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Your cat may surprise you and not starve herself at all. A missed meal or two may give her a much better appetite and make her less picky.
I know my girl and she will yowwwlllll holy hell first. Her yowling will escalate to operatic levels to rival the biggest diva anywhere. I will literally have to leave my house for some period of time as my only means to escape her protestations of pain & suffering <complete with her Sara Bernhardt-esque fainting couch mimicry>. Because otherwise...she will wear me down to a nub. She is that relentless and that shrill (and I am that pwned).
Two of my three cats get very ill if they miss a meal. One just goes beyond hunger and loses all interest in food. The other gets a build up of acid in her tummy and regurgitates as soon as she eats, if she goes more than 9 hours without food (unless I give her a 1/4 10 mg pepcid a/c prior to feeding). My Bridge Angel boy also got very sick if he went too long without food, and would begin vomiting bile.
I don't at all agree with the "they'll eat it when they get hungry enough" method. When it's cats we're talking about, it's just too risky. Dehydration and organ failure can happen more quickly than you might realize.
I'm not saying it will kill a healthy cat to miss a meal now and then. But I wouldn't advise that method as a way to force a cat to eat a certain food.
just read a column in our paper today about wet versus dry. Acoording to the writers and this column is featured every WEd in our paper, it really doesn't seem to make much difference which you choose. They did say, vets feel wet food is slightly better for cats with urinary problems because it has more water. I think it is like human foods, what is better today, won't be next year....We give our cat dry food and about once a week we treat her to canned, but we really are treating ourselves I think, cause she doesn't seem to really care.
just read a column in our paper today about wet versus dry. Acoording to the writers and this column is featured every WEd in our paper, it really doesn't seem to make much difference which you choose. They did say, vets feel wet food is slightly better for cats with urinary problems because it has more water. I think it is like human foods, what is better today, won't be next year....We give our cat dry food and about once a week we treat her to canned, but we really are treating ourselves I think, cause she doesn't seem to really care.
Cats are obligate carnivores. Their bodies are designed to get all their nutrients from animals, not grain and other plants, and to get their moisture FROM their food, not with it (as in water added to kibble) and not after it. FROM it.
Feeding an all canned diet makes all the difference in the world, to the cat. This isn't some fad. Cats are, and have always been, obligate carnivores.
Last edited by catsmom21; 06-13-2012 at 12:34 PM..
My 8 year old neutered male has always had runny stool and the vet has yet to figure out why. We tried various diet changes and of course the cat hates the food the vets sell. The tests and diet changes have been stressful to my cat so I've gone back to letting him eat his cans of Fancy Feast. He still has loose bowels but is very good at going straight to his litter box. We even tried switching to crunchies without corn, the rice or oat instead, but that doesn't seem to work either. I'm considering trying a holistic vet.
My 8 year old neutered male has always had runny stool and the vet has yet to figure out why. We tried various diet changes and of course the cat hates the food the vets sell. The tests and diet changes have been stressful to my cat so I've gone back to letting him eat his cans of Fancy Feast. He still has loose bowels but is very good at going straight to his litter box. We even tried switching to crunchies without corn, the rice or oat instead, but that doesn't seem to work either. I'm considering trying a holistic vet.
Hello and welcome to the forum!
What else has been done? Has he been put on a long term course of flagyl (metronidazole)? Has the stool been checked for all kinds of parasites (it is an expensive test, the sample is sent to a lab) including coccidia and giardia?
Has he been put on a probiotic?
While it's good he is on a canned diet, Fancy Feast is full of any number of things that could cause a sensitivity or intolerance. Wheat gluten being the main suspect. But also dyes, artificial things, sodium nitrites......
Taking him to a holistic vet might be a good idea, making sure the holistic vet knows what s/he is doing.
Changing his diet to a canned food that doesn't contain any of the ingredients in the fancy feast foods might be a good start, also. Yes I know you said a diet change caused him stress, but life long diarrhea is just not a good quality of life, not to mention he is missing out on a lot of his nutrition, since the food is not being digested properly.
Sorry if this isn't the place to post here, but it deals with canned and there's so many threads already... I've considered switching to canned but my one cat always seems to throw it up the few times I've given her some. She has trouble eating it, too, so it's not like she's eating it quickly and then regurgitating it :/ I feed them Blue Buffalo Wilderness duck dry and so I've tried various canned ones, as well as a few wellness and it still doesn't seem to settle with her stomach. Any recommendations or ideas why?
What else has been done? Has he been put on a long term course of flagyl (metronidazole)? Has the stool been checked for all kinds of parasites (it is an expensive test, the sample is sent to a lab) including coccidia and giardia?
Has he been put on a probiotic?
While it's good he is on a canned diet, Fancy Feast is full of any number of things that could cause a sensitivity or intolerance. Wheat gluten being the main suspect. But also dyes, artificial things, sodium nitrites......
Taking him to a holistic vet might be a good idea, making sure the holistic vet knows what s/he is doing.
Changing his diet to a canned food that doesn't contain any of the ingredients in the fancy feast foods might be a good start, also. Yes I know you said a diet change caused him stress, but life long diarrhea is just not a good quality of life, not to mention he is missing out on a lot of his nutrition, since the food is not being digested properly.
Catsmom21, thanks for your reply and suggestions. Yes, he had tests for parasites, which go to a lab, probably the test you were referring to. It showed no parasites. Neither vet has suggested probiotics to me though, so I appreciate your input on this, it makes sense. I've just done some reading on it and it's worth looking into. When we adopted him from the shelter, they told us he had been exposed and treated for an upper respiratory infection, but he's never had any further complications related to that. He's never feverish or lethargic, always playful and active, so his loose stool problem has been very puzzling.
Sorry if this isn't the place to post here, but it deals with canned and there's so many threads already... I've considered switching to canned but my one cat always seems to throw it up the few times I've given her some. She has trouble eating it, too, so it's not like she's eating it quickly and then regurgitating it :/ I feed them Blue Buffalo Wilderness duck dry and so I've tried various canned ones, as well as a few wellness and it still doesn't seem to settle with her stomach. Any recommendations or ideas why?
I would look for common ingredients in the canned you've tried. For instance carrageenan. I have a cat who regurgitates when fed any canned food contain carrageenan. I think you've tried grain free canned, so that won't be any issue but check the ingredients of the canned foods you've tried, and try something that doesn't have a lot of the same ingredients.
Add a probiotic daily when trying any food change.
Feed tiny portions to start.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say she has trouble eating the canned food. Can you elaborate?
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