Anallergenic/hypoallergenic/hydrolysed wet cat food?

blizeH

Hello, our cat lost quite a bit of weight despite having a pretty good (and consistent) appetite, and was also sick a few times in that period. We contacted the vet who did some checks and said everything was okay, he did a blood test and again that came back okay, and also asked us to get a urine sample.

For whatever reason, the urine sample results took a few weeks to come back - during that time I switched the cat to a kitten diet after doing some research (gentler on his stomach, more nutrient dense) and in a short period he regained quite a lot of weight and looks to be in a much healthier state. The urine sample also came back okay, so the vet recommended trying one of these specialist diets, but also that since the kitten food seemed to be helping a lot to persist with that.

However, in the past few days the cat has been sick twice, and a lot of sick both times. I'm going to take him to the vets when they open tomorrow but I also want to give one of the specialist foods a try, but they seem to be just available in dry food? In the 8 years or so we've had him, he will basically eat any wet food, but no dry food.

Does anyone please have recommendations on a food to try? Or a way to get him to eat this food? I've been told that adding water to dry food can help, but we've not had any luck with that in the past either. We also have another cat so it will be difficult to separate the two anyway (the other cat, his brother, is exactly the same and won't eat dry food, only wet)

Thanks

KxMx

Hills z/d is a wet canned food which is a hydrolysed protein.

Royal Canin do a gastrointestinal wet food in pouches which is chicken & rice. 

I had a crash course in specialist cat foods 6 years ago while investigating my late cat's sickness & weight loss, unfortunately turned out to be small cell lymphoma and had to be pts shortly after diagnosis. 

blizeH

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry to hear that Thank you for the recommendations, I will get some of each. 

Mind if I ask did you have any blood or urine tests come back clear? The vet said them coming back clear is a good sign and yet part of me still can't help but fear the worst

KxMx

My cat was diagnosed via biopsy taken through endoscopy at a specialist Vet. 

I can't recall blood results but the ultrasound at everyday Vet was normal.

The specialist Vet thought IBD was more likely and even they were surprised when it turned out to be SCL.

Listen to your instincts, your cat shouldn't be vomiting or losing weight, there will be a cause just because initial tests are normal doesn't mean everything is okay.

blizeH

Thank you, that's a great point. The vet did say the next step would be a biopsy so if the food doesn't help, we will look into that too

Lavendyr

Hi - I have a cat with severe allergies but luckily we have been able to isolate him on a dry food.

Hills z/d wet food is literally the most disgusting thing my cat or I have ever seen! 

Could you try a novel protein and see if that helps or is it the digesting of the proteins that is difficult? If the former, then try zooplus for single protein foods like duck, venison or kangaroo.

If it's digestion related you could try specialist GI foods - Royal Canin GI is pretty good. Zooplus also has a number of options of wet food for specialist diets:

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/concept_for_life_vet_cat - both hypoallergenic and GI options in chunks with gravy as I recall

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/smilla - we used this brand for a while also, more pate like in consistency

https://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/kattovit - tins are pate like and pouches I think are more like chunks

Hope this helps!