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kibble pieces too small

post #1 of 8
6/28/11 at 4:25pm
Thread Starter 
I am looking for a good dry food that have large kibble pieces. I have bried Taste of the Wild, but the pieces are way too small. Woody just swallows small kibble whole. So far the only one I have found is Science Diet Hairball formula. HELP!!
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post #2 of 8
6/28/11 at 5:00pm
Most cats are going to swallow dry food whole - even if they do crack the kibble, it doesn't do anything for dental health.

If you are looking to change food, personally instead of switching to another dry food, I'd suggest looking into switching to a canned food instead. Reading through http://catinfo.org/ is a good idea, if you want to learn more about cat nutrition.

Or, if you are looking for a food that promotes dental health, then you may want to look into the idea of raw feeding. http://rawfedcats.org/nature.htm is a good article to read through (as are the other articles on that site) to learn about prey model raw feeding.

I hope this helps answer some questions
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post #3 of 8
6/28/11 at 5:28pm
Thread Starter 
I have tried canned and he refuses to eat it. If the pieces are too small, then he swallows them whole and after a little while, he throws it all up. Also I need a good dry food that helps with shedding. He is constantly licking himself.
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post #4 of 8
6/28/11 at 9:22pm
Mikey had problems with throwing up after eating - he did always swallow dry food whole, but it was also due to an allergy to the ingrediants of the food. He also was horrible to switch over to canned food - but it was worth it several times over, for how healthy he is now

http://catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20for%2...%201-14-11.pdf has several tips for transitioning dry food addicts to canned food.

Quote:
Mikey is a 7 year old DSH cat. His whole life he has had problems with hairballs as well as keeping his food down. Up until the age of 5 he had been eating all dry food – mostly Science Diet (yuck!) and it was the Sensitive Stomach formula (double yuck!). Once I learned that Science Diet is really a horrible brand of food I switched him to foods like EVO and Wellness CORE. The problem was that it was still dry food. Luckily for him I learned a few months later that dry food – no matter what brand – is bad for cats. But getting him onto wet food was a real challenge as he would only eat Fancy Feast Gourmet Chicken and nothing else. It took him about a year to convince him that all wet food is edible and actually good! In September 2010 I was able to switch him over to a raw diet. While Mikey was not overweight when he was eating all wet food after a week he started to lose weight – which was fat – and is now beginning to gain weight back as muscle. Already his plaque covered teeth are started to look white and his fur is softer than it was before. But the best thing of all? He doesn’t have hairballs anymore. It took less than a week of eating a raw diet to get rid of them after him being plagued with hairball problems his entire life! So not only does raw feeding help cure allergies, controls the herpes virus, helps cats gain weight, helps cats grow, and makes them act 10+ years younger than they really are – it also helps cure hairball problems! It’s truly a miracle diet!
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post #5 of 8
6/29/11 at 7:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by buckeye204 View Post
I am looking for a good dry food that have large kibble pieces. I have bried Taste of the Wild, but the pieces are way too small. Woody just swallows small kibble whole. So far the only one I have found is Science Diet Hairball formula. HELP!!
Hey Buckeye

You will get a lot of different opinions on this one You will have some tell you that dry kibble is "bad" for the cat and only wet food should be fed. Others will tell you that raw feeding is the ony way to go and there are those that will advise a combination of any of the 3. Much of it depends upon what the cat will actually eat, and your budget. Personally I feed dry kibble and wet.

Feeding an all kibble diet is not necessarily "bad" for your cat. I do have some major concerns regarding an all kibble diet. Ingredients being one of them but hydration is the second most important to me. Cats are wired to get moisture from food. An all kibble diet can cause problems like kidney failure, UTIs etc., if the cat is not getting enough moisture. Most cats don't go to the water bowl for a big slurp like a dog will so if you're feeding an all kibble diet, monitoring the cats moisture intake is important. If you are feeding a decent dry kibble and the cat is getting plenty of moisture, you should be alright. I don't advise putting water on the dry kibble because the moisture and kibble can breed bacteria.

Most cats will gulp some, if not all, of their kibble. Unfortunately if they gulp too fast it will come right back up in some cases ;( I don't know of any "large" kibble. Most kibble I'm aware of is about the same size with some being really small. My cats eat a combo of Natural Choice and Nutro Max dry kibble which are both premium foods. I mix the wet up between both of the mentioned brands and others. I do hear the cats cracking the kibble now and then so I know they don't swallow ALL of it whole.

You might want to give a shot at offering Woody a premium wet food along with his kibble to see if he shows any interest. For dental health you can always use dental treats and actually make a game out of it with him. Dental treats should be a big plus with Woody since he likes his dry.

Dental health is a concern as well so I feed my meezers feline Greenies as a treat. http://www.greenies.com/en_US/Produc...eGreenies.aspx
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post #6 of 8
6/30/11 at 12:06am
Throwing up food doesn't usually have too much to do with kibble size as it does either a food allergy or eating too fast. There are many ways to remedy either situation.

Cats groom themselves more in the summer because they are shedding a lot more; how often do you brush him?
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post #7 of 8
7/2/11 at 5:57pm
Thread Starter 
Minka, brushing him is like wrestling with a snake. He hates his back touched and will bite me if I pet his back and forget brushing his tummy. I am going to try canned one more time.
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post #8 of 8
7/2/11 at 7:46pm
I have a few who eat too fast and regurgitate-raising their bowls about 3 inches has remedied this.

Leslie
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