Food variety for kitty with a sensitive tummy

beast of burden

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I have a senior cat, Boots who is approaching her 14th year with me this June. Every yearly vet visit, she had always received a clean bill of health - until about a year ago now when she began vomiting up her meals soon after eating. It started with her dry food. She had been getting a variety of dry food (Iams Purina, I think) for her first meal and Fancy Feast seafood or chicken/liver medleys wet food for dinner, for most of her life, but suddenly she began sick multiple times a week, most of it food and not furballs. Boots had to go back several times to get checked out. It was eventually determined, after experimenting with her diet, that she was allergic to the grains in the dry food, and our vet recommended we only feed her the fancy feast as she didn't get sick after eating it. This was late spring 2016. Then, weeks later, she began throwing up her Fancy Feast. Didn't matter which flavor. By June, she had lost about a pound of weight and I was at a loss with what could be wrong, as her blood tests didn't show anything abnormal... but then, the vet asked us to try giving her this duck wet food - and the vomiting lessened. Ultimately, it appeared that she had had a sensiivity to fish but would continue to eat it, which was what kept it under the radar for so long! She is now on Royal Canin duck wet food, and she gobbles it up like no tomorrow and has not gotten sick from eating in two and a half months!

While she has gained the weight lost back already, my only concern is that what if she gets a sensitivity to the duck if that is all she eats the rest of her life? I want to somehow gently introduce some variety back into her diet now that her stomach seems to be non-irritated, including some healthy treats, but I don't know where to begin, as so many other products seem to be filled with grains or seafood. What are some foods, including home cooked diets, that you all have found are healthy for an older cat with a restricted diet?
 

LTS3

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You can try  novel proteins for a sensitive tummy. Here's a thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/306947/your-favorite-brands-of-novel-protein-canned-cat-food

A limited ingredient diet may also be helpful. There are commercial brands you can buy: Nature's Variety Instinct, Merrick, Blue Basics, Natural Balance, etc. Most are available in both canned and dry.

For home cooked diets, see this: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources The easiest way is to cook meat of your choice and add in a pre-mux sucha s EZComplete.

Freeze dried meat or seafood treats are best. There's a wide variety available: duck, salmon, rabbit, vension, etc. There's a recent thread that discusses healthy treats and a link to another thread with recommended brands: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/332242/cat-treats Plain cooked meat makes a good treat, too.
 

missmimz

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When was the last time her thyroid and kidneys were tested? 
 
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