food for an old cat

[mell-annie]

My elderly cat, ( She is 18) has been diagnosed with a stomach complaint. She is eating very little and has the runs after nearly every meal.
I am looking for wet food that will help her, and i have looked at royal cannin,( I use their dry,) and applaws but they are so expensive. nearly £40 for 48 tins. At 3 a day it will cost a bomb and i have 3 other cats to feed, although they won't be fed this.
Has anybody any reccomendations for a cheaper but still good one.

[greenkitty]

Have you tried Butchers Classic? It's cereal free so good for sensitive tummies, you can buy it in most supermarkets (6 cans of either meat or fish flavours) and it's cheap.

[Crewella]

My old Minnie is 19 and has developed a sensitive tummy as she's got older. Butchers Classic and other non-cereal wet foods, fed alongside RC Sensitive dry, worked for her for a long time. In the last few months, nothing I fed her seemed to work and she had an inflamed gut wall, so she is now on steroids (Prednisolone) to keep the inflammation down and back on the Butchers Classic. She eats more if I mush up the lumps into the jelly.

Hope that helps with your old girl.

[Kay]

my Trigger has suffered from an inflamed gut for years, resulting in bringing up bile, loads of yellow loose poo, and always being hungry yet never putting on weight - blood tests show no underlying disease

I have in the past eliminated fish, beef and cereals from his diet, but have come to the conclusion there is some additive common in wet cat food which is the culprit - I now feed him only on cereal-free dry and cooked meat and fish (he won't eat raw) - I buy cheap cuts of stewing beef and lamb and cook them in a slow cooker with some lamb kidney, heart and a small amount of liver - and frozen coley

the difference has been amazing - he's putting on weight, solid dark brown poo every 36 hours or so, no bile, and actually eating less - and I am saving money because that type of meat and fish is cheaper than cat food

I know some people would say there are vital nutrients he is not getting, but he still eats some dry, and just to see him stretched out by the fire instead of being hunched up in obvious discomfort makes any trade off worth while

I don't know if this approach would work for your girl, but might be worth trying

[Crewella]

Thanks Kay, I might try that for Minnie too - we already buy cheap cuts for them once or twice a week. You've also reminded me that we did cut out fish flavoured food for Minnie, as well as cereals.

[Willowgill]

When my cat Harry was very ill with kidney failure (he passed away 3 years ago) it became very difficult to try and get him to eat - he wouldn't look at the special diet food. I found that a bit of minced chicken or white fish just done in the microwave in water or milky water helped for a while or warmed tuna - if it's warmed up slightly they can smell it better. Obviously milk isn't good for sensitive tums so best miss that out.

[Carol B]

How about coley or cod? I buy the frozen 6 portions per pack from either Tesco or Sainsbury's and microwave one portion that I divide between my two 17 year old boys. Only takes about two and a half minutes and they absolutely love it plus it is also gentle on their tummies.

[meriad]

Kay, may I ask - when you say you put yours into the slow cooker; how long do you cook it for and do you add anything to it or is it literally just the meat. And then do you mush it up or leave it in chunks?

Also if you are concerned about the nutrients then there's always Felini which is a complete additive: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/supp ... ins/155860" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mell-annie]

Thank you so much for your replies. Will try your sugestions kay, and Carols.
I will be going through all of them and see if i can get him to eat any better.
I have tried butchers but he is ot keen on it.

[Kay]

I cook the meat in the slow cooker, on low, for 8 hours - it comes out really tender that way

I then chop it up into around 2" pieces for freezing, so I can recognise the different meats when I take it out for defrosting - then once defrosted I cut it up into really small pieces

incidentally, I did start off including turkey breast, but he always left that, and when I tried a bit myself it had no flavour, so I guess slow cooking actually enhances the cheaper cuts of meat

[meriad]

Thanks Kay - I'll give that a go

[Marmalade77]

How about adding some cheap frozen chicken breast? We used to feed out cats with sensitive tummy/CRF this.

[Howard]

Hi Kay,

I just saw this post of yours. One of our cats, Pinky, has almost identical symptoms to your Trigger's. Blood tests were fine but the vet felt some stiffening in the intestine and diagnosed irritable / sensitive bowel. We've had to take Pinky off her beloved wet foods and try new things.

More often than not, she'll turn her nose up at Royal Canin Sensitivity and Hill's i/d, wet and dry. But she does love a slow cooked lamb's heart and Whiskas cat milk.

Couldn't get hearts yesterday, so bought a couple of lamb's kidneys to slow cook.

Do you cut out the white stuff in the middle of the kidney, or does Trigger eat that?

Thanks.

my Trigger has suffered from an inflamed gut for years, resulting in bringing up bile, loads of yellow loose poo, and always being hungry yet never putting on weight - blood tests show no underlying disease

I have in the past eliminated fish, beef and cereals from his diet, but have come to the conclusion there is some additive common in wet cat food which is the culprit - I now feed him only on cereal-free dry and cooked meat and fish (he won't eat raw) - I buy cheap cuts of stewing beef and lamb and cook them in a slow cooker with some lamb kidney, heart and a small amount of liver - and frozen coley

the difference has been amazing - he's putting on weight, solid dark brown poo every 36 hours or so, no bile, and actually eating less - and I am saving money because that type of meat and fish is cheaper than cat food

I know some people would say there are vital nutrients he is not getting, but he still eats some dry, and just to see him stretched out by the fire instead of being hunched up in obvious discomfort makes any trade off worth while

I don't know if this approach would work for your girl, but might be worth trying

[Kay]

I used to cut the kidneys and hearts up around the central fat and gristle, and then chop that up for the birds

interestingly, Trigger had to be euthanized in October 2014 with a fast growing sarcoma, which was unrelated to his long standing gut problems, but in his last 8 weeks he was on a daily dose of Metacam, and for the first time in many years could eat all the things he had had problems with for so many years, without any ill effects, which must have been because of the Metacam's anti-inflammatory effect

[Howard]

Thanks, Kay. I'm really sorry to hear Trigger's no longer with you, but clearly he was well-loved and enjoyed the best care (and food) he possibly could have.

That's really interesting about the Metacam. Stupidly, we got rid of our leftover Metacam after Pinky last needed it, but I'm sure we can get some more.

There's a kidney in the slow cooker as I write. When it's done I'll cut out the fat. Thanks again for your advice.

I used to cut the kidneys and hearts up around the central fat and gristle, and then chop that up for the birds

interestingly, Trigger had to be euthanized in October 2014 with a fast growing sarcoma, which was unrelated to his long standing gut problems, but in his last 8 weeks he was on a daily dose of Metacam, and for the first time in many years could eat all the things he had had problems with for so many years, without any ill effects, which must have been because of the Metacam's anti-inflammatory effect

[bobbys girl]

It has been interesting re-reading this thread. We have been having problems with Tommy not eating and losing weight. We have found that he loves roast chicken. Our local supermarket does them at a couple of quid a go. They keep him going about 2-3 days (and we get chicken sandwiches too!)

There is a fabulous butchers in Enniskillen. All his meat is local and most is free-range and grass fed. He talked me into making a beef stew with shin beef. Slow cooked with the bone in place, he told me 'seal the meat then add veg (no onion or salt!) and organic beef stock. When it is cooked roughly pull the meat off the bone, leaving some on and put it in front of your cat with a little of the stock and watch his face light up'. He wasn't kidding, it was so tender that Tommy just sucked the meat and marrow off the bone. I have not seen him so keen on his food in a while. The stew wasn't half bad either!

[Howard]

Sounds good - seems there are still plenty of things to try yet.

[Kristy44]

Hi,

if you try to buy Royal Canin from Amazon that will cost you less its worth buy in bulk.

[MarkB]

As long as a cat isn't sensitive to fish, you can't go wrong with Felix senior pouches. They are cereal-free. (for some reason, felix use fish in the meat flavoured foods)

Also Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Co-op own-brand poucches are cereal-free. They all appear to be made by the same manufacturer in Ireland - for some reason, on Tesco do a senior version. One of mine is 16 and suffers with chronic diarrhea, but she does well on it. Another good one id Lidl own Coshida pouches (not the basics ones)