Help us find good wet food for our cat - he has mild pancreatitis

December 22, 2022 5:04 PM

Our 11-year-old cat, Dashiell, has pancreatitis and we want to find decent wet food for him. He's been ill off and on for several months, and of late seems to be having a flare-up. We thought he might have kidney disease, but his labs are all good -- better than there were when we had them last done, in August. He's affectionate and friendly, but he's not playing as much as usual. Can anyone recommend a good wet food for cats in his situation?

We are infusing him with saline once a day (he tolerates this pretty well), and giving him a couple of medications. He likes his kibble, and we're giving him Purina Pro-Plan, which he seems to enjoy. Though he hasn't been eating as much as we'd like, we are administering an appetite stimulant we got from the vet and he does pretty well with that. But we'd like to find a good wet food for him; something, obviously, that is appropriate for an older kitty with mild pancreatitis. Fancy Feast or Pure Cravings from Costco are among the recommendations we've gotten so far. He really only likes the pate, as opposed to shreds or what-have-you. Picky cat, what can I say.

posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit to Pets & Animals (4 answers total)

When I had a cat with pancreatitis, I looked around, and found that for the most part there aren't any strong, science-backed recommendations; some veterinarians recommend avoiding high fat foods, based on personal experience, but there is a risk in low fat because the cat might already be struggling to get adequate calories due to poor appetite.

What most resources seem to agree on is that the most important thing is that the cat is getting adequate calories. Here is an example.

For my cat, I fed her whatever she would eat well. I also a variety of different brands and flavors because when she was sick, she'd develop aversions pretty quickly, so I could switch to something else I had on hand. ("She'll eat it if she's hungry enough" is not true of cats with pancreatitis.) Variety packs were good for this.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 5:24 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My foster kitty with pancreatitis is still on steroids, but even before that he would eat one food in preference to others: Purina Pro Plan sensitive stomach, with a flavor label that includes 'oatmeal'. I think it's tuna and oatmeal, actually.

I've tried other sensitive stomach foods with him, and he likes those too. They seem to be mostly pate.

He also likes it a lot when I make "sauce" or "soup" by putting a little warm water in the empty can, swirling it around, then putting it in the dish over and with the food -- but he does have mild kidney issues and seems to drink a lot.

--

Also: FortiFlora (probiotic supplement) is apparently _delicious_ to some cats; adding that on top of moist food (and on Greenies with pills inside) really increases his interest.
posted by amtho at 6:53 PM on December 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think the 'I and Love and You' pate cans are pretty decent quality and our very picky middle age at noms them down. (The whitefish and salmon flavors specifically)

Nthing Fortiflora which we get at Chewy for about $1 per pack.
posted by getawaysticks at 9:43 PM on December 22, 2022

A little tangential to your ask, but our now 15-year old cat had pancreatitis flare ups and our vet noticed that it seemed to be triggered by constipation. A daily dose of Miralax mixed in her wet food has kept it at bay for going on 5 years now. It might be worth asking your vet if this could be right for your situation. All our cats seem to love the Friskies shreds, though of course they all have preference for different flavors so we need to buy the variety packs...
posted by galimatias at 1:59 PM on December 23, 2022