Odd eating habit, or something else?

espiritumapache · Mar 28, 2013

Just trying to decide what food to get for FireFly.. I feed wet to the feral/strays outside so that's the only cat food I had around when she decided she lives with us, lol (See new cats on the block topic FireFly for full back story).

While she seems to enjoy the wet, she wants to eat a mouth full of of wet and follow it with a mouth full of dry (which she steals from the dog).. Is that normal? Could it be teething/another clue to her age?.....I think the consensus guess of her age from the friendly folks on this forum, is under a year and while looking up pics of cats at various ages I found one that looks just a little smaller than her and that cat is 7 months... Anyway, I'm not sure if I should have her main meals be kibble or wet... Or if I should mix them or simply offer both? Also, what is the best way to satisfy her desire to try to steal food out of our hands/ off of our plates? I'm thinking that desire is rooted in her having to dumpster dive for food before she found us.. So I'm also wondering what is the best way to get her the verity she is craving?

just mike · Mar 28, 2013

EspirituMapache said:
Just trying to decide what food to get for FireFly.. I feed wet to the feral/strays outside so that's the only cat food I had around when she decided she lives with us, lol (See new cats on the block topic FireFly for full back story).

While she seems to enjoy the wet, she wants to eat a mouth full of of wet and follow it with a mouth full of dry (which she steals from the dog).. Is that normal? Could it be teething/another clue to her age?.....I think the consensus guess of her age from the friendly folks on this forum, is under a year and while looking up pics of cats at various ages I found one that looks just a little smaller than her and that cat is 7 months... Anyway, I'm not sure if I should have her main meals be kibble or wet... Or if I should mix them or simply offer both? Also, what is the best way to satisfy her desire to try to steal food out of our hands/ off of our plates? I'm thinking that desire is rooted in her having to dumpster dive for food before she found us.. So I'm also wondering what is the best way to get her the verity she is craving?

An all wet diet for a cat is the preferable diet. Cats are carnivores and therefore rely upon protein for sustenance and wet food helps keep them hydrated. Many cats live long, health and full lives on an all kibble diet but they also drink plenty of water which keeps them hydrated. Kibble is a calorie and carb dense diet which can lead to obesity and many other problems such as diabetes etc. Free feeding cats a kibble diet is the main source of these issues because a kibble addict will eat it all day long and become obese :nod:

All that said. My cats are on a 90% wet to 10% kibble diet. Yes, I measure the daily kibble and dispense it at 3 separate times throughout the day between their 2 wet meals. Since your cat is already good with an all wet diet, I would not change it. If you want to give her a little kibble for "grazing", like I do mine, that is fine but is should not be the dog's kibble. There are different nutrients in dog and cat kibble and a cat eating dog kibble will be denied essential vitamins and minerals the cat needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. For brands, my cat are now eating the new grain free varieties from Nutro Natural Choice. Their kibble is Nutro Max Cat Indoor Roasted Chicken. I buy several different premium brands of wet now and then to give them different flavors and textures.

espiritumapache · Mar 28, 2013

I guess I should have mentioned this, sorry, lol but: this is only going to be a temporary diet, once we get her to understand what the litter box is and how to use it I plan on switching her to raw. I already have the ferrets on raw, so I'd just have to learn ratios differences and other details for FireFly to be on raw, too. I just want to make sure we have her potty situation locked down so we don't have a messy problem during her detox period (which might not be as drastic as the ferrets because of the difference in digestion time, but we still want to be prepared for lol)

I would prefer to just buy her BG wet food for the time being, but, because she is stealing the dogs kibble (which I know isn't nutritionally sufficient for her) I was thinking if she wants something hard and crunchy, maybe I should get her her own kibble, which would be nutritionally sound. I figure her having a little kibble to satisfy her crunching crave would be better for her than stealing not-good-for-her kibble from the dog. If there is a better way than kibble to satisfy her crunch craving, I would be more than happy to try it out with her. I honestly am not a fan of kibble, lol. The only reason our dog is on kibble is because when we tried to switch him to wet food he got chronic diarrhea that ran through him so fast that he dehydrated bad enough to up in the emergency vet for two days- it was crazy! He was fine when I left for work and throwing up even water when I got home. Unfortunately, he had a similar reaction when trying to switch to raw :-( We are actually lucky enough to have a pro-raw vet but after a lengthy discussion, we decided to just keep him on a high quality kibble and supplement with raw and canned wet. Sorry, that's totally off topic, lol.

Anywhoo, lol....

FireFly doesn't graze, but when she sits down for a meal she eats one mouth full of wet, jumps down and goes into the kitchen and, if I don't stop her, will eat a mouth full of dog kibble and then go back to her wet food and so on and so forth. I really would like to know why she does it? It seems so strange. The only thing I can figure is teething BUT since I don't know her age, I don't know if that fits. Before she came inside, I would only see her every once in a while, she'd come way after the group of cats I feed and pick at their left overs (and would run if I tried to feed her, until for some reason she just walked in the house Sunday and decided we're her family) so this odd eating habit is really the only time I've seen her eat a full meal and I don't know that she would be happy with a primarily wet diet.

I wish I could think of a non-kibble way to satisfy her crave to crunch on something :/ but since I can't, kibble will be our answer for now. Could you give me an example if your feeding schedule, like how often you rotate textures/brands/flavors and how much kibble and how much wet you do daily?

Thank you

vball91 · Mar 28, 2013

That is odd. I've never heard of a cat wanting to alternate bites of wet and dry like that. What about getting her some freeze dried raw treats to satisfy her crunch craving (if that's what it is)? A lot of the FD meat and organ treats are pretty crunchy.

ritz · Mar 29, 2013

I also thought of freeze dried treats. Some are harder than others; Pure Bites (available at PetCo/PetSmart) are small and kind of crunchy. Bravo treats are relatively hard.

And since you're going to be transitioning to raw, why don't you try raw bone like chicken wingettes (the small part of the chicken wing); if your cat wants crunch/is teething, chicken wings should certain satisfy that craving!

I kind of think your cat really likes the chemicals/additives sprayed on a lot of dry kibble. Also, most cats swallow dry food, they don't really chew it.

mrsgreenjeens · Mar 29, 2013

vball91 said:
That is odd. I've never heard of a cat wanting to alternate bites of wet and dry like that. What about getting her some freeze dried raw treats to satisfy her crunch craving (if that's what it is)? A lot of the FD meat and organ treats are pretty crunchy.

Oh great idea. Stella and Chewy's would probably be good...I still think my cats mainly like S & C because it reminds them of their kibble days

. They only like it in it's dehydrated form. But don't buy the single serve pouches because those are crushed. Need to get the 12 oz bags. I've found lately that sometimes the size of the cubes are difference. One time the size was perfect (about 1/2 " cube), then another time it was more like 3/4 " cube, which I felt was a little too big, so on those I just break them in half before handing them out. Mine just get S & C as treats.

espiritumapache · Mar 29, 2013

Thank you everyone! Great idea, I don't know why but it never occurred to me to try FD treats, lol.

I love Bravo's treats for my dog, I actually need to pick some more up, I have always wanted to try S&C's but never got around to ordering them.. I really should, I currently use Merrick Lamb Lung treats for my ferrets (so we have them already

) I happened upon them in PetCo and their only ingredient is Lamb Lung so I figured, what the heck? My guys love lamb!... And they go nutty for them

Definitely will have to try them with FireFly. I could also give her some of SoCo (my youngest ferret)'s wing stash.. he is obsessed with them, they're his favorite food in the universe... BUT I'm sure he can share

and Ritz, she is chewing them.. but I didn't realize that it might be the additives she's after... that's an interesting idea. If that's true, the FD treats wouldn't help, I guess. Just in case the additives are her addiction, any other ideas on what I could give her to curb that craving?

vball91 · Mar 29, 2013

FortiFlora to the rescue. Used as a topper (no good as a probiotic), it works great for kibble addicts because it has animal digest. So it works great if you sprinkle it on the food you want them to eat. Of course, you will still need to figure out how to wean her off FortiFlora.

If she likes any of the FD treats, you can use those instead of FortiFlora.

katluver4life · Mar 30, 2013

Before my 2 went to an all wet diet, there was usually a bit of their wellness dry still down when the wet was put down. My male would alternate bites between his wet and the dry. I thought it was the weirdest thing!

just mike · Mar 30, 2013

EspirituMapache said:
I guess I should have mentioned this, sorry, lol but: this is only going to be a temporary diet, once we get her to understand what the litter box is and how to use it I plan on switching her to raw. I already have the ferrets on raw, so I'd just have to learn ratios differences and other details for FireFly to be on raw, too. I just want to make sure we have her potty situation locked down so we don't have a messy problem during her detox period (which might not be as drastic as the ferrets because of the difference in digestion time, but we still want to be prepared for lol)

I would prefer to just buy her BG wet food for the time being, but, because she is stealing the dogs kibble (which I know isn't nutritionally sufficient for her) I was thinking if she wants something hard and crunchy, maybe I should get her her own kibble, which would be nutritionally sound. I figure her having a little kibble to satisfy her crunching crave would be better for her than stealing not-good-for-her kibble from the dog. If there is a better way than kibble to satisfy her crunch craving, I would be more than happy to try it out with her. I honestly am not a fan of kibble, lol. The only reason our dog is on kibble is because when we tried to switch him to wet food he got chronic diarrhea that ran through him so fast that he dehydrated bad enough to up in the emergency vet for two days- it was crazy! He was fine when I left for work and throwing up even water when I got home. Unfortunately, he had a similar reaction when trying to switch to raw :-( We are actually lucky enough to have a pro-raw vet but after a lengthy discussion, we decided to just keep him on a high quality kibble and supplement with raw and canned wet. Sorry, that's totally off topic, lol.

Anywhoo, lol....

FireFly doesn't graze, but when she sits down for a meal she eats one mouth full of wet, jumps down and goes into the kitchen and, if I don't stop her, will eat a mouth full of dog kibble and then go back to her wet food and so on and so forth. I really would like to know why she does it? It seems so strange. The only thing I can figure is teething BUT since I don't know her age, I don't know if that fits. Before she came inside, I would only see her every once in a while, she'd come way after the group of cats I feed and pick at their left overs (and would run if I tried to feed her, until for some reason she just walked in the house Sunday and decided we're her family) so this odd eating habit is really the only time I've seen her eat a full meal and I don't know that she would be happy with a primarily wet diet.

I wish I could think of a non-kibble way to satisfy her crave to crunch on something :/ but since I can't, kibble will be our answer for now. Could you give me an example if your feeding schedule, like how often you rotate textures/brands/flavors and how much kibble and how much wet you do daily?

Thank you

Hi

First off, there is a great forum on TCS for feeding raw which you may, or may not already know about at http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-feeding-for-cats

For the feedings... The dry is spaced between their wet meals. The wet meals are at about 7am and 5ish in the afternoon. The kibble is dispensed at noon, 10pm and 2am. What I do with the wet and kibble is take the suggested daily feeding guidelines and multiply it by 4 on the brands of wet food I use. Then I divide that by 2 feedings per day. For the kibble I take the suggested daily feeding and multiply by 4, then I feed 10% of that amount into 3 different feedings. I hope this answers your question. The feeding guidelines on the cans and bags tend to be too much so my may have to adjust according to how much your cats need/eat. I switch brands back and forth randomly. I usually do it when they show disinterest in a particular texture or flavor. Then I'll switch the brand and texture. It really depends upon the cat.

espiritumapache · Apr 1, 2013

NutroMike I had seen the raw area, just haven't gotten around to exploring it yet :-) Thanks though, and thank you for sharing your meal plan, we really appreciate it

Odd eating habit, or something else?

espiritumapache

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just mike

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vball91

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