pumpkin, fiber, probiotic, etc question

Still more questions about my kitty's sensitive tummy....
She's a 7 month old ragdoll and I really don't know if they are more prone to sensitive stomachs or if it's just general...but... I have not been able to give her dry food at all to keep her stools just right. When I first got her it took me a while of buying different brands etc to realize that it was just dry in general. After giving just canned she got fine. I would "like" to give her just a bit of dry for snacking on when I'm at work and for the crunch for her teeth (and yes, I do know that the thinking is going more towards the fact that dry is not really better for teeth) but she does enjoy eating it a sometimes.
So...after a couple months of just canned, I have decided to reintroduce dry. I bought a sensitive stomach formula and was giving her a bit of pumpkin in her wet to help with the issue of new food. All was fine until I skipped a day or two of the pumpkin (which I gave her the first 3 days I guess). Then she had looser stools again. And to make the situation worse, she's still not the best in the world at cleaning herself either.
So after such a long story, my questions are
Could I give her just a bit of pumpkin everyday long term? Or is there another source of fiber that could be sprinkled on her wet food long term? Will she ever have a better tolerance on her own as she gets older? I definetly want her to stay on a diet of mostly canned (she has wellness kitten, wellness, natural life, a just a smidge of meow mix on top so she will eat the good ones.)
Any suggestions? Thanks for any help...

You can give her pumpkin long term. It's good for cats. However, in this case it seems you're using it to "cover up" a problem with her digestion. It would be better to feed her only foods that she can digest, with or without pumpkin. What brands of dry have you tried? Maybe there's an ingredient in the dry foods you have tried that she just can't tolerate. For example corn is a common allergen, and is found in a lot of dry foods but usually not in wet foods. If she's allergic to corn, you just need a dry food that doesn't include it.

That's true. I may just be better off leaving her with canned food and that's it. I had one vet tell me to give her some wet for the moisture and one say she really needed to have some dry for her teeth...I think I'll just have to be happy with whatever works for her. When I first started giving her canned, she refused the dry...now she really wants the dry sometimes...go figure!
Let's see Royal Canin for a bit, Nutro Max Kitten, the most recent I bought are not premium brands but I figured I'd try...the new Iams Digestive Care and Eukanuba Kitten. She has only been trying these last 2 for almost a week now, not long. I have thought about trying Wellness Kitten dry since she eats the canned version of that...
I would really rather her have a kitten version of something for a while since she's a slower maturing breed instead of the digestive care for adults.... so I'm off to research ingredients.

If she is still a kitten, this kind of situation is fairly normal; I would NOT feed her any cheap brands like Meow Mix at all, because their ingredients are not top quality and in many instances, fillers, artifical colors and flavors, and cheap grains can definitely cause gastric upsets and irregularity of various kinds. Buying many types of food and feeding them is another almost sure upsetter. I would stick to a few top-quality types that she likes, and stay away from any which have liver as an ingredient, as liver is notorious for causing "the runs". I would feed wet morning and evening, and dry free-choice with fresh water available at all times. Finding good dry foods for your little girl will be a challenge, but when introducing any new food, add it very gradually to her old food over a period of a couple of weeks, until she is eating all new and no old. Then, once you find good ones she likes, I would stick to them.

I don't know about Ragdoll sensitivities, or about the pumpkin-every-day issue -- hopefully someone else here at TCS can be helpful on those questions. GOOD LUCK! and your little Zoe is gorgeous!

Ok, I checked and the Wellness kitten doesn't have corn and I know Sharky has mentioned too that it is a common allergen.. I hope that might be it and I can give that a try.
Any thoughts as to whether I should go back to just canned and let her regulate again without the pumpkin before trying a new food or just go ahead and give it a try?
I have gotten a bit tired of wasting the tried foods, but I know from reading this forum, I'm not alone in this!


tarasgirl, thanks for your input too. I definetly know that Meow mix is not a premium, but she really won't eat the other ones without a little gravy type something on it and it seems to be better than some for no by-products and such. She has no digestives issues when she's eating the canned even with the MM. I only top it with about a 1/2 tsp full. My main concern doing this is that the MM has all the fish. I will look for other types this weekend. As far as mixing in the dry slowly...there's really nothing to mix with to get her used to it as before this week, she hasn't had any dry for 2-3 months now.

Common cat allergies

WHEAT

SOY

FISH ( yup pretty generic but testing aint salmon and cod )


Less but still happen

Corn

beet pulp

chlorafil ( check for green veggies and alfalfa )

alfalfa




more rare

chicken

beef

lamb


Yes Pumpkin can be used long term but find the root'

WHat treats are you giving ... How long are you giving each food??? which one made it the worst ??

MM wet is fine a bit fishy so if allergies are present might not be the best ??

When I got her, the breeder said she had been feeding the RC (then when I picked her up she said Life's ABundance so who knows?) so I tried RC for a bit...read good things about the Nutro Max so I switched(slowly) to that. I didn't use the full bag of either before I realized it was any dry and just stopped feeding. She doesn't get total runs..just really soft unformed poos that are a bit messy with the long hair.
It just seems so confusing because reading most posts, people seem to think adding the wet foods made for softer stools for a while.....Zoe has been just the opposite!
I also wonder if I just stuck with a good brand a stayed with it a while, maybe her system would get used to it? I do tend to give up quickly cause it's not fun for me or her to have to clean her up all the time. Should I just tough it out longer and give it a chance? I have noticed that as she's getting older she seems to handle it a bit better and is learning to groom herself more!

Yeah you really need to try something ( I would suggest Natural choice reg /kitten.. reason corn gluten is the accesory protein and rice is the GRAIN) for 6-12 weeks to see if after a slow switch( 2-3 weeks) things dont improve////

NOTE wheat barley and rye have the exact same gluten so if avoiding one avoid all

wet food SHOULD be ADDED BUT make sure it is a basic one.. IE chicken chicken liver rice ... NOT chicken beef cod rice wheat

I also have a couple of kittens with sensitive stomach which I'd like to feed dry in addition to raw and canned. I read a post by Kai Bengals that said Purina One and Pro Plan chicken are fairly decent and won't cause loose stool. I also read a few others had good results with Purina One for sensitive stomachs. Any thoughts on this dry other then it isn't the greatest?

Originally Posted by river

I also have a couple of kittens with sensitive stomach which I'd like to feed dry in addition to raw and canned. I read a post by Kai Bengals that said Purina One and Pro Plan chicken are fairly decent and won't cause loose stool. I also read a few others had good results with Purina One for sensitive stomachs. Any thoughts on this dry other then it isn't the greatest?

Click to expand...

in some it works ... usually those who ate generic or reg grocery food ... High % protein LOW level of ANIMAL protein...Just depends is it a snack , if so almost anything will work .. for the $$ FAR better exist ....

since they eat raw and canned you may want a simple dry formula ( IMHO Purina is not a real sensitive... most of the formulas start with fresh meat and then a number of grains ) .... California natural , Sensible choice and Natural choice all are one meat one grain....