feline pancreatitis

Question
I have a geriatic neutered female cat. for the past 2 yrs., she has suffered from severe pancreatitis & the only advice I get from my vet(I live in Spain)is to give her tin cat food from companies specialising in this disorder(hill's & advance). as there are only 3 types availible here it has now reached the point where the cat is no longer interested in any of them. I have two other younger cats who obviously eat any make. this is creating a situation where the older cat only wishes to stalk the other cats when they are eating & tries to hoover up any fallen bits of food. she shows that she has an appetite but except for a few specialist biscuits eaten under duress she turns her nose up at the food that she is allowed. I would appreciate any advice as to which foods I can give her, my vet say's that chicken will kill her & yet I have noticed on forums that there are natural diets for this illness & they seem to include poultry and/ or beef in their recipes. I'm confused & worried as I don't want to give her anything that would make her worse but I fear that if I don't give her more variety, in her choice of diet that she is now so thin that she will starve herself.please any helpful advice would be extremely welcomed. lorraine

Answer
I'm sorry to hear about your cat's condition.  In my opinion, Nature's Variety, Wellness, and raw food (raw with added supplements like Platinum Performance) are among the best foods that you can feed.  Hills is one of the worst...it's one of the huge commercial companies that is only interested in profit and uses the cheapest ingredients possible.  Vets also make a huge profit by selling the Hills brand.  Please read my main AllExperts page for links to good brands and more info.  I've also included a lot of information in past answers about food ingredients, feeding schedules, etc.  

For a cat with pancreatitis, you want to stick to foods LOW in sugar and carbs...sugars are going to just increase the amount of work that the pancreas is going to have to do...making it secrete more digestive enzymes, etc.  You want the healthiest foods possible to ensure that your sick cat will get the optimum nutrition possible...WITH the least amount of energy spent in digesting and metabolizing it.  So...with that said, variety is fine and it's okay if she gets picky because of her condition...you want to keep her eating and keep weight on her.

As for what to feed...chicken and beef are okay...just DON'T get a chicken and beef food that contains grains and sugars because most commercial foods do.  Nature's Variety makes an excellent frozen raw food which is supplemented.  Both Nature's Variety and Wellness make human grade, grain free, and by-product free foods...they are excellent.  I would recommend switching all of your cats to these products and also add raw (chicken, beef, fish, pork) to their diets.  Mine love raw beef and chicken...and the occasional raw tuna or shrimp.  Please read some of my past answers regarding changing foods, feeding schedules, etc.  If you are concerned about feeding chicken or beef...Nature's Variety also makes a frozen raw and a canned rabbit based food...rabbit is super easy on the digestive tract because the protein is quite different from chicken, beef, etc.  It's also highly recommended for pets with allergies.  It will take a couple of week to get her totally used to a new diet...however, for her (and all of your cats) I think you will find that it will be well worth it.  If you switch to one of the super premium foods, and/or raw, you also don't have to be so worried about her sneaking some of the other cat's food.  I only feed my cats twice per day (as I've gone into detail about in past answers).  Your sick kitty will need to be offered food much more often...if you can, try closing up the other cats in a seperate room while feeding her or else put her in her own room as to not upset her or the other cats.  If you are worried about her not getting enough nutrients, please check out Platinum Performance Feline (do a web search), as it's among the best brand of supplements that I have found.

I hope this info helps.  If you have any further questions at all, just reply back.