Again food issues - not eating canned food

I have posted here before and thought that I had Calvin and Hobbes' feeding under control. But does not seem to any more.

I am at my wit's end as they are turning their nose up on all wet food. I have tried all premium/ ultra premium brands available at 4 stores in my vicinity.

Background:When they were young they used to have different variety of wellness brand canned food and then suddenly 1 day they refused that. I diversified to other brands and that was ok for a bit. Right before I left for a 6 week trip, they only wanted Nutro canned food - chunks with gravy and I did not want to change things before I left and so that's what they were getting but they do not want that too. Also they both had their 1st birthday last month and from around June their food intake has decreased a lot, which was expected but what has happened as a result is that it is their wet food intake that has decreased and dry increased.

The boys love California Natural Chicken and Brown Rice and with Calvin's inability to digest complex dry food, this works for him. But the moment his dry vs. wet ratio changes, he gets mushy poop - which is the problem we are having now. They have not lost any weight and seem to be doing well and they drink quite a bit of water but it is not easy dealing with mushy poop daily, especially on a fuzzy kitty and more so since I will be moving to a different city for part of the week in the future. But with them not eating canned food and begging for food, I see myself giving them more dry (they currently eat about 1/2 -2/3 cup each of dry per day and maybe 1 oz of wet)

Goal: To have them eat more wet food and not as much dry

Option 1: I withhold dry food and give them only wet. I tried this a bit but did not sustain it but they went on hunger strike. With all the health issues that Hobbes has(asthma, suspected heart murmur, herpes and related URIs), I am really scared to enforce this strictly.

Option 2: try brands like Fancy Feast (they have fish and shrimp which is wheat gluten, by products free but they have refused that, too) and Friskies - maybe the ones with "not so good ingredients" which kitties like a lot and see if they will eat it.

Option 3: Continue the way things are going now with me opening 2 3 oz cans a day and having them consume 1-2 oz total and just hope they change their minds soon

I am looking for any suggestions that anyone may have.

The first step is to go through your concerns with your vet.

Also, don't get frustrated!
I'm sure lots of people here will be able to come to your rescue.

As you noted, it might just be the sudden changes that are causing the mushy poop. (In the meantime, I guess you could trim some of his bottom fur to help it from getting stained from the mushy poop and help him clean it off with a baby wipe or towel.)

I personally don't see the problem with adding more dry to their diets, as long as it's a good dry food, they are drinking a good amount of water daily, and they are doing better on it (i.e. hard and normal colored poops.)

Question: Did your vet advise against the dry food diet or advise against adding raw meat to their diet?

In my limited experience, my family finally found a feeding routine that works for my us and for Simba.
3 meals a day (4:40 AM breakfast is kibble, 2:30 PM lunch is meat, and 7:00 PM dinner is kibble.)

Originally Posted by aprilyim

The first step is to go through your concerns with your vet.

Also, don't get frustrated!

I'm sure lots of people here will be able to come to your rescue.

As you noted, it might just be the sudden changes that are causing the mushy poop. (In the meantime, I guess you could trim some of his bottom fur to help it from getting stained from the mushy poop and help him clean it off with a baby wipe or towel.)

I personally don't see the problem with adding more dry to their diets, as long as it's a good dry food, they are drinking a good amount of water daily, and they are doing better on it (i.e. hard and normal colored poops.)

Question: Did your vet advise against the dry food diet or advise against adding raw meat to their diet?

In my limited experience, my family finally found a feeding routine that works for my us and for Simba.
3 meals a day (4:40 AM breakfast is kibble, 2:30 PM lunch is meat, and 7:00 PM dinner is kibble.)

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Thanks, aprilyim. Calvin, from the time he came to us had this problem with dry food. He has a sensitive tummy and we had to move him from Kitten kibbles to adult ones when he was 6 months old because of the richness of the food. But even with that, Calvin had mushy poop. I had posted here and had got a lot of advice and then Sharky suggested California Natural since it is 1 protein and 1 grain and that clicked. However, we realized that 1/4 cup is the max that Calvin can have of that. The vet hearing this suggested a mostly wet diet and a little bit of kibbles for snacking and that's what we did from Feb to June (1/8 cup dry and rest wet) and then this issue of rejecting wet started. Our vet is fine with the kitties getting any wet food but I think that's part of their "not trying to promote any brand" policy but they strongly recommend some canned food in their diet. We have tried "commercial raw" since i do not think I am well equipped to prepare raw for them, but Calvin would not touch it. To be honest, I am not sure if my vet will be able to help me too much in this regard (getting to him with such issues is not easy - I will be advised by the front desk on friskies I do love them but I do not agree with their food suggestions usually).

We do take Calvin to the vet's for a trim - they do it for free and Calvin and comfy there. I have baby wipes at home all the time and do a butt check when they come out of their box and clean if required but I can do this since I am home now. In a month I will be gone for 4 days a week and I would rather not have any accidents then, especially with the in laws visiting for a month.

So we figured after trying various kinds of dry food and doing some priliminary investigation into allergies, Calvin does not do well in a mostly dry food diet. Hobbes has no issues eating more dry and he drinks a lot of water but I want to keep them on the same food regimen. And now they do not want much canned (have tried all varieties of Wellness, all of Nutro, many of avoderm, all types of Blue, many of Authority, many of Tiki, a few of Weruva, Nature's Variety, all Merricks, Soulistic etc. etc. - phew). Hence the dilemma.
Fortunately, I think I am patient and want to try to find the right balance for Calvin - his mushy poop is not only an issue for us, but he hates it too, just that he cannot relate that to eating dry food.

I always recommend a mixed diet, leaning more to the wet side, but seriously just go with the flow IMO.

If he insists on dry and does well on dry, then so be it. Just get a couple of nice fountains around the house, make sure the water is changed weekly and filters replaced every 2-3 weeks, and go with what works IMO. Some cats can even be free fed if they aren't very food motivated and just nibble lightly, so its just one of those rules that like everything else has exceptions.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

I always recommend a mixed diet, leaning more to the wet side, but seriously just go with the flow IMO.

If he insists on dry and does well on dry, then so be it. Just get a couple of nice fountains around the house, make sure the water is changed weekly and filters replaced every 2-3 weeks, and go with what works IMO. Some cats can even be free fed if they aren't very food motivated and just nibble lightly, so its just one of those rules that like everything else has exceptions.

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Thanks, Ducman69. We do have a fountain and multiple bowls of water which they drink from. At this point I am not as concerned with the dry for UTI reasons - but rather Calvin's inability to digest it properly. He does insist on dry but does not do well on it, and that's the issue. It has become a struggle of his palate (does not want wet) vs. his ability of digest, unfortunately.

Oh woops, I thought the loose stools were just from introducing the wet. Never mind then.

Have you tried Royal Canin 33 adult for sensitive stomachs? I feed this one to my 8 months old siblings, with Royal Canin kitten mixed in, since they're under a year old. Both my cats poop perfectly.

For wet, I feed Wellness Turkey, and they're OK with it. In my experience, dry is always preferred over wet, but here's a secret. I mix a big bowl of dry [1 part RC's adult 33 to 2 parts RC's kitten dry food] about once a week [use nice big baked ceramic dish] and on first day they gorge because it smells amazing, but then for the rest of the week, it looses the great 'out of the bag smell', so they tend to eat all the wet I give them. I open one 5.5oz wet can a day for both, and they eat the whole thing together.

I do not have a Drinkwell, but I do have one nice ceramic water dish I change daily. I also run the sink for them, since they love that, for as long as they want to drink from it. the more water the better.

For Herpes - i buy l-lysine powder caps, 500mg each, and put in dry food, about 6-8 of those caps per big dish. I also sprinkle l-lysine powder on every wet meal I give them - my cats have chronic herpes problems, but with this regiment their eyes are 95% perfect.

hope this helps.

Originally Posted by RarePuss

Have you tried Royal Canin 33 adult for sensitive stomachs? I feed this one to my 8 months old siblings, with Royal Canin kitten mixed in, since they're under a year old. Both my cats poop perfectly.

For wet, I feed Wellness Turkey, and they're OK with it. In my experience, dry is always preferred over wet, but here's a secret. I mix a big bowl of dry [1 part RC's adult 33 to 2 parts RC's kitten dry food] about once a week [use nice big baked ceramic dish] and on first day they gorge because it smells amazing, but then for the rest of the week, it looses the great 'out of the bag smell', so they tend to eat all the wet I give them. I open one 5.5oz wet can a day for both, and they eat the whole thing together.

I do not have a Drinkwell, but I do have one nice ceramic water dish I change daily. I also run the sink for them, since they love that, for as long as they want to drink from it. the more water the better.

For Herpes - i buy l-lysine powder caps, 500mg each, and put in dry food, about 6-8 of those caps per big dish. I also sprinkle l-lysine powder on every wet meal I give them - my cats have chronic herpes problems, but with this regiment their eyes are 95% perfect.

hope this helps.

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Thanks so much for sharing. I had briefly discussed a specialized food for sensitive tummy for Calvin but since it could be very nicely controlled with increasing the wet food ratio to dry, we did not want to pursue that route. Plus I am not too fond of giving the kitties wheat gluten and corn (which many of the "special diet" food have) if I can avoid it, since they are common allergens and we were not sure if some of them could also contribute to Calvin's issues. Basically when I 1st tried to tackle his tummy issues, those were what we eliminated and although some of their wet have wheat gluten, we limit it to 1 feeding. However, things are a little different now and we will have to reevaluate if they continue to avoid wet food.

I am so glad that you have found a system that works well for your kitties. I wish I could put out food for a week at a time - Calvin will gorge on it the 1st day and will have severe diarrhea the next. My little piggy. But I can see how that would induce them to eat more wet after the 1st day.

Also, just for my future reference, is it ok to leave out food in a bowl for a week? I see that when they eat they leave back quite a bit of saliva on the food/ bowl and this may cause bacteria to grow. I was afraid of this and stopped using a feeder (not a timed one - which are very convenient) and instead when gone for a while, I leave out multiple slim-cat balls.

Isn't it crazy how the kitties want to drink out of faucets? Calvin had a major phase after he came when he wanted to faucet on all the time. He's again been doing it. He actually gets fully drenched trying to "catch" the water after he's done drinking.

Also, I do give them lysine. That was 1 of the 1st things I learnt in this forum and has worked very well for us. However, if I withdraw their dry and then just give them wet and if they stubbornly reject the wet food, then they do not get their lysine. That's the reason I do not want to change their eating habits too agressively.

I just came from a significant baby wipe clean up session with Calvin. Poor thing - hates it so much and hates me for it

Originally Posted by Calvin&I

Thanks so much for sharing. I had briefly discussed a specialized food for sensitive tummy for Calvin but since it could be very nicely controlled with increasing the wet food ratio to dry, we did not want to pursue that route. Plus I am not too fond of giving the kitties wheat gluten and corn (which many of the "special diet" food have) if I can avoid it, since they are common allergens and we were not sure if some of them could also contribute to Calvin's issues. Basically when I 1st tried to tackle his tummy issues, those were what we eliminated and although some of their wet have wheat gluten, we limit it to 1 feeding. However, things are a little different now and we will have to reevaluate if they continue to avoid wet food.

I am so glad that you have found a system that works well for your kitties. I wish I could put out food for a week at a time - Calvin will gorge on it the 1st day and will have severe diarrhea the next.

My little piggy. But I can see how that would induce them to eat more wet after the 1st day.

Also, just for my future reference, is it ok to leave out food in a bowl for a week? I see that when they eat they leave back quite a bit of saliva on the food/ bowl and this may cause bacteria to grow. I was afraid of this and stopped using a feeder (not a timed one - which are very convenient) and instead when gone for a while, I leave out multiple slim-cat balls.

Isn't it crazy how the kitties want to drink out of faucets? Calvin had a major phase after he came when he wanted to faucet on all the time. He's again been doing it. He actually gets fully drenched trying to "catch" the water after he's done drinking.

Also, I do give them lysine. That was 1 of the 1st things I learnt in this forum and has worked very well for us. However, if I withdraw their dry and then just give them wet and if they stubbornly reject the wet food, then they do not get their lysine.

That's the reason I do not want to change their eating habits too agressively.

I just came from a significant baby wipe clean up session with Calvin. Poor thing - hates it so much and hates me for it

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Personally, I would not lay out kibble for a week. He's never interested in the crumbs he leaves after a meal that have that coating of saliva.

Ah! Simba won't go near a faucet. It astounds me because I know so many cats that SLEEP in sinks and near sinks because they love it so much.

:C Sorry he hates those baby wipe sessions. Hopefully he will know it's for his own good.

Best wishes and I hope you find the best solution for Calvin and Hobbes (I love their names so much.)

You have to be REALLY determined to get a cat to eat more wet food; but I must ask you this first: can you afford an all wet diet?
If so, I would make the goal to be all wet because I have found that it is more frustrating that helpful to have a cat on half dry half wet. Cats like their dry food like we like McDonalds, and so it's hard to convince them to eat the healthier wet food when they Know there is dry food in the cupboard.

If not, I understand, I can try to help you the best I can.
Firstly you Have to be stubborn. You have to go about giving them their wet like you would their dry: get them excited, 'Oh, you are hungry aren't you? Here's your yummy food!' and then put down the wet like it's completely normal. Avoid their eyes because they will try to look at you all sad like you put sawdust in their bowl. You Have to ignore it. Just walk away like normal and leave the food for 30 minutes, then take it up and put it in the fridge. If they didn't eat any of it, put it back down an hour later, warmed up with some hot water. Wait 30 minutes and repeat. If they go 12 hours without eating, put down their kibbles and then wait till the next meal. Put the wet back down and repeat the process.

I wouldn't try brands like Fancy Feast because they won't encourage them to eat better food, only be addicted to that icky food.

I'd suggest reading this as well: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20f...%201-14-11.pdf

Originally Posted by aprilyim

Personally, I would not lay out kibble for a week. He's never interested in the crumbs he leaves after a meal that have that coating of saliva.

Ah! Simba won't go near a faucet. It astounds me because I know so many cats that SLEEP in sinks and near sinks because they love it so much.

:C Sorry he hates those baby wipe sessions. Hopefully he will know it's for his own good.

Best wishes and I hope you find the best solution for Calvin and Hobbes (I love their names so much.)

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Thanks, Aprilyim. I hope I find a solution, too.
It is funny how some cats love water and others don't. Hobbes drinks a lot of water but he does not venture into drinking from the faucet. He does not drink from the flowing water of the fountain but rather the accumulated water. He sits near the sink but won't drink from the faucet but will want me to collect some water by cupping my palm and he loves to drink from there. I figured this out since he wanted to lick my wet palm. Go figure! Calvin on the other hand screams for me to turn on the faucet and then loves to get drenched. Crazy boys

Originally Posted by Minka

You have to be REALLY determined to get a cat to eat more wet food; but I must ask you this first: can you afford an all wet diet?
If so, I would make the goal to be all wet because I have found that it is more frustrating that helpful to have a cat on half dry half wet. Cats like their dry food like we like McDonalds, and so it's hard to convince them to eat the healthier wet food when they Know there is dry food in the cupboard.

If not, I understand, I can try to help you the best I can.
Firstly you Have to be stubborn. You have to go about giving them their wet like you would their dry: get them excited, 'Oh, you are hungry aren't you? Here's your yummy food!' and then put down the wet like it's completely normal. Avoid their eyes because they will try to look at you all sad like you put sawdust in their bowl. You Have to ignore it. Just walk away like normal and leave the food for 30 minutes, then take it up and put it in the fridge. If they didn't eat any of it, put it back down an hour later, warmed up with some hot water. Wait 30 minutes and repeat. If they go 12 hours without eating, put down their kibbles and then wait till the next meal. Put the wet back down and repeat the process.

I wouldn't try brands like Fancy Feast because they won't encourage them to eat better food, only be addicted to that icky food.

I'd suggest reading this as well: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20f...%201-14-11.pdf

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Thanks, Minka. This plan is like music to my ears. I can afford to feed them all wet. they eat way less now than they did in their first year and I know how that works with my budget. I was feeding each of them 6-8 oz of canned and 1/8 cup dry when they were growing up. My logic for continuing to feed them dry was that in case there was ever an emergency (and this happened once when I had to leave them suddenly and I could not get in touch with the petsitter immediately) and they have to eat some dry food. Then when I was travelling for 6 weeks, DH gave them more dry since he was gone for long periods of time some days (about 1/4-1/3 cup each) and he was also leaving canned in a timed feeder. This was the time when they decreased their food intake (were 11 months) and the victim became the canned food. So they ate the whole dry and hardly any canned. Currently I am giving them a 3 oz can divided amongst the 2 in the morning and and 1 can in the evening with dry in the afternoon. They hardly eat any of the wet, which I am throwing away. But your plan sounds way more reasonable. My fear would really be, as I mentioned above, that they go on a hunger strike. Guess if they can be stubborn so can I

TBH, I don't think most cats will go on hunger strikes like everyone thinks. I think people just give in to the sad eyes too easily.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having problems getting your cats to eat wet food - i know what you are going through. My cat (15 months old) has been refusing his canned wet as well. However, just in the last couple of weeks i think i have found a solution....
He used to get half a serving first thing in the morning, and half at night - with a raw meal at lunch and another for dinner. Like you , i was getting fed up of throwing the wet away. Although it was only one pouch of food a day, I felt that i might as well just throw it straight in the bin!
I have since started to feed half a serving before i go to bed(which i think he eats when he gets up as soon as dawn breaks) and just a little ( quarter of a serving ) for breakfast. I also add a little warm water. I feed his first raw meal earlier, and he gets the last quarter serving as an afternoon snack. Phew! good job i am at home all day.
Maybe you could try the little and often approach with your cats? Do they have dry out during the night? If so, you could try swapping with the wet? I find that adding a little water stops it from drying out quickly.

My advice for the leftover problem is to bring another kitty or two home who think wet food is better than anything in the whole world. OK, I guess that doesn't really work for many people, does it?

I'm trying to just get more food into my Ophelia but if she doesn't like it I guarantee the other 3 girls will!

OK, seriously. Do they like dried beef or fish flakes? If they do, try sprinking some of those on top of their wet food to get them started.

Do you feed the wet and dry food separately or mixed together?

I would try mixing together the amounts they currently consume, taking care to coat all the kibbles, and then slooowly increasing wet while decreasing the dry food.

I hope this works with your travel schedule. Good luck

Originally Posted by Minka

You have to be REALLY determined to get a cat to eat more wet food; but I must ask you this first: can you afford an all wet diet?
If so, I would make the goal to be all wet because I have found that it is more frustrating that helpful to have a cat on half dry half wet. Cats like their dry food like we like McDonalds, and so it's hard to convince them to eat the healthier wet food when they Know there is dry food in the cupboard.

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<snippage for space>

That has not been my experience with my cats. And I free feed dry. All 4 of mine line up twice a day for their wet and usually eat every bite of it unless there is a texture one or the other does not like. One of mine will not touch wet flaked while another will eat nothing but the pate'. Go figure

Originally Posted by NutroMike

<snippage for space>

That has not been my experience with my cats. And I free feed dry. All 4 of mine line up twice a day for their wet and usually eat every bite of it unless there is a texture one or the other does not like. One of mine will not touch wet flaked while another will eat nothing but the pate'. Go figure

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I guess Nutro doesn't taste like McDonalds then.

Nivi, have you seen Carolina's posts about changing the texture of the wet food? This has worked for a number of kitties, including ours. When Lazlo lost so much weight because of the Lymphoma, the vet said (not surprisingly), just let him eat whatever he wants to eat. Well, he wanted kibble LOL. But he needs the moisture, and I worked so hard to switch (most of them) to all wet just this past fall.

SO.... turns out that if I throw the food into a small blender with a little bit of water, they love it. When Laz stops eating, I take the PureBites dehydrated beef liver treats, and crush one into powder sprinkled across the top of the food, and he goes at it again.

So try playing with various textures. Each of ours likes it slightly different. Several like it soupy, several like it more like thick stew, and Billy likes it like mashed potatoes.

FYI, a TCS member owns this site, and the treats get rave reviews. Heidi's got her Ophelia eating by sprinkling the mackerel treats on her food. Pat has dried liver treats I see - and I know people rave about the kitty kaviar. And if your boys like shrimp, freeze dried shrimp could be crushed and sprinkled over the top of their food too..... http://www.catniptoys.com/categories/Treats/