Re: Recommendations for special cat food

Fona · ‎11-16-2011

Witchy Woman: Sorry - I meant to add to my previous post that, whichever food you choose, if your cat is being picky it might be a good idea to warm the food in the microwave oven for about seven or eight seconds. When my cat was not feeling well, that was often the key to getting her to eat. With the freeze-dried food, just mix it in warm water.

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

SydneyH · ‎03-10-2010

My cat suffered from a blocked urinary tract so I have to be very careful of what he is fed. He seems to like the Taste of the Wild, Rachel Ray and Spring Natural cat food, wet and dry formulas.

jaxs mom · ‎04-18-2012

@Witchy Woman wrote:
@on the bay

Cat food is enough to make your head spin!

The prescription food I purchased was Sciene Diet, but none of my 4 cats would touch it.

I purchased another SD product out of desperation and they will eat that, but I'm hoping buying a limited ingredient, grain free product will help my sick kitty. That's my goal. I keep reading that all the grains and carbohydrates are not good for kitty. But most foods load them with those.

I've always used wet food as the primary food and then had dry kibble out. I'd prefer they eat only wet even if they don't eat it all.

I'm glad you found something that worked for you. That's what is important.

I've just got to keep trying. All my rejects go to the local humane society, animal shelter and a feral rescue group.

At catinfo.org she has a pet food database that has the breakdown of carbs, protien and fat. I've fed a lot of the grain free foods foods over the years. The problem is that kibble isn't healthy for cats, and many of the canned limited ingredient foods ( Merrick 95% and Evo 96%) are very high in fat. Instead of saving money by using grains, they subsitute fat, both of which have limited nutritional value for cats.

She basically convinced me to switch to Fancy Feast classic only the classic beef, classic chicken and the classic turkey and giblets. None of their other foods as the other ones all contains grains and other ingredients I don't want to feed. My cats also eat raw but they don't want to eat it 100%. They will only eat fresh raw meaty bones which we cut up. They won't eat ground raw. They do like Stella and Chewys freeze dried raw that my chihuahua gets sometimes. I've been feeding raw for about 10 years now, my dogs are on 100% raw.

Anyway, I have to go. I'll check back later. Good luck.

Don't Change Your Authenticity for Approval

jaxs mom · ‎04-18-2012

@SydneyH wrote:
My cat suffered from a blocked urinary tract so I have to be very careful of what he is fed. He seems to like the Taste of the Wild, Rachel Ray and Spring Natural cat food, wet and dry formulas.

Any cat that has had a blocked urethra should never eat dry food. It just creates the problem that caused the blockage in the first place.

Don't Change Your Authenticity for Approval

Witchy Woman · ‎03-15-2010

@jaxs mom

Thanks for the information. I've done mostly Fancy Feast in the past and they do seem to favor the classic.

I'm sad to know that fat substitues for grain.

The issue began with a chronic ear infection in one of my cats. The vets suggested that THAT often comes from a food allergy and recommend Science Diet prescription z/d which has "hydrolyzed protein."

None of my 4 cats will even sniff it. The sick kitty just looked at it from 2 feet away.

Sigh.

I'm going to try the freeze dried Stellas and Chewy next, but feel pretty discouraged right now. I need to feed 4 guys and I want to do what is best. But if kitty will not even touch the prescribed food (after 4 days of trying a number of things), I cannot withhold food.

I am overwhelmed by the "raw" course of action, so I must find something that works and does not harm.

I admire you for taking that route.

Again, thanks for the tips.

Oh, wet has always been the primary food. They have access to kibble, but only snack on it.

jaxs mom · ‎04-18-2012

I forgot to mention, is the cat getting that brown sticky wax build up in the ears? Are the ears also red on the inside? My dog that had allergies had that issue with his ears. We used Zymox ear cleanser with enzymes and Zymox Otic Enzymatic pet ear treatment without hydrocortizone. Both are also safe for cats. First you use the cleanser, then the treatment. It really helped. It's not expensive at all and I bought mine at that big online store that carries everything but I think it should also be available from other pet suppliers. We got started on raw due to his problems with the rx food he was on and the allergies. While changing his diet did result in him going to back to a normal wieght it never cured the ear issue. It improved when we moved and we are convinced that he was allergic to something else. They can't test for everything unfortunately.

Don't Change Your Authenticity for Approval

Shawnie · ‎03-10-2010

My cat has been on z/d for a year. She eats one can a day and nothing else. For treats i give her dry z/d. Now the texture of the canned. It is rather like gelatin. Anfriend told me to cut it up like hamburger, little bite size pieces. So i did, and i introduced it when she was hungry. My cats eat twice a day and so i introduced it and she passed on the first bowl. By evening she was hungry and gobbled it up. Dont give up on it.