Sensitive Stomach Cat Food - Preparing A Sensitive Stomach Feline Diet

If you have a cat with a sensitive stomach, you’ve seen the signs of gastrointestinal upset—diarrhea, gas and vomiting. It’s messy and upsetting for both you and your kitty!

Gastrointestinal upset can be caused by food allergy, parasites, infections, rotten food or items that shouldn’t be eaten, changes in diet, medications or inflamed bowel, among other causes. Diarrhea is not generally common in cats, and vomiting can be a sign of hairballs or stomach upset. Persistent and prolonged vomiting can be a sign of something far more serious such as cancer or kidney disease.

A healthy gastrointestinal tract breaks down a cat’s food into small nutrients that are absorbed. In the stomach, food breakdown begins and the nutrients are absorbed in the small intestines. The large intestines are responsible for reabsorbing water.

Vomiting and diarrhea upset the digestive process and prevent your cat from absorbing the nutrients she needs. Neither should be taken lightly. They can also cause dehydration and imbalanced electrolytes.

If the vomiting and/or diarrhea has persisted with a known cause—such as a change in diet or feeding table scraps—you may likely solve the problem on your own and can take necessary steps to alleviate your pet’s discomfort.

For example, if your cat is raiding the garbage or begging for table scraps, make those items unavailable to him. If there was an abrupt change in his food, give him his old food or, if intending to change foods altogether anyway, slowly introduce the new food to him by adding small amounts to his old and increasing the new food each day while decreasing the old.

If the vomiting and diarrhea persist without a known cause, your veterinarian will need to determine the cause and treatment.

Your veterinarian may recommend resting the cat’s digestive system through a 24-hour food fast. An electrolyte solution may be recommended.

Prescription diet food or a homemade diet may be recommended. The diet should be easily digestible of a limited number of ingredients such as chicken, cottage cheese and rice. Feed smaller quantities on a more frequent basis so the cat eats a little at a time.

Prescription diet foods will likely contain a single protein source as well as a single carbohydrate source for ease in digestibility. As the cat improves, and depending on the diagnosis, you may slowly wean your cat off the prescription diet by adding his old food back in (unless the old food is the culprit!).

If the problem persists, your cat may require continuous maintenance on a prescription formula, the homemade diet or a natural, organic premium food. Some premium pet food manufacturers make simple base foods to which you would add the protein source—meat, like chicken—if you need to perform a rule out diet to determine what food ingredient doesn’t agree with your cat.

Don’t let vomiting and diarrhea go on for days without treatment as the repercussions could prove serious for your cat.

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