What to give my cat?

nikon71

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I have a 10yr old male cat who is overweight and has been on Hill R/D (dry) for many years to control his weight - which it never did and prevent formation of crystals which he never experienced in the 6yrs of being on it. Recently my cat went in for his yearly dental and needed extractions (3/19) and became very sick afterwards. Vomiting and not eating.  He has pancreasitis - which he underwent treatment for. The vet told me she wanted him off the dry R/D and have him on canned food instead (not the rx) Is there anything special in choosing a diet for a cat with pancreatitis, overweight and crystals?  After researching some canned food carrageenan has me scared and its in almost all foods. Any suggestions on what I could try? 
 

red top rescue

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He needs a simple diet of canned food that is grain free ----- free of corn, wheat and soy, any added flour or starches.  It should also be no more than 10% carbs and lower is better.  Carrageenan seems to be the latest things people are afraid of and yes, it is in almost everything, not just cat food but a lot o f human food too. I'm not sure if it's really a problem unless they are allergic to it. 

I use ABOUND  Grain Free Turkey & Giblets Dinner (see ingredients below).  Anything formulated like this would be very good for your cat.  Avoid the latest craze of using peas, potatoes and sweet potatoes to replace corn, wheat, soy& rice in order to be called "grain free" because the point is to keep the food very low carb.  Struvite crystals cannot form in slightly acid urine, and the normal range for cat's urine is a pH of 6.0 to 6.5.  When carbs are added to the diet, this can actually go slightly alkaline and then struvite crystals can form. You can purchase Abound only at one of the Kroger family of stores for 79 cents a can.

Abound Grain Free Turkey & Giblets contains:

  • TURKEY BROTH, TURKEY, CHICKEN, POULTRY GIBLETS, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, GUAR GUM, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, CARRAGEENAN, MINERALS (ZINC AMINO ACID CHELATE, IRON AMINO ACID CHELATE, COPPER AMINO ACID CHELATE, MANGANESE AMINO ACID CHELATE, SODIUM SELENITE, COBALT AMINO ACID CHELATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE), VITAMINS (DL-ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, NIACIN SUPPLEMENT, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, BIOTIN, VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT, FOLIC ACID), CHOLINE CHLORIDE, TAURINE. 

    CALORIE CONTENT (ME CALCULATED): 1240 KCAL/KG 193 KCAL/CAN 
http://www.aboundpet.com/cats/grain-free-turkey-giblets-dinner/

Hills I/D dry food contains:

Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Soy Fiber, Dried Egg Product, Dried Chicken, Potassium Chloride, Chicken Liver Flavor, Calcium Sulfate, Choline Chloride, Iodized Salt, Natural Flavor, preserved with BHT and BHA, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement).

Analysis:


Protein min 35.00%
Fat min 17.00%
Crude Fiber max 1.50%
Calcium min 0.60%
Phosphorus min 0.50%
Magnesium 0.085 max 0.08%
Taurine min 0.10%
 
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lisahe

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That Abound food sounds excellent, especially for the price! We don't have Kroger where I live so I'd never even heard of it.

I don't have experience feeding a cat with pancreatitis but our cats get only low-carb wet foods (canned and raw) without carrageenan, grains, peas, potatoes, or other carby vegetables. Tapioca is another ingredient to watch for: it's added a lot now to thicken "gravies" and it can raise the carbs a lot. Those criteria narrow the possibilities quite a bit but there's still plenty to choose from and keep our picky cats happy and svelte. Our vet particularly recommended this sort of diet for our cats, who are Siamese mixes and have (typically, for Siamese) somewhat sensitive stomachs. (I mention that, nikon71, because the cat in your avatar picture looks like a lynx mix!)

Two brands that are similar to the Abound food include Tiki Cat (great food, very low-carb, and much more expensive but high-quality large pieces of meats and organs) and Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen canned foods (we feed the ones with no fish). For pates, they like Merrick LID, Hound & Gatos lamb, and Bravo duck. They also get some "minced" and "sliced" foods from Nutro Natural Choice and Bravo, and a few Soulistic foods, a couple of which I drain because of the carby sauce with tapioca.

We have female cats who've never had pancreatitis so I'm not sure what of those foods might or might not be appropriate for your cat but maybe something here will be helpful for you! Good luck. 
 

giselleann

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I agree with everything the previous posters said about low carb, grain free foods.  I too feed canned and raw.  The brands my cats are eating right now are Hound and Gatos, Holistic Select and Weruva.  I try to stay away from the seafood flavors I prefer to feed my boys chicken, duck and lamb flavors and only pates they don't like the stuff in heavy gravy.  

Good luck with your kitty.  
 
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