Cat question

Southpaw

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#1
Posting it here since I think it may get more traffic in this forum.

My cat has always been a bit of a.... vomitter? He's 10 years old, had been on Iams most of his life because none of us knew any better. Back then, he would vomit probably once a day. It was just his norm. About 4ish years ago I switched him to California Natural and his vomiting became less frequent, but still happened too often (maybe once a week or so).

July 2010 he had a urethral obstruction so he has been on Hills C/D ever since. And the vomiting is bad again and probably worse than it was when he was on Iams. It kind of comes and goes in waves--for example, at the moment he has puked like a bazillion times in the past week. But before this bout started, it had been a few weeks since he'd puked. The past few days though it seems like every time I turn around, there's cat vomit! There's nothing in it btw.... sometimes there'll be food in it but most of the time it's just bile splattered across the floor (good description I know).

In the back of my mind I feel like I KNOW this is a food issue but we don't want to risk taking him off the prescription diet. The vomiting is the only issue, he's otherwise a normal healthy cat - he eats, he drinks, he plays, everything in the litterbox is good and normal. He hasn't had bloodwork since his obstruction but since the vomiting isn't anything new.... I'm not so inclined to think there's going to be any changes there....

Thoughts? Suggestions? Do you think canned vs dry could make any difference? (Currently he's on dry). My mom was open to mixing the C/D with another food, but I told her that if it is a problem with the food, then it's not going to help unless it's eliminated from his diet completely. She doesn't want to risk that. Stuck between a rock and a hard place!
 

ravennr

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#2
I recently learned and researched the benefits of canned vs dry. Let me tell you, it's amazing.

Moisture in a cat's diet is so incredibly important, and people tend to think that a bowl of water is sufficient. I see notable differences in my cat when he's eating canned and not gulping bowls of water a day, vs kibble and drinking like he's never seen water before in his life.

http://www.catinfo.org/
This site helped me a lot when I adopted Rock. He came with GI issues and was on a Royal Canin prescription, and vomited regularly. After adding in more moisture to his food, rather than just giving him lots of water, it stopped. He threw up a few days ago on a new food, but I think he was scarfing it because he'd never had lobster before and was excited (and also trying to keep it away from the kitten trying to steal it).

I try to feed him raw, but it's difficult right now with roommates who feed their cat Whiskas, and free-feed no less, and we barely have enough room for our own food let alone meat for him. He does much better on raw than anything else, but canned (at least 50%) is the next best thing. I immediately switched him the moment I saw him hit the litter box and squat, and nothing came out. It's never happened again since increasing his moisture content. Unfortunately, I'm seeing the kitten do this now, but my warnings to my roommates are being ignored, and I do fear for the little guy and hope he's not facing crystal obstruction.
 
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#3
NIn my experience with customers at work, cats with puking problems usually benefit from switching to a grain-free canned or raw food, or at the very least a more digestible, grain-free dry food (such as Natures Variety LID or Feline Caviar).

As far as the urethral obstruction goes, cats often end up with those problems because they're chronically dehydrated - they don't consume enough water in their diet, their urine gets really concentrated, and the normal minerals and such that are excreted in the urine build up, causing stones/crystals/obstructions. This is usually solved by switching to a canned or raw diet.

My first suggestion (if your mom will go for it) would be to switch to a grain-free canned or raw food. If you want to still do dry food, I'd go with Natures Variety LID or Feline Caviar. But try to get as much moisture in the diet as possible.

Hope that helps!
 

PWCorgi

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#4
I'd say in 80-85% of customers who have vomiting issues, as soon as they switch to GF (ideally canned) it stops.
 

Southpaw

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#5
As far as the urethral obstruction goes, cats often end up with those problems because they're chronically dehydrated - they don't consume enough water in their diet, their urine gets really concentrated, and the normal minerals and such that are excreted in the urine build up, causing stones/crystals/obstructions. This is usually solved by switching to a canned or raw diet.
This is my belief as well but (understandably so I suppose) my mom doesn't want to hear it! It's been "so far, so good" on the rx diet, he had a urinalysis done a couple months ago that came back perfect.... as much as I try convincing her otherwise, she's pretty set on believing that this is the only diet in existence that will help prevent him from having another problem. Ack.

I guess in her mind it's, either put up with the vomiting, or pay to fix another obstruction.

We used to float his food when he was first put on this diet, again going along with the "the more moisture the better" theory. He still vomited then though... I think he just seriously does not tolerate this Hills crap. I wonder if I could find a canned food that mimics what it is about C/D that makes it work.
 
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#6
The C/D has decreased amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and oxalate (the main componenents of stones), and increased amounts of B6 and potassium citrate to stop the formation of stones.

Wysong has their Uretic (dry) that is formulated to help with stones - we sell quite a bit of. The Uretic, so it must be working for someone somewhere. I know Weruva and Fussie Cat (wet) are both on the low end for phosphorus and magnesium.
 

Lilavati

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#7
We feed grain free, but its dry, and my old cat still has puking problems . . . we'll have to try canned.
 

MicksMom

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#8
I'd say in 80-85% of customers who have vomiting issues, as soon as they switch to GF (ideally canned) it stops.
Pretty much what I was going to say. For years our old cat puked on a fairly regular basis. The strange thing is, she did it more often when she wasn't on Purina (once or twice a week on Purina vs almost every day on other brands). A couple of years before she died, Purina came out with ONE Naturals. Supopsedly grain free, but really less grains than their other foods. I switched her to that, and, except for the occasional hairball, her puking disappeared.
 

Southpaw

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#9
The C/D has decreased amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and oxalate (the main componenents of stones), and increased amounts of B6 and potassium citrate to stop the formation of stones.

Wysong has their Uretic (dry) that is formulated to help with stones - we sell quite a bit of. The Uretic, so it must be working for someone somewhere. I know Weruva and Fussie Cat (wet) are both on the low end for phosphorus and magnesium.
Thanks! I am not that well versed in food yet. :p

I saw the Uretic formula at work the other day, I'll look into that more.... And probably pick up some Weruva cans which I was thinking about doing anyway since they look good lol.

He's just such a mess on the c/d. Haaaaaate it.
 
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#10
Thanks! I am not that well versed in food yet. :p

I saw the Uretic formula at work the other day, I'll look into that more.... And probably pick up some Weruva cans which I was thinking about doing anyway since they look good lol.

He's just such a mess on the c/d. Haaaaaate it.
Weruva is awesome! It's probably one of the best selling cans at our store. Sassy will only eat a few of their formulas (but she's extremely selective about her canned food), but Jack loves the dog ones!

I'm not sure if you guys carry Fussie Cat or not yet (we were the original test store for it), but if you do, definitely try it!
 

monkeys23

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#11
Yes definitely grain free canned or raw like others have said! Poor little obligate carnivores just don't do well with the awful crap they usually get fed.

I know someone who managed her male cat's issues with high quality grain free canned... it worked well as long as most of diet was canned... kibble not so much.

I wish my dang cat would even eat canned... she won't touch anything but kibble and is disdainful of anything that isn't wellness core. Luckily had no problems besides occasional puking, which while not ideal could be worse. *knock on wood*
 

Southpaw

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#12
I managed to convince my mom to try the Wysong Uretic.... it's not grain-free so I guess we'll see if it makes a difference, but even if it just decreases the vomiting like the California Natural did, that would be a huge improvement over the current situation. And the ingredients don't make me gag as much as the c/d does. I'll also grab some canned Weruva to feed with it.

She's just not open to trying anything that isn't specifically marketed as a urinary health formula and to be honest I'm super shocked she's even open to this! Hopefully it works out well. Good news is Jinx has never been picky about food, so I shouldn't have to worry about that at least. :)

Thanks for all the help!
 

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