My cat has chronic diarrhea. Need cheaper sensitive food options?

Please don't waste your money on those expensive grain free foods. They are not necessary to use except in extreme cases of an actual diagnosed grain allergy which is rare. Grain free diets are now linked to causing heart disease in dogs (we are not sure yet about cats). I recommend you discontinue use of that type of food. My suggestion would be to use a long term course of a probiotic called Fortiflora. Put one packet on his food every day for at least one month. This will help correct any imbalance in good vs bad intestinal bacteria. DO NOT use human probiotics or things like yogurt. Fortiflora is the best in my opinion and it is palatable so cats like to eat it. ( http://www.allivet.com/p-1890-purina-pro-plan-veterinary-diets-fortiflora-cat-supplement-box-of-30.aspx ) As for diet. I would use this one: ( https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-care-nutrition-digestive-care-dry-cat-food/2555 ) If your local pet store does not have this food they can surely order it for you or you can order it online. If these things dont' help, he may have inflammatory bowel disease or something along those lines. You would need to discuss diagnosis and treatment with your vet. Hope this helps. Best wishes!

This last decade has brought an incredible amount of new products to the shelves and I know it must be daunting and very confusing to consumers. Unfortunately, most information about these foods comes from the pet store employee or an equally unqualified source on the internet. It's very wise of you to ask an expert. The truth about most of these foods is that their claims usually amount to nothing more than that of a fad diet (i.e. paleo or atkins) and are not supported by sufficient evidence (even though they will make it sound like it is). As scientifically trained practitioners, us vets prefer to offer evidenced based treatment and the same goes for feeding suggestions. Wet food will encourage water intake and may make the stools more soft, but does not cause diarrhea. Lightly cooked, grain-free, natural, etc. are really just marketing gimmicks meant to increase sales. They mean essentially nothing and normally do not have any good evidence to back their claims. The most important thing on that bag is a tiny bit of writing under the guaranteed analysis called the AAFCO statement. This statement tells you what actual research went into making the product. Below is a link to an article that will help explain this more and give some other info about feeding your cats: https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/ High protein is nice and all of the foods with an AAFCO statement have the minimum necessary amount of protein (around 30%) in the diet. More importantly, they will have ensured the necessary amino acids are in the correct quantity. I know the answer may still be somewhat vague, but if you stick to the basic principles of choosing the right food, then you should be successful in feeding a good and nutritious food to your cats. Below is a link to another helpful resource with good information about pet foods. https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047113.htm I hope that helps and all is well for your cats.

Bosbos is very cute! Switching brands of food such as wet food of all types can lead to the GI issues are seeing. You don't have to feed him wet food. I would still with giving him the kitten kibble only, that's just fine. I only feed my cats dry food. I have a cat water fountain which encourages them to drink water. See if feeding him only kitten kibble helps, and that will also be cost effective to you. Also make sure he's up to date on his deworming treatments. Best of luck.

Cats, unlike dogs can eat only meat and be fine, as they are obligate carnivores. Dogs can actually be fed a vegetarian diet but cats cannot. If she was doing well on the previous food then transition her back if you want, or you can give her a little more time to get used to the new diet. You could even transition her to a completely canned diet. If you changed her abruptly from one to the other, that could be what started her problems, especially if she has a sensitive stomach. Since she's eating fine I don't think you need to rush her to the vet just yet, as long as she seems well otherwise. Decide what food you want to feed her long-term and transition her slowly from her current diet by offering her some of each dry food in two separate bowls for a few days. Then put 75% old food/25% new food in the bowl together for a few days. Then go to 50%/50%, then 25%/75%, taking a few days each time. Gradually reduce the amount of old food until she is completely fed the new dry food. If she gets an upset stomach, you can back up a step and hold there until she feels better. If she loses her appetite, starts vomiting, becomes lethargic, then do get her in to see your vet as soon as you can.

It sounds like your cat has a severe case of colitis, or an inflammation of the colon. This condition causes diarrhea. Colitis can be caused by many different things. Some of the more common causes include intestinal parasites, dietary indiscretion, food intolerance, irritable bowel disease, pancreatitis, a foreign body/blockage and viruses. Food intolerances/allergies can start at any age. This is why it may only now be affecting Ella when she has been eating the same food for a long time. If the diarrhea is server you may want to consider taking Ella to the vet. She may need fluids to correct any dehydration, a fecal examination performed and antibiotics and/or probiotics to help the diarrhea clear up. There are specific prescription diets that your vet can recommend to help with this type of issue. Two I commonly recommend are Hill's i/d and Royal Canin GI low fat. A hydrolyzed protein diet may also be helpful. If you want to try an over the counter food first I would recommend something that is labeled as "limited ingredient" or for "sensitive stomachs". I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

You can try keeping him on a sensitive stomach food such as Iams limited ingredient, Fromm, or Purina sensitive stomach. However, it sounds like Keeko may have a inflammatory bowel disease and really the prescription diets have more reliable results. Also I would keep in mind that sudden switches from one food to the next can cause upset stomach issues in and of themselves. It is recommend to do a slow transition over the course of 7-10 days whenever you are making a food change. Website link on inflammatory bowel disease https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951476 You should at the very least get her examined and open up the conversation with the vet to do baseline bloodowork to rule out anything major and then ask for a prescription diet for Royal Canin Rabbit and Potato or Roylal Canin hydrolyzed protein diet, or HIll's Z/D Ultra to start her on a food trial. This is just 1 test to run so this should be something you could feasible do to at least get him started on something more reliable and effective. If the vomiting does not improve within a few weeks of being on the food, or if he develops any more symptoms, then he should be worked up further (i.e. abdominal x-rays). I hope that your pet Keeko feels better soon and stops vomiting so frequently. Best wishes and take care!

In an otherwise healthy cat that has chronic vomiting episodes, it sounds like Rigby may have a condition called inflammatory bowel disease. This is common in cats and is difficult to diagnose (requires an intestinal biopsy). I would ask the vet to consider this diagnosis and then they can prescribe the correct treatment for it to try and see if he has some improvement with his vomiting. Treatment usually involves a highly digestible prescription diet (or comparable over the counter diet such as California Natural by Natura) and steroids. Here is a website link with more information on IBD in pets. I hope this helps and best wishes at the vet. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598