What in the world should you feed your cat?! (eating, vomiting, feline)
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In doing my own online research I have found something "bad" with basically every cat food on the market. My cat is 8 yrs old and was on Hill's Science Diet all the way up until the recall. I fed her that because I was young and my former vet recommended it and I thought as a professional he was recommending the best. Once the recall happened I freaked out and started doing research. I have tried several different organic and/or healthier cat foods over the last year. My cat has always been healthy and I have never had any problems with her. Well, this past Dec. my cat vomited blood for several days. I took her to the vet and they gave her fluids and antibiotics and it resolved after 2 days. The same thing happened 2 weeks ago. My current vet is baffled as to what is the cause because she has no other symptoms like diarrhea, lethargy etc.... Just excessive salivating (which I was told is a sign of nausea in cats) vomiting and dehydration resulting from it. Both times she vomited food for a day and then it became like spit with a tinge of blood and then full on bloody liquid. Both of these times, in Dec and May, I had her on the Wellness dry food. So this time I started her on Royal Canin Sensitive Stomach and I had planned to switch back to some type of organic when she felt better. Now here we are, 5 days after she started eating again-the Royal Canin, she has developed open wounds on her head. 3 are on the little slightly bald patch in front of her ears and 2 on the top of her head. They are open bloody sores that scab over after a day. I called the vet and she said it was probably fleas. I do not see fleas on her but I put revolution on her anyways. She is an indoor only cat and the only animal I own in a 3rd floor apt and has white fur on her face. I would see fleas if she had them. Does anyone think she could of developed a wheat allergy since I did not feed her wheat for 2 yrs and then suddenly put her on the Royal Canin or is there something wrong with the Wellness? I am desperate for answers. I don't know what to do. I have spent $1100 in Vet bills from the Dec. incident and this recent one. My boyfriend thinks I am over reacting and to just pick a food and stick with it. I would die if anything happened to my cat. I feel as if I am slowly poisoning her or something. I literally have read something bad about every brand of cat food. I don't know what is good or bad. I'm terrified the Wellness is making her sick but the vet does not think it is the food since the vomiting was 5 months apart. My vet is caring and I feel like he is being attentive but he is fresh out of college and not familiar with Wellness cat food or any of the organic brands. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
Have they done x-rays? Sometimes adult cats can have a furball that they can't get up. Did your vet have you try hairball remedy at all to see if that could be the problem. What about bloodwork? There are a lot of things that can make them nauseous that would show up on a CBC/profile/differential.
They didn't do X-rays at all. I did give her the hairball stuff when she first started throwing up and then when I brought her in the vet said since it was fresh blood that she might have little tears in her esophagus and stomach from throwing up so to lay off the hairball remedy. My mom had thought maybe she had a hairball lodged somewhere too but the vomiting has resolved for now so not sure. They did blood work for this past vomiting episode 2 weeks ago and the vet said her Red blood cells were either high or low, can't remember, but I know he said her count normally means they have been fighting an infection for a while (but he didn't say what!) and her white blood cells were low. Her kidney and liver enzymes were normal - thank goodness. He did a feline leukemia and HIV test and those were negative. I have been obsessive-compulsive about monitoring her recently and she is playing, cleaning her fur a lot, and drinking a normal amount of water. I bought her a pouch of the Wellness wet food tonight and she ate that. She's a little pissed at me because I put the flea meds on her last night and then today I cleaned the open sores (she currently has 3) with hydrogen peroxide. She hasn't used the litter box as much but I had thought that was maybe due to her not eating too much recently. I was worried about the blood work results but the vet said it may be just a virus and it is a good sign she is playing. Abnormal blood cell count sounds scary to me though and I read online that can be a sign of cancer. I don't get the connection with the sores though. I'm really confused. I caught her scratching an area where one of the sores is so I don't know if she caused them or if they just developed. I love her so much, this has been really difficult for me.
Are you feeding dry food? Wet is much better as it is closer to their natural diet in the wild...plus, cats can not properly digest grains (the only grains they would consume in the wild would be in the intestines of the prey they catch!) Find a low ash, low Ph preferably low or no-grain canned food like Wellness core, Pinnacle, Evangers, Evo, or Solid Gold. Also, could be she is allergic to the protein source, so try something different like lamb or pheasant...(I like to mix it up for mine, so they get a different type of canned food every day, alternating between the above-mentioned brands, and a variety of protein sources.) Also, hydrogen peroxide will actually slow the healing process, what you should do is clean it out with sodium chloride and then apply panalog (an antibiotic cream you can probably get from your vet!) The sores could also be due to dry skin or allergies to the grains in the food...but I do agree an x-ray (& possibly an ultrasound) is probably a good idea to make sure there is nothing more serious going on in there! Hang in there, and I hope you get these issues resolved...it is obvious you are a great & loving cat mama, and you guys deserve to spend many more years being companions...best of luck & I am sorry you are going through all this!
Poor kitty. It sounds like you are doing the best for her.
I'd put her on a strict grain-free (preferably canned food) diet. Eliminating junky fillers like rice, corn, & wheat (and glutens as protein sources - find a food that uses meat as its protein source!) will probably help. I'd choose a grain-free food over organic, personally.
I'd probably go get a second opinion from another vet, too. To be honest, vets don't always know the best nutrition for animals - they hawk what the companies push on them. And Science Diet has paid for many vets' training, so it gets pushed a lot. And it is pure junk; full of grains. My 17 year old dog with a long history of skin problems and hot spots (he would chew a bloody bare spot on his tail!) has improved his skin and coat 100% after we took him off grain-filled 'junk' dog food and put him on Merrick.
My cats eat Merrick and Weruva canned, Wellness Core dry.
Do you live anywhere close to a vet school? The advantage would be that you could have an internal medicine specialist for her stomach problems and a dermatologist to look at her skin all in the same building. They might be related or they may be two completely separate problems. I hope all your kitty's problems resolve soon! It sounds like you are an outstanding catmom.
Agree with LuvMyCat & Hanna. I hope there is a Holistic veterinarian in/near your town, It will be SO worth it.
Visit Feeding Your Cat** Know the Basi. Feline Specialist Dr. Pierson has a list of the foods which are safe and good for your little carnivore. Canned Wellness is popular with members on this forum. You may also try eliminating/minimizing fish and beef intake (yeah! I was surprised at that too.)
Katrine, good link. IAMS and all the other "popular" ones are pure junk on top of that.
Thanks for the info! I saw that beef and fish were common allergens too. The article I read said they can develop allergies at any age too, even if it is from a food you have had them on for years.
I read over the article briefly (as it is late here!) but that is some great info. that I have bookmarked so I can reference back. I do have another question...I plan to keep her on the Wellness dry and then for the wet food...is it ok to switch brands around? I know they say if you are switching the dry to mix in a little of the new brand until you switch over. But with the wet I would rather try out different quality brands so she can have an assortment. Do you think that will upset her stomach or are the ingredients in the high quality brands of wet food similar enough that she should be fine.
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