became so severely dehydrated she stopped eating, too, and lost a lot of weight. She had been quite a plump kitty before, at about 15 pounds. Now she is 9 pounds. So we began feeding her the wet/dry mix in morning/afternoon to try to fatten her back up. We have to do it in our bathroom to keep my younger cat from eating her food, though. She does come out during the day and eats a little here and there from the dry food in the dining room, but not a whole lot. We are using an Iams indoor senior cat blend I believe, though I may be mistaken.  I know the bag when I go to the store, but can't think of the name off the top of my head right now without going to the other room to look. But I know it is not organic.

Trisha

If she'll eat it, try adding more water to the canned food. I don't think she needs the dry food added (6 ounces of Fancy Feast ought to be plenty for a cat her age/size). Being overweight is quite hard on a cat's body, so don't try to fatten her up too much.

Senior dry foods are usually higher in carbs and fiber, which could be adding to the stool size/stink. Try her on just the canned food and see how she does.

Thanks for the advice. I'll let my husband know. I know for a few days there when we first got her appetite stimulated again she was a PIG. She would cry and beg every time you walked through the bedroom and practically trip you getting under your feet and walking between your legs crying trying to get you to feed her again. She had been started on just a can in the morning and a can in the afternoon, no mixing dry food with it. Then she started begging for more in between, so my husband would feed her a can before bed, too. But she kept begging, so I increased it another can at lunchtime - so she was up to 4 cans a day for awhile! It was getting expensive! So my husband started mixing the dry food in with the wet food. When she began leaving some food in her dish he began cutting her down on how much we fed her each day. We are now back down to 2 cans/day, with just a little dry food mixed in.

Trisha

By Nature has several organic proteins in canned format. They're species appropriate: high protein, medium fat, and no carrageenan.

The stinky bowls says to me that she's got a bacterial imbalance in her gut. It also sounds like she's got some inflammation causing malabsorption. I would give her slippery elm bark powder (can usually be purchased loose from a health food store). The way to use it (according to my holistic vet) is to mix 1/2 teaspoon with one teaspoon of George's Aloe Vera Juice. George's is not organic, but it is fractionally distilled from just the gel, so it has no latex (which is toxic to cats), and it has no taste. There isn't an organic that provides this. Both are very soothing, very healing to the GI tract. Our Chumley used this mixture with added probiotics twice a day for over a year. I give it to all of the cats twice a week for maintenance.

The cats also get probiotics daily. L. acidophilus, in particular, helps kitties with GI issues improve B12 uptake. I use Natural Factors double-strength acidophilus+bifidus (10 billion CFU): I give each cat 1/2 capsule 2x a day. I also give them S. boulardii daily. I use Nutricology S. Boulardii (5 billion CFU). They get 1/4 capsule 2x a day. I just sprinkle these probiotics on the food, though they can be mixed into the wet food.

The bacteria balance in the gut is essential to health, as the GI system accounts for about 65% of our immune system function. A friend just wrote a blog post on probiotics, it's very informative. She works with ferrets, but the general information on probiotics is very educational: http://www.ferretharmony.net/2013/12/30/probiotic-therapy-for-ferrets/

Oh - you might also want to consider adding digestive enzymes. I use a plant-based one, the original Prozyme, because they work in a wider pH environment, and require VERY little at each meal - just a small pinch. They help kitties metabolize more of the nutrition from the food.