Vet just recommended Royal Canin GI...I'm very skeptical

[lenistar]

Hi, everyone,

My sweet boy has been having intermittent vomiting and diarrhea, and the vomiting has recently increased. We were at the vet at the end of May following some vomiting and all tests (blood work, fecal, urinalysis, x-rays) came back normal.

Because of the recent increase in vomiting, we went back today. They took blood to do a GI panel, which I think was a good idea. But the vet (she's not my preferred vet at the practice but my preferred vet wasn't in today and I wanted to go in as soon as possible) recommended Royal Canin GI. She even got visibly irritated when I questioned it.

Does anyone have recommendations for diets for cats with GI issues? And how do you deal with it when you have to "confront" a vet and say that you don't agree?

Note: an ultrasound may be the next step, though she felt his abdomen and said the often cats with inflammatory bowel disease have intestines that feel like a garden hose, and his didn't.

Thank you for your help!
Leni

 

[Lillie]

My cat has IBD so I've been through just about every cat food known on the market for vomiting and digestion issues. The best I found were single protein limited ingredient grain free canned foods. You didn't mention if your kitty is diabetic-? Currently my guy is eating canidae pure duck pate with no added carageenen etc. He is doing exceptionally well on this diet. He was diabetic -I suppose he still is but he no longer tests in the diabetic range since going off the dry foods. Also- my cat's intestines were not especially enlarged nor was his pancreas but the endoscopy picked up inflammation in the stomach and upper intestines so he is considered having a mild case of IBD. An ultrasound would be helpful as it can show enlarged lymph nodes and thickened intestinal walls. I was told to try novel protein diets that are limited in ingredients that are added. It made a very big difference in my cat's symptoms but I did have to go through a heck of a lot of cat food to find the right one. You don't need the prescription diets if you find the right commercial one that helps your kitty.

 

[Lillie]

Also- Not sure about confronting your vet over the food. My cat's specialist just gave me a list of suggested novel protein foods and they didn't have to be Hills or Royal Canin. There are several very good hypo allergenic and novel protein commercial foods out there.

 

[lenistar]

Thank you. I just wrote to Canidae for the ME profile. I don't see that specific variety in Dr. Pierson's chart. Unless do you by any chance have the ME profile for the Canidae Pure Duck Pate? He was pre-diabetic at one point, but after a change in food, his numbers normalized. So I'm still mindful of the ME profile.

Do you still have that list of foods by any chance? I've been having trouble finding things.

 

[Lillie]

I don't believe I still have the list. Mainly it involves novel proteins like rabbit, duck, venison, kangaroo, etc that are single proteins only. Grain free also. I'm not sure what the carbohydrate content is for the pate but I do know that since my cat has been on it his glucose levels are normal, so it couldn't be too bad. His poops have pretty much normalized too. The canidae pure duck pate does have some pea flower in it but no potatoes or other carbs. It took a while to find food without any added chicken or pork or fish which my cat isn't able to tolerate. I just did a search for single protein limited ingredient cat foods and started there to read the ingredients. It was obvious my cat was allergic, or intolerant to a lot of the ingredients in regular cat food because now that he is on a limited ingredient single protein food he is doing better than he ever did.