Felv+ Cat Nutrition

[cattyclaws]

Hi all,

TL;DR I found out that my cat has leukemia about a month ago. I took her to the vet a few days ago for her shots and they weighed her but it turns out she has lost some weight (I suspected as much). I feed her twice a day and this schedule works for us as I am at work for most part of the day. Anyway, looking for information on nutrition and what I could feed her + how often. Also other suggestions on improving her quality of life are welcome.

Just a bit of background - I had wanted to adopt a cat since a while and after bringing one home, it just didn't seem to work out so I had to return him. It was a pretty bad experience for me and left me bit disturbed being a first time owner (I had posted about it on here). Anyway, eventually I decided to start fostering cats in December and was given the sweetest kitty - she was everything I wanted; a cuddly sweetheart who followed me everywhere! I decided to adopt her in February and a few weeks later she got very sick. I took her to the vet and they kept her for 3 days on IV and ran various tests to find out the problem. That was when we discovered that she has Leukemia. Her history is very unclear but what I do know is that she was a house cat and was later chucked out onto the street by her owners (grr ), perhaps that's where she caught the virus? Thankfully, Zuzu recovered as she responded positively to the steroid shot and she was soon back to her normal self. That was a month ago; she started showing signs of lethargy a few days ago but I spotted it early this time so took her to the vet immediately and she had her shot again. However the vet told me that she has lost weight and that this was normal with cats who are FeLV +.

So being a new cat owner and completely clueless, my question really is - what should I be feeding my cat so as to avoid any health problems that could likely arise due to poor diet. She is approximately 4 years old but the vet isn't sure as she has lost all but 4 of her teeth and needs to be on a soft food diet.

TIA!

 

[duckpond]

If the vet does not have her on a specific diet, then i think most any high protein, moderate fat, low card diet would be good. I feed both dry and wet for my guys.

For dry food i feed Dr. Elseys chicken. I leave this out all the time, it is very high protein and low carb.

I also feed two wet meals per day. I feed a lot of Tiki cat, and tiki cat after dark. some weruva flavors, Almo nature the chicken and green beans complete formula is a big fav right now. American journey minced flavors, Nulo minced flavors, Merrick back country in those black pouches. and the one cat who prefers fancy feast classics, or grilled flavors to anything else. My guys like the shredded foods best. But i do cut the shred up a bit with a fork when i serve it, just to make the pieces smaller and easier.

I do like to look at the cat food database to compare foods.

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

 

[Kieka]

Can you tell us what you are feeding now? Brand, flavor, dry or wet, quantity, etc. Also, this is an international site so if you wouldn't mind country so we can give advice based on what is available in your country.

General rule when it comes to food is:

1. Wet is better than dry. Cats don't drink a lot of water so wet helps increase their hydration which is better health wise.
2. Grains and starches should be limited when possible. Cats are carnivores and have evolved to need a meat rich diet. They don't handle starch or grains well so the less of it the better.
3. Look for foods over 30% protein (usually 9% of higher in wet because of water content). Ideally, I like the 40% range personally but if your current food is lower you would want to slowly up it.
4. Speaking of.... Diet changes should take time. Slow change from one food to the other to prevent problems.
5. Be aware of peas. If the label says "pea protein" or "potato protein" you can take some of the protein off the label in your head. Cats don't process plant proteins as well so while it may say 40% if pea protein is number three on the label the actual meat protein will be more like 25-30% range. I'll take 5% less protein if it is all animal.
6. You want to look for labels with named meats in the first five. Ideally nothing but meat for the first three.