Best cat food...

Factual Questions
1

Well, my cat, who’s 18 years old, is starting to have problems deficating. It’s not diarrhea, more like it seems to get “stuck” and he’ll have trouble eliminating properly. The vet wasn’t very helpful and when I asked what might be causing it he said it could be hereditary (an x-ray shows no blockage).

So I’m now looking at different foods that might help. He’s been eating Purena Cat Chow for something like 14 years. I never really had access to a good pet store while I was younger so he got put on grocery store food.

I’ve been looking around and still, I can’t find any food with a “high fibre” content. Is there such a food for cats? Can anyone recommend something good? Since he’s also quite over weight (28 lbs) I’m also looking at diet foods like Eukanuba weight control or something similar (although my research shows that diet food isn’t really recommended).

Thanks for any help!

2

Both Eukanuba and Hills have special high-fibre diets (which, incidentally, are also used for weight loss purposes, which would be a double benefit).

I don’t know much about the Eukanuba one, but the Hills one is Hill’s Prescription Diet w/d (feline).
It’s designed for weight control and also the control of fibre responsive diseases (like constipation).

This product is available from veterinarians- although they may have to order it if they don’t have it in stock. You can’t buy it anywhere except a vet, because it’s a special prescription food.

I’m sure Eukanuba probably have a similar veterinary weight-control diet which would be useful for constipation- you could check out their website http://www.iams.com or ring the customer service line.

3

First thing first: I’d talk to another vet to get more information. A second opinion may shed some more light on his problem.

I fed my fat cat (she’s 9) Precription Science Diet for a few years. It was supposed to be high in fiber and help with her weight loss. She didn’t lose any weight and I was feeding her less then recommended.

I just started her on Innova Lite which has the bonus of also being good for senior cats. I haven’t weighed her yet, but I’m seeing results. I picked Innova because it contains human-grade ingredients. I always felt uncomfortable feeding Science Diet. I really don’t like what’s in their product.

Oh hey, I just noticed you’re in Canada! Try looking into Techni-Cal. I’ve always had that recommended as a good food. The vets also carry the precription alternative, I believe it’s called Medi-Cal.

Best of luck with your kitty. :slight_smile:

4

Are you feeding dry or wet food? If you are feeding wet food, go the grocery store and buy a can or two of pumpkin, found in the pie/baking section. Add a Tablespoon of the pumpkin to his wet food, this is an inexpensive way to add fiber to his diet. You might have to adjust the amount of pumpkin used at first to get him use to the taste. The pumpkin can be fed daily or every other day

You can try this with his dry food, but he might not like it. My cats didn’t seem to mind it at all.

Keep the unused pumpkin covered in the refrigerator.

And get another Vet!

5

Second the pumpkin idea.

6

My cat grew up on NutroMax but now she eats Iams Weight Maintenance (dry) and seems OK with it. She won’t touch Science Diet food. You may want to try Iams dry or wet food.

FWIW, fere’s more information on fiber & older cats from the Iams folks:
http://www.iams.com/en_US/jhtmls/nutrition/sw_NutritionQuestions_qanswer.jhtml?localeid=en_US&brandcode=I&pagetypeid=PN&speciescode=C&questionid=137

And yes, a second opinion for your cat may be called for. Maybe a Vet Doper will come along.

7

I use IAMS too, and my cat tears it up. She was also fairly overweight when I got her and has since slimmed down considerably. One of the benefits of Iams that I’ve found is that it cuts down on the amount the cat defecates to begin with, something that might be helpful for the constipation. I’ve never heard of the pumpkin hint, but along those same lines we had a dog when I was a kid who got a couple spoonfuls of prune baby food mixed with his feed when he got older and had problems. It worked just fine, so pumpkin should do the same.

Have you already been using a formula specifically for older cats?

8

Cat Kiev… but soak it in milk first so it doesn’t taste gamey.

9

lieu, you know I have to ask but I’m almost afraid to. And you know this because…

10

Oh, y’all meant food for the cat?

11

My cats get ProPlan Hairball control Formula… my vet commented that it works by having extra fiber. A lot of “mid-grade” cat food lines have a Hairball Control Formula (Such as Purina Special Care, which you can get in the grocery store).

Purina SC Hairball Control is 9% fiber as compare to 4.5% for Purina Cat Chow. You can always check the “Guaranteed Analysis” on the cat food bag to compare brands.

12

waves hand I think I must be the only vet doper.

I can’t comment on what could be causing it without seeing the cat, but if your vet says that an x-ray shows no blockage…
did they do a contrast (barium) study to check for rectal cancer?
did the x-rays show any curvature of the spine? my cat has this and it has caused her to be constipated (she’s 11).

Another thing… if your cat is eighteen, it’s getting on a bit, and muscle tone (important in defecation) could be decreasing… meaning that, unless the stool is soft, there just isn’t enough muscle to push it out easily.

There are other (less likely) diseases as well.

If you switch your cat to a high-fibre food, make sure it can also has access to plenty of fresh clean water (even if it doesn’t appear to drink it often) as this will help soften the stool.

I can’t help with canadian brands as IAMS/Eukanuba and Hills are the only two we have here, but I can personally recommend the Hills Prescription w/d, and I have heard good things about the Eukanuba equivalent.

An aside- just switching to a high-fibre diet cold turkey is not a good idea- sudden dietary change can cause digestive upsets. Gradually changing from one food to another (mixing increasing proportions of the new food with the old one) over a week is recommended.

Also, although just looking on the packaging for a diet higher in fibre will give you a higher fibre diet, often the proportion of the other nutrients is decreasing and the diet may not be appropriate for your cat’s needs in terms of energy, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals.

Finally, make sure there are appropriate taurine levels… cats need this amino acid supplied whole as they can’t produce it themselves like other animals. Lack of taurine can cause cardiac and eye problems, and can cause sudden death.

13

Phraser, IANAVet, but isn’t Hills W/D a weight-loss formula? A friend of mine was recently prescribed it for his very overweight cat.

I thought keeping weight on became a fairly serious issue when a cat gets to be 18. I don’t mean to contradict you, I’m just curious.

There are actually a few vets on the board, and a couple of vet students and vet techs as well. Did you see the recent “Ask the Vet Student” thread?

14

Hills prescription diet w/d is (if you look at my original post) for weight loss or for the treatment of fibre responsive disease (eg constipation). The OP also stated that his cat was in need of weight reduction.
There is another Hill’s prescription diet, r/d, which is still higher in fibre, and is recommended only for rather obese animals while they are losing weight (the idea is that they would be switched to w/d once they had reached their target weight). According to the tech specifications, w/d is fine for long term feeding, or, if the animal is losing weight unecessarily it can be combined with feeding another, high energy food.

Not all 18 year old cats need to keep weight on, just like all 80-year old humans aren’t wasting away.

I started the “Ask the (student) Vet” thread grins I’m yet to encounter any other vet apart from Dana27

I got the Small Animal Nutrition prize, but if you’ve got more in-depth questions about particular products, I’d advise you to visit their websites or ring the technical advice hotlines.

15

Badmana, you’re getting all good advice here, but I think it’s not a bad idea to get a second opinion from another vet. Nutrition is a tricky thing, and every cat is different when it comes to their specific needs.

From the experience you briefly described here, it doesn’t sound as though your vet is really interested in exploring too many food options with you, let alone looking into other physical things that might be wrong with your kitty. Go see a vet who actually wants to help you through this. There are many, many options when it comes to food, and few people know them better than a well-informed vet. (Certainly no offense meant to folks replying here.)

When you do find the right food, make the transition between foods slowly, over a couple of weeks. If you don’t know how to make the transition, ask your new vet (or anyone at a pet store) about it. And make sure kitty is, indeed, eating the new food. The last thing you want is an overweight, anorexic cat. That can be very dangerous. I won’t hijack your OP by explaining that here, unless you ask.

Good luck.

16

phraser thanks for the explanation. Jeesh, you’re Ask the Vet Student… I feel like an idiot! Maybe there are only a couple of vets, but they post a lot? I just have this feeling like you’re not the only one. :slight_smile:

17

Holy cow. After I posted this question it fell into the second page and I thought it would be lost in the shuffle!

Ok, to answer some questions. He’s on dry cat food and has been for many years. Won’t really touch wet foods (I’ve tried). I think he’s a bit spoiled because my SO can’t resist him when he begs for food (and gets it from her! Sheesh). I know how to switch foods on him, but not from dry to wet (unless I just put down wet food and let him slightly starve).

Phraser, I have the xray (not here at work though) and to my uneducated eye, I see nothing that could be an issue. It was originally done to show the inital blockage (which was the first indicator of a problem) that was removed, by me. The doctor wanted to remove parts of his intestine in an operation that I couldnt’ afford (a whopping $3000 operation) or take the option of putting him down. Kinda tainted my view of vets (no offence) so I’m looking at alternatives myself.

If you think it would help, I can take an image of the xray and put it online or email it. It might be super-large though. I have 2 from each side. His back is curved because I’m sure he was fighting off the vet so it might not show enough.

Thanks for all the help. If I have to, I’ll get another vet to see him. He’s doing fine right now but I’ve been slowly limiting his food and making sure he’s pooping fine. I remember, long ago, he was on Hills prescription food (I remember cans with c/d on it?) that he ate for a while. This would have been many moons ago though.

I’m researching all sorts of foods, including “home made” stuff. He’s already taking cranberry suppliments to improve his overall health that actually works.

Thanks for the help guys!

18

Oh and phraser, I didn’t see the vet run any other tests. To be fair I brought my cat in once he stopped pooping (he doesn’t normally see a vet unfortunately) and after a 20 min exam, I was told an xray might see why things got backed up (I was actually hoping for a real reason why it started happening). When it didn’t show anything, I was given the 2 options. I took neither.

His stool is normal when I have had to touch it. Fortunately, I don’t have much experience in that :smiley:

19

Hmm. Often the reason things start getting backed up is that something is growing or is twisted in the gut. There is often no real reason for tumors or torsions, it just happens, especially in old animals. Sometimes it’s hard to tell why it’s happening. These things may be apparent by x-ray, or by some other special procedures.

If your vet recommended a $3000 operation, then chances are he picked up something pretty serious- over here, it’s considered very dubious to recommend such surgery in an elderly cat without good reason. Also, if your vet recommended euthanasia, there was probably something serious at work, and I urge you to seek more information.

If you want answers, I recommend speaking to your vet and asking for them, or seeing another vet for a second opinion (and take your x-rays with you). Me looking at them probably wouldn’t help much- scanned images usually don’t have the quality of detail needed. Cats backs always look curved when correctly positioned in x-rays, and x-rays often look superficially normal when they in fact aren’t- many changes are subtle.

If you go the route of home-made food, please research very carefully to ensure you have the right balance of vitamins and minerals (too much can be as bad as too little) and that you add any essential amino acids that aren’t present in sufficient levels (eg Taurine).

20

Just curious. Isn’t 18 years old near the limit for a cat?

badmana, I hope yours gets another 18. :slight_smile: