You may find it surprising about animals and that includes your cat might also suffer from stress. One of the common symptoms of feline stress is IBS or irritable bowel syndrome. What’s causing your cat to feel stressed may be due to change of home or even change to an inappropriate diet. We cannot emphasize enough the importance of choosing the best food for cats with IBS so you can help ease the discomfort of your kitty.
Let’s find out more about IBS so you, as a fur parent can determine the signs, the causes, and the best move that you can do for your pet.
What Is Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Cats?
A lot of cat owners often make mistakes between IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). As a cat owner, you need to distinguish one from the other because the best food for cats with IBS may be the same for those that have IBD but the treatment plan is entirely different.
What’s the difference between the two? IBS is psychosomatic, meaning, it’s all in the mind. In most cases, the cause of IBS is stress. As a result, your kitty may suffer from sensitivity in its lower intestinal tract. From time to time, your cat may show signs of IBS if it is going through a ‘stressful phase’.
On the other hand, IBS is more serious because it is a medical condition that affects the intestinal lining and requires day-to-day treatment which is not the case with IBS.
What Can You Do to Ease the Irritable Bowel Syndrome of Your Feline Baby?
The best way is to remove the stressors that cause your cat to suffer from anxiety-induced diarrhea. Your pet is not the adventurous type, thus, any change like moving into a new place or new situations like a new pet or new persons in the household lead to stress. Though impossible to do, try your best to lessen the exposure to those stressors.
Changing its diet is another way to fix stress. Fiber enriched food and probiotics do help in improving the gastrointestinal condition of your cat. But, don’t just go to a pet store and buy cat food without knowing first how to choose the best food for cats with IBS.
What Kind of Cat Food You Should Choose for Cats With IBS?
We have outlined the kinds of stuff you need to be aware of when it comes to shifting the diet of your cat to hypoallergenic food. By this, it means avoiding ingredients that can trigger its allergies from flaring up while under stress.
We know that it can be pretty difficult (and may even be expensive) to isolate which ingredient is your cat allergic to. This is precisely the reason why you have to know what is the best food for cats with IBS to avoid unnecessary expenses of shifting from one brand to the other.
Read more about common symptoms of your feline IBS problem
New Source of Animal Protein:
Ask yourself, what is the protein source of the current cat food of your kitty? Is it poultry, beef? Maybe it is time to make a shift to a new source of protein that your cat has not tried yet. Why not fish? Or maybe you can also try lamb or rabbit.
This is done to figure out which animal protein your cat is reacting to. For as long as you have not fed your cat with that specific kind of animal protein, then, sure, try it.
7 Best Food for Cats With IBS
Earthborn Holistic Wet Cat Food
This food company adheres to a wholesome approach to cat’s nutrition, producing cat food with nothing but high-quality ingredients that will nourish your pet’s body, especially in times of stress.
The company offers you four kinds of recipes, all of which are grain and gluten-free, thereby making Earthborn Holistic Wet cat food less likely to produce allergic reactions. Many of these recipes use chicken white meat as the primary source of protein but other kinds of protein like grilled mackerel and shrimp are also used.
You can choose among the four which your kitty finds the yummiest.
Up to this time, this company has not been affected by recalls as they are very careful in selecting the freshest and the safest ingredients for cat food. No wonder, this is one of the 7 best food for cats with IBS.
Fussie Cat Premium
The maker of this premium cat food follows the philosophy of ‘meat first’ in their brand. They understand that cats are primarily carnivores, thus, a great number of their nutrition must come from animal-based sources. This is why all the recipes are cooked with fish and fresh meat as the main source of ingredients.
All the eleven recipes are designed to imitate the right proportions and the quality of your cat’s ancestors’ diet in the wild.
Simply put, the products of Fussie Cat Premium are cooked the way nature intended for cat food.
With all the right ingredients in healthy proportions, Fussie cat recipes are gluten and grain-free making the best food for cats with IBS.
Best Food for Cats With IBS That Has Limited Ingredients:
The lesser the number of ingredients, the better it is for cats with irritable bowel syndrome. Why? This is because you just don’t know which of the many ingredients contributes to your cat’s irritable bowel syndrome.
Examples of these ingredients are flavor additives, color, animal-by-products, and preservatives. If you see any of those in the label, you might as well back off and look for healthier alternatives. If you see symptoms like the ones listed below, the only way these can be fixed is by choosing the best food for cats with IBS.
What Are the Other Manifestations to Watch Out for?
1. Bloating
2. Cramping
3. Vomiting
4. Nausea
5. Gas
6. Difficulty to pass stools
7. Diarrhea
Is your feline pet manifesting some of the symptoms stated above? If yes, swing to a healthier brand. Feed your pet with the right cat food with limited ingredients.
We recommend:
Reveal Grain-Free and Wet Cat Food
The owners of this brand of cat food believe in the principle of ‘less is more’. With fewer ingredients, you can be assured of higher standard cat food.
It is available in different variants like tuna with sea bream and chicken with cheese. All the flavors are wheat-free and hypoallergenic.
By choosing this brand of cat food, you can be assured that it will make your pussy cat meow for more as each portion is made with real meat. What’s more to love? All of the ingredients are sourced with 100% compliance to environmental and social guidelines making this brand one of the seven best food for cats with IBS.
The only drawback is that it does not have added vitamins and taurine.
Would you rather feed your pussy cat with cat food that contains limited ingredients? Then you’d never go wrong with Natural Balance. First, they only add premium ingredients that are tasty and packed with nutrition.
Second, they do safe testing-not just 1 but 9 testings to assure pet parents like you about the products’ safety.
By choosing Natural Balance limited ingredients such as duck & green pea formula, you feed your pet with food designed for healthy digestion and the maintenance of its skin and coat.
What’s more to love? It is good for all life stages, includes fish for omega-3 fatty acids.
What If You Prefer to Feed Your Cat with Dry Food?
Are you one of those fur parents who are looking for convenience combined with healthy options? If yes, then feeding your feline pet with dry food is the best solution. It is easier to measure and to feed plus the convenience of easy storage.
Dry Cat Food With the Right Amount of Fiber and Probiotics
Fiber is a form of carbs which is not digested by your cat’s gastrointestinal tract. But, it is good for your cat’s health as it provides bulk for food to move through. But too much fiber can lead to diarrhea. What we are looking for is a balance of fiber and probiotics to treat irritable bowel syndrome.
Purina Pro Plan
The Savor line of Purina is all about taste, aroma, and texture. The protein content is 40% making it ideal for carnivores like your pussy cat. It comes in two variants-either salmon & rice or chicken & rice.
Your kitty would love the tasty meaty shreds, the crunchy texture, and the aroma that comes from fresh meat. But above all, Purina Pro Plan is the perfect choice for stressed cats who are manifesting signs of irritable bowel syndrome. This is because of the added prebiotic fiber to promote healthy digestion for an anxious cat.
What makes this brand extraordinary is that the ingredients are fit for human consumption, meaning safety is not compromised at all. You will not find anything less, therefore there are no questionable sourced rendered meats and waste, and no by-products. The meats that are added are not frozen and no amount of preservative added.
What your cat gets is fresh and delicious food.
Acana cat food contains a moderate amount of protein, low in carbs and grain-free. It contains a ratio of 65% animal ingredients and 35% of fruits and veggies making it biologically appropriate for your cat’s daily needs.
No recall is recorded with this brand of cat food.
Raw food is slowly getting mainstream in the cat food department. It’s good because it is what their ancestors ate in the wild.
Freeze-drying is a process of freezing up food while at the peak of freshness.
The Primal brand is free of gluten, corn, wheat, and soy, it is ideal for stressed cats like yours. The ingredients are also free from hormones and antibiotics. Another thing that makes this brand shine through is the use of organic and unrefined supplements like apple cider vinegar and coconut oil.
This is one of the best 7 best cat food with IBS that you can get for your pussy cat.
How Did We Come-Up with These Recommendations?
1. The ingredients must not include by-products, fillers, and preservatives.
2. It has to be AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) approved.
3. The source of animal protein must be of high quality.
Conclusion
With so many food choices in the market, we understand that it can be pretty tricky to choose the one that is best for your stressed cat. But with the best food for cats with IBS that we have reviewed for you, there is no doubt that your feline pet will meow with calmness and happiness.