Help Request: To follow a vet recommendation or not?

[jayvan]

Hello! I'm looking for some help please!

I have two cats: Oli (Oliver) & Oxi (Oxana) 

I adopted Oli in April of 2014 from our local SPCA (Canada). He was approximately 1 year old at that time and was severely underfed. I know he was an indoor only cat because when I took him on a leash for the first time (in my parent's backyard) he was scared of the wind. Needless to say, ever since I've owned him he has loved food. Currently sitting at 12lbs.

I adopted Oxi end of July in 2015 from a local cat rescue (was in foster care). She was approximately 10 months old and a street stray the rescue trapped. She too, loves food. Currently she is 6.5lbs.

When I first got Oli I knew very little about cats. I'd never owned one before and had little idea what to expect. So I started looking into feeding options. At that time I wanted to go dry, knowing that I could keep it in an auto-feeder in case I had to stay late at work. My parent's have two wiener dogs and it was recommended by the breeder to go with petcurean GO! Natural food. We never had a problem with the dogs (they are roughly 6-7 years old now) so I wanted to stick to that brand.

I chose: GO! Fit + Free Cat Dry blend. Make-up is as follows:

Crude protein (min)**	46%
Crude fat (min)	18%
Crude fibre (max)	1.5%
Moisture (max)	10%
Ash (max)	9%
Magnesium (max)	0.09%
Taurine (min)	0.21%
*Omega 6 (min)	3.1%
*Omega 3 (min)	0.3%

Ingredients: Chicken meal, de-boned chicken, de-boned turkey, duck meal, turkey meal, salmon meal, de-boned trout, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), natural fish flavour, peas, potatoes, whole dried egg, potato flour, tapioca, de-boned salmon, de-boned duck, salmon oil, pumpkin, apples, carrots, bananas, blueberries, cranberries, lentil beans, broccoli, spinach, cottage cheese, alfalfa, sweet potatoes, blackberries, papayas, pineapple, phosphoric acid, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, DL-methionine, taurine, choline chloride, dried chicory root, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Aspergillus niger fermentation product, dried Aspergillus oryzae fermentation product, vitamins (vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, inositol, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), thiamine mononitrate, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, beta-carotene, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc oxide, manganese proteinate, copper sulphate, calcium iodate, ferrous sulphate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite), yucca schidigera extract, yeast extract, dried rosemary.

As I continued researching, I also decided to incorporate some wet food into the mix, hoping to prevent crystals. I was worried that the moisture content was too low in the dry food. 

So I chose to go with the GO! Fit + Free cat wet food too:

Crude protein (min)12%Crude fat (min)8%Crude fibre (max)1%Moisture (max)78%

Ingredients: Chicken, turkey, chicken broth, chicken liver, turkey liver, turkey broth, duck, salmon, dried egg product, flaxseed, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, cottage cheese, apples, blueberries, cranberries, alfalfa sprouts, pumpkin puree, potassium chloride, salt, spinach, broccoli, bananas, minerals (iron amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, sodium selenite, potassium iodide), vitamins (vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, vitamin A supplement, biotin, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid), choline chloride, inulin, salmon oil, sunflower oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), taurine, rosemary, xanthan gum, cassia gum, yucca schidigera extract, beta carotene.

I can't remember how much I was feeding him at the time of each, but enough to maintain a healthy body weight. 1/2 wet, 1/2 dry. He stayed on that diet until I got Oxi a year and a bit later. When I received Oxi, the rescue sent over cat instructions (wish I had received these a year earlier, lol) which promoted raw feeding first off and, if you couldn't do that, purely a wet diet. Due to space requirements (apartment size fridge does not have enough storage for freezing raw food) I choose to switch over both cats to their recommended brand. I also decided to increase the wet food to 2/3 and the dry to 1/3 of the daily feedings. A coworker fed her cat purely wet food and it ended up with teeth problems so I wanted to keep the dry food to help with plaque scrubbing.

So I kept the same dry food I had started Oli on and switched the wet to FirstMate’s Dog Chicken formula per the rescue.

Guaranteed Analysis
Protein (Minimum)	11%
Fat (Minimum)	4%
Fibre (Maximum)	0.5%
Moisture (Maximum)	78%
Ash (Maximum)	1.5%
Calcium (Minimum)	0.4%
Phosphorous (Minimum)	0.3%
Magnesium (Maximum)	0.02%
Taurine (Minimum)	0.05%
KCal/345g Can	311

Ingredients: Boneless chicken, water sufficient for processing, potato, calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, minerals: (iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, iodine), vitamins: (niacin, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, d-pantothenic acid, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement), potassium chloride, choline chloride, taurine*, kale

I fed them both this from August 2015 - Feb 2016. I also changed over their cat litter to a wood pellet blend per the rescue.

They were both fine, having regular bowel movements and doing well.

March 1st I moved apartments, and now they both been having tummy issues. Oli has been having semi-solid passings which is looser than normal and Oxi has been having puddles (she smelled faintly too). 

It took me a while to notice (and acually wasn't really prompted till Oxi had a bad case of the runs in transport to my parent's place.) probably end of April. Thinking it was maybe a bad batch of food, I threw out the dry food I had on hand and bought some new stuff. No luck. The next week one of my parent's dogs got sick (ended up getting an MRI - turns out she has an auto-immune disorder) so my focus wasn't on the cats for a bit. Mid-May I took both cats to the vet. They prescribed two things:

- Metronidazole

- Hills Wet Prescription Digestive Care i/d

So I used that until it was all gone and honestly it just seemed like my cats just got more constipated...but their passings didn't seem to grow that much more solid. Oxi did stop smelling though which was great. I also switched my cat litter back to clumping...little less mess.

Once that ran out I wanted to try different types of  food, because I still suspected that their issues were diet related. 

So I switched to their Dry food to First Mate Chicken with Blueberries: Still feeding this 1/3 and the First Mate Wet food Chicken and Tuna was the other 2/3

First Mate Chicken with Blueberries:

Crude Protein (min)	36%
Crude Fat (min)	16%
Crude Fibre (max)	4%
Moisture (max)	10%
Ash (max)	8%
Calcium (min)	1.9%
Phosphorous (min)	0.9%
Magnesium (max)	0.089%
*Glucosamine (min)	100mg/kg
ME (calculated)	3530 kcal/kg | 547 kcal/c

Ingredients: Chicken meal, potato, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), whole blueberries, DL-methionine, minerals: (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite), vitamins: (niacin, thiamine mononitrate, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement), potassium chloride, calcium propionate (a preservative), taurine, yeast extract (a source of prebiotics), kale, glucosamine hydrochloride

First Mate Wet food Chicken and Tuna:

Guaranteed Analysis
Protein (Minimum)	10%
Fat (Minimum)	5%
Fibre (Maximum)	0.5%
Moisture (Maximum)	78%
Ash (Maximum)	2%
Calcium (minimum)	0.3%
Phosphorous (minimum)	0.2%
Magnesium (Maximum)	0.02%
Taurine (Minimum)	0.05%

Ingredients: Boneless chicken, deboned tuna, water sufficient for processing, potato, calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, minerals: (iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, iodine), vitamins: (niacin, vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, d-pantothenic acid, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement), potassium chloride, choline chloride, taurine, kale

I have been feeding this mix since last month and it seemed to be working out okay. I was seeing a slow but steady improvement (not great because Oxi still has puddles, but better than before). Then last weekend all improvement stopped and Oxi seems to be getting worse again. She started to smell again too. Oli seems to be the same as he was after the medicine. No real improvements or regression.

So I took them to the vet today.

The doctor was not the same one I saw previously. They got their Vaccinations + he prescribed another round of Metronidazole & Hills Wet Prescription Digestive Care i/d. The vet says that once the Hills food runs out I should change them over to an all dry diet of Royal Canin Indoor Adult 27 since he thinks they are getting too much protein. He does seem pretty knowledgeable and seems to have been in the industry a while (looked to be late 60's). I do have some concerns though considering what I've read about solely going dry + wheat/gluten meal not being good for cats.

Here's the breakdown:

Crude Protein (min.)	27.0%
Crude Fat (min.)	11.5%
Crude Fiber (max.)	6.0%
Moisture (max.)	10.0%
L-Carnitine* (min.)	50 mg/kg
Vitamin E (min.)	500 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)* (min.)	200 mg/kg
Magnesium (max.)	0.09%

Ingredients: Chicken meal, brown rice, rice, corn, corn gluten meal, chicken fat, natural flavors, pea fiber, wheat gluten, rice hulls, dried beet pulp, soybean oil, calcium sulfate, sodium silico aluminate (zeolite), dried brewers yeast, fructo-oligosaccharides, dried egg powder, anchovy oil (source of EPA and DHA omega 3 fatty acids), salt, potassium chloride, taurine, choline chloride, L-lysine, DL-methionine, sodium tripolyphosphate, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), niacin, biotin, riboflavin (vitamin B2), D-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], trace minerals [zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], decaffeinated green tea polyphenols, L-carnitine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E) and citric acid, rosemary extract.

So I'm kinda just wondering whether I should do as the vet says and go dry for a while to this new brand / or if I should go back to GO! brand (or another brand) once they are off the medicated food?

Also, I currently mix dry and wet together...would it be better to feed dry at night, wet in the mornings??

Thanks!

Other Notes:

- There are a few plants in the house they have access to, but I do not think they are eating them (and all plants are "cat friendly" per the aspca website) because I haven't noticed any pieces ripped off of them, or anything missing. When I'm home they ignore the plants as they would the furniture.

- They do get cat / oat grass once in a while after they've eaten. I grow a tray for them on my deck. (Which is now knee high, haha)

- They do get dried liver treats & greenie's every now and then

- Oli does go outside at my parents house in the backyard on a leash. Oxi does not go outside

- They haven't been to my parents house since April and haven't seen the dogs since April.

- They are not showing any other signs of stress...they are both playful (with me and each other) / drinking well / eating well...also both very soft (though Oli not as much as when he was on the Go! dry food). No hairballs either.

- Both cats love food. I feed them twice daily and the they both eat it all at once ...it doesn't sit around and there is no free feeding going on.

 

[missmimz]

I don't like any of the foods you've listed. Dry food doesn't clean teeth. Cats basically don't chew their food, it's a myth dry food helps teeth. Like humans, some cats have better genetics than others so some cats have less dental issues than others. The only way to prevent dental disease is to brush their teeth and/or have regular dental cleanings.

I would take your cats off dry food completely. Cats are obligate carnivores, so you want to feed food with as little fillers as possible. Avoid corn, potatoes, beans, fruits, veggies, etc. All the dry foods you listed including the RX foods aren't very good, all you have to do is scan the ingredients. 

Here's a list of good wet foods. Ideally you want to feed a few different brands/flavors for variety. You should also look into adding a probiotic to their wet food to help with their stools. I give all my cats probiotics daily mixed in their food. 

http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/

http://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/probiotics-for-cats---why-and-which-ones.html

 

[bonepicker]

I agree

 

[jayvan]

Great thanks! So I'll ignore the vet and move strictly to one of the wet food on the list. I've found a local shop that says they sell a few of those brands. Should I stick to one until their stomachs are settled and then start a rotation through a few brands (and if so, how often should you rotate brands?) 

Also, where does one buy the probiotics from?

 

[LTS3]

I wrote this to someone else in another thread: " If a pediatrician says that you need feed your child junk and snack foods, would you 100% agree wth the pediatrican even though you well know those types of foods will most likely cause health issues? Most likely not. A medical degree of any kind doesn't mean that the advice and recommendation given is always correct or accurate and sometimes isn't in the patient's best interest."

So , no you don't need vet approval to feed your cat what YOU want

Many health conditions don't need prescription foods to treat or manage.

You can rotate brand of food as often as you want. A few times a week is usually plenty for most cats. Stick with one brand for now and if your cat does ok with it, you can add in another brand or two.

Probiotics can be bought at any health food / vitamin type store and many online like at Amazon. The second link Missmiz posted has a list of recommended ones to try. This thread may also be helpful: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/262587/probiotics-search-human-grade-and-cfus

 

[missmimz]

I used Nexabiotics, which I buy from Amazon. It's really popular among the raw feeding members. My cats never have an issue with it mixed in their food. It can take time to start working so start with mixing a small amount in their AM and PM meals every day. You should see results within a few days but you'll need to keep giving it for at least a month, but I suggest (as do many others) giving some every day because they're just good for cats. 


http://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/probiotics-for-cats---why-and-which-ones.html - dosing info on page 8 

 

[jayvan]

 

[msserena]

I say you should try to figure things out before going back to the vet. When my kitty got runny poop, because of the food I was feeding her, I got the same medicine as well.

When one of my cats gets dry food, she gets runny poop. Some canned food gives her runny poop. Probiotics have helped, enzymes have helped. I usually buy a bottle & give them all a dose. I buy from NWC Naturals, I bought the digestive enzymes & the probiotics, Total-Zymes and Total-Biotics http://nwcnaturals.com/pet/pet-enzymes.html

Definitely take your kitties off the dry food, it's the worst thing you can feed them. I noticed in the Go food list, there is cottage cheese, dairy is a potential runny poop maker. There is more info now-a-days about cat teeth, dry food doesn't keep their teeth clean & wet food doesn't cause tooth decay. I have 3 cats & they all eat the same food, one has bad teeth, the other don't. It's all individual, just like some people have this or that & others don't. You just got to deal with what you've been given.

The problem with feeding seafood & I'm dealing with it myself a little, cats will turn their nose up at other food if it doesn't have fish in it. They love it & get very used to it & therefore become little brats when trying to feed them something else. There's a million different foods out there, you're just gonna have to try different things. I tried to get my cats to eat Nutro Natural Choice, they all loved it & ate it up. After a while one of my cats started getting runny poop. I then switched to Weruva & Nature's Variety Instinct & haven't had problems, unless I give some dry as a treat only.

Finding a food that doesn't have a lot of crap in it, that's simple & easily digestible is what you should be looking for. I've tried a lot of the foods listed on that link that was given, the NaturalCatCareblog & those are some really good ones to start out on. Just be watchful, if you go for TikiCat or Weruva, the majority of their food is fish based. They do make chicken & other proteins, so can it on the fish!

Addiction, Soulistic & Wellness Core are decent as well. Good Luck!

 

[msserena]

 

Remember I think it can take upwards to about 10 days for them to fully get used to the new food

 

[jayvan]

Thanks msserena, those are great tips. I bought more chicken then fish to start and will see how it goes.

Also, just noticed the wet food I was feeding them (first mate) is on the blog under "Second place" (I didn't scroll down that far, haha) .

 

[lisahe]

 
The problem with feeding seafood & I'm dealing with it myself a little, cats will turn their nose up at other food if it doesn't have fish in it. They love it & get very used to it & therefore become little brats when trying to feed them something else. There's a million different foods out there, you're just gonna have to try different things. I tried to get my cats to eat Nutro Natural Choice, they all loved it & ate it up. After a while one of my cats started getting runny poop. I then switched to Weruva & Nature's Variety Instinct & haven't had problems, unless I give some dry as a treat only.

Finding a food that doesn't have a lot of crap in it, that's simple & easily digestible is what you should be looking for. I've tried a lot of the foods listed on that link that was given, the NaturalCatCareblog & those are some really good ones to start out on. Just be watchful, if you go for TikiCat or Weruva, the majority of their food is fish based. They do make chicken & other proteins, so can it on the fish!

Addiction, Soulistic & Wellness Core are decent as well. Good Luck!

I second the idea of avoiding fish -- our cats like Tiki's chicken foods, particularly the Gourmet Carnivore ones, a lot, they're very good foods. I don't feed much Weruva -- just Cats in the Kitchen fish-free cans -- because a lot of their foods have potato, which one of our cats can't eat. I mention that not because potato's a common problem (it's not, though there are several others on the site whose cats can't eat it) but because just about anything can cause food issues, making it important to look for patterns. In our case, yes, it's been finding foods without a lot of crap, though some cats' stomachs are a lot more picky than others!

Wild Calling is a really good one: our cats hated it and looked at me like I was trying to kill them but it's excellent food. I hope your cats like it, Jayvan! Good luck!

 

[faranbrygo]

My kitty got the runs pretty nastily after a move. Turns out it was stress -- I skipped about 12 hours of feedings, then gave him boiled chicken for a day, then went back to normal feeding and it cleared up.

 

[kittens mom]

 
Great thanks! So I'll ignore the vet and move strictly to one of the wet food on the list. I've found a local shop that says they sell a few of those brands. Should I stick to one until their stomachs are settled and then start a rotation through a few brands (and if so, how often should you rotate brands?) 

Also, where does one buy the probiotics from?

I wouldn't ignore my veterinarian so to speak. I would find a veterinarian that I can work with.

http://www.catvets.com/guidelines/practice-guidelines   It's what we did and I will never use a vet again that isn't part of this program.

 

[lisahe]

 
I wouldn't ignore my veterinarian so to speak. I would find a veterinarian that I can work with.

http://www.catvets.com/guidelines/practice-guidelines   It's what we did and I will never use a vet again that isn't part of this program.

I think this is very wise advice! We took our previous cat to a vet clinic that didn't know much about cats -- I didn't like disregarding some of the vet's advice. (And it didn't make me feel much better when she admitted I was right about not putting the cat on prescription kidney food!)

When we adopted new cats, we took them to the cat-only vet in our town and it's wonderful. That vet is far more knowledgeable about feline nutrition and illnesses, and even if we don't agree on absolutely everything (she's not a big fan of raw food, though she's accepting), I feel confident about her treatment of our cats. It's even fun to see how much she just plain loves cats.

(She is in the program that Kittens Mom links to.)

 

[kittens mom]

 
I think this is very wise advice! We took our previous cat to a vet clinic that didn't know much about cats -- I didn't like disregarding some of the vet's advice. (And it didn't make me feel much better when she admitted I was right about not putting the cat on prescription kidney food!)

When we adopted new cats, we took them to the cat-only vet in our town and it's wonderful. That vet is far more knowledgeable about feline nutrition and illnesses, and even if we don't agree on absolutely everything (she's not a big fan of raw food, though she's accepting), I feel confident about her treatment of our cats. It's even fun to see how much she just plain loves cats.

(She is in the program that Kittens Mom links to.)

Moving to a vet clinic that has a feline program has made the world of difference to us. They have feline scent diffusers in all the exam rooms. The toys in the exam rooms are cat oriented. Treats are cat treats and most importantly my vet The golden shining Angle Dr. Dawn Nolan loves cats. It's a passion.

So finding a vet you can work with and is on your wavelength. It doesn't make the other vet bad. Just not what you're shopping for.

 

[LTS3]

My apologies if my post was misinterpreted as to completely ignore the vet

It's ok to disagree with the vet about food and to feed what you want unless your cat has a medical condition which requires a strict diet. In many of theese special dietary cases, commerical cat food or properly made raw or home cooked food can be fed as long as you restrict whatever it is the cat can't have too much of like carbs or phosphrus.

A vet who you feel comfortable working with is very important

It's still ok to disagree on things and to question the vet and to push for treatment that you feel is in your pet's best interest. The vet I use isn't a cat vet but I'm very comfortable with talking with the vet. In fact, the vet pretty much lets me tell him how to provide vet care and treatment for my cats

 

[lisahe]

 
My apologies if my post was misinterpreted as to completely ignore the vet

It's ok to disagree with the vet about food and to feed what you want unless your cat has a medical condition which requires a strict diet. In many of theese special dietary cases, commerical cat food or properly made raw or home cooked food can be fed as long as you restrict whatever it is the cat can't have too much of like carbs or phosphrus.

A vet who you feel comfortable working with is very important

It's still ok to disagree on things and to question the vet and to push for treatment that you feel is in your pet's best interest. The vet I use isn't a cat vet but I'm very comfortable with talking with the vet. In fact, the vet pretty much lets me tell him how to provide vet care and treatment for my cats

I didn't take your post that way at all, LTS3, particularly because I always take your posts about this topic as a way to encourage people to advocate for their cats' health. And remember that we're the ones that hire the vets and are ultimately responsible for our cats. I think that's easy to forget! (That's a lesson I only learned when we had a terminally ill cat and I was certain the vet's kidney diet advice wasn't right for the cat: the vet did, kind of, work with me on it, though she didn't really want to. To her credit, she admitted my diet had improved the cat's kidney numbers and IBD/cancer symptoms, surprising her. Thank goodness for Dr. Pierson's site, which got me started learning about these things and even a quick note from Dr. P herself, which really gave me the courage to stand my ground!)

I suspect people like @Kittens Mom and I are lucky to be able to find vets that we like so much and can work with: in our case, the cat-only vet is very close by but not everybody has that luxury so it may not be possible to find a vet that fits both categories.

 

[kittens mom]

 
My apologies if my post was misinterpreted as to completely ignore the vet

It's ok to disagree with the vet about food and to feed what you want unless your cat has a medical condition which requires a strict diet. In many of theese special dietary cases, commerical cat food or properly made raw or home cooked food can be fed as long as you restrict whatever it is the cat can't have too much of like carbs or phosphrus.

A vet who you feel comfortable working with is very important

It's still ok to disagree on things and to question the vet and to push for treatment that you feel is in your pet's best interest. The vet I use isn't a cat vet but I'm very comfortable with talking with the vet. In fact, the vet pretty much lets me tell him how to provide vet care and treatment for my cats

I think the most important things is the veterinarian and their staff recognize a cat is not a dog and that cat owners are very bit as passionate about their pets as dog owners are. Dog science does not apply to Cat science.

Really I think if you find a clinic that is promoting the most current protocols in vaccination safety you're onto something.

 

[gingy]

 
I think the most important things is the veterinarian and their staff recognize a cat is not a dog and that cat owners are very bit as passionate about their pets as dog owners are. Dog science does not apply to Cat science.

Really I think if you find a clinic that is promoting the most current protocols in vaccination safety you're onto something.

Agreed.  We switched vets twice because of various disagreements.

1) The dreaded "D" word, which most vets in North America still condone and I vehemently do not.

2) 80% dogs in a crowded waiting room of a multi-vet clinic

3) Misdiagnosis and high billing

Also vets that vaccinate annually, are too old-school. Current practice is Kitten-series (2-3) during the first 4 months and then 1 year and every 3 years afterwards.

Also, with indoor/catio-outdoor-only cats, I skip the rabies vaccine. FVRCP only. 

Most major Canadian cities have cat-only vets, our nearest is in Victoria, BC, but it's still a drive, but we found a place that treat dogs & cats equally and doesn't cram appointments too closely.

 

[gingy]

 
Thanks msserena, those are great tips. I bought more chicken then fish to start and will see how it goes.

Also, just noticed the wet food I was feeding them (first mate) is on the blog under "Second place" (I didn't scroll down that far, haha) .

Hi Jayvan,

Lots of good advice on here, I'd just like to offer a couple of alternative views on feeding.  Cat guardian to 4 cuties of various ages.

1) Avoid canned FISH at all cost: http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/

Tiki-Cat is expensive and I wouldn't trust the source country anymore than I would chinese melamine by-products in cat food.  Unfortunately pet-food recalls because of contaminant is very common:

http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/RecallsWithdrawals/ucm129932.htm

2) Kibble gets a bad rap and the raw-food movement zealots remind me sometimes of vegans fighting against meat-eaters. Not that I'm against it, but if you're gonna go raw, then go homemade-raw and not store-bought. 

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/homemade-cat-food-and-raw-cat-food  is a good starter to understand the controversy, but also this site has endless amounts of information on the subject: http://feline-nutrition.org

3) Ferals cats hunt mice, rats and birds and not fish.  The average life of an outdoor cat is 5 years and despite their raw food diet they don't live long enough to get the typical diseases older indoor cats get.

4) No one has all the answer, not vets not this cat site nor you or I.  It's a learning process and just like humans, every cat's different.

So, what do we feed ours ?  For one thing, each of the 4 have different taste and yea... as cat guardians... ehhm servants, we have the patience to cater to those differences.

1) We partially free-feed but also have set meal times.  Morning & evening and sometimes 3am when ONE of them really really begs loudly

2) We use Blue Wilderness, Fancy Feast "Medley", Nature's Variety, BLUE Healthy Gourmet and Wellness for their wet foods

3) Approx. 30% dry kibble:  Nutro Adults (kibbles are larger and our cats tend to chew them) , Taste-of-the-wild (non-fish only) and Authority. 

4) Apart from the usual treats you can buy (one of our girls is crazy about dried chicken bits) we occasional cook chicken breast or feed some sashimi grade ahi tuna or salmon.

Cats are creatures of habit and I don't agree with having to rotate different brands each day of the week.  Ours usually lets us know when they want something else, but that's every other month.

Lastly, about the runny tummy, sure it was probably the moving stress, but could also be worms.  No harm in giving them a dewormer once to see if it clears up.