Are your parents willing to go to a pet store rather than a grocery store to pick up her food? if so, that opens up alot more doors.

Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers soul is way better than iams, as is the Kirkland food at Costco, there's also Halo, which isn't a bad price, either.

I personally won't feed any of those, but I'm a bit of a food snob, and only buy from companies that make only pet food, and own their own factories too And please do feed canned food (even one canned meal a day is better than an all dry diet).

 

Once I have something to suggest to my dad, I can probably convince him to stop at a pet store. Both Petco and Petsmart are right near where my brother goes to school. And if he won't drive there, my brother will be getting his license soon and I can bug him about it.

I'm open to feeding both wet and dry or one or the other.

 

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health This website is most helpful with many of your questions, my vet has the same beliefs in nutrition as this vet lady does.

I can tell you, I had a VERY stubborn cat to convert, and you can read what she has to say about that too, but the most imoprtant thing to do is not give in and plunk down dry food. What I personally did with my stubborn girl was give her about 1/4 cup of dry in the morning, which was usually more than she would normally eat when she was free feeding. Then I would put out some canned food for her, in very small amounts, because it is likely to be wasted in the beginning, and I changed it out several times a day. In the evening, dinnertime, I gave her anotehr 1/4 cup of dry, and then offered more fresh canned. The thing you are trying to do here is to establish mealtimes, rather than mealtime is whenever they feel like it. It took DAYS before my girl would even begin to lick the canned food at all. But she got hungry one day and she did lick at the food a bit, but didnt really eat any of it. I also may add, that I had to put her in a closed room at night because she would bug the you know what out of me for food at all hours. After about a week, like I said, she "sampled" the food, and a few days after that actually took a few bites of it. We did this same routine for a few weeks. But you cannot give in and give them dry, that is they key here. And it's hard.

I actually used fancy feast in the beginning. The "classic" ones, as I'm sure you have heard, are better than the other ones, and yeah, fish is not good for them, but in the beginning while you are trying to transition, you may have more luck getting them to eat the fish ones. So I used ff. The funny thing is....once they actually eat several bites of canned food, they actually see that "hey, this stuff is pretty good", and they usually willingly start to eat a bit more. If you cannot afford, or don't have access to a really good canned food like Wellness, Weruva, Nature's Variety, Merrick, etc, fancy feast is not so bad. My sister's cat lived on that and friskies canned for 18 years. I'm not sure if your grocery store has Newman's Own Organic, but mine does, and it is actually cheaper than ff, because one 5.5 ounce can is probably enough for 1 cat for the day, and it is roughly $1.20 a can....ff is roughly .60 cents a can and you'd need two a day of those, for those little cans. NO is decent, but it does have a lot of grains in it, and it simply did not fill my cats up enough when I fed it to them for a short time, so my cats eat Wellness. They only eat about 1 can a day, divided up in 2 or 3 meals, a 5.5 ounce can. My kitten eats a little more than that, he is still growing and is a pig But the two grown ups just get 1/3 can in the am and pm, and a tiny bit, like a spoonful of canned, at bedtime. Piglet kitten gets more, otherwise he wakes the house up at 4:00 am howling. Beep, my cat that was so difficult to transition, she still gets about 10 tiny kibbles of food in the evening at bedtime, because she was SOOO addicted to the stuff, and she is so set in her ways, that I do give her those tiny bits of kibble in the evening, but I use it more as a treat than I do as a meal.

It is hard, but once you do it, it is so worth it. I'm sure you have heard me say it before, but Beep went from 14 pounds to 9 in a year. She was huge before when she ate kibble all day long. LIke I said also, the important thing to establish in the beginning is regular mealtimes. No more all you can eat kibble bar. Read the website I left you, it has wonderful information on it.

 

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health This website is most helpful with many of your questions, my vet has the same beliefs in nutrition as this vet lady does.

Thanks! I'll check out the link.

So you basically put down dry food and wet food in the morning and at night then took it away after a certain amount of time? And if they didn't eat then, they can wait until the next meal?

Hopefully Cherry won't get too angry with me. She can be persistent when hungry.

 

If she's been eating 1/2 cup and maintaining her weight consistently, then it's probably the right amount. You can choose to do 2 or 3 meals a day. I personally prefer 3. If you're gone for a long stretch during the day, then maybe do 1/4 cup for breakfast, 1/8 for dinner and another 1/8 before bed. I would get her used to this for a few weeks before making a food change.

Her tummy issues could be due to many different things. It may be the junk ingredients in the foods you mention (by-products, gluten meals, corn, wheat, soy etc.), it could be any type of grain or it could be a protein (e.g. chicken, fish). Chicken Soup is a good basic starting place. For a little more money you can go grain free with Taste of the Wild. Where are you in MA, I may be able to suggest a store?

Since it sounds like dry will be the majority of her diet, I would change that first. If her poop firms up, I'd give her a couple months on it before adding canned.

 

I think 3 meals would be a good idea for her. Definitely not switching food until she's settled on a schedule. I simply want to get a head start finding a food.

I think I'll head over to a pet store and see what food option they have there and what the prices are. The prices will definitely be a deciding factor.


How long should I leave the food out? Half an hour?

 

You won't find Chicken Soup or Taste of the Wild at Petco or Petsmart. Both have store locators on their website that you can check. I think you'll probably find that Chicken Soup is actually less expensive than Iams when you calculate it per pound (The CS bag is larger than Iams). Taste of the Wild will be a dollar or two more than Iams, the bag is the same size.

To start, I would just put down the smaller amount of food and leave it. If you consistently find some left when it's time for the next meal, then reduce the amount. Eventually she will start eating it all because she's hungry enough. I'd wait until she is eating it all before introducing wet food. Then I would not put dry down at all when feeding wet.

 

Hmm, there's a store selling Taste of the Wild about 5 minutes away from here. Didn't know that store sold pet stuff anymore.

With canned food, would I feed her the same amount? How many cups are generally in a whole can?

 

I don't want to overwhelm you (but i'm about to LOL) but this chart has the composition of lots of food, even grocery store:

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

you might want to print it out so you can cross out or highlight certain foods, depending. the home page of catinfo.org explains why even a 100% canned diet of cheap food is better than the most expensive dry diet, which can be argued from either side. even among grocery store canned, there are some better choices. since your parents are buying the food, you're somewhat limited but you shouldn't feel bad. there are tons of people only buying cat food at the grocery store.

I tend to agree with a set meal-time of canned food simply because the dehydration issue can cause serious UT problems. there are also cats who live to be 23 and only eat dry food with no problem. I just do the best I can with health decisions for myself (when I have a choice) so I figure it makes sense to do the same for my cats.

I had an issue with lotus and I called my vet and asked the tech if people ever complained about specific foods (I was trying to find out if other people's cats got diarrhea from it because all three of mine did, which is weird) and she said, "mmmmmmmmm, well, not really. just meow mix, because people will come in with a really fat cat so we ask them what they're feeding it, and they'll say, 'meow mix' and then get really mad when we tell them how bad it is." LOL

I never had problems with a cat getting fat until my second cat because my first one was so skinny when I got him, and then he had to have all his teeth pulled so it was hard to keep weight on him. the vet said he could still eat dry food but he couldn't, he just threw it up whole right after he ate it, so I started feeding them mostly all canned because if I left any dry food out, coda would eat it and throw up. then the kitten started getting fat because I was giving her dry food as well, so I just cut it out.

after skinny toothless cat (poor guy ) died, I have had times where nothing else but dry was feasible (I had to stay in bed--ALL the time) but they have always had set meal times. I just kept the dry food in a canister under my bed and their dishes at the foot of the bed. I know that sounds gross but it was either do that or get rid of my cats and they weren't going anywhere. but when my older cat started throwing up if she ate more than 1 tbsp. of food at a time (dry) and I had to feed her eight times a day, I switched to all canned grain-free and she never throws up anymore.

I could have just switched her diet, but it's really hard to keep three cats out of each other's food and feeding them is complicated enough for me right now. some people can feed their cats twice a day, but mine tend to eat every four-six hours. three times a day is the fewest I can get by with. your cat will let you know, and the calorie contents are on that chart, so you can probably look up the food you've been feeding her and figure out how many calories she's been getting. if her weight is fine now, just keep using the same amount.

 

5.5 oz. cans are more economical than 3 oz. ones and 12.5 is the best cost of all. a cup is 8 oz. but figure out your calories from the chart. it's pretty straightforward but if you don't understand something, just PM me.

 

How do I find out how many calories she's getting now? I kind of understand the chart, but it only lists wet food.

 

The calories should be listed somewhere on the bag. If for whatever reason they're not, just google the food and calories.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App

 

Sometimes it's difficult counting kibble calories because some of the manufacturer websites list calories per unit of weight (kg or oz). If this is true, remember that ounces (weight) are not the same as fluid ounces (volume). So you can use a food scale or make a rough estimate.

If you're feeding TOTW, it's easier because they list both:
TOTW Rocky Mountain has 390 kcal/cup
TOTW Canyon River has 350 kcal/cup

Healthy Pet Foods For Dogs Puppies Cats and Kittens - Taste Of The Wild Pet Food

 

Hausefrau that site is fantastic and a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing it. Im going on the $2000 mark with one of my faux ferals with FeLv and getting abscesses, UTI, rattlesnake bit, etc this year. Im trying to change him over to a all wet diet to help his Ph. But he is refusing to eat and goes out and catches birds to eat. What a brat he is being. The articles (which I printed out so I can go back later and really focus on so I can make changes) help cement my determination that I have to change their diet regardless of my schedule. My ferals life depends on it.

 

Ok, I fed her 1/4 cup this morning around 9ish. We eat dinner at 4:30, so that'd be when I'd feed her again. She barely ate throughout the day and was just now eating a bit. I doubt the bowl is empty. Should I just do 1/4 cup twice a day instead of 1/4 in the morning, 1/8 at dinner, and 1/8 before bed?

And should I just pick up her food after a certain time? It seems like if I leave the food down until next meal, it's pretty much free feeding.

 

I don't really consider it free feeding when it's a measured amount targeted for her weight and activity level. When I think of free feeding it's the bowl filled to the top and refilled whenever it's empty with no idea of how much is being consumed.

But if you want to, then yes, pick it up after 30 minutes and then offer again at the next mealtime. It's a little more difficult to establish meal feeding with an only cat that is used to grazing. When there are multiples they learn that if they don't eat it will be eaten by someone else so they adjust quickly.

 

So, I've decided to stick with how I was feeding her before. She doesn't even seem to be noticing that I've been giving her food at different times. I also keep forgetting about it.

I'm going to see about getting Taste of the Wild for her to try. How do I go about switching foods? When we switched her from Science Diet to Iams, my dad didn't believe in a slow transition. He wouldn't buy another bag of Science Diet, so we just started giving her Iams. I want to do a slow transition now.

 

It all depends on the cat. If the pet is used to different foods, you can just switch cold turkey, but if you've been feeding the same thing for years, I would add a little of the new food at a time so they don't get soft stools.

My cats are used to getting different stuff, I almost never buy the same thing twice. I usually just dump the new bag in and mix it together. (not advising this by the way, just telling what I do) About once a year I'll get the food down to nothing and wash out the container completely and start over.

 

She's been on this food for two years and already has soft stools, so I don't want to upset her stomach even more. Since it's a big switch from a low quality food to a higher quality food, should it be a very slow transition?

Is there anything to watch for specifically? I know soft stool is a sign of tummy upset, but she normally has that.

I was thinking of sprinkling a bit on her food at first, then slowly changing out more and more.