Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I am delighted to find this site. I have a 9 year old Persian female, Merle, who began to have recurring urinary tract problems about three years ago. She was put on a prescription diet (dry) which she loved and which agreed with her, she has had no further bout of UTI. About two years ago, however, I had to have surgery and was unable to monitor her care as closely as usual ( my family took over for me). She seemed to go into a depression and lost about five pounds before I was aware of what was happening. I got her to our vet as soon as I saw what was happening, she wasn't eating and was extremely lethargic. The vet ran the common tests and then some uncommon ones, but was unable to find any organic cause for her loss of appetite. In the meantime, we tried her on canned formulation of the prescription diet and were able to entice her to eat again. Once she began to eat again and started to regain her health, we reintroduced her dry food. She would eat it readily enough, but it would give her explosive diharrea. I have tried giving her just a little dry food, and the rest canned, but her system does not seem to be able to tolerate any thing dry now. This is sad for her because she always had free choice for her food and has really not appreciated having to wait for "feeding times." I have seen that there are some diets for cats with sensitive digestive tracts but am unsure if they would be OK to use in light of her earlier UTI problems. Any suggestions?

One of the cats at this house has irritable bowel syndrome. He is on a prescription dry food by Iams. But when he does get something else and has an episode he has to be taken off his food totally for about 24 hours then reintroduce to his prescription slowly 1/4 cup a day then 1/2 c second day then back to normal (1/3 c twice a day) by the third day. He is on Eukanuba Veterinary Diets: Low-Residue Adult. We tried the same thing made by science diet but it didn't work at all.
Good Luck I hope you are able to control your kitty's problem soon.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

Thanks for your reply. We have been feeding Science Diet and may try switching brands to see if that might help. It really is troublesome if she sneaks some of our puppy's food; we have to go through a similar re-setting of her system. We really try to watch, but she has a voracious appetite and can find food in a matter of seconds! I am hopeful, at least, that a change might be tolerated well and better satisfy her.

Cats can have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or IBD (inflamatory bowel disease). You probably should discuss this problem with your vet in addition to trying other kinds of food.

Here are a few links you might find helpful.
http://www.susandoreydesigns.com/cats/health.html
cats.about.com/od/gastrictractdiseases/index_a.htm
www.vetinfo4cats.com/cibd.html
www.marvistavet.com/html/inflammatory_bowel_disease.html

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Edited on October 10, 2005 at 22:15:11 by admin.

Thanks for the links. I will be checking with our Vet again, although since the acute crisis is past(as long as I watch what she eats like a hawk) and all tests were negative, she seems to feel that there is nothing to worry about. I just wonder why the dry formula of the same prescription food as the canned that I feed her sets her condition off. She really misses the dry food. (OK, I know that sounds silly, but it is true!!)

>>Thanks for the links. I will be checking with our Vet again, although since the acute crisis is past(as long as I watch what she eats like a hawk) and all tests were negative, she seems to feel that there is nothing to worry about. I just wonder why the dry formula of the same prescription food as the canned that I feed her sets her condition off. She really misses the dry food. (OK, I know that sounds silly, but it is true!!)

Have you tried gradually adding a dry food? A few pieces at a time?
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

I have tried several times to do that, literally starting with about 4 bits and increasing by 2 or 3 bits a day. We get by for about 2 to 3 days and then I start to see her stool change. If I go as long as 4 days she is in a full blown attack, then we have to reset her system. It would be worth a try to switch dry brands though, I think.

There may be an ingredient in the dry that bothers her, like corn meal or soy that is not present in the canned. That's about the only thing I can think of.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

>>There may be an ingredient in the dry that bothers her, like corn meal or soy that is not present in the canned. That's about the only thing I can think of.
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>> Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

That is a good thought MA. I wonder if they list all of the ingredients in both of them on the bags like they do for people food. Or if they are able to leave this or that off the list.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker

I think the pet food manufacturers have to list all the ingredients and not leave anything off. I could be wrong though!
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

>>I think the pet food manufacturers have to list all the ingredients and not leave anything off. I could be wrong though!
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>> Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!
That would be great if they did. I just some times wonder. I wonder if there is a way to find out.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Moxie, Gabby and sometimes Tucker