Per my little behemoth Baby Cat's recent ordeal with surgery and removing a couple small struvite crystals, i have to figure out a new diet for ALL 3 of my cats (call me paranoid).
ever since i was younger, my parents and i had always just gotten some random kind of purina or iams (i have never had a long haired cat until Baby Cat!), and the cat i grew up with ended up living until 19--on nothing but cheap-o dry food his entire life. now on my own and with entirely too-many cats, i finally gained my most vet-expensive cat ever.
the vet sent me and baby cat home with (well, they charged me for, and almost didn't give me because nobody knows what the hell is going on there with all 2 million vet techs) a small bag of Royal Canin SO & told me that i would need to keep her on the diet for life to prevent the crystals from forming again and potentially costing me another $1300 trip back to the vet-tech puppy mill..
however, they charge $49 for a 7lb bag, it constipates them, and only baby cat will eat it without hesitation.
i've been trying to mix in wet and dry (sometimes together, sometimes separate) food to make that $49 bag of cat food last as long as possible, but i'm at my last few days of dry food. i've been trying to find proper wet food for them, something that won't irritate baby cat's bladder, but they're so damn picky, they won't eat any particular kind but for a few days. my roommate stockpiled a bunch of the Organix wet food because we thought the cats liked it, but now they just pick at the stuff, and i often end up throwing more than half of it away after their feeding time is up.
SO:
is Organix ok to feed them? i haven't really heard anything about it--i was really just looking for something grain-free with as many natural ingredients as possible.. and if not, what wet foods should i try?
and is Royal Canin SO really the way to go with dry food? i know i should just take them off the stuff entirely, but with baby cat's condition, i'm terrified that doing anything else will send me back to the vet & she'll wind up dying.
AND..will feeding the other two cats the same diet have any negative effects seeing as neither of them have had the same problems?
also...i would love to do raw food, but after seeing a friend attempt to do it with his pit bulls, it just seems like a lot of work one could easily screw up and create a bad situation.
so many questions...sorry!!
ever since i was younger, my parents and i had always just gotten some random kind of purina or iams (i have never had a long haired cat until Baby Cat!), and the cat i grew up with ended up living until 19--on nothing but cheap-o dry food his entire life. now on my own and with entirely too-many cats, i finally gained my most vet-expensive cat ever.
the vet sent me and baby cat home with (well, they charged me for, and almost didn't give me because nobody knows what the hell is going on there with all 2 million vet techs) a small bag of Royal Canin SO & told me that i would need to keep her on the diet for life to prevent the crystals from forming again and potentially costing me another $1300 trip back to the vet-tech puppy mill..
however, they charge $49 for a 7lb bag, it constipates them, and only baby cat will eat it without hesitation.
i've been trying to mix in wet and dry (sometimes together, sometimes separate) food to make that $49 bag of cat food last as long as possible, but i'm at my last few days of dry food. i've been trying to find proper wet food for them, something that won't irritate baby cat's bladder, but they're so damn picky, they won't eat any particular kind but for a few days. my roommate stockpiled a bunch of the Organix wet food because we thought the cats liked it, but now they just pick at the stuff, and i often end up throwing more than half of it away after their feeding time is up.
SO:
is Organix ok to feed them? i haven't really heard anything about it--i was really just looking for something grain-free with as many natural ingredients as possible.. and if not, what wet foods should i try?
and is Royal Canin SO really the way to go with dry food? i know i should just take them off the stuff entirely, but with baby cat's condition, i'm terrified that doing anything else will send me back to the vet & she'll wind up dying.
AND..will feeding the other two cats the same diet have any negative effects seeing as neither of them have had the same problems?
also...i would love to do raw food, but after seeing a friend attempt to do it with his pit bulls, it just seems like a lot of work one could easily screw up and create a bad situation.
so many questions...sorry!!