Hi everyone.

My name is Lucy and me and my older cat Bailey (he's around 14ish.. so senior) have been through alot recently trying to figure out his health and nutritional needs. After loads of tests at the vets it turns out hes got a liver problem and a slight heart murmur, but everything else seems fine. (Kidneys were the initial worry but they've come back stable for now). Unfortunately he still gets the symptoms of soft stools and occasional vomiting (bile mostly but it has been food on certain occasions). Vet said it could be iritable bowels caused by bad liver. We've got him antibiotics at the moment for 10 days. Other than that the vet gave us a tin of hills I/D to try him on. Seeing as he's managed to eat that, sometimes reluctantly, we're probably gonna get some more for the duration of however long he should be on this diet.. (I've actually forgotten how long to feed him it for?) He's also having IAMS dry biscuits but I'm thinking of getting James Wellbeloved since it's better quality food. After his Hills I/D diet for his sensitive stomach, I'm wondering whether I should just get some royal canin sensitivity wet and continue with that seeing as he doesn't seem able to hold down most foods? I'm also not sure how much to feed him of the pouches, he eats little and often (so up to four small!! portions a day) because he's fussy. He's underweight at 3kg. What do you suggest?

Hi Saku. I'm afraid I might not be much help (and always check with your vet first), but if your cat is having problems with keeping food down then maybe dry food isn't the way to go. It's harder to digest and requires your cat to drink more as wet food contains more mositure.
Also if you check here at Pet Forums or search online you'll find some pretty bad info on Iams as a company.
Royal Canin is good cat food so I would try the sensitive stuff you've talked about in your post. As to how much to give concerning the pouches, two to two and a half a day should be fine. If he eats little but more often then maybe try half a pouch at a time, so he still gets the four portions a day.
Also, Renal food may be an option. It's for cats with kidney problems, but it's easier to digest than regular cat food. My parents had two cats on a permanent Renal diet, Tigger (sadly past on now) had thyroid and kidney problems and Abbey (still with us) who's just older, around 14-15 yrs.
I've got my fingers crossed for Bailey and if any of this helps then great.
Good luck

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Simba9952

Through a Cat's eye, all things belong to the Cat !

I'd suggest to stop feeding the dry food. As Simba says, it's difficult to digest and may well be what is causing the vomiting, as well as leaving Bailey constantly dehydrated.

As you say he needs to put on weight, I'd start feeding the best wet food I could find (except feeding raw, which would be even better). Look for wet foods with no silly ingredients like wheat, rice, grain etc. You only want it to contain meat and vitamins, and for it to be 'Complete', not 'complimentary'. Some good brands are: HiLife pouches, Bozita, Applaws kitten, Porta21, and I'm sure others can add more brands to this.

The ingredients list should look something like this if it's a good food: Chicken (min.60%), Sunflower Oil, Vitamin & Mineral Supplements, Tapioca, Fish Oil, Seaweed Extract, Chicory Extract, Green Tea Extract

HiLife also do a senior version, but I've not seen that in shops. You should be able to buy it from their website though.

Good luck

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