[Liz7]

6 year old male cat's excessive hunger, overweight -- white blood cell count elevated. For 3 days on vet's medication now, C-METRONIDAZOLE 100 mg/ml LIQ in tuna flavored base. He still looks unconfortable, which is why I took him to the vet in the first place. Has been on I/D and possibly it is not nutritious enough, so I got him and his twin brother (both part Siamese, gray and white), some Purina One and their coats are now SO luxurious!! Wish I could help his discomfort, though! THANKS so much!! Any suggestions as to diet? THANKS!!

[morgaine300]

Did anything else show up in this blood work? Raised white blood count is generally an infection, but that could be anything.

Being continually hungry but staying overweight can be a sign of diabetes, but 6 is a bit young for that. That also would have easily shown up in blood work. Does "excessive hunger" just mean he's meowing for food all the time? That may or may not mean anything. Do you have him on a diet due to his weight? (i.e. could he really be hungry?) Is he overweight cause you give him to him too much? Are you following the feeding instructions on the package? (It's usually way too much.) A good quality food and portion control can solve overweight, but the idea isn't to keep them hungry either.

I'm not even sure what the vet diagnosed. I had to look up the meds and have seen where it was used for both IBD and liver disease, as well as other infections and skin problems. The I/D is (theoretically) for liver disease, though it seems like a crappy "treatment" of liver disease.

If it's liver disease, what disease? The most common thing is hepatic lipidosis, but for a cat who is overweight and seemingly hungry all the time (and presumably being a pig?), that is unlikely.

So I'm a little confused as to what is wrong with the cat, or I should say, what the vet thinks is wrong with the cat. I of course would tell you to take him to a vet, but you have. But more details from that vet visit would help. You haven't even said what is wrong.

As to food, however... you're right that I/D isn't nutritious. Most Hills is not. They do a fine job of marketing but not of making appropriate foods. They are generally way high carb and contain too little meat protein and too much plant, not at all a way a cat would eat. I can't much imagine how that is supposed to help heal a cat.

Here's the first ingredients (up to the supplements) in I/D canned (and the canned is generally a hair better than the dry version):
Water, Pork Liver, Egg Product, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice Flour, Pasta Product, Soybean Oil, Soybean Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Soy Fiber, Chicken Liver Flavor, Fish Oil
Pork liver is the closest thing to meat. Pork isn't natural to a cat. And there's ZERO muscle meat. Corn, Rice, PASTA?? There's the carbs. PASTA?? Does that sound like cat food? (Even I didn't know it had pasta.)

As for Purina One, let's just say if you think their coats are now luxurious due to Purina One, you've fallen victim to their marketing as well. Cause that food is almost as much garbage as Hills. So going from bad to a hair less bad I don't think has helped them at all.
Purina One basic chicken & rice:
Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), whole grain corn, fish meal, soy protein isolate, animal liver flavor
It actually has some chicken in it. But still look at all the rice, corn, wheat, more corn... more carbs, more plant, less meat cause it's more plant. Still not cat-appropriate.

Forgetting for a moment what happens to be going on with your cat, since I'm not sure, try first switching to canned so he can get a proper level of moisture with his meals. Us mammels need moisture and dry food doesn't provide enough. If you can afford it and he'll eat it, try something like Wellness, Innova, byNature, etc. (Look at the ingredients.) But pretty much most canned will be better than dry. If it were to turn out it's IBD, find something grainless. Doesn't hurt to do that anyway. If it's liver something or other -- I don't know what's going on so can't really comment.

But low-quality food with very species-inappropriate ingredients isn't going to help a sick cat, that's for sure. I have seen a lot of people solve a lot of problems with just a good quality canned food, including diabetes (yes, diabetes can go away), IBD, overweight, "allergies," etc.

[morgaine300]

Hmm... curious. How'd this get on the deleted one when I answered the other one?

The board has ghosts on it.