What is a good brand of food to get for an elderly IBD kitty?

Hello all!
I am having a difficult time finding a good quality food to get my Bella to eat. I am having a few dilemmas.
1. She will not eat anything that is not chunky. It can not be paste, or a CV pâté.
2. She will not eat anything from the ocean.
3. It can not contain any chicken; this is her allergy.

I am looking for duck, venison, or lamb. I would rather avoid rabbit if possible, because they are boney animals. I am trying to stick with limited ingredients, and home cooking is not an option. I work crazzzzy hours. She is 18, otherwise in excellent health!
She is on Budesonide, therefore, I will not put her on anything raw.

Bravo Fricaasse maybe? But they only have turkey/beef. Tikicat has a beef liver/lamb which is just shreds of meat in a broth. Weruva has lamb/duck mixture too. I haven't tried that one but I think its just shreds of meat in a gravy. 

I'm not really sure why you're saying you can't go raw because she's on budesonide, there's no contraindication. In fact most IBD cats do amazing on raw and can go off some or all their medications. Here's a good site for you to look at if you're interested. 

http://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/

Rad Cat really matches what you're looking for and most IBD cats do amazing on Rad Cat. Their quality is excellent and it would be fairly convenient for you if you work long hours because it's pre-made and ready to go. Canned food that would match your protein requirements are Ziwipeak, but it's more pate-like, however it's a pretty soft pate and it does sort of break up into more chunky pieces when you scoop it out of the can, but it doesn't have gravy or anything. You can add water to it tho. 

Merrick has LID duck. It's pate, but it's a super soft pate. It's easy to find at Petco and places like that so you could give it a try. 

sorry, but I am using Pride Rabbit for my guy who is 12 1/2 years old with IBD.

He is allergic to chicken also. The food is not a pate...

It is very hard to find a substitute protein because all of them seem to have either chicken broth, or eggs in them. The Pride line Rabbit does not have any. I am not sure about the beef or turkey..

Artiemom said:

It is very hard to find a substitute protein because all of them seem to have either chicken broth, or eggs in them. The Pride line Rabbit does not have any. I am not sure about the beef or turkey..

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Chicken and eggs don't have the same protein makeup, so a chicken allergy isn't an egg allergy, they're separate. 

Home cooked can be an option even with a crazy schedule. You just make up a batch when you have the time and then portion out the mixture into serving sizes and freeze for later use. It shouldn't take more than half an hour to do. Take out a day's worth of meals to thaw in the fridge (overnight is probably easiest for most people) and then feed your cat. The easiest way to do a home cooked diet is use use a pre-mix such as UStew instead of individual supplements. Just wanted to put that out there since there seems to be a misconception about how involved home cooked diets are

Check out the novel protein thread for canned food suggestions: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/306947/your-favorite-brands-of-novel-protein-canned-cat-food Not all are LID type foods.

Hounds and Gato might be one brand your cat may tolerate: http://houndgatos.com/cat-products.aspx

Koha has some LID foods in the proteins you are looking for plus some others: http://www.kohapet.com/cat-food-limited-ingredient-diets/

Nature's Variety LID: http://www.instinctpetfood.com/instinct-limited-ingredient-diets-canned-for-cats

Most LID foods are pate, unfortunately.

You can give the Weruva and Soulistic foods a try. These are textured foods. Some of the foods are mostly one protein but also contain fish. Would your cat eat a canned food that is, say, duck with a little fish?

Thank you. I looked at all sites and information about the different options. I think I possibly found one that will work for Bella. Weruva Truluxe Steak Frites with Beef & Pumpkin in Gravy Canned Cat Food, 6-oz, case of 24

The only question I have on this particular food is most of the comments say they purchased it for their CKD kitty. I am wondering if this works for IBD nutritional needs as well? It's a bit late if not. I already bought the 24 pack.

I agree, eggs are not the same as chicken. At least not to my knowledge.

Belong2Bella said:

Thank you. I looked at all sites and information about the different options. I think I possibly found one that will work for Bella. Weruva Truluxe Steak Frites with Beef & Pumpkin in Gravy Canned Cat Food, 6-oz, case of 24

The only question I have on this particular food is most of the comments say they purchased it for their CKD kitty. I am wondering if this works for IBD nutritional needs as well? It's a bit late if not. I already bought the 24 pack.

I agree, eggs are not the same as chicken. At least not to my knowledge.

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It's low phos which is why a lot of people use it for their CKD cats. It may work just fine for IBD cats, it's hard to know. Every IBD cat is different so what some cats can tolerate others can't. It does have some gums in it, which is irritating to some IBD cats. 

Thank you. I am going to call her Vet today, and run the food by them.
I am also considering the raw diet. Certainly, everyone knows that actually is a cat's natural instinct to eat prey.
I feel comfortable trying this out with Bella. They package their food with the highest quality, and safety. I will have to be sure I follow the handling/ feeding instructions carefully. What a relief I feel. I was having the most difficult time feeding her accordingly, and yet I continued to come across the same issue after issue, being that the foods that are good for her digestive system are mostly a paste, or pâté.

Belong2Bella said:

Thank you. I am going to call her Vet today, and run the food by them.
I am also considering the raw diet. Certainly, everyone knows that actually is a cat's natural instinct to eat prey.
I feel comfortable trying this out with Bella. They package their food with the highest quality, and safety. I will have to be sure I follow the handling/ feeding instructions carefully. What a relief I feel. I was having the most difficult time feeding her accordingly, and yet I continued to come across the same issue after issue, being that the foods that are good for her digestive system are mostly a paste, or pâté.

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We fed our previous cat a lot of Steak Frites when she was in her last months: she was elderly, too, and had multiple illnesses, including (moderate) kidney disease and (bad) digestive problems and (most likely) lymphoma. She did very well on it and the fact that she liked it was a huge plus. One of our present cats can't eat potato, though: potato occasionally causes problems (vomiting seems to be a common symptom) for some cats, so it's worth keeping in mind if you do decide to feed Steak Frites to Bella and she has a reaction.

A lot of raw foods--mostly ones with poultry--are processed to kill bacteria. I know chicken's a problem for Bella but if turkey's not, there are lots of options there. We feed Rad Cat turkey and Northwest Naturals freeze-dried turkey. Our cats also eat a lot of Primal's pork in the freeze-dried form. Primal has venison and beef/salmon, too, among others; some people don't like feeding Primal because it contains fruits and vegetables as nutrients but since they're not carby (other than the carrots in the chicken/salmon, which I no longer feed) and the food is low-carb over all, I don't object to that. One of the great things about freeze-dried foods is that you can make them chunkier or smoother, depending on your cat's preference.

And I couldn't agree more with @LTS3 about homemade being easier than it seems. I use the EZcomplete supplement to make cooked foods for our cats: I cook up batches of meat, shred them by hand (one of our cats prefers shreds), add supplement, and freeze part of the batch. If your cat will eat chunks, you can vastly reduce the amount of time you spend on the meat by chopping with a large knife. I wish Ireland would eat that as eagerly as chunks!

Good luck!