food for a cat with issues - constipation, urinary crystals, food sensitivites, asthma

[abbyntim]

Tim was put on cisapride almost a year ago, after his second bad constipation episode. Both times, we took him to the emergency vet and he had several enemas to clear it all out. The first was March 2011 and the second was June 2013. Our regular vet put Tim on cisapride without telling us about potential side effects and the fact that it is dependency-forming. Several times, I asked this vet if we could take Tim off cisapride and he kept saying, "not yet", then recently this vet told us Tim would have to be on cisapride for life. I've recently started working with a holistic veterinarian who is helping us wean Tim off cisapride.

I do not know if Tim has motility issues. Based on his progress as we slowly taper his doses of cisapride, I am cautiously optimistic that he does not. In fact, I am beginning to doubt he will have constipation problems moving forward, provided the cisapride dependency damage has not been done. We believe his two previous episodes of constipation were due to a combination of dehydration (he was on an all-dry diet), poor digestion, and situational stress, as our house was very tense in the weeks leading up to both episodes (impending job loss in one instance and major family drama in another). We transitioned both cats to an all-canned diet and have improved Tim's digestion with better-quality food and probiotics. So many things I thought were normal for him have disappeared, such as chronic hairballs, regular-occasional vomiting of food and stomach acid, and frequent mushy stools.

Tim's stool are now very nice. The better-quality food reduced their volume and odor, and improved the texture. They are firm, but not hard and he has no trouble passing them. As I mentioned, provided the cisapride dependency damage has not been done, I don't know if Tim will have constipation problems moving forward. He's doing really well on the Nature's Variety Instinct, even though it's a bit higher in fiber than I would like for a cat that may have constipation problems (I pick out most of the veggie chunks to help reduce the fiber somewhat, even as I give him tiny, tiny amounts of slippery elm or psyllium on alternating days). My goal is to keep his stools small, but we're giving him these supplemental fibers to provide digestive support as we reduce the amount of cisapride in his system. I've heard Nature's Variety raw is higher in bone than some other brands and, because I don't want to take a chance with him, we will be trying other brands when we transition to raw. Tim's been eating Nature's Variety Instinct canned because it's one of the few brands that has proteins besides chicken and fish, and has no carrageenan or gums.

 

[aoi chan]

He probably didn't need the Cisapride to begin with, only a stool softener like Miralax.

Why are you adding fiber if you don't want him even eating high fiber foods to begin with? Fiber is going to bulk up the stool which is not something you want.

I was actually taking about Nature's Variety Instinct canned food I found to have excessive amounts of bone. When dropped a chunk of the canned food on a plate it clinked and clanked.

 

[abbyntim]

Yes, totally agree on the cisapride. I do hope we can successfully get him off this. I wish the other vet had tried something else without going straight to cisapride, which I've learned is often considered last-resort. I am trying very hard to not be angry about this, as it's counter-productive and I just want my guy to be able to poop on his own. Despite Tim having some challenges this week with his most recent dose-reduction, I am hopeful he will be able to.

Tim is on the added fibers temporarily (prescribed by holistic veterinarian) and on tiny amounts to support his digestion and stimulate movement. The fiber doses are so small, I have found the carrot and pea chunks bulk his stool much more than the tiny amount of psyllium, while his stool quality improved on psyllium (I have been measuring and recording stool data). We recently started alternating with slippery elm in an effort to feed his intestinal bacterial and further improve his digestion. I am currently comfortable with his stool size, and it's much smaller than it was on Wellness grain-free canned and dry food, though it is bigger than my girl's and appropriate for his size and diet (confirmed by sending a variety of measurements to holistic veterinarian). Once he's off cisapride and doing things on his own, my plan is to taper the fibers to determine if they help or don't make a difference.

Wow, interesting experience with the canned. I know someone else here complained about the bone in the canned. I've seen some cans of duck with what seemed like an excessive amount of bone pieces, which I picked out. I will say, however, that I'll be happy when Tim is off cisapride and I can start to experiment with more foods so we can pin down what causes problems and what does not. At this time, the following ingredients are only suspect, but I don't want to take any chances as we're so close to him being done with cisapride: chicken, carrageenan, guar gum, xantham gum. And I won't feed fish, as he developed urinary crystals when consuming Wellness grain-free varieties that included fish; the crystals went away a week after stopping those varieties. However, he continued to vomit Wellness, which includes all suspect ingredients except xantham gum.

 

[denice]

I know my kitties aren't crazy about the Nature's Variety Instinct, they will eat a little of the lamb but not enough to make it worth the price.  I think it's a texture thing.  My kitties are fine with the Hounds & Gatos which has a really different texture.

 

[abbyntim]

I tried Hounds & Gatos lamb, which neither cat cared for and which also upset Tim's stomach (suspect ingredients: all the gums). I was disappointed, as the ingredients look good except for all those darn gums. We tried a small variety of foods several months ago when I stopped feeding foods with chicken, fish, or carrageenan, and after discussion with the holistic veterinarian, we decided to stick with Nature's Variety during the weaning process because both cats like it and it wasn't causing Tim any tummy trouble. Until, of course, something happened with the turkey in early May and now the rabbit.

But I am happy to report that I grabbed 22 5.5 ounce cans of "old" rabbit yesterday while visiting my sister. I definitely have enough to last through June. With any luck, Tim will be off cisapride and safely pooping on his own by then and we can branch out and try other things, including other Hounds & Gatos flavors, Lotus Just Juicy, and Party Animal.

 

[aoi chan]

Hope your Tim will be able to poop without the Cisapride. Are you already adding water to his food? That might help as well.

 

[abbyntim]

Thank you! Me, too! Despite his current challenges, I am hopeful he'll be fine. He went through something similar when we first started skipping three days between doses, then he got onto a nearly-24 hour schedule after about 10 days. I think he's facing a similar challenge as his body adapts to five days between doses and am confident he'll get back on track. I just need to wait this out and remain observant without stressing him. And yes, we add water to his food. Especially in the evening when he gets psyllium or slippery elm- we mix in A LOT of water because I don't want the fiber to plug him up, as fiber with insufficient water can do.

 

[abbyntim]

I wanted to share kitten pictures of Abby and Tim. I was going through some old emails and found these. I think these photos are from their first weekend with us in October 2009.

In the first photo, Tim is on the left and Abby is on the right. Notice that Abby is bigger. It took Tim a little while to start growing and I was initially worried about him (ugh, still worried but for other reasons), but then he caught up and passed Abby. Abby is now about 9-10 pounds and Tim is about 14-15. Tim was up to 16+, so we watched his portions a bit more and now both cats look great.

The second photo is just Tim and I think he was interested in my camera strap- how could I resist taking a photo? His ears were so big and I captioned this photo "Tim is all ears!" I figured he would either be a funny-looking cat or a big cat. Luckily, he grew into those ears and is beautiful now (even with the big ears, I think he's adorable).

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• abbyntim
• Jun 2, 2014

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• abbyntim
• Jun 2, 2014

 

[abbyntim]

I haven’t posted in a while about Tim’s issues and our quest to find suitable food because there wasn’t much to report. Tim was primarily eating canned Nature’s Variety Instinct rabbit through June, at the end of which he had his very last dose of cisapride. We continued with this food through July, while adding a very small amount of Lotus Just Juicy pork or turkey as a “bedtime snack”. We did not make any other food changes in July, as we wanted to ensure he could poop on his own and without any difficulty without cisapride.

Tim got through July just fine. The only lingering issue was his chin continued to swell intermittently. We visited the holistic vet on August 1 and no obvious physical problem was found. But the NVI rabbit formula seemed to change and we think we fed a particularly fatty batch for a period of a week that did not agree with him. And because Tim had been off cisapride for a month with no problems, we agreed it was time to start the transition to raw.

I was anxious to get Tim transitioned because even the Pepcid AC was not helping him this time. But I didn’t want to transition him too quickly, for fear of him getting sick and refusing raw. So little bit by little bit, increasing in tiny amounts each day, I got him to where he is now: His dinner is 100% Rad Cat turkey and his breakfast is 50% canned NVI rabbit and 50% Primal Pronto rabbit and Stella & Chewy Absolutely rabbit. He still gets the bedtime snack of Lotus Just Juicy. I am having trouble getting Tim to eat more raw rabbit, though I am searching for a convenient and not-outrageously-expensive source of more “meat-like” rabbit. Both the Primal and the Stella & Chewy are formed into nuggets. He’s gobbled raw meat before and I think that’s why he likes Rad Cat – because it’s shredded muscle and organ meats.

Today, Tim is in pretty good shape. His poops are what you would generally expect to see from a raw-fed cat, though perhaps a bit larger due to the small but regular canned in his diet. He goes mostly every 36 hours, though a 48-hour stretch is not uncommon. Importantly, I am comfortable with this, though I do still track date and time. We stopped the daily doses of 1/16 tsp psyllium, though I am still giving him my version of the hairball blend daily: psyllium, marshmallow, and slippery elm (approximately 1/32 tsp total). I am likely to taper this in the near future.

Regarding Tim’s other issues, we had a visit with a pet cardiologist, who performed an echocardiogram among other things. No sign of HCM or asthma. The no-asthma is not so surprising, as that can be from allergies. But what about the HCM? When we explained the circumstances under which Tim was originally diagnosed, everyone realized it was a misdiagnosis due to him being so sick, dehydrated, and inflamed at the time. Boy, I wish I would have taken Tim to a cardiologist then, rather than relying on our vet’s diagnosis. But I’m so happy!

Tim has not vomited since May, when he had that bout of diarrhea. He’s not had diarrhea since then, either. No hairballs since then. He coughed once about a month ago, but nothing like what he used to do. No urinary issues, though I continue to watch litter box activity to make sure all is well in that area.

Finally, Tim had a visit with an animal dentist a couple of weeks ago, which included a cleaning plus x-rays. We wanted to see if his chin swelling was possibly due to something under the gumline. His teeth and bones are perfect. No extractions, no issues at all. We are very happy about that.

So Tim is a very healthy cat who just needs to lose a couple of pounds. And we need to keep an eye on his chin in an effort to figure out the cause. We suspect Tim has a sensitive stomach, but we can definitely manage this with diet. Depending on how he does through the month of September, I plan to gradually introduce some new proteins and/or brands. I even plan to try raw chicken, since I’ve read of some cats that cannot tolerate canned but can tolerate raw. But for now I am very happy and amazed that food changes could make such a dramatic improvement in Tim’s health.

Here is a thread I posted to during Tim's transition to raw: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/283284/poops-during-the-transition-to-raw-what-to-expect

 

[cocheezie]

Well done, all of you! Champagne corks popping!

(Cocheezie has gone off NVI rabbit in the last two weeks. Won't touch it. Wonder if there was a bad batch or a formula change?)

 

[abbyntim]

 
Well done, all of you! Champagne corks popping!

(Cocheezie has gone off NVI rabbit in the last two weeks. Won't touch it. Wonder if there was a bad batch or a formula change?)

Thank you!

You know, I think the NVI rabbit formula did change. The label remains the same, but the contents look different. I could see a noticeable difference between cans with late 2015 expiration dates and 2016 expiration dates. The newer ones are more "juicy", which I believe is simply more fat. There were a couple of pretty bad batches with February expiration dates that seemed to have more juice than meat. Before we realized just how fatty it was, we were feeding that batch to Tim twice a day, every day, for about a week. That's when he started drooling and showing signs of nausea, plus his lip and chin swelled again; this time, Pepcid AC did not help.

 

[cocheezie]

Checked my NVI rabbit - Feb expiry date.

 

[peaches08]

I'm so glad that you found a workable plan for him, and mostly through food rather than medications.  I think the meds helped him transition, but I'm glad now food and some supplements is all he's needing these days.  Great job on listening to the vets, and most importantly listening to him.

 

[abbyntim]

 
I'm so glad that you found a workable plan for him, and mostly through food rather than medications.  I think the meds helped him transition, but I'm glad now food and some supplements is all he's needing these days.  Great job on listening to the vets, and most importantly listening to him.

Thank you! I am soooo happy with how he looks and his behavior. He's like a young and energetic cat again and seems to feel really good.