Am I giving my kitty too many carbs?

Hi Everyone - 

My 2 year old had recently started to eat less and less of her Wellness cans over the past three weeks (chicken, turkey, chicken/beef). Still eats her Orijin dry (this one: http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/catkittenIngredients.aspx ) which is left for her to free-feed (only gets 1/4 cup total per day of that). She hates anything with fish (one good thing I guess!) or duck, and the primary food-of-perference for her is definitely chicken.

I am fortunate to be able to get any kind of cat food locally (and have literally tried all the healthy/grain free ones out there, in addition to some well-made others that did have limited grains), and Wellness was the only one that didn't end up consistently in the trash.

I was really getting worried about my kitty not eating enough these past few weeks (she's healthy - full blood panels in December last year; just had a second vet check last month). Acting just fine too - her usual happy self. Just.......not eating very much.

Just read the recent post on Fancy Feast and saw that the FF "Classics" were low carb, etc., so I decided to try that in an attempt to get more food in her. To date, I have only tried the healthy stuff - none of these types of food, but I needed to get more food in her. 

I grabbed what I thought was the 'Classics' one, but mistakenly picked up the "Grilled" one, which I didn't realize after it was too late - and you guessed it - it was devoured like she had never seen food before, LOL!  I've had my new little baby for just about a year and this is the first time she enthusiastically ate ANYTHING!  And, go figure, it's not one of the more widely-considered 'better' brands out there. Geez. Clearly she's not a health fanatic, LOL!

So, since I goofed and got the "Grilled" Fancy Feast chicken, I decided to try to at least see how bad this particular one was. However, I'm not sure I am finding the carb levels in there (yes, I do see the grains). http://www.fancyfeast.com/wet-cat-food/grilled-liver-chicken-feast-in-gravy/

Now, I'm worried about over-carbing my kitty. The Wellness is high in carbs; the Orijin not so much. Since she loved this particular can of FF (I have some other FF chicken flavors I can try too), but if I add it in to her food rotation, am I giving her way too many carbs? Am I reading too much into all this for my own good, LOL?

Thanks for any guidance and feedback you can provide!

Here's a link to Dr. Lisa Pierson's chart of canned cat food composition: http://catinfo.org/docs/Food Chart Public 9-22-12.pdf, so you can kinda compare it to others.  All FF varieties are on there. The grilled is higher carb than the classic, yes, but there are still worse ones out there.  I don't think it'd hurt to give it once in a while, just make sure the other ones in rotation are really good low carb ones.

Well, it's a tough call when you've got a picky kitty as to what to do.  I've got one too!  Mine eat raw, but one just doesn't eat much at all, period.  He eats waaaaaaay less than I think he should, yet he isn't losing weight, so I guess I shouldn't worry so much about it.

As to whether or not you're feeding too much grain, since the Orijen is a decent kibble, I say ANY wet food you can get her to eat is better than none, and, of course, grain free wet would be preferable, but if she won't eat it, then something is better than nothing.  Have you tried Weruva canned foods?  Many cats really like them, and they do have several chicken "flavors".   They are grain free, too.  And I know Soulistic (sold only at Petco) is also grain free and they have 2 chicken "flavors".  Soulistic is how I transitions mine from kibble to canned.

Thanks so much to you both!

I had read that link previously about cat food until my eyes glazed over, LOL! Just re-read it again, for hours and hours!  The only thing that was difficult to understand in that pdf spreadsheet for me were what the 'optimal' levels in each category actually were. I was able to go back and at least get the ballpark ranges from reading elsewhere on the site in a few areas (but not all of them). I hope Dr. Lisa will add a "key" right underneath of the main header each category to help better gauge "levels" or "ranges" that are ideal in each food listed. I created my own spreadsheet to try to do this, but am missing most for the "Dry Matter %s" as to what the "optimal ranges" are there.  Also, despite the recommendations listed in the narratives throughout the site, things "not to have" in foods are, in fact, listed in the recommended foods on there (I realize this isn't perfect-world stuff).

I did try Weruva. For a while I thought we had success with several of the pumpkin/chicken formulas, but she stopped eating them completely for several weeks (which made for a very happy local animal shelter, who got the rest, LOL). Wouldn't even touch the Soulistic. (I have literally spent a small fortune on cat food this year!).

Right now, she'll eat about 1/2 of the Wellness small cans in the AM, and just about the full small can of the Fancy Feast chicken mentioned above in the evenings. (Tried the "better" Classic FF Chicken last night and she immediately tried to bury it - so no-go there.). Picks at the Orijin dry throughout the day, but consumes much less than the total 1/4 scoop given per day.

The only things she loves are her Greenies (chicken of course) and her poultry-flavored CET dental treats (look like wine corks -she gets one a day). If she could exist solely on both of those, SHE would be a very happy kitty, LOL!!

I hope having this much Wellness (with only a few Fancy Feasts thrown in) + the Orijin dry will be "balanced" enough. I think I'm probably not alone in wondering if I have the right balance here!

Well, the Orijen in "nutritionally complete", and so is the Wellness and the Fancy Feast.  So, basically, everything you are feeding her is nutritionally complete.  The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that is not a complete meal would be if you are feeding raw and only fed her chunks of chicken with no calcium supplement or any bones whatsoever, and no organs, etc., OR if you fed her certain canned food that specifically said "not a nutritionally complete meal.  BG USED to say that, but have now changed their formula. 

Boy, I know only too well about having to give cans away to the local shelter.  Been there, done that.  At least they go to a good cause .  Funny, though.  NONE of mine will touch Wellness.  Or Merrick, which looks yummy enough for ME to eat! 

Have you tried raw?  It's possible that maybe she is one cat that really knows what she should be eating, and that is raw.  Lots of people are moving to that arena these days, and if you are reading Dr. Pierson's article, you may have seen she's a real proponent of raw.  Plus, there are many commercially made, nutritionally complete  raw foods out there so you don't have to jump in and make your own right off the bat.  I've been feeding raw since March, and still don't make my own.  I just found some Natural Pet Stores in my area and buy it there.  It comes frozen, and for cats most of it is in little nuggets that you can thaw or two at a time.  OR, there are actually freeze dried raw foods that you could try out.  I haven't found a cat yet that doesn't like those.  The favorite brand is Stella and Chewys.  They sell for both cats and dogs, and many people buy the dog flavors because they add Taurine to them too.  They just come in a different size patty (which since they are freeze dried can simply be broken up for cats)  I think the chicken only flavor is in the dog section.  But they do have a turkey flavor for cats, plus several others, but many do contain fish...not all though.   If you want more info on raw, head on over to the Raw Forum, a sub-forum of this Nutrition forum.

I thought long and hard about raw. My biggest fear there is the higher risk of intestinal parasites. I know this is a very subjective subject, laymen and vet alike, and one I will keep reading up on for sure. I'm not convinced just yet.

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice! Sincerely appreciated!!
 

The orijen you are feeding does have fish in it. 3 kinds, at least That's one of the problems with orijen, all of their foods have fish.

Weruva and Soulistic are good canned foods as far as no grains, and many have no fruits or veggies either, but they are really really high in carbs. I feed only one can a week of those, because of the carb levels.

By Nature Organics is a good line that is low carb (2%). By Nature 95% may be low in carbs too, but I don't know for sure, as I never asked. I don't know about their newer foods either, the only one I ever thought to ask about was the Organics.

I had the same concerns about parasites when I started raw feeding. I learned that the likelihood of parasites is very small (parasites live in the guts, which are not fed to cats). Also, freezing any raw meat before feeding it eliminates even that small parasite danger. I freeze for at least 3 days, at minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit. We have a great raw forum here where you can get this and all your questions about raw feeding answered. Hope to see you there!
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