Canned food is no longer an option. What Now?

My male cat Pumpkin has had IBD for the past year and a half.  He was doing ok until recently.  About a month ago we had to up his pred to 1/2 a tab everyday and also add cerenia to his meds.  I've tried Merricks and others and he won't touch them.  NVI he can't have it gave him pancreatitis. The only canned food that he has been able to be on is Fancy Feast but now he can't even have those.  I don't know if it is too many times he has had it and that has caused the bad diarrhea (liquid and no form what so ever).  I know that is how I get if I eat a certain food too much.  That's how I ended up with my peanut allergy. Anyway he was already getting cooked ground turkey in his food so now he is just on the ground turkey. I am waiting for my order to be shipped from Know Better Pet Food.  I am getting their U-Stew premix since I cook for him. Is it ok for him to go a short period of time without a premix until it comes in? I do have Apperon Oasis FelidaeT premix that I can give him until I get the U-Stew in.

Also how long does it normally take for canned pumpkin to start working?  He is getting about a tablespoon 2x a day but has only been on it for one day.

A few days of eating the cooked meat only is fine while you wait on the u stew. Just get home started on it when it arrives.

As for the pumpkin, it varies for cat; but, I would expect to see some improvement after 48-72 hours.

So do you want any other canned food suggestions, or are you going to go strictly with homecooked?  I just discovered Earthborn Holistics, which ALL of my cats like (miracle of miracles, because I've never found a food before that they all 3 liked ).  It does contain guar gum though, which sometimes is not so good for IBD cats.  I don't know if this is a factor for your little one or not. 

I am going to go strictly home cooked. It just seems like the better option in his case. I was already in the process of switching him over to cooked anyway. He can't have the veggies that are in holistics. He has both a pea and potato allergy.

My male cat Tim had issues with just about every canned food. I researched just about every one available in the U.S. and tried many. He cannot tolerate thickeners and binders (gums, carrageenan, agar-agar), most of NVI's canned foods are too high in fat for him, he cannot eat (cooked) chicken. He was able to eat NVI's rabbit, as it is lower fat. But on occasion we'd get a juicy (fat) batch that caused problems for him. We considered home-cooking, but he's doing very well on commercial raw. If you're interested, check out the raw and home-fed forum.

Also, if your cat has allergies to potatoes and peas, maybe pumpkin, a veggie, is not a good choice for his digestive issues. I used a small amount of pysllium (like 1/16 to 1/8 tsp) mixed with a lot of water when Tim had bowel problems, plus a probiotic (Proviable DC).

Surprisingly pumpkin is the one thing he doesn't have a problem with.  With potatoes it is the starch in them and peas it is the protein. The NVI caused pancreatitis in him he was getting the duck and venison at the time.  He won't touch the rabbit.  Raw commercial or otherwise he won't touch.  It just seems easier to go to home cooked at this point along with a premix especially since I already know he loves his cooked turkey.

jenntigercat said:

I am going to go strictly home cooked. It just seems like the better option in his case. I was already in the process of switching him over to cooked anyway. He can't have the veggies that are in holistics. He has both a pea and potato allergy.

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Reason I asked is so I could refer you to the Homecooked Forum AbbyNTim referred to .  It's here, in case you want to experiment with other premixes, or even decide NOT to use one:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources

I'd suggest adding in a good quality probiotic and perhaps even trying out some slippery elm. SE has done WONDERS for my cat with suspected IBD. I think going with home cooked is the right move, you just might want to try out some other proteins, if you can.