Hi,
I've posted for advice fairly recently, but my cats' issues changed significantly with their last vet visit. I find nutrition an incredibly confusing subject, so I'd be thrilled to receive simple recommendations; explanations are really helpful. Thank you in advance!
First, everybody swaps bowls during meals. We free-feed dry food during the day, and do two feedings of canned (more if our older cats want it).
Second, I was a total ignoramus about their diet until several months ago. My cats made it into their mid teens without problems on a diet of mostly Science Diet Light dry, year in, year out. We were lucky. I have since learned that canned food is a daily necessity and my goal is a varied diet in terms of different types of premium cans and kibble. As far as grain-free vs. grains, I don't understand it well enough but gather that certain grains can help my CRF cats rather than pure protein, and perhaps help my kittens avoid issues later.
So: I have two underweight teenage Persians with mild to moderate CRF (my male was just diagnosed; he's lost weight). They don't take meds for it (just potassium for the female). Our vet thinks it's more important that they eat anything rather than be on food they don't like and hasn't prescribed Science Diet. The female has IBD and takes a steroid and appetite stimulant long-term. It's under control, she's just thinner than we'd like.
We also have two kittens who recently switched to adult feeding. They are healthy, 9 months old, eating dry and canned food. The male is pudgy at 11 lbs., but will likely become a big adult. The female, spayed two months ago, is a solid, sturdy cat, neither thin nor overweight.
The vet thinks feeding the older cats well is more important than trying to reduce the male kitten's very conspicuous "lion paunch" with light food. I think he got heavy because I was feeding him too frequently (on a kitten schedule, which I thought went for a whole year) for longer than necessary. He was neutered well before he was 8 weeks old as a TNR, which must have lowered his metabolism early. I think/hope he'll slim down on an adult-cat feeding schedule.
So I've got two CRF cats who need to fatten up a bit, and two older kittens who need a healthy indoor diet. Help!
What do they eat now? I'm embarrassed: Fancy Feast cans, in three fish patÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] varieties and the occasional "Florentine" variety. I'd like to get them off it but they love it too much. I have been trying premium canned foods in recent weeks: so far, they hated Halo, Evo, Wellness, Innova, Instinct, and Chicken Soup. They seemed to like their first cans of Natural Balance and TotW, so I can get more of those — if you all recommend them. They ALL only like patÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] foods.
For dry food, they like California Naturals and Evo, so I'm free-feeding those (plus their last bag of Fancy Feast, which the teenagers LOVE). They also seem to like Innova. They didn't like any Wellness samples except kitten formula. They don't like Chicken Soup or New Frontier. My food store seems to stock every brand out there.
I can easily give both CRF cats treats or extra wet food to help build up their weight, without attracting the kittens, so any ideas for healthy foods would be very much appreciated. They both ask for snacks and I am usually around to oblige and remove leftovers. They have appetites but I need to find richer foods to add weight.
My vet is against raw diets because they've seen so many problems in cats in their practice who are fed raw. I've decided against it for now, too. Ideally I'd like to add a little frozen or freeze-dried commercial raw to their diets, too, if just a couple of times a week. Later.
I've come to understand that feeding a variety of foods (rotating, within reason) is more likely to meet all their nutritional needs and avoid health issues than sticking to one or two foods for months or years on end.
Thank you for your patience in reading this and for your advice!
I've posted for advice fairly recently, but my cats' issues changed significantly with their last vet visit. I find nutrition an incredibly confusing subject, so I'd be thrilled to receive simple recommendations; explanations are really helpful. Thank you in advance!
First, everybody swaps bowls during meals. We free-feed dry food during the day, and do two feedings of canned (more if our older cats want it).
Second, I was a total ignoramus about their diet until several months ago. My cats made it into their mid teens without problems on a diet of mostly Science Diet Light dry, year in, year out. We were lucky. I have since learned that canned food is a daily necessity and my goal is a varied diet in terms of different types of premium cans and kibble. As far as grain-free vs. grains, I don't understand it well enough but gather that certain grains can help my CRF cats rather than pure protein, and perhaps help my kittens avoid issues later.
So: I have two underweight teenage Persians with mild to moderate CRF (my male was just diagnosed; he's lost weight). They don't take meds for it (just potassium for the female). Our vet thinks it's more important that they eat anything rather than be on food they don't like and hasn't prescribed Science Diet. The female has IBD and takes a steroid and appetite stimulant long-term. It's under control, she's just thinner than we'd like.
We also have two kittens who recently switched to adult feeding. They are healthy, 9 months old, eating dry and canned food. The male is pudgy at 11 lbs., but will likely become a big adult. The female, spayed two months ago, is a solid, sturdy cat, neither thin nor overweight.
The vet thinks feeding the older cats well is more important than trying to reduce the male kitten's very conspicuous "lion paunch" with light food. I think he got heavy because I was feeding him too frequently (on a kitten schedule, which I thought went for a whole year) for longer than necessary. He was neutered well before he was 8 weeks old as a TNR, which must have lowered his metabolism early. I think/hope he'll slim down on an adult-cat feeding schedule.
So I've got two CRF cats who need to fatten up a bit, and two older kittens who need a healthy indoor diet. Help!
What do they eat now? I'm embarrassed: Fancy Feast cans, in three fish patÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] varieties and the occasional "Florentine" variety. I'd like to get them off it but they love it too much. I have been trying premium canned foods in recent weeks: so far, they hated Halo, Evo, Wellness, Innova, Instinct, and Chicken Soup. They seemed to like their first cans of Natural Balance and TotW, so I can get more of those — if you all recommend them. They ALL only like patÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] foods.
For dry food, they like California Naturals and Evo, so I'm free-feeding those (plus their last bag of Fancy Feast, which the teenagers LOVE). They also seem to like Innova. They didn't like any Wellness samples except kitten formula. They don't like Chicken Soup or New Frontier. My food store seems to stock every brand out there.
I can easily give both CRF cats treats or extra wet food to help build up their weight, without attracting the kittens, so any ideas for healthy foods would be very much appreciated. They both ask for snacks and I am usually around to oblige and remove leftovers. They have appetites but I need to find richer foods to add weight.
My vet is against raw diets because they've seen so many problems in cats in their practice who are fed raw. I've decided against it for now, too. Ideally I'd like to add a little frozen or freeze-dried commercial raw to their diets, too, if just a couple of times a week. Later.
I've come to understand that feeding a variety of foods (rotating, within reason) is more likely to meet all their nutritional needs and avoid health issues than sticking to one or two foods for months or years on end.
Thank you for your patience in reading this and for your advice!
