Wet & Dry dilemma

For Reference

Bailey: 5-7 year old neutered male

Cooper: 5-7 year old neutered male

Lynk: > 1 year old neutered male

I had succeeded in changing over from dry food to wet.  I initially was feeding a combination of Drs. Foster & Smith and 9 Lives and noticed Lynk had liquid poops other two were just fine.  My local grocery store has a rather solid selection of pet food and over the course of a few several weeks I have tried Wellness, Solid Gold and Blue Buffalo all wet.  As desperation set in I decided to try dry (as I still had a quarter of a bag left from when I made the switch) and after four days Lynk's poop is normal.

Bailey and Cooper were fine throughout all the changes and now all the cats are use to eating on the dog's feeding schedule (morning and evening) verse the free feeding when I use to leave dry out throughout the day. 

I lost a male cat earlier this year due to urinary complications and liked that when going with wet food for the most part a lot of that type of stuff would be taken care of (I do have drinking fountains and such still as well).

So my question is - where do I go from here?  Feeding dry for one feeding and wet for another?  Has anyone else experienced this type of thing from wet food?  I know cats don't need the grains and they are just fillers, but perhaps I should be looking at a cat food that has some type of vegetable matter in it?

Prior to getting Lynk I fed Bailey and Cooper off and on Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys that has 'garden greens' in it - perhaps I should try something like this with Lynk?

Have you tried any of the Friskies or Fancy Feast pate-type flavors? They are fairly good quality and low in carbs.

catspaw66 said:

 
Have you tried any of the Friskies or Fancy Feast pate-type flavors? They are fairly good quality and low in carbs.

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I haven't yet - the two older boys use to get Fancy Feast wet every now and then then I went on this whole pet food kick (changed both my dog and cat food) and passed up the typical brands that you find in a grocery store.

I second the using Friskies pate- type, also if you want wet food with veggies, you could always get Halo wet, it also has lots of moisture in it if your worried about your kitties getting enough water. My kitten did fine with the transition of regular store cat food to grain free cat food, her stools stayed the same. Another thing you can consider is having a grain free dry, I like using wellness core. You could also just add water to the dry food so you can up the water intake?

Dr. Pierson (I think you're already familiar with her site http://www.catinfo.org ) states that the switch from dry to canned can reveal GI problems that had been masked.

I suspect the food changes altered your kitten's pH and thus the bacterial environment in the gut. I would give him probiotics. I would use the Natural Factors acidophilus+bifidus. Given his age, I would give him 5 billion CFU daily:
After being on the probiotics for several weeks, I would give a try at transitioning him back to wet food. In that switch, I would focus on food that is grain free, without vegetables.

I don't think the issue is fiber; I think it's the environment in his gut. That said, using some slippery elm once a day while starting him on the probiotics may help. http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/slippery-elm/

Luckily where I work, the owners, as a side project use to sell nutritional supplements for dogs and horses.  Closed down and still have a ton of it in the back so I'll just bring some microbial home and try that with the wet.

Aqualoon said:

 
Luckily where I work, the owners, as a side project use to sell nutritional supplements for dogs and horses.  Closed down and still have a ton of it in the back so I'll just bring some microbial home and try that with the wet.

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So....what exactly is a microbial? 

I'm wondering, too, if you are feeding Lynk the same protein all the time.  Maybe all beef flavors, or all chicken?  Some cats have allergies to specific proteins, and so if you feeding one specific protein with every food, that could be causing his loose stool. 

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
So....what exactly is a microbial? 

I'm wondering, too, if you are feeding Lynk the same protein all the time.  Maybe all beef flavors, or all chicken?  Some cats have allergies to specific proteins, and so if you feeding one specific protein with every food, that could be causing his loose stool. 

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Pro and prebiotics.  One of our larger customers was a zoo in California, they had the rhinos on it.

As for flavors all kinds were given - chicken, turkey, beef, white fish, etc.  Basically I just bought all the flavors and rotated them daily.

I would check the strains in those probiotics first. And as a kitten, he only needs a child's dose of 5 billion CFU, best given as half that twice a day.