Tuesday, August 14, 2018
One more reason I feed my fosters canned food
When Michaela first arrived her back in May, she was vomiting a lot. I was trying to narrow down the things that would cause her to vomit so I wouldn't have to clean it up every day. I am sure there are more things then I found, because she became stable on canned pate foods in chicken and turkey flavors. She was eating up to six cans a day, it was a little overwhelming and keeping canned food "in stock" was a little difficult.
When Michaela went back to the rescue, they got her on an all dry food diet. Longtime readers of this blog know I'm not a fan of this for a few reasons*, but I don't run the rescue, so I have no say in this. They were able to get her on to dry and she didn't vomit, so when she came back here it was recommended that I keep her on dry.
With low stocks of canned food, I gave it a go. Michaela remembered that I am a sucker for a begging kitty and give canned food, so it was difficult going for me. However, what has reverted me back to canned food was this
I have talked about the differences between stool in raw fed cats vs cats who are eating canned food, but the output of cats eating only dry... woh. It isn't that easy to see that there was quite a bit of stool in the larger green box because it is covered in litter. Both boxes were full up - and this didn't include the four piles of poop that were scattered around the room either because the boxes were full or because the kittens still haven't made the mental connection between a box and having to "go".
I immediately opened up a can of food..
Michaela now gets two cans in the morning - one for her to start on and when the kittens come over to eat she just sits back and waits for them to finish and the other for her - and two cans at night. If I had unlimited numbers of canned food I would give her three or more. But canned food is running low and without more, I am going to have to start rationing it.
If anyone would like to donate to the cause, I have my Amazon wishlist over there on the sidebar. you could also email gift certificates to any store that delivers. Don't feel you have to, I have plenty of dry food for them, they will not starve - but it just means I'll be going through more litter 🐱
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One of my kitties was also vomiting frequently and my vet said it was actually regurgitation because he was a passive vomiter (didn't hack or heave) and he only did it in the mornings before he ate any food. I only feed him grain free canned food and the vet said there were studies done on grain free food that caused heart problems due to lack of taurine. Have you ever heard of this? As far as I know all the foods I feed him contain taurine and he gets different flavors and brands. When I was feeding him Friskies and Fancy Feast, his stools were very light in color so I switched to grain free and his stools now look normal in color. My other kitty, on the other hand, gets grain free, Friskies and Fancy Feast canned food and he does fine on all of them. However, there was one flavor of Friskies (pate) that made him sit by his water bowl and consume a lot of water and his clumps were ginormous. As soon as I stopped feeding him that flavor, his clumps were normal in size again and he wasn't sitting by his water bowl. I think that particular flavor had a high salt content according to the vet. The vet is not keen on canned food or raw and would prefer kitties on dry food which I strongly disagree with him. Oh, the vet said Tiny's regurgitation could be caused by the difference when I feed him his last meal until the next day which is about 12 hours. I don't know how true this is or not.
ReplyDeleteGrain free foods are causing heart issues, but not because it lacks taurine. The prevailing guess is lecithin - which is an "antinutrient" causing some issues with absorption.. But they still don't know.
DeleteSalt is not an issue with cats. They can handle quite a bit of salt.
I don't think 12 hours is the issue, because that is how most people feed their cats. Could it be? Sure. But is it the reason? I doubt it. You can test it by giving a small meal or snack.. You could freeze some canned food and put it out to thaw of you won't be home to do it. I had a regurgitator, he did it because he ate way to fast and when the dry food hit the water in his stomach it would expand and then be to much for him. If he's a gulper, getting a food dish that makes him work for his food (generally made for dogs) could help
Thank you so much for your input, Connie. I truly appreciate it. Sometimes I wonder about my two vets (father/daughter team). Tiny is fine after he gets fed. It only happens in the morning before he even eats. He regurgitates/vomits about once or twice a week. I'm not too concerned about it as he's pretty healthy and his appetite is great. I certainly don't want him going through unnecessary tests. Tiny won't work for his food. LOL He's a much slower eater than Callie so Callie will start eating Tiny's food. Thank you again, Connie. You know so much more than my vets.
DeleteIt's astonishing that any modern vet would prefer dry to wet ! Good heavens. We're glad Michaela's tummy is steady now.
ReplyDeleteI used to feed my cat just dry, then last year he became impacted and it was a very costly vet bill to have him treated. So now I just feed wet. But I'm scared of him getting blocked up again - I do have a liquid laxative from the vet but getting him to take it is a nightmare. He's a big cat and he fights. He gets a small can in the morning and a two small cans before I go to bed. Is this enough, do you think? He used to weigh 14 pounds before the blockage (he's a Maine Coon) and now I can pick him up with one hand. He's not bony - you can't feel his ribs at all.
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention that I also add water to the wet food as well.
DeleteCats on dry are generally overweight. When my cats went from dry to canned they lost weight and when they went to raw they lost even more. My diabetic girl was 17lbs of cat in a 12lb body..
DeleteI can't tell you for sure if that is enough or not. If he is holding his weight them it probably is
Thanks! He looks very healthy, and he hasn't been blocked in several months, so something's working right.
DeleteUnless kitty came to me from a dry food diet, as did Mariposa, I don't feed any dry at all. I give my regular cats and fosters eating with them as much of a raw diet as I can, about 40%, and feed a variety of canned pate foods otherwise. It is indeed difficult to keep up with.
ReplyDeleteMichaela will be weaning those babies soon, won't she?
ReplyDeleteShe will, a couple of weeks.. But the babies will end up eating a lot of food too..
DeleteThat's a lotta poop!
ReplyDeleteI don't envy you. It's hard enough to find a canned food both my cats will eat more than once. ARG! We know Michaela is lucky you're on her team.
ReplyDelete