Hey everyone! I've posted a few times about my cat Yoshi over the years, and I'm hoping you all can help me out again. This is a long post but please read & help me if you can! I don't know what else to do.
Health summary: Yoshi got really sick with vomiting, not eating, & diarrhea in 2016. After a bunch of trips to the vet & no issues identified, we found that she either has IBD or small cell lymphoma. We decided not to do a biopsy since she wouldn't be a good candidate for cancer treatment anyways, so we put her on Prednisolone & she has been on it ever since. She was given a prognosis of 6 months at the time of her diagnosis, and here she is, 5 years later, still going (somewhat) strong. We've basically concluded that it must be IBD since cancer would have taken her by now.
Food history: When all this happened in 2016, Yoshi was primarily a dry food grazer. I was just a teenager at this time so I really didn't know much about cat nutrition. After her diagnosis, the vet recommended Royal Canin's GI High Energy canned food. I kept her on this for pretty much 3 years, and she definitely improved, but still had chronic diarrhea. Again, I didn't know much about cat nutrition so I didn't realize that her food could be playing a large part in her health problems. She still went for check-ups every 6 months & everything was fine & dandy, aside from the chronic diarrhea. Around 2019, I decided to try switching her food after I started researching cat nutrition on my own & saw that the vet food she had been on for years had a ton of questionable ingredients. I switched her (gradually, over about 10 days) over to Natural Balance's LID Duck & Green Pea canned food, and she definitely improved in the first few weeks, but then the diarrhea returned. Again, everything else health-wise was fine, just chronic diarrhea. I did try other food in between then & now, but it all made her much worse than the Natural Balance did (vomiting with diarrhea). I decided to stick it out with the Natural Balance since it seemed to be the lesser of the evils, & I really didn't have access to better brands with my limited budget & small town pet store selection.
I moved to a new town in November 2020, & I found out that the local pet store had Tiki Cat After Dark, which I had read about being a "holy grail" for cats with digestive problems. Even though it is insanely expensive & I still can't really afford it, I decided I would try it & just find a way to pay for it if it ended up working for her. I slowly transitioned her to it, & after a few days, she started having really bad bouts of vomiting, so I stopped giving her the Tiki Cat. This was obviously frustrating since this was supposed to be the magical food that solved all my problems. I resumed the Natural Balance, & kept researching different brands to try. My pet store also carries Stella & Chewy's, so I decided to try their turkey pate. I transitioned from the NB to S&C's, & everything was actually going well for about a week- her stool darkened to a dark brown & was finally solid. I was so happy, but the solid stools only lasted a few days before the diarrhea resumed. I held out for another week or so on the S&C's, but the solid stools did not return. At this point, I went to my pet store to pick up more of the S&C's as I planned to keep her on it a bit longer to see if the good poops would come back, but it turns out they have a really difficult time keeping it in stock & the warehouse is almost always out, so it's not a reliable food to feed her exclusively as some weeks they just don't have it. It's way more expensive to order it online, so that isn't really an option for me. I decided to transition her back to the Natural Balance while I tried to figure out what to do next.
I had heard all about feeding raw for IBD cats, & I did try it with Yoshi many years ago for a couple weeks, but I decided last week to finally give raw a try as her primary food. I bought the Stella & Chewy's Freeze Dried Dinner Morsels (Duck Duck Goose), & started the transition once again. Well, I'm a few days into the transition today, & I woke up to diarrhea all over my bed & poopy paw prints all over my apartment. Obviously this doesn't sit well with her either.
I really don't know what to do next. The Natural Balance still gives her diarrhea, but it seems to be the only food that doesn't induce vomiting or messes all over my apartment. I'm a student with a very limited budget, so I can't keep going through all this food & spending ridiculous amounts on high end brands. I'm not very comfortable with the idea of making my own meals for her, & I'm also a vegetarian who gets pretty sick from meat, so I'm not comfortable handling a ton of raw meat. I think that I should avoid foods with carrageenan, since I know that's a no-no ingredient for IBD cats (though it is in the Natural Balance), & I'm pretty sure that chicken doesn't sit well with her since she has had the worst reactions to food with chicken as the primary ingredient.
What do I do!? Try another raw brand? Stay with the canned food but just try another brand w/o chicken or carrageenan? Other brands I've researched but not yet tried are Nulo, Petcurean, Performatrin, Nature's Variety.... should I keep going with trying other brands or stay with the "lesser of the evils" Natural Balance? I hate that my cat is uncomfortable & going through her life with chronic diarrhea. I just want to relieve this for her but nothing is working
Health summary: Yoshi got really sick with vomiting, not eating, & diarrhea in 2016. After a bunch of trips to the vet & no issues identified, we found that she either has IBD or small cell lymphoma. We decided not to do a biopsy since she wouldn't be a good candidate for cancer treatment anyways, so we put her on Prednisolone & she has been on it ever since. She was given a prognosis of 6 months at the time of her diagnosis, and here she is, 5 years later, still going (somewhat) strong. We've basically concluded that it must be IBD since cancer would have taken her by now.
Food history: When all this happened in 2016, Yoshi was primarily a dry food grazer. I was just a teenager at this time so I really didn't know much about cat nutrition. After her diagnosis, the vet recommended Royal Canin's GI High Energy canned food. I kept her on this for pretty much 3 years, and she definitely improved, but still had chronic diarrhea. Again, I didn't know much about cat nutrition so I didn't realize that her food could be playing a large part in her health problems. She still went for check-ups every 6 months & everything was fine & dandy, aside from the chronic diarrhea. Around 2019, I decided to try switching her food after I started researching cat nutrition on my own & saw that the vet food she had been on for years had a ton of questionable ingredients. I switched her (gradually, over about 10 days) over to Natural Balance's LID Duck & Green Pea canned food, and she definitely improved in the first few weeks, but then the diarrhea returned. Again, everything else health-wise was fine, just chronic diarrhea. I did try other food in between then & now, but it all made her much worse than the Natural Balance did (vomiting with diarrhea). I decided to stick it out with the Natural Balance since it seemed to be the lesser of the evils, & I really didn't have access to better brands with my limited budget & small town pet store selection.
I moved to a new town in November 2020, & I found out that the local pet store had Tiki Cat After Dark, which I had read about being a "holy grail" for cats with digestive problems. Even though it is insanely expensive & I still can't really afford it, I decided I would try it & just find a way to pay for it if it ended up working for her. I slowly transitioned her to it, & after a few days, she started having really bad bouts of vomiting, so I stopped giving her the Tiki Cat. This was obviously frustrating since this was supposed to be the magical food that solved all my problems. I resumed the Natural Balance, & kept researching different brands to try. My pet store also carries Stella & Chewy's, so I decided to try their turkey pate. I transitioned from the NB to S&C's, & everything was actually going well for about a week- her stool darkened to a dark brown & was finally solid. I was so happy, but the solid stools only lasted a few days before the diarrhea resumed. I held out for another week or so on the S&C's, but the solid stools did not return. At this point, I went to my pet store to pick up more of the S&C's as I planned to keep her on it a bit longer to see if the good poops would come back, but it turns out they have a really difficult time keeping it in stock & the warehouse is almost always out, so it's not a reliable food to feed her exclusively as some weeks they just don't have it. It's way more expensive to order it online, so that isn't really an option for me. I decided to transition her back to the Natural Balance while I tried to figure out what to do next.
I had heard all about feeding raw for IBD cats, & I did try it with Yoshi many years ago for a couple weeks, but I decided last week to finally give raw a try as her primary food. I bought the Stella & Chewy's Freeze Dried Dinner Morsels (Duck Duck Goose), & started the transition once again. Well, I'm a few days into the transition today, & I woke up to diarrhea all over my bed & poopy paw prints all over my apartment. Obviously this doesn't sit well with her either.
I really don't know what to do next. The Natural Balance still gives her diarrhea, but it seems to be the only food that doesn't induce vomiting or messes all over my apartment. I'm a student with a very limited budget, so I can't keep going through all this food & spending ridiculous amounts on high end brands. I'm not very comfortable with the idea of making my own meals for her, & I'm also a vegetarian who gets pretty sick from meat, so I'm not comfortable handling a ton of raw meat. I think that I should avoid foods with carrageenan, since I know that's a no-no ingredient for IBD cats (though it is in the Natural Balance), & I'm pretty sure that chicken doesn't sit well with her since she has had the worst reactions to food with chicken as the primary ingredient.
What do I do!? Try another raw brand? Stay with the canned food but just try another brand w/o chicken or carrageenan? Other brands I've researched but not yet tried are Nulo, Petcurean, Performatrin, Nature's Variety.... should I keep going with trying other brands or stay with the "lesser of the evils" Natural Balance? I hate that my cat is uncomfortable & going through her life with chronic diarrhea. I just want to relieve this for her but nothing is working