Cat Diet Help?

[Salem Purrs]

I have a 17 year old Siamese cat, Phoebe. She's a pretty small cat, picked up from a cat rescue as a kitten. All her life she's had problems with throwing up her food. I grew up with it, so I didn't think about it I suppose, she's supposed to be my mom's cat. Its been getting worse though, and now she's having pretty bad shedding problems, and looks like she's getting skinnier.

She's on Purina One for sensitive systems, and any other type of dry food we've tried just makes her problem worse. She gets treats occasionally (she begs for them) and I've been giving her a little smudge of butter at night when she begs. It seems like this is making her vomit less often, but I'm not sure if its bad for her.

Any tips on a diet that would help? I realize its a little late in her life and it should have been fixed earlier, but if there's something I can do now, I want to.

[Alexandra V]

Usually I'd suggest trying to get her off of Purina and the grocery store foods, they aren't the best quality, but since she's old, a huge diet change may not be the best idea.

I'd suggest trying a food that firstly has no chicken in it - that can be a common allergen that would cause excess shedding, coat issues and vomiting. If that doesn't do the trick, then try removing fish (my cat is sensitive to fish and will vomit if she's given kibble with fish in it) and then if that doesn't do the trick either, I'd suggest trying a grain-free food because it could be that her body is not processing the grains, hence the vomiting.

[Jay_Bunny]

My mother in law has a 19 year old cat that has these same problems. She barely eats, vomits all the time, and sheds. One food we tried was Before Grain wet food. Its 95% meat and I'm telling you there was a drastic change. At the time she was 18 years old and was eating maybe <1oz of food in one sitting. Most of the time, she'd just lick up the gravy and move on, then be hungry 1-2hrs later. So one night, while preparing our cat's food, we let her up on the counter and let her eat some of the Before Grain wet food. The cat ate almost 4-5oz of food in a sitting! And didn't throw up after! But the 5.5oz cans are over a dollar a piece, so it is a bit pricey, which is why my mother in law didn't continue feeding it to her. She likes to feed Meow Mix and Special Kitty wet foods.

Just my experience. You may want to try it. If so, let us know how it went.

[GoingPostal]

Have you ever tried wet food or maybe raw? My cat is a kibble puker, even high quality stuff but I went to canned once I found out that was better anyways and then switched her to raw when I did my ferrets and turns out there's nothing wrong with her stomach at all, and we went through years of vet visits and SD foods before I figured it out. Cats are obligate carnivores and won't naturally drink enough on a dry diet, moisture is very important for their health so especially with a senior cat (mine is too) I would try to get her off dry.

[mr.spooky]

17 is getting up there for a cat,,, i wouldent change anything. at her age, any sudden change of diet could reack havic on the stomach and GI...
weight loss and shedding or the coat dulling with a cat that old is a sign of the inevatable. just make the cat happy as possible with a little treat hear and there and give her good loves!
spooky

[AndrewGeibel]

I've heard good things about raw for cats and have been considering switching mine. I believe N4S feeds his raw and only makes food once in a while and freezes it in meal sized amounts.

[OtterGoRun]

Cat are obligate carnivores, and thus some have issues on grain-based grocery brands like Purina. Orijen is pretty good stuff.

A lot of cats have problems with fish as well. If your food has fish in it, try a different one.

[Jay_Bunny]

Yep, raw is awesome for cats. I've switched my ferrets back to raw and the cats are getting small amounts each night before I feed the ferrets and they go nuts over it. Not to mention it is soooo much better for their teeth. Ever smelled cat breath on a cat on kibble? Yuck. Raw? No smell. I can't wait till I can switch my cats and dog over to raw/whole prey.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I would try switching her over to a wet food that is free of grains.

Meat should be the first ingredient. The best wet foods have meat first then meat broth and/or water listed. The lower meat by-products are on the list, the better.

I spent a year where I did an insane amount of research on cat nutrition. One of my favorite sites is holisticat.com. They are big advocates of feeding raw, but even just switching to a high quality wet food would probably be a big improvement.

Kitties tend to get addicted to kibble because it's coated in animal digest. But it doesn't contain close to the amount of moisture they need from their food, and most dry food is full of grains, too.

The only amount of grain a cat should get is the tiny amount that would be found in the belly of a mouse. I would cut out grains before checking sensitivity to certain meats.

[meowmeowkazoo]

17 is getting up there for a cat,,, i wouldent change anything. at her age, any sudden change of diet could reack havic on the stomach and GI...
weight loss and shedding or the coat dulling with a cat that old is a sign of the inevatable. just make the cat happy as possible with a little treat hear and there and give her good loves!
spooky

I agree with spooky to a certain point- any diet change you make should be gradual, or it will likely only upset her tummy further.