Tricky Diet Change for Humane Society Rescues

Maybe this belongs in a different forum, feel free to put it where it is most likely to be addressed by someone in the know.

July 22 I adopted a one year old brother and sister pair of cats (now called Amos and Flō) and was sent home with a limited quantity of the food the humane society feeds all their cats, Purina Veterinary Diets EN for gastrointestinal health. Super expensive!! $55.00 for a 10 lb bag from my vet. I began a slow transition to another Purina product, Purina Beyond and the tiny sister had loose stool right away. Back to EN for a few days and then began a slow transition to Purina One, chicken and rice I think but it turns out to be for senior cats. Doesn't matter, it gave sister loose stool anyway. I took these foods to humane society and donated them to their pet food bank, along with a $ donation for some more EN. They seem to get the EN free or drastically reduced $ b/c a shelter could never afford to feed 7 rooms full of homeless cats such an expensive brand. Anyway, I found a one time good deal for a 10 lb bag, so I have some time to try and transition Miss Sensitive to a cheaper tummy friendly brand. Ironically, she grew up in a home with way less money to feed way more cats than it should have had, and ended up surrendering all cats to the humane society. Before that, the family used the humane society food bank regularly and fed the cats whatever they could get, in addition I can tell to human scraps.

Either they didn't take note of her intestinal distress, or she developed a "need" for this EN formula in just two weeks. It's not like I'm a super fan of Purina but since that is all that agrees with her right now, I am looking at other cheaper Purina formulas to try with her. There is Purina One for Sensitive Systems, Purina Pro Plan Focus for Sensitive Skin and Stomach and Purina Pro Plan Savor with chicken and rice.

All of these cost far less than the Vet Diet EN formula. Suggestions for which one of these formulas I should try to transition this sensitive girl to next?

Successes?

I understand that none of them is the best food by many standards, but at least one is the food that doesn't make her sick, tiny girl is growing and gaining weight, so for now that is the best food. Just so $$!!

thanks

Laura

I'm going to request that the mods move this to the Nutrition forum, as that's where you will find all the nutrition experts to give you advice.

In the meantime, I note that you didnt specify if its the EN Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Formula Dry Cat Food ($47.99 for a 10 lb. bag of dry food at Chewy.com) or if its the same thing plus the word NATURALS ($57.69 at Chewy.com).  You said your vet charges $55, so it could be high for the first or low for the second.  As you can see, they are very different.  You need to compare the ingredients in what you are feeding to the ingredients in what you want to be feeding if making a change, and it's best to change gradually by mixing the food.   They also make CANNED versions of each of these, and I think it would be better to start transitioning her over to canned food if she will tolerate it.

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Formula Dry Cat Food, Ingredients:

Soy Protein Isolate, Poultry By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soy Flakes, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols (Form of Vitamin E), Corn Starch, Natural Flavor, Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Fish Oil, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Powdered Cellulose, Dl-Methionine, Taurine, Zinc Proteinate, Salt, Dried Colostrum, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Sodium Selenite.

Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric Naturals Dry Cat Food, Ingredients:

Chicken Meal, Soy Protein Isolate, Brewers Rice, Dried Egg Product, Animal Fat Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Potato Protein, Brewers Dried Yeast, Pea Protein, Natural Flavor, Cassava Root Flour, Sodium Caseinate, Potassium Chloride, Dried Whey, Calcium Carbonate, Fish Oil, Phosphoric Acid, Sodium Bisulfate, Powdered Cellulose, Dried Pumpkin, Taurine, Zinc Proteinate, Choline Chloride, Salt, Dried Colostrum, Dl-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin, Copper Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Sodium Selenite.

I've heard good things about Pro Plan SSS. Pro Plan isn't super high quality but it's not terrible, and many cats seem to do well on it. It may be a good transition food, or maybe she'll need to stay on it for life. You never know. But it's worth a try.

You can also try giving her some probiotics.  The best way to do that is with wet food, as they are usually in powder form and will jut fall to the bottom of the bowl with kibble.  But feeding at least some wet food isn't a bad idea anyway since cat's typically don't drink enough, and kibble is very drying to their system.

How slowly did you do the food transition?  I know you said "slow", but was it around 1/4 new food and 3/4 old food for several days before you increased the new food?  With some cats, that's how slow you need to go .  Only increase the amount of new food if they are tolerating the mixture.  If they aren't, decrease the amount of new food until they tolerate it, then try again. 

A long time ago I had one of my guys on Purina One for Sensitive Stomach and he did very well, but his issue was vomiting, not loose stools.  (that was before I switched to all wet food for them)