Sick Cat. Advanced Food Questions

Question:
 As some of you may have read, I have a very sick cat.
We (the vet and I) want to do a diet change. First to put him on a bland diet of boiled chicken & rice.
After this I'd like to do a home made diet, or a commercial diet with very limited ingredients. Has anyone done this before with their cat, anything you can recommend?

Answer:
 I read in your other thread that you were already feeing him a raw diet before he got sick, so you probably know more about your own food question than I ever could.
Just wanted to post to say I read your other thread, hope he's okay, and it's great to see someone so on-the-ball about caring for their cat.

Answer:
 You know far more about cat food than I do. That being said, California Natural is the food that I've heard recommended most because it contains only like 5 ingredients or something.

Answer:
 After looking at about 50 brands of food this evening and searching through some of my text books for something I might have missed. I have narrowed down my food choices to the following.
Royal Canin - Rabbit & Peas
Hills - z/d
Natural Balance - Venison & Green Peas
Sensible Choice - Adult Chicken
AvoDerm - Select Cuts Chicken Chunks
by Nature Organics - Chicken & Chicken Liver
I am also going to go against my vets wishes and give tage water tonight. It seems ludachris to me to with hold that. I will however put him on the bland diet in very small meals several times a day starting either tonight or tomorrow morning (I have not yet decided.)
I still do not feel that this is partially or is solely a diet related issue, specially now that "something" was found in his x-rays (which I did not yet get to look at personally.) She is not overly worried about this "something" but I sure am, and I will be seeking a 2nd opinion very soon if I do not start to get some straight answers from her and results with in the next day or two.
California natural contains more then one protein source, fish and eggs, while I like California Natural I do not feel it would suit Tage's needs at this moment.

Answer:
 Can your cat eat chicken?
"Wysong Chicken Au Jus". This food, which contains only Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Heart, and Water sufficient for processing.
For cats with high-protein needs, or cats with allergy problems, it is an excellent limited-ingredient diet for stabilizing a cat's digestive tract.
Royal Canin IVD makes Green Peas & Rabbit cat food, it's also a limited ingredient diet.
Wellness is launching "Simple Food Solutions", a food that has only 5 key ingredients, but I don't know if that line is only for dogs. It might be worth checking out.
A healthy cat (or dog food) includes vitamins and minerals, some not more than trace minerals, but still important for the cat to receive. I'd stick with a commercially made diet to be sure that the cat got all the nutrients it needs.

Answer:
 What is tage water? I also noticed you said you just moved. Could it be something in the water that may disagree with him?

Answer:
California natural contains more then one protein source, fish and eggs, while I like California Natural I do not feel it would suit Tage's needs at this moment.
are you looking for dry or canned? This is what I found for their dry kibble:
Chicken
Chicken Meal
Ground Brown Rice
Chicken Fat
Sunflower Oil
Flaxseed
Natural Flavors
Taurine
Vitamins/Minerals
As 5thbeatle mentioned, the Wysong AuJus line is great b/c it is pretty much just meat, organ meat, and moisture. My cats absolutely love the beef, turkey and chicken versions. They HATED the rabbit, though--which was, of course, the most expensive.

Answer:
 the5thbeatle: I'm assuming that he can eat chicken, as there was no change from chicken to lamb, except that on lamb he started to puke his food, all the other ingredients are exactly the same.
I have looked into the Wysong lines, I have fed the rabbit before. However if I fed that alone, it would need to be combined with a supplement. The Wysong Au Jus formulas alone are NOT a complete diet.
The Wellness Simple Solutions are for dogs only.
MNCATS: Tage water = Tage is the name of my cats, and I was giving him water, lol. It could be something in the water causing my cats to no longer drink much. Even I have noticed a different taste/smell to the water. They always get filtered water but even then... I still don't like it much.
The house is 30 years old, there could be something in the water or the pipes that does not agree with him.
felisdomesticus: Yes I am looking for canned food only at this point.

Answer:
 my cat hated the hills z/d and he is not a picky eater at all.

Answer:
 what kind of sickness?

Answer:
 Wysong (and other companies) make a supplement that you can add to their Au Jus foods to make them complete for daily use. I think it's called "Call of the Wild" but I could be confusing that with something else.

Answer:
 I use the IVD foods for my IBD cats(actually all cats since they have dry food available at all times). They eat the duck and green pea, the rabbit and pea and the venison and pea.
They all do well on them. I do put a little fish oil on top occasionally, esp for the long hairs/heavy shedders who have hairball issues occasionally.

Answer:
 I second avoiding the Hills ZD. Sam has eosinophilic grauloma. There is no exact cure or treatment. He gets both a rodent ulcer on his lower lip and linear grauloma on his back leg. His first out break was on his front paw pad, unfortunately this outbreak wasn't recognized as EG. (By either the vet or myself, but luckily a few PFers saw it for what it was.) To help stabilize his condition we went from CA Natural to Hills. Neither Sam nor Max would touch the stuff. The up side to this is that they do offer a 100% guarantee. If you purchase from your vet they should offer a full refund if your cat won't eat it.
Now we are onto Pea and Rabbit By IVD. For the last three months I have also been supplementing with EFAs. We buy a human, all organic, pure fish oil gel cap produced by Health from the Sun. They also make a liquid formula. I'm just not sure if the kitters would eat it over their food. We are going to look into refund/return policies the next time we go to the health food store. "The Total EFA" offers over 200 mg of Alpha-Linolenic Acid (omega-3), over 100 mg of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (omega-3), over 80 mg of Docosahexaenoic Acid (omega-3) , over 95 mg of Gamma-Linolenic Acid (omega-6), over 200 mg of Linoleic Acid (omega-6), and over 210 mg of Oleic Acid (omega-9), per gel cap.
I am not sure how similar your cats dietary needs are to that of Sam's but hopefully this may offer you a few more dietary options. This is a web sight concerning Sam's condition. You can compare any like symptoms/conditions/dietary needs from here I hope.
http://www.thepetcenter.com/gen/eulcer.html
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/eosinophilic_granuloma.html

Answer:
 Well you see the problem is, is that he's never been given any "official" diagnosis, the doctor has just been suspicions.
Tage has never had problems on food before unless I change his food too quickly. Though I do realize that food allergies can take up to 5 years to show themselves in extreme cases, and that a new allergy can be formed at any time.
His vomiting of bile slowed down if not none existent from what I remember, on his last week of the RAW diet. Though he did continue to vomit his food once or twice.
I switched him directly on to the bland diet, and he's been fine since then 06/15, and I introduced less then a teaspoon of NB Venison & Pea canned to him on 06/17.
Since that time he has held everything down.
He's staying on the bland until he is fully adjusted onto the NB.
He went about 3 days with out any stool, but last Saturday night I gave him a abdomen massage to help get the juices flowing again so to speak, and didn't feed him any food that night in case there was a suspected blockage still going on. But he finally pood in the early morning hours on Sunday.
Oddly enough... even though food allergy is one of problems (if not the problem) the doctor thinks tage had, she said to me "so are you going to put tage back onto the raw diet after this if you don't go with the prescription?"
Which just completely boggles my mind... she thinks it was a food allergy, and now she's basically implying "yes, it's ok to put him back on that same diet if you wish."


Answer:
 what kinds of raw foods were you feeding him? do you guys have any ideas about what, specifically, he might be allergic to?