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After we lost one of our girls suddenly at age 12 several months ago (respiratory distress syndrome secondary to lung cancer), I've been researching cat food, talking to my vet, reading posts on various cat forums, and started introducing small amounts of wet food in the morning. Most of it she walked away from, but one brand stuck. A highly recommended no grain, no by-products, no fillers, and very expensive canned cat food. She had an immediate personality change. She became lethargic, anti-social, slept all day, cowered around and seemed like a different feline, acted like she didn't know us, but had periods of very high energy. She also started to rapidly gain weight despite the low carbohydrate content of the canned food. Despite this, she was ferociously persistent in the morning, very vocal about wanting her canned food, but became increasingly odd and socially withdrawn. We stopped the canned food and 3 days later, she's getting back to her old self but not all the way there.
We're back to dry food, and wet food treats on occasion. I've read hundreds of posts similar to mine on other forums. Personality changes, vomiting, and an almost addictive quality to canned food, without any apparent explanation. Others have described numerous vet visits, blood work, etc., failing to show any issues despite seemingly reacting to canned food. So we'll see how it goes but I wrote this in case others are struggling with the same issue. We're sticking to dry after trying several brands of high end canned food, and getting worried about personality changes. Have no idea what's up with that and we're not planning on going the home-made raw root of feeding at this point. If anyone has any thoughts about this, would love to hear them.
Sounds like chemical withdrawal. There is often a...detox...period when changing a diet from junk food to a better diet. It happens when transitioning to raw, as well.
A cat used to a high carb diet will experience some blood sugar changes when put on something more species appropriate, for example.
To anyone experiencing this: I would recommend slowing down with the transition, but persevering, much more slowly, toward a kibble-free diet.
Go slow, and add a probiotic to help the system cope with changes.
I would also like to add that depending on the cat's age, blood work and a urinalysis might be appropriate before starting the change to be sure all organs are working well and there is no diabetes.
Last edited by catsmom21; 11-30-2019 at 08:35 AM..
When I got my cat, I bought the cheapest canned food with a passable reputation - in spite of the shelter recommending the most expensive. When the vet asked what she ate, their reply was fantastic, I'm down with any wet food. Over time, I moved to another food with more variety and a better reputation and the one and only thing my cat has ever turned her nose up at was the $4 for a 3-oz. can single ingredient (yeah, right, had peas and carrots) thing her new vet recommended.
I also agree with a slower transition and the fact that she comes in the morning demanding the food is a good thing. My cat also loves crunchy things, so gets dry treats or freeze dried, to satisfy that urge.
The last bloodwork done, at age 13, was actually perfect. So I feel I've done the best I could on the budget I've had and it was fine.
In total, I've transitioned 8 to canned and/or raw. MY personal experience and opinion...toss the kibble. Make it a "clean" break. A few miserable days are much better then several miserable days..for you and the cats.
Not only are you breaking the addiction to kibble, you are also breaking the habit of free feeding...assuming that is how you are feeding your cat. Wet is also a huge texture change for a cat.
However, NEVER starve a cat. People tend to assume (wrongly) that a cat will eat when s/he is hungry. Not true. If your cat refuses to eat the wet, crush some of the kibble and sprinkle a little on top.
If possible, feed 3x a day and stick to a schedule. Avoid fish flavors.
Any wet is better then "the best" dry.
OP if your cat is having issues... try changing brands and/or proteins.
Improvements our cats experienced... and the ones I can remember
Hairballs now go out the backend
No more barfing
Cats are no longer dehydrated
No dandruff
No runny or eye boogers
No more matted hair
Cats sleep at night
Less shedding
More playful. A LOT more playful.
The following website is written by a vet, Dr. Lisa A Pierson DVM, that specializes in feline nutrition. I learned a LOT from her. www.catinfo.com
I do find feeding ground raw easier then finding the "perfect" canned food... especially with feeding so many. The texture is similar to wet. No added "weird" ingredients to avoid. If you (or anyone) is interested, I mostly buy from www.Hare-Today.com, www.RawFeedingMiami.com, and www.MyPetCarnivore.com. Depending on what I am feeding, I add Alnutrin and taurine from www.knowwhatyoufeed.com
I appreciate all the replies. We did start slow, left the dry food in place, she continued to eat it in addition to about 1.5 oz of wet food in the morning. So I don't think she was going through a "chemical withdraw" but I guess it's possible with less dry. We tried this conversion years a go and when Smokey went in for her vet appt, we were asked what changed with feeding, her teeth had heavy tartar build up and she had developed a heart murmur, the vet urged us to go back to Science Diet dry that we had been feeding. I know people say that's garbage food. Ash is back to her playful self, hangs out with us, doesn't seem like a zombie, and we were concerned about the rapid weight gain as well. The personality change was drastic and alarmed us so for now. . .
After we lost one of our girls suddenly at age 12 several months ago (respiratory distress syndrome secondary to lung cancer), I've been researching cat food, talking to my vet, reading posts on various cat forums, and started introducing small amounts of wet food in the morning. Most of it she walked away from, but one brand stuck. A highly recommended no grain, no by-products, no fillers, and very expensive canned cat food. She had an immediate personality change. She became lethargic, anti-social, slept all day, cowered around and seemed like a different feline, acted like she didn't know us, but had periods of very high energy. She also started to rapidly gain weight despite the low carbohydrate content of the canned food. Despite this, she was ferociously persistent in the morning, very vocal about wanting her canned food, but became increasingly odd and socially withdrawn. We stopped the canned food and 3 days later, she's getting back to her old self but not all the way there.
We're back to dry food, and wet food treats on occasion. I've read hundreds of posts similar to mine on other forums. Personality changes, vomiting, and an almost addictive quality to canned food, without any apparent explanation. Others have described numerous vet visits, blood work, etc., failing to show any issues despite seemingly reacting to canned food. So we'll see how it goes but I wrote this in case others are struggling with the same issue. We're sticking to dry after trying several brands of high end canned food, and getting worried about personality changes. Have no idea what's up with that and we're not planning on going the home-made raw root of feeding at this point. If anyone has any thoughts about this, would love to hear them.
Here is the deal. We have seen, from numerous threads on this subject on here, that if your cat eats dry food, some people think that is akin to cat abuse. But the reality is, some cats PREFER dry food, or will just eat a little wet and then mainly eat dry.
We had one cat who would starve himself, rather than eat wet food. The three we have now get wet twice a day, and then their bowl is always filled with dry, which they love. They will eat a little wet and then walk away, and sometimes go over to the dry and start eating.
My philosophy is, do what YOU feel is right and let other people do what they feel is right. Our cats all love Beyond salmon dry, which I supplement with a couple of different wet foods. If I stick to the same wet foods too long they get bored of it and leave it untouched, so I vary the flavors and brands.
In total, I've transitioned 8 to canned and/or raw. MY personal experience and opinion...toss the kibble. Make it a "clean" break. A few miserable days are much better then several miserable days..for you and the cats.
Not only are you breaking the addiction to kibble, you are also breaking the habit of free feeding...assuming that is how you are feeding your cat. Wet is also a huge texture change for a cat.
However, NEVER starve a cat. People tend to assume (wrongly) that a cat will eat when s/he is hungry. Not true. If your cat refuses to eat the wet, crush some of the kibble and sprinkle a little on top.
If possible, feed 3x a day and stick to a schedule. Avoid fish flavors.
Any wet is better then "the best" dry.
OP if your cat is having issues... try changing brands and/or proteins.
Improvements our cats experienced... and the ones I can remember
Hairballs now go out the backend
No more barfing
Cats are no longer dehydrated
No dandruff
No runny or eye boogers
No more matted hair
Cats sleep at night
Less shedding
More playful. A LOT more playful.
I do find feeding ground raw easier then finding the "perfect" canned food... especially with feeding so many. The texture is similar to wet. No added "weird" ingredients to avoid. If you (or anyone) is interested, I mostly buy from www.Hare-Today.com, www.RawFeedingMiami.com, and www.MyPetCarnivore.com. Depending on what I am feeding, I add Alnutrin and taurine from www.knowwhatyoufeed.com
Super interesting. I will not cook or grind myself but these vendors might be an option. Do you prepare little packs and unfreeze? Do I rotate protein?
Super interesting. I will not cook or grind myself but these vendors might be an option. Do you prepare little packs and unfreeze? Do I rotate protein?
I'll share my method: I prepare individual meals using ice cube trays. I have two cats and like Lola, use premixes (I use both Alnutrin, adding the liver, and EZcomplete which needs nothing else added)
I weigh the meat portions to meal size, place in ice cube trays and freeze solid. Once frozen I bag them up in freezer bags. Each morning I take out the portions I need for meals that day. I add the pre-mix at time of serving rather than mixing batches.
Many people I know (not speaking for Lola4) who buy form HareToday thaw the product enough to mix, mix in the Alnutrin, then refreeze in tubs or in individual meals in ice cube trays like I do. Saving that extra step of mixing at time of serving. A lot might depend on how many someone is feeding daily.
I don't buy from HareToday because I don't have the space to store enough to make an order. If I did have the space, I would use HareToday as one of my sources. I buy my meat from the grocery store. One cat eats small chunks, the other I have to put her meat through the food processor grinding it almost smooth.
I tried converting my older rescue kitty from dry to canned. Her fur became very coarse and lackluster, and she started having hairballs (which up til then were not a problem). She became less active and just seemed unhealthy. She also started lifting her butt and standing when she peed so the pee went outside the box. That was concerning because I thought she might be developing a bladder or kidney problem.
When I increased the dry and decreased the canned, her fur became soft and lustrous, her energy level picked up, and the hairballs stopped. Most importantly for me, she also stopped lifting her butt to pee.
Dry and canned both seem to have their issues. Dry may induce dehydration and usually is very carby. Canned seems to have the problem of high phosphorous (ash) and almost no fat. Both high carbs and high ash lead to kidney disease.
The dry she's on now is grain-free, high protein and high fat. The carbs are the lowest I have found at 26%.
I have fed raw in the past and would do so again, but converting this older kitty would be a battle. She would rather starve.
We all do the best we can given the situations we are faced with.
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