My cats keep getting sick

[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

I have three cats and feed them Purina One. I've tried the different varieties of flavors and formulas of Purina One, but no matter what, at least one will get sick. So if I buy one formula, Otis will get sick but Alice and Lloyd will be fine, etc.

I'm trying to save money so I downgraded to the less fancy Purina brand (the "natural" one). Well, this is making Alice VERY sick. I come home from work and have to mop up the bathroom floor. In the morning I have to do the same thing.

It just seems no matter WHAT I buy there's always one that will throw up, or in Alice's case, has explosive diarrhea.

Can anyone recommend a brand that isn't too expensive that is gentle on a cat's digestive system? They are all older; 11, 10, and 8.

[ahhdurr]

Maybe take Otis down for a break near the bay - by a dock
Take Alice for a nice sitdown at a restaurant.

and...

Lloyd, though a bit costly, takes a trip to England for awhile to hang with another cat's daughter.

Booo.

[Jennitalia]

try Hill's Prescription diet. they have several formulas, one is for digestive issues which we used to get for one of our cats who had similar problems. i think it was the c/d diet. we now use the k/d diet for my cat's kidney problems. problem is, they're somewhat expensive, but you may be able to buy it cheaper on valley vet supply or another online pet supply store. if you go that route, you would need to have a prescription from your vet.

[JimmieHats]

D-i-n-o-v-i-t-e?

[DarkHippie]

Yet another reason why dogs are better than cats: they will eat anything you put in front of them.

[Phil_Nubbs]

Perhaps, just a good dry food for awhile...

Or smaller portions.

[Lil oc]

Try the store brand versions of a good name. It usually is that brand but cheaper.

[Phil_Nubbs]

Try the store brand versions of a good name. It usually is that brand but cheaper.

So there will be less vomit?

[Kaci Jo]

When my cats were kittens they had horrible diarhea 2-3 times a day. It was a nightmare and the vet just kept giving them more drugs and it kept getting worse. So I researched natural cures for irritable bowel syndrome on the internet and quit the vet. This is what I did and they were better in 2 days...(and this is the truth...I'm not lying to make the story sound better).:smile: :

1. Put between 1/8 and 1/4 tsp of Phytomucil powder (http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Animals-Apawthecary--Phytomucil/148006.aspx?mf0)in some canned food once a day. (It's about ten bucks and lasts a long time, and you won't really need to buy anymore once you go through one bottle). Phytomucil is great, it helps their digestive tract and soothes their stomach.

2. I also bought a hollistic canned food called Eagle Pack (http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_CanCat.html). I was able to find it at Pet Supplies Plus for just over a dollar a can when I lived in the Midwest. They might sell it a Petco now, not sure. I only give them 1/4 of a can each day.

3. I give them Halo Chicken Treats because it's plain real chicken. They cost $10 dollars at the store but you can get them for $7 on swansonvitamins.com. (It only saves you if you buy a few containers because there's shipping)

4. And lastly, I changed their food to Innova brand (http://www.innovapet.com/products/default.asp?id=2) (red bag flavor). It's more expensive because they use better quality food products in their recipe.

...that was all 4 years ago, I still feed them Eagle Pack and Halo treats, but switched their kibble to Nature's Variety Instinct which is also a great product. It's grain free because cats don't really need grains, they're carnivores that need protein. However, I'd reccomend not going to straight no-grain food for your cats now, because they're used to the purina which has grains in it. Innova would be a better choice. Nature's Variety makes great quality canned food though which you could give them (lots of flavors too), but it's a little more expensive so I don't buy as many cans of that.
With the kibble dry food, make sure you change them to the new food slowly, mix it gradually with the Purina for a few weeks.

Hope this helps. If you only did two things on the list, I'd reccomend the Phytomucil sprinkled in the Eagle Pack can food. (my cats love the seafood flavors the best). My cats don't like the phytomucil flavor so I just put the little 1/4 tsp clump in the center of the wet food and they didn't even notice it was there. Don't give them drugs, it just wrecks their intestines and they can't hold any food down.

hope the kitties get better...it's sad when this happens.:glurps:

[Chigworthy]

We feed our domestic animals dry food and dry food only. Wet food stinks, makes the animal stink, and it makes them shit more, which stinks.

[Freakshow]

Yet another reason why dogs are better than cats: they will eat anything you put in front of them.

yeah, and it never gives them get diarrea. Oh wait.

I had been feeding my dog Canidae and it was the 3rd food I tried and it was great for her #2. But they decided they wanted to change the formula (and charge the same amount for a smaller bag, too). Well the new formula is worse than the other 2 foods I tried previously. It's a disaster.

[Lil oc]

Ironically, the ad I see at the bottom say, Are you a good pet owner?

I haven't had a cat in years, but he got dry food only. Same with my dogs. I have some wet now that I give 1/2 can to every other day with a tbsp of garlic in it for natural flea/tick repellant. I signed a form from Sergeants that says I'm not allowed to say bad things about their products, so ummmmmm, yea.

[cougarjake13]

I have three cats and feed them Purina One. I've tried the different varieties of flavors and formulas of Purina One, but no matter what, at least one will get sick. So if I buy one formula, Otis will get sick but Alice and Lloyd will be fine, etc.

I'm trying to save money so I downgraded to the less fancy Purina brand (the "natural" one). Well, this is making Alice VERY sick. I come home from work and have to mop up the bathroom floor. In the morning I have to do the same thing.

It just seems no matter WHAT I buy there's always one that will throw up, or in Alice's case, has explosive diarrhea.

Can anyone recommend a brand that isn't too expensive that is gentle on a cat's digestive system? They are all older; 11, 10, and 8.


i know it was a while back but wasnt purina one of the brands that got tainted ??

i have a similar situation in that my one male cat can only seem to handle seafood type cat food and will throw up any other kind, while my female cat can eat anything else but not seafood or she'll puke

[Fallon]

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[boosterp]

Maybe take Otis down for a break near the bay - by a dock
Take Alice for a nice sitdown at a restaurant.

and...

Lloyd, though a bit costly, takes a trip to England for awhile to hang with another cat's daughter.

Booo.

:lol:

We feed our domestic animals dry food and dry food only. Wet food stinks, makes the animal stink, and it makes them shit more, which stinks.

True dat!

I use Purina one indoor cat formula and my cat does fine. Every so often she'll puke whole food up maybe because of stress or something.

[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

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Eta mnoga koshka!!!!!

[TooCute]

Hills C/D is the urinary diet, for helping to prevent bladder stones, etc. Hill's I/D is the easy to digest intestinal diet. Iams Low Residue is the same idea. You can sometimes find these in pet stores and buy them without a prescription (I think petsmart, but not petco, carry Hills).

You could try feeding them a higher quality food that doesn't have all the weird grains and filler that the Purina does. Unfortunately, "less expensive" usually also means "more filler". However, even though the holistic brands are initially more expensive, you end up feeding your cats way less of them, so they end up being not as expensive as they seem in the long run. You would be looking for brands like Innova, Felidae, Wellness, etc.

It also could be not the contents of the food, but its shape (maybe one is smaller or easier to swallow whole, while the other needs to be chewed more, and the cats are gulping it down too quickly?).

Over how long a period of time are you transitioning your cats from one food to the other? It should be taking you at least a week.

Are you POSITIVE it's the food?

Is there any possibility of feeding them separately?

Have you at least called your vet? They might be able to simply suggest something over the phone, although most likely they'd wnat you to bring the kitties in. Chronic diarrhea could be a sign of something more serious than just an upset stomach.

[SatCam]

Chronic diarrhea could be a sign of something more serious than just an upset stomach.

too true :sad: