Question:
Back story: Taz came to me as a kitten so small he hadn't yet fully mastered walking. He quickly was put on Iams kitten food, as the milk replacer made him vomit. He ate that kitten food for some time, then switched to Iams adult food, then onto Eukanuba (can't remember the variety). Other than some very smelly gas, I never had any problems with his digestive system until I read here how Iams wasn't very good and tried to switch him to a Innova food. My bad, I didn't transition him properly (I had trouble finding the Innova and so when I did he was almost out of Eukanuba), and he ended up with running, bloody diarrhea. This was last summer, and I was in the process of trying to sell my condo, so it was a huge issue on many levels. He was rushed to the emergency vet and stayed there over night. They did a fecal exam, found nothing, decided it was a food-transition reaction and "prescribed" him canned Medical Gastro for a week and then a switch to the dry Medical Gastro after that. An 8lb bag of Gastro lasts Taz about a month and costs me $31. So I decided to try to switch him to something a little less expensive; my vet agreed that it was worth a try.

I did a 3-week transition into Eagle Pack Duck & Oatmeal, using Eagle Pack's transition powder as well. Once he'd been transitioned, I (not as slowly) switched him into the Eagle Pack Indoor Cat formula (less fat as he is chubby). He's been eating that, with about 1tsp of Eagle Pack Solution powder mixed in, for about 2 weeks now. His poos have been soft, but not to the point that I was concerned about it. Yesterday he found and killed (but didn't eat) a baby bird that had fallen out of it's nest. Today I awake to find a puddle of diarrhea in the centre of my kitchen floor (and I know it's Taz as the others have never had digestive problem). So I'm going back to the vets office to get Medical food again, at least for awhile.

But what I'm wondering, is... will he ever be able to eat a non-prescription food? Is there anything out there that has the same ingredients as Medical Gastro? (Ingredients here)
I didn't think the Eagle Pack food was so bad (Ingredients for Indoor here, for Duck & Oatmeal here ) Maybe I need to put him back on the Duck formula... ?? I don't mind even doing a mix, but I just need to reduce the amount that his food costs me every month (not that I can't afford it, it's mostly just a hassle to go to the vet's office--money and time spent going there too--when I could just pick up his food with the other's at Pet Planet).

Please help?
Melissa

Answer:
Are you sure he's not getting into things outside? I mean, it's hard to know for sure if the food is causing the diarrhea when he has access to so much more outside, no?

Answer:
(not that I can't afford it, it's mostly just a hassle to go to the vet's office--money and time spent going there too--when I could just pick up his food with the other's at Pet Planet).
When you let your cat outside it makes it hard to pinpoint what exactly is causing these issues.
I've owned and taken care of lots of kitties, and I'm not against letting them outside sometimes, but it definately means more vet bills and problems.
But what I'm wondering, is... will he ever be able to eat a non-prescription food?
Even if your vet determines that the problem isn't directly related to food he will probably still have to stay on a special diet.

As far as the other foods you listed compared to the prescription:

The HypoAllergenic/Gastro specifically contains either rice, potato, or both as the carbohydrate, duck as the protein and flax and/or fish as the oil.

The Eagle Pack Indoor:
Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Yellow Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken, Pork Meal*, Anchovy & Sardine Meal, Brewers Dried Yeast, Chicken Liver Digest, Flaxseed, Wheat Germ Meal
(along with other questionable ingredients)
Chicken and pork as the proteins, corn and wheat as two of the carbohydrates, and chicken fat. NOT very good for a kitty with digestion problems.

The Duck and Oatmeal formula:
Ingredients: Duck Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Oatmeal, Corn Gluten Meal, Sun-Cured Alfalfa, Air Dried Peas, Flaxseed,
This is better, but still has chicken and corn products in it which your cat may be sensitive too.

Keep in mind about indoor formulas of any brand: These are meant for inactive cats, so they often cut down on fat and protein by putting in fillers like corn or wheat. If your cat is overweight you're better off just feeding less.

Answer:
He never used to have access to outside. 99% of the time he's supervised when he's outside, and all he's ever eaten was the occasional bug and a little bit of grass. Yesterday was an exception because I was in the front yard watering my plants and my bf said that Taz at the door and had a bird in his mouth. He didn't eat it, as I was able to take it away from him, but he might have eaten a few feathers.

Most of the time when he's outside, he's just sitting in the grass--no pesticides!--and looking at things. He's not a very adventurous cat, and I wouldn't trust him outside if I suspected he was eating things other than a little grass.

Melissa

Answer:
I know you all think that letting my cat out means that he's eating things that aren't good for him. He does not leave the backyard, and there is nothing in the backyard other than my garden, some grass, and the deck. He's not eating anything other than a few bugs, a little grass (not a lot, I watch him), and his cat food. It's not like he's wandering the neighbourhood getting into who knows what!

I don't mind him eating a "special" food, but I don't want or need the hassle of trying to work around a vet's hours to get his food. I have a full-time job and can't always get to the vets before they close.

As for simply cutting down on his food because he's a less-active/overweight kitty... he weighs 21 lbs and eats less than my 9 lb dog, and less than my 2 12 lbs cats (each). He gets, on average, about 1/2 cup of food a day, in two meals. To cut him down any further would mean that he's barely getting any food, and he likes to eat--he wakes me up in the morning if I'm even 10 minutes late on his food as it is. I don't want him to be thinking I'm starving him to death. In some cats, like in some people, cutting down the quantity of food makes the body think it's being starved and it will store as much as possible as fat. I don't want to see Taz have that happen to him.

I am going to go and get some of the canned Medical Gastro now and see if I can feed him a combination of the Eagle Pack & canned Gastro.

Melissa

Answer:
Part of the reason he may be inactive is because some of his food has corn products in it. I don't know about all cats, but when i switched my 6 yr old male cat (very inactive, fat, all he did was sleep and eat mostly) to a food with no corn he actually got much more active and playful and started eating less. What I switched him too was Dick Van pattens Natural Balance cat food, which has chicken in it, but he also sells an allergy formula that uses only venison as the protein and peas as the carbohydrate, so you may want to try this. I buy it from Petco online (they also sell it instore if you can find one), but there are other places to order it if you search.

Here is a link to the ingredients in the venison green pea canned formula http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/cat...CatCanned.html

and the dry
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/cat...as/VenCat.html

I don't know of any other cat formulas, besides maybe Wysong, that don't have chicken or some other kind of poultry in them. Cat food has been slow catching up to dog food as far as good ingredients go.

Answer:
I've wondered about the corn, actually. But he was on food for the first year of his life that had corn in it, and seemed fine. But then when I switched him to the Innova (I just checked and it was Innova Evo, no grains), that's when he had the bloody diarrhea. Of course, I take a lot of blame for that, since I didn't properly transition him to it, but I was shocked to see how sick he got. And since then, he hasn't seemed to be able to tolerate anything other than the Gastro.

I just checked their website, and the Natural Balance foods are available at Pet Planet, where I buy my other pet's foods, so I will check to see if they have the Venison & Pea formula. I'm sure if they don't, they'll be able to order it for me.

In the meantime, I will put him back on the Medical Gastro, if I can get to the vets today before they close (I'm fighting a migraine), and gradually switch him to the Natural Balance.
Thank you for the suggestion. I may even try my other cats on this line of foods, though they are both what I would consider "normally" active. I'm sure it can't hurt them, though.

Thanks,
Melissa

Answer:
Even if a beastie has been on a particular food for its entire life, allergies can develop suddenly.. It's usually the corn, wheat, soy and sometimes chicken... Better to find a food without any of those ingredients.

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