Cat food for sensitive stomachs

Two years and four different foods with symptoms still showing up after meals — that's a really frustrating place to be, and it tells me something important: the problem probably isn't the brand, it's a specific ingredient that keeps appearing across all four foods. Digestive sensitivity in cats is usually food intolerance rather than a true allergy, and with a 7-year-old Norwegian Forest Cat who's been struggling this long, I'd want to know exactly what's happening. Is it vomiting, loose stools, or something else? And roughly how soon after eating do the symptoms kick in? Also — can you list the four foods you've tried, even roughly?

That's really helpful, and you've actually done this properly — 8 weeks each is long enough to rule out transition reactions. The pattern here is telling though. Royal Canin Sensitive, Hills Sensitive, Pro Plan Sensitive, and James Wellbeloved Turkey all share common ingredients: chicken or poultry derivatives, cereal or rice fillers, and often pea protein. Even the 'sensitive' lines tend to be pretty similar under the label. Vomiting within 20 minutes suggests the stomach is rejecting something consistently. Before I suggest anything, one question: has he ever eaten fish-based food as a main protein, or has it always been poultry?

That's exactly what I needed to hear. Given the consistent failure with poultry-based foods — including the dedicated sensitive lines — I'd move to a genuine novel protein that he hasn't eaten as an adult. My recommendation is Applaws Grain Free Tuna with Prawn in Broth. It's a single-source fish protein, grain free, no chicken, no pea protein, and the ingredient list is genuinely short: tuna, prawn, water. It's not marketed as a sensitive stomach food, but that's almost irrelevant — what matters is that it contains almost nothing that appears in the four foods he's reacted to. Norwegian Forest Cats can also do well with higher moisture content, and the broth format is gentle on the stomach. Feed it as his sole food for 6–8 weeks and keep a note of the vomiting frequency. If symptoms reduce significantly, you've found your culprit category — poultry and cereals. Applaws Grain Free Tuna with Prawn in Broth is widely available on Amazon UK in multipacks.

Applaws is formulated as a complementary food, not a complete food on its own — so if you're feeding it exclusively, you'd want to either use their complete dry food alongside it, or switch to their complete wet range. The Applaws Complete wet food in tuna varieties keeps the same short ingredient philosophy but is nutritionally balanced for adult cats. Given his vomiting pattern, I'd actually transition fairly quickly — 3 to 4 days rather than the usual two weeks. A slow transition just prolongs exposure to the ingredient causing the problem. Start by replacing one meal, then two, then full switch by day four. If the vomiting stops or drops sharply within the first two weeks, that's a strong signal you're on the right track.

Good move — and honestly, the fact that you've been this systematic about it means you'll get a clear answer quickly. If vomiting does continue even on a clean fish-only diet, it's worth a vet visit to rule out something non-dietary like hyperthyroidism or IBD, both of which become more common in cats from around 7 onwards. But try the food change first — my guess is you'll see a difference within the first fortnight.