[Bella's Mom]

Hi all,

I have been reading up a lot on your forum about cat foods. I know that wet is better than dry by miles and have tried to incorporate it into my Bella's diet with the hope of completely switching over to all wet. I'm having some difficulty and would love your advice/input!

She is currently getting Innova kitten dry kibble which she tolerates well. I have tried to introduce wellness wet once a day and she loves it. She won't eat it leftover/refrigerated though even if I heat it up so it is pretty wasteful since she never eats the whole pouch/can in one sitting. Also, she gets diarrhea any time I feed her the wet food which is a huge mess. I have stopped feeding her the wet food and her diarrhea resolved. I reintroduce the wet and here comes the diarrhea. Is it the type/brand of wet that is causing the diarrhea? I know they say that abruptly switching foods will cause diarrhea but I have read some of you are feeding on a rotation and am wondering wouldn't that cause diarrhea too?

For now I am only feeding the dry Innova kitten formula but am not happy with her eating that and if I am only going to feed dry would love suggestions on the best dry kibble. I am looking for something that more closely resembles what she would eat naturally and one that uses only meat and no meal, byproducts, grain or fillers. I'm mainly opposed to the meal because of what I have read about the contents of rendered meat used to make the meal (gross!). The only one I have found thus far that doesn't use protein meal is Halo. Can anyone suggest any others? Plus what do you think about the eggs in Halo? I haven't seen eggs as an ingredient in any of the other cat foods.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

 

[laurief]

Try introducing canned food by feeding 1 tsp 3-4 times a day, along with her regular kibble. That will give her system time to adjust to the canned food, which you can increase very gradually over time. Also, giving her a probiotic daily will help her system properly digest the canned food during the adjustment period. You can buy a probiotic at a pet store or at a health food store.

Laurie

 

[doodlebug]

Agree with Laurie's comments. You may also want to try a different brand of canned...sometimes there something that just doesn't agree.

Another kibble that meets your criteria is Now! I consider it better than Halo. BTW not all meals are bad. A named meat meal e.g. "chicken meal" in a food that uses USDA approved meat is actually just fine.

 

[rightsaidfed]

It's the byproducts that are bad, not the meal. Named proteins only of course. Chicken meal is just fine. Poultry by product meal is something I'd stay far away from.

It's my understanding that ingredients are listed by weight. Because "chicken" is wet, it will weigh the most even though much of it is water. You WANT it to be followed up with chicken meal as its basically concentrated protein. It's dehydrated and therefore more nutritious by weight compared to plain chicken.

 

[kty78]

I believe cats who are used to eating one thing all the time are more prone to tummy upsets when introducing something new so it has to be done gradually. Cats who are used to being on a rotation generally don't have a problem with new or different foods. I like to rotate foods. It's easier that way if the store is out of your normal food or there is a sudden recall or it gets discontinued.

My cats don't care for leftover canned if I microwave it, so I use the plastic can covers and set the can in a bowl of warm water to heat up. Then I stir just a little warm water into the food as well. They like it better this way.

 

[GhostTown]

At a food clinic my vet put on, she recommended a small amount of grated Parmesan cheese to encourage them to eat wet food. I haven't tried it though.

 

[Bella's Mom]

Thanks for the advice. I will try a few techniques and let you know what happens.

As for the chicken meal: I know named meals are better than unnamed meals, but it was my understanding (correct me if I am wrong) that by definition the Chicken meal not only means it's ground and dehydrated but that it is legally permitted to contain rendered animal parts which could be from diseased, dead, or dying chickens and have been discarded as not for human consumption. It's the latter that concerns me most. How can you know that the duck meal, chicken meal, or fish meal used in various cat foods doesn't come from sick animals? I haven't seen any distinction on the package labels.