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I picked up some packages of freeze dried meats (turkey, chicken, and beef liver varieties) which were sold as cat treats. The ONLY ingredient is freeze dried meat, but I can't remember what brand it was.
I thought it might be cool to occasionally feed Nimbus rehydrated freeze dried meat, a more pure protein source in theory, right?
Well I mixed a bit of each into a bowl and put warm water in it, let it sit a little bit and then let Nimbus have a go. It smelled NASTY, but he was enthusiastic (honestly he likes almost anything he can eat, including things he shouldn't, the only foods he hasn't been so crazy about were Blue Buffalo.) He munched down about half of what was in the dish, maybe an estimated 2 tbsp worth. I discarded the rest because it occurred to me that having him suddenly eat a lot of something new might not be for the best, wanted to see how he handled it before he got more.
Hours later at his next feeding time, I gave him his regular canned stuff that he always eats. He ate 2 mouthfuls, then minutes later threw up, and it was mostly water. This was strange to me, because he's never vomited before that I've seen and he doesn't drink a whole ton of water that I know of. I suspected the freeze dried stuff, since that's the only new thing. I haven't given it since then and we've had no more digestive issues. In retrospect, I wonder if I didn't let it sit long enough to absorb enough of the water, perhaps it reconstituted more in his stomach along with the accompanying water "soup" he slurped up, and made him over-full at his next feeding time?
I would not be comfortable at all feeding this freeze dried stuff as a treat in its dehydrated form. I just imagine this chunk of stuff swelling up in his stomach...I'm actually pretty much prepared to call it a failed experiment and get rid of it. Thoughts on that?
Also, we've been 1-2 weeks now COMPLETELY kibble-free. I realized one weekend that he just wasn't all that interested in the Wellness dry I'd given him a little of, to munch during the day, and he doesn't need that junk. I don't think he misses it.
About quantity...I don't know what to think. Somehow we got to a point where he was tucking into 4 meals a day, and eating a 3 oz. can of food each time. From what I hear/read about how much other people feed cats, this seems like a shockingly huge amount of food. Bear in mind he is about 7 months old and weighs 7-8 pounds. But today I read the back of a can that said "feed 2 cans per 7-8 pounds of cat, as much as twice that amount for kittens." Technically he's a kitten, under a year old, so...4 cans, really? Again, feedback welcome. He's pretty active but he's still an indoor only cat, I don't want to get us on a road to obesity here...
And I'm happy because I shopped at a different big-box petstore today and found a canned rabbit variety food. It's Nature's Variety Instinct Grain Free. They also had venison. I'm hoping he likes it. Granted, the rabbit meat does come from China. But NV makes a big deal of saying how much they monitor and inspect it and have conducted in person inspection of the facilities overseas, so I'm not gonna sweat it too much. The humans in my house have eaten food that came from China before. I want Nimbus to get some rabbit. I don't know why rabbit isn't farmed for food products more in the US...after all, it's pretty dang sustainable. Rabbits breed like...well...rabbits.
About quantity...I don't know what to think. Somehow we got to a point where he was tucking into 4 meals a day, and eating a 3 oz. can of food each time. From what I hear/read about how much other people feed cats, this seems like a shockingly huge amount of food.
That does seem like a lot. Maybe you could feed him two 3 oz cans per day, with kitten kibble available to snack on.
Sushi weighs 20 pounds. I can't imagine feeding him that much. He does have dry food available. He's a speed demon whirlwind, flying up and down the stairs, and leaping from one piece of furniture to the other, so he does burn a lot of calories off. He doesn't particularly like the kibble, but if he's hungry enough he'll eat it. I'm not feeding him 4 cans a day....it's too much.
(Just to be clear, because tone doesn't convey over the internet, this response is in the spirit of polite discourse, not argument.)
I don't like dry kibble and don't want to feed him any, especially if he doesn't seem to need or want it. I'm a believer in the catinfo.org, "Catkins diet", all wet food method. It's been covered in a dozen threads here so I won't go further into that. I was only leaving him a snack-sized amount of kibble during the day while we were at work/school in case he got the munchies.
Money is no issue and no object for me. I don't even look at price labels on shelves. I have no idea what I paid for the cans of food I bought 4 hours ago, and I don't care.
As for 20 lb Sushi kitty...he sounds healthy! I think you've got him figured out. How old is he? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea that kittens need more food per pound...
Also bear in mind these are the tiny sized cans. I think if anything I'd scale back to a full can/half can/full can/half can schedule that puts us at 9 total ounces (3 cans) per day.
What's key here is the fact that the dietary transition only began a couple of weeks ago. My hunch is that it was doubly shocking to the cat's digestive system to not only be adapting to a wet-only feeding regimen but also getting introduced to something new. But take your concerns to a vet you can trust.
FWIW just to clear up what I think is a misconception, there's no particular reason freeze dried food should expand much if any when rehydrated. It's just dried, not compressed. Food dried in this way generally does not really shrink as it may with other drying methods, so in turn it would not have anything to expand when rehydrated.
So whatever the issue here, I highly doubt that had anything to do with it.
As for 20 lb Sushi kitty...he sounds healthy! I think you've got him figured out. How old is he? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea that kittens need more food per pound...
He is incredibly healthy. He's a Tonk, and the Orientals have much denser muscle mass. He doesn't LOOK like he's 20 pounds, but try to pick him up....you could put your back out.
I'm not sure of his exact age, because he was a shelter cat with many previous owners. I'm determined to be his very last one. The vet thinks he's between four and half and five years old. I feed him two 85 gram (about 3 ounces) cans a day or one 156 gram can divided in two. Then enough dry food to graze if needed.
Money is no issue and no object for me. I don't even look at price labels on shelves. I have no idea what I paid for the cans of food I bought 4 hours ago, and I don't care.
Kitty Katty is about 16-17 lbs and I feed him 4 times a day. He gets 2 three oz cans per day, a half a can each time.
It had to do with his weight. I know someone on here has the ratio, but it isn't me. As soon as I figured out what he was to have that thing was long gone. It was too much for my mind the night I looked at it..... headache!
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