need a good quality dry cat food

[PrincessSuzanne]

My Tractor Supply hasn't had the Diamond Naturals lately so I have to go to the feed store and it's a little more expensive. But it's the only thing my cats will eat so I have to get it.

Ours had 2 different varieties. I got the one in the pink & purple bag as there was 20lbs for $14.99, the other one was 15 or 18lbs for $18.99. I sure hope mine will eat it. They seem to eat any other kind I have tried in the past, but we'll see. They loved the TSC brand of canned food.

I really want to make sure what they get is good for them. I always felt bad about making sure I bought the best food for my rabbits and only buying Friskies for my cats, but I remember there weren't this many options for animals when I was a child, so we always useFriskies or the store brand and our cats lived long, healthy lives.

Suzanne

 

[MomofKatie]

We have 3 cats- one that is a big, muscular bruiser, one that is rather fat, and a thin little gal. I wanted to find a feeding regimin for them that would help the fattie lose some weight, the big guy keep his muscle, and not make the little one lose weight.

We had been feeding Purina Indoor Formula dry (always out in their bowl)and the cheap store brand canned twice a day. They all liked everything, but the chubby girl was getting chubbier. The big guy was gaining, too. The little girl was having issues with vomiting up the dry. I talked to my vet, and he recommended a few sites- he is really into feline nutrition, since he had a diabetic cat who needed to have a special diet.

Most dry foods contain lots of carbs. Cats aren't equipped to digest them- they are exclusively meat eaters in the wild. They should have a diet high in protein and fat, and low in carbs. My vet suggested going to an all canned food diet. Studies are showing that the conventional wisdom that stated that cats need the crunchy dry food for dental health is false. Cats do well on a high protien, low carb diet of canned food. There are some really good websites that have lots of nutritional info- the 2 I got the most from are www.catnutrition.org and www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html

We have been feeding our 3 on canned exclusively for a while now- they have 3 meals of 3oz cans of Fancy Feast daily (they share 3 cans total all day). No more demand feeding- they only eat at prescribed mealtimes. Everyone seems to be doing well- the chub has lost, the big guy has, too. The little girl no longer has tummy issues, and she has kept weight on.

 

[Denine]

Denine,

Let me know how your little guy does. I had a cat with IBD and used probiotics, metonidozole, then steroids. Anything to stop both ends from flowing!!

My kiddos (3) eat IAMS and Royal Canin (flipping expensive but good for them)

I don't know how long it takes for the probiotics to kick in, but so far nothing has changed. He had nausea which is bing helped by pepcid.

 

[Denine]

Thanks for the links!

We don't have a TSC that I know of.

 

[Holidaymouse]

Denine,

It took approximately 2 weeks before we saw any change witht he probiotics, the vet said could take up to a month. pepcid is great - we had the chicken flavor one...the metronidozole was tough as my boy HATED the medicine. We finally had him on steroids which helped tremendously but eventually triggered diabetes.

This was a tough several years..however, if you can get your little one's tummy under control its worth it.

email me if you have any questions or need a good small steamer vac to clean the carpets!

mtbzthomp@comcast.net

 

[zumbergc]

Hi Denine,

I had a problematic puker for years. In the past we did pepsid, steriods, again that triggered diabetes..... kitty has passed... well there were liver and heart issues too.

Fast forward, new kitty, he has alergies (upper resp issues), he has the runs... (at least he makes the box). So I've taken him to a holistic vet. We found him when one of the former cats had a back injury, and amazingly he heeled him up, instead of being on pain pills, that freaked out the cat or steriods.

Some of the digestion problems can be due to the lack of the cats ability to digest grains. He also has allergies to dust and storage mites. Our regular vet wanted to switch scooby to a single protein diet, we tried the duck, but no luck... so holistic vet suggeested the raw diet.

We switching to a to a raw food diet, a 2 days in, so far the box is looking better. To early to tell if it will work. Were hoping it helps with the runs. I will say.

You could try a probiotic/digestive enzymes by standard process: Lact-Enz. We just started the Feline Enteric Support (help with intestines).
The lact enz enzymes help digest the carbs, proteins, and help the gut with the probiotics.

The thing with any digestive enzymes, the cat has to eat that with the food. So, if the cat is a dry food grazer all day, it won't work if you give the cat the pill once or twice, he needs it in his system when he is eating to get the enzymes so he can break the food down. We just realized that.... so scooby needs to go canned regular w/ the enzyme... or the raw. So teh canned food, needs to have a capsule of the lact enz in it to help kitty digest the food.

We have a cereal eater too (currently duck and green pees since we were trying that, but it didn't help with scooby's issues). So, scooby can't have the dry, and we are seperately feeding them.

We got lucky with the raw food. Got some samples from one vet, and a pet supplies plus carries the raw less than 5 min away!!! The raw is fortified with all the nutrients, so, you store in the freezer. Transfer to fridge the night before the food you'll use the next day, then place it on the counter after fridge thaw, to get to room temp. cats eat ... toss after 30 min if stuff left over. Some people make their own raw, i'm not that adventurous yet.

My other vet doesn't like raw diets, because i've asked about them before, so I'm going to wait a few weeks before we go in for a re-check..