[Paisley77]

I changed my 3 kitties over to the canned Wellness Core food almost 2 weeks ago. They absolutely adore that food! All flavors! It's been a joy to switch them, after feeding them mainly dry along with some wet all their life, to an all wet diet. They've adapted to the new routine nicely - although I can tell they miss the dry sometimes.



I have noticed some things that I'm wondering or worrying about since switching to Wellness though:

1. They don't seem to be drinking their water as much. I put 1/4 cup of water to a can of food (5.5 oz), so it's pretty liquidy & soupy (dividing the can to two plates for them to share). They've really enjoyed it that way. Is that giving them enough water? I used to see all of them drinking alot, but now I rarely see them drinking at all. Is that a concern? I do not have a fountain, have thought of getting one.
   Oh, and they get 2 to 3 5.5 oz cans per day.
   BTW - my 15 yr old kitty has kidney problems (gets Sub-q fluids every other day), another 12 yr old has developed oxalate crystals (having stone removal surgery in 2 days) along with allergies and the 3rd 12 yr old has eye conjunctivitis (gets eye drops every other day).
   
2. I have one kitty who's always had allergy problems. Since being on Wellness, his allergies seem to be worse. I haven't tested him, so I don't know what he's allergic to. I've read out here that alot of kitties are allergic to chicken and possibly beef. So, for the past week I've only been feeding the chicken-free Turkey & Duck. It hasn't seemed to help any, he's still licking & chewing himself alot. He's the one having bladder stone surgery in two days.
3. Now another of my kitties is constantly licking on his tummy and is developing a sore there and he's always licking his bum now. This has been a change since being on the Wellness. He's not acted as though he's had allergies before now and the diet change is the only thing I can think of. Their poop has seemed smaller since on this diet. I don't know why he seems to have like residue (not sure what you'd call it...stained looking) around his bum after pooping (he is a white kitty though, so it sticks out compared to my other 2 black kitties) and it seems to bother him by him always licking there.

Just not sure what to think. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks a bunch!

 

[spirite]

I was in a very similar situation a few months ago. I fed half wet, half dry - and not good quality dry. I wanted to change them over to all wet, grain-free if possible, and it's become more important because one of my kitties is headed towards failing kidneys. I tried a zillion different kinds of wet food. My girls both loved the Wellness Core chicken & turkey the first few times they had it. Then I bought a case and they stopped liking it.

What were you feeding them before? It's not surprising that they may be drinking less water if they were getting some dry food before. Still, with a kitty with kidney issues, I don't know if it's enough water.

As for allergies, my kitties didn't show any of that kind of reaction. There are some strange ingredients in almost all of the high-quality grain-free foods though, including tomatoes, apples, blueberries, cranberries, sweet potatoes, spinach, zucchini... The Wellness Core has stuff like blueberry pomace (what?) and yucca schidigera extract (what? what?). Maybe one of the strange ingredients that cats in the wild don't eat is causing a reaction?

 

[scottd]

Cats will drink less water when eating wet food. It contains more 70-80% more moisture than dry. You're also adding even more water. Cats don't have a high thirst drive anyways. If you want them to drink more, a fountain might entice them to.

They could be allergic to a protein in the food. You might try feeding the Merrick Before Grain foods. They only contain one protein so it would be easier to find the problem. There's chicken, turkey, and beef. There's also a quail and chicken mix and 2 fish varieties.

Less poop is normal. Cats don't need to eat as much when it's free of fillers.

 

[Paisley77]

thanks for the help y'all!

Spirite - For years I fed them Hills m/d dry and then it was switched to Hills k/d...along with 1 small can of science diet chicken wet. I can't even remember why it was recommended for them to be on m/d, it was so long ago. They were switched to k/d because of my eldest cat's kidney problems. They ate more dry than they did wet for years. Wishing I would have come out here and learned more before now.