Sheba cat food has these really need small portion wet cat foods that come at pate and cuts. I don’t know if they are grain free. They call it Perfect Portions. I think each half of the package is 1.3 oz. My local supermarket has it. Crave is another brand that has the same thing.
I had a female that had repeated bouts of cystitis and when I finally bit the bullet and pulled her off of all dry food, she has not had another episode since (years now).
I feed a commercial raw (Radcat) and I mix it with a ‘cup’ of Sheba. One heaping spoonful of raw and 1 container of Sheba. She gets it 2x/day and cleans it up. I too have a ‘Hoover’ that would eat all of his then go eat hers so she is shut in my bedroom for meals. She gets 20-30 minutes to eat and if it isn’t cleaned up, it goes back in the frig for the next meal. They both look wonderful. Shiny, silky coats and both maintain their weight well.
I have found a kibble that isn’t too bad (Tiki Cat…grain free with higher protein and less carbs) and I will dispense 20-ish kibbles in a food toy for both of them to work on when I go to work. I otherwise do not leave food of any kind out for them. So far, this small amount which they don’t even get every day hasn’t seemed to bother her.
I just couldn’t believe that the dry was contributing to the problem but since I got her off of it and she has not had anymore issues, I have to believe it.
Susan
I have a cat that had several flare-ups of idiopathic cystitis in 2011. I treated him with painkillers and sub Q fluids at the time but after doing some research, changed his dry food to Royal Canin Urinary SO and added cosequin to his nightly wet meal. He did not have anymore flare ups after that, and after a couple years I stopped the cosequin and he has been fine.
He also had a bald spot- from overgrooming right on his abdomen. Clearly, his bladder was bothering him.
Anxious cats tend to overgroom as well as get cystitis. Are you sure she isn’t overgrooming?
Also, the vet I had at that time was pretty much useless with suggestions for long term solutions- she wanted me to take him for an ultrasound and more diagnostics but had no ideas on how to keep this from happening. I switched him to RC SO on my own- I already had it since I have another cat that got calcium oxolate bladder stones and HAS to be on that food.
I also have the problem with a fat cat eating everything. I solved this problem by putting anxious cystitis cat’s food on a cabinet fat cat can’t jump up on. She’s too fat.
Thanks for all your help!
We have been feeding them about 50/50 wet (various brands) and grain-free dry (Wellness Core mixed with Wellness raw bites) and so far problem cat has had no flare ups. I have been mixing in water to her wet food to increase her fluid intake and she loves it- we have also started using a Feliway diffuser.
@horsenut_8700 I have been considering raw but am trying to find a brand in my area that is cost effective. All the ones available in my area are sold in too small of packages to be economical.
@Go Fish and @Sugarwells She loves Tiki cat but it is expensive and only sold at one store in my area - we buy the dented cans on discount and they are regularly in her rotation of flavours. I think all the flavours but one have fish? She will eat the chicken as long as I alternate with a different food but LOVES the fish flavours. I don’t think fish is as much of an issue for her- it doesn’t seem to trigger her urinary problems.
The humans in the house don’t eat meat so we don’t have any meat scraps/gizzards etc to feed the cats.
I have scoured every grocery store in my area and the only grain free wet food offered is Iams - which might be okay but they only have it in pate which she won’t touch.
@Kyrabee I have been unable to find the Tiki Cat kibble in my area 
And she gets stressed if she’s behind a closed door so won’t eat if I lock her up.
@Ruth0552 I am pretty confident that the skin issues aren’t overgrooming. They are all around her face and cleared up as soon as I threw out all the food with grains. To date the only time she’s had any skin issues has been when she is eating food with grains. I’m not sure if it’s a specific grain like corn or all grains because I don’t want to risk buying more food that I have to throw out.
Unfortunately my fat cat is super athletic and will go to any lengths to get to food.
I think right now we have found something that works for the cats - fat cat has even lost four pounds over the past few months!
Right now Im trying Royal Canin Urinary SO for all my cats as I have one that has had repeated bouts of crystals so had to have what the vet called “penis removal” surgery. All the cats like it but it seems to make them throw up a bit more than I’m happy with. This is the dry food, btw. Have you seen that at all???
I’m on my third month of feeding my four cats Royal Canin Urinary SO dry exclusively. I’ve noticed that they’ve stopped throwing up as much as they did before the diet switch, their fur is shinier and softer and they really like the taste of it. I’ve also noticed they poop less and and are peeing more, both their poop and pee have hardly any smell to them.
@alabama I haven’t noticed any change in throwing up since I started everyone on RC SO. Cats that puked up hairballs or regurgitated food before the change still do and the cats that never puke still never do. I actually have four on it due to the set-up/pairings of cats in my house and it’s impossible to keep certain ones separate. If you switched recently you might need to switch slower. Generally you’re supposed to mix your new food with the old one for quite a while to switch them over, and the typical result of NOT doing that is vomiting.
Thanks. I did switch very quickly, especially for the one with crystal problems. I didn’t know to mix the foods. That’s probably the problem.
