Complete dry cat food

[CrazyCatLady]

Hey,
Poor Goomer (my 12 year old female cat for those who don't know) is poorly. Last weekend she had diarrhoea for a few days. I took her to the vets who said she didn't feel tender and didn't have a temperature. And that it was a stomach upset rather than anything more serious. She was a bit dehydrated though. We were given some special vet wet food to rehydrate her. And a paste to add into it to ease her tummy (like a probiotic I think). So that was Monday, knowing her last sachet would be today, I started adding her dry food back in slowly yday. She finally had a full bowl of only dry food this evening.
She's had two episodes of diarrhoea this evening :-( il call the vet in the morning but my guess is she may have developed a food allergy to the dry food (it's all she's had for 2 years tho and is given NO human food).
My question is, what to try next? Il obviously have to go with whatever she can handle, but would like the most animal friendly brand (knowing she needs meat in her diet).
Would really like to keep her on dry as I think it's best for their teeth. Also, she's a grazer so a lot of wet food would go to waste if that's all she had.
Thanks for your help xxx

 

[mlp]

I'm not a big fan of dry food. Cats often don't drink enough water, so canned food adds much needed moisture to their intake. That's good for their urinary tract health and helps stave off kidney problems, which cats are very prone to in old age, as well as being good for their overall health - it's just generally good for their health to be well hydrated. Also, I don't think that dry food does that much for their dental health - it's as though we relied on eating crusty bread to keep our teeth clean.

With my clan of thousands, I feed wet food twice a day and keep dry food available as backup.

Also, grain free is best for cats. The carbs in grains can cause various health problems in cats over time, including diabetes. I have so many cats that I can't afford to feed completely grain free, but I buy them food that contains no corn, wheat or soy.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Aw, poor thing. One of my cats had those symptoms and the vet did some tests and said he had Inflammatory Bowel Disease and he is fed Royal Canin hypoallergenic dry food now and he hasn't had any more troubles since we switched him over to the new food. It might just be a stomach upset though obviously with your cat.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

I'm pretty sure it's got to be her food. It was an elimination diet without intent when she had the vets wet food.
Have been researching all morning to find a dry cat food that is 1) hypoallergenic 2) for senior cats 3) not one of the animal tested brands.
The best I have found is James Wellbeloved because they are specific for food intolerances. They only use one source of protein in each flavour so if its a specific meat they don't tolerate you just switch flavours. They have 4 flavours for senior cats. As far as I can see they are not known for animal testing. However, they are owned by the sister company of pedigree who I think do.
It's the best il manage I think. I have phoned 4 stockists in my area (bare in mind my car in snowed in!) and they all only stock 2kg bags at £15 each...so hopefully this works as I can't get a smaller cheaper bag to try.
About to set off to walk to pets at home which is only a mile or two away. Will keep y'all updated xxx

 

[Moll Flanders]

I'm sure I saw a non animal-tested brand on a forum somewhere but I can't remember the name of it. I think it was on Pet Forum.
Pet Forums Community - Pet Owners Social Community Forum for Dogs, Cats and other Pets

 

[AeryFairy]

I rely on Royal Canin for dry food - it's a brand most vets recommend, they have formulas for just about every specific type of cat and health problem, and it's something cats will generally find palatable even when they're not doing very well. They also have a guarantee whereby if you buy something your pet doesn't like, you can return the rest of the uneaten food for an exchange/refund. They say they don't perform invasive animal testing on their website. Like James Wellbeloved, though, they are owned by Pedigree.

(Edit: I don't use it for a dry food only diet, though. My furbaby gets a packet of meat per day too, portioned out so she has three meals.)

 

[Calliegirl]

Some companies change their food formulations without mentioning it, so there could be new or cheaper ingredients in the food making her sick. But, it could be like you said, she developed an allergy to something in it. Most likely one of the fillers....corn, wheat, or soy.

I second feeding her wet food, at least a little daily, especially at her age. I've always fed my cats an all dry food diet until last year, when I really researched it. Dry food is mostly fillers which has zero nutritional value as well as lacking in the moisture they need. Wet food tends to be mostly meat, maybe not always the best type of meat, but meat none the less, which is what carnivores need. Plus it has the moisture they need. I feed mine a can in the morning and the evening, with a bowl of dry food available just in case.

If you are set on a dry food diet, make sure the first few ingredients are meat, not fillers. A cup of wheat with a thimble full of chicken mixed in is not healthy.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

Thanks everyone.
I will consider giving her a little wet food in the evening when I'm around. She has always had a small appetite though and is a tiny cat weighing not even 3kg. I worry that she won't eat any of her dry food and will wait it out until wet food comes lol.
I went for james wellbeloved senior fish. She has eaten a fair bit which I'm glad of so she must like it. Not used the litter tray all day which is an improvement on yday!
Can't check to see if they changed the ingredients on her old food as I empty it from the bag to an airtight container when I get it :-( xxx

 

[lucky_charm]

We fed one of our first cats on a solely dry food diet although it was an expensive brand recommended by the shelter. About 2 years after we got him (when he was about 2 years old) he stopped eating. When we took him to the vet they said it was kidney failure, and in the end they couldn't help him and he had to be put down. There was always water out but he didn't always drink it. I blame what happened to him on what we fed him and I would now never feed a cat on an exclusively dry food diet, I still feel guilt about Titch (the cat) even though I was only 10 when we got him and 12 when he died and we did try our best for him. For subsequent cats we have always fed a mix of wet and dry.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

She did a nearly normal poo last night but a horribly runny one this morning :-(
Hope it's just the last getting out her system and its not back to square one xxx

 

[CrazyCatLady]

Hi all,

Goomer was still poorly last week even after changing to a hypoallergenic dry food, and then onto a wet food.

I took her to the vets yesterday and they said it's unlikely to be a tummy infection (from eating something she shouldn't have), but it could be...IBS, kidney infection, thyroid problem or cancer.

Or...still a food intolerance. So we decided to take more of the wet food she was initially well on but without the probiotic paste this time to be sure.

And so far so good!! I really hope and think it was just the food :-D

I am looking around on the internet now for this specific wet food. Thank you for all who advised me to go to wet. I have a question though, pouches or alutrays? What's the difference and what are the benefits? The pouches appear to be slightly cheaper xxx

 

[AspireToExpire]

I'm not a big fan of dry food. Cats often don't drink enough water, so canned food adds much needed moisture to their intake. That's good for their urinary tract health and helps stave off kidney problems, which cats are very prone to in old age, as well as being good for their overall health - it's just generally good for their health to be well hydrated. Also, I don't think that dry food does that much for their dental health - it's as though we relied on eating crusty bread to keep our teeth clean.

With my clan of thousands, I feed wet food twice a day and keep dry food available as backup.

Also, grain free is best for cats. The carbs in grains can cause various health problems in cats over time, including diabetes. I have so many cats that I can't afford to feed completely grain free, but I buy them food that contains no corn, wheat or soy.

^This. She beat me to it.

 

[das_nut]

Supposedly, making your own wet cat food is supposed to be far cheaper than the canned stuff. If you go this route, do the research and make sure you are feeding the cat a nutritionally complete diet.

 

[mlp]

Supposedly, making your own wet cat food is supposed to be far cheaper than the canned stuff. If you go this route, do the research and make sure you are feeding the cat a nutritionally complete diet.

I've tried this, and it's not considerably cheaper - there are so many things you need to add to make sure that cats' nutritional needs (which are quite complex) are met that there is a significant *start up* cost. Fewer than half of my cats would eat the fresh, so it was a failed experiment for me.

Secondly, for cats, you really need to be feeding whole bodies, with organ meats included (but skin removed, in the case of chickens, because of the fat content of skin), and you really shouldn't be feeding just chicken. Rabbit is best, and you can get whole rabbit bodies, frozen, from places that cater to the raw diet crowd (I didn't, for my try at preparing fresh for my cats - I could barely handle a chicken corpse.) It is, for those who are veg*n because of animal reasons, emotionally very difficult.

I have a cat with IBS, who gets probiotics daily, and I also give probiotics to everyone periodically. I have found that the least expensive source of probiotics is to buy it by the tub, which has to be kept refrigerated, rather than the individual packets. Also, for most brands, the stuff marketed for dogs is less expensive than that marketed for cats, but the only difference is what's added as a flavor enhancer. I have found that the cats don't seem to care once it's mixed into their food. I buy mine on Amazon.

 

[Wolfie]

MLP what brand of canned food do you buy? I know you said once some of the mainstream ones weren't so bad ingredient wise. I can't afford to exclusively feed the same brand wet as the dry food I buy, plus my cat won't eat ANY of the premium brands of wet food (though she loves the premium dry I get. Go figure.) She is a Fancy Feast addict. So is canned FF actually better than dry grain free? I think you said before some of the Friskies loaf style are actually grain free but my cat likes the stuff in gravy, and even then only certain flavors.

Not to highjack the thread. CrazyCatLady I do hope Goomer continues to improve!

 

[mlp]

Wolfie, here's the info on FF, which gets high marks from the diabetic cat board: http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

I feed Friskies canned. The meaty bits (Walmart carries them in 24/32 can boxes) also rates O.K. from that board, as being fairly low carb, and it's what I can afford, for the number of cats I'm feeding. (Which is 39 now. ) The dry food I'm feeding isn't carb free - it contains rice - but doesn't contain corn, wheat or soy. Again, it's what I can afford with my current numbers.

So far (knock on wood!), I have not had a cat with a urinary tract blockage, although I have occasionally had cats with urinary tract infections. My vet is astounded at this, with the numbers I have. I really think that pushing the wet food makes a big difference in this regard - my sister used to feed primarily dry, and she's lost at least half a dozen boys to urinary tract blockages over the years. Now she's really pushing wet food also.

 

[Wolfie]

I've used cat fountains also to encourage the cat(s) (just one now) to drink more water. They have loved them but I don't have much luck keeping one around for long. Dang things break/quit working so easily.

I think it's awesome what you do for all those cats. I am broke all the time just with 1 cat and several dogs (not all the dogs are mine but I feed some that aren't. Don't ask. )

 

[KLS52]

I, too, have fed mostly wet food to my cats and never had one with a urinary tract problem/infection. Now I know why.

Bogart is another story and a terribly fussy eater. I hate that he prefers dry. He already has issues...I don't need him getting anything else. Plus I have to worry about diabetes because he has been on the prednisolone for months now and it doesn't look like he will be coming off of it anytime soon. He will nibble at the wet food and lick up the gravy on the sliced kind. I seriously think I've tried every brand that out's there. When he does eat the wet food at least it is the grain free kind. This boy is costing me a fortune. The only other thing he really likes and will eat every day is the baby food meat in a jar, but that can't be healthy for him as it is not complete with the necessary nutrients. So that's why I basically let him eat the dry when he wants it and hope for the best.

 

[Scorpius]

*bump*

I just adopted a kitty and have been debating on what I should feed her. She was on Purina Cat Chow at the shelter (I got a little baggie of that in the meantime, and so I can switch her over to a new food gradually) and I'm not very impressed with the quality of the food. I mean, Purina isn't HORRIBLE, but I'd like to feed her something that doesn't have cornmeal as one of the chief ingredients.

Has anyone tried grain free diets for their kitties? I was looking at foods made by Wellness, Natural Balance, Nutro, etc.

As far as wet vs. dry goes, she was getting 1/2 cup of dry and about half of a small can of wet per day at the shelter. I was planning on giving her the dry in the AM, leaving it out until she finishes, and offering her half a pouch of wet at night. And treats of course. She doesn't seem picky at all, in fact she is quite interested in being in the kitchen when I'm making food for myself! Her weight is purrfect now, and I don't want that to change!

 

[KLS52]

Bogart is on mostly grain free food. But he is EXTREMELY finicky. Can't stress that enough. He does best on the Wellness that comes in the pouches. He started out liking the Wellness Core but grew tired of that. If I don't switch every 3-4 days, he doesn't eat. As far as dry goes, he will eat Innova Prime and Country Naturals (which is only wheat/soy/dairy free). As far as the non-grain free dry food, I have to mix in a little Fancy Feast, Purina One Blend, or Purina Naturals every few days or he boycotts eating.

Since he is on prednisolone long-term I have to worry about him developing diabetes so I limit the dry and feed mostly grain-free wet. Again, on super-fussy days and depending on how he is feeling, he gets whatever he wants. I figure, the best food for him is the kind he will eat. He was underweight, according to both vets, when I got him. I'm happy to say, he has gained 2.5 pounds. I think he is at a good weight now. And he is not very active. It's torture trying to get him to move around. He will chase his favorite string toy for all of 3 minutes, at which point, he lays down and will only swat at it while he stays in one spot. He is an odd one, that's for sure.

This is my first experience with a cat who doesn't like to eat. It's very annoying...not to mention wasteful and expensive. You are lucky your new kitty is a good eater. Congratulations and good luck with her!