Newly adopted stray; best start to feeding

jstie

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Introducing Smike. He's a stray / semi feral, about 10 weeks old, gunky eyes, snotty nose, and scary thin. Started on eye ointment, amoxicillin, wormed. After finally being captured and picked up 2 days ago, he melted into my hands, purring and has barely stopped since. He's sequestered in his own room for now, and eats like a little proverbial horse. We didn't have kitten food on hand, so fed Calif Natural venison. Now have a variety of wet kitten food (all premium,grain free) and want to get some healthy meat on his bones. A little diarrhea this morning, but he's otherwise alert, busy, loving and active. We don't want to overwhelm his little half-starved system. We're feeding him 3-4 times a day, about 1/4 of a 3 oz can each time. Does that sound about right? Is it okay to switch foods around, or would it be better to stay with one kind? And is there any particular meat base that would be best, or should be avoided (fish vs poultry vs beef, etc)? Is there any sort of supplemental goodie to add to help him fatten up? And finally...he's a boy. Having been thru two males with blockages and one FLUTD female (ALL of whom were on meaty, grain free canned food before and ended up on S/O), is there any wisdom on keeping boycats healthy and free-flowing right from the get-go? I SWORE I would never have another boy, but what can you do when HE picks YOU?
Smike and I thank you... Julie

 

bonepicker

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Introducing Smike. He's a stray / semi feral, about 10 weeks old, gunky eyes, snotty nose, and scary thin. Started on eye ointment, amoxicillin, wormed. After finally being captured and picked up 2 days ago, he melted into my hands, purring and has barely stopped since. He's sequestered in his own room for now, and eats like a little proverbial horse. We didn't have kitten food on hand, so fed Calif Natural venison. Now have a variety of wet kitten food (all premium,grain free) and want to get some healthy meat on his bones. A little diarrhea this morning, but he's otherwise alert, busy, loving and active. We don't want to overwhelm his little half-starved system. We're feeding him 3-4 times a day, about 1/4 of a 3 oz can each time. Does that sound about right? Is it okay to switch foods around, or would it be better to stay with one kind? And is there any particular meat base that would be best, or should be avoided (fish vs poultry vs beef, etc)? Is there any sort of supplemental goodie to add to help him fatten up? And finally...he's a boy. Having been thru two males with blockages and one FLUTD female (ALL of whom were on meaty, grain free canned food before and ended up on S/O), is there any wisdom on keeping boycats healthy and free-flowing right from the get-go? I SWORE I would never have another boy, but what can you do when HE picks YOU?
Smike and I thank you... Julie

Were your past cats on wet only or both wet and dry for most of their lives. What did you feed them?
 
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jstie

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One of the  boys was a farm cat, abandoned by his people when they moved to Florida and left him.  He'd been on dry, but we switched him to all wet food (Evo) - 6 months later he blocked.  WE WERE able to get him off S/O and he's done fine on Calif Natural venison.  The girl was a stray who strolled into our yard and presented us with a dead wild turkey chick; we have no idea what (else) she was eating before, but once with us, she was also eating all wet  food - a year later, she developed FLUTD.  C/D for 3 months, then we carefully weaned her off that and back to all wet, grain-free (Evo again).  6 months later, she had another bout of cystitis, so went on S/O permanently.  The other boy, my Abyssinian, was on all-wet food his whole life, and then blocked at the age of 7.  He's been on S/O ever since - we're scared to try anything else now!   - Julie
 

chwx

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Curious, did they all eat EVO wet? Have you lived in the same house/area when those blockages occurred? Could be bad luck with the food OR it could be your water supply is high in minerals. (Or both) I'd rotate foods so the cat doesn't get too much of anything and either start buying PURIFIED (Not spring!) water to give them or get a water purifying system. (ie. Brita) And of course pray for the best!!! I just had my DOG block a month ago. With 2 male cats in the house and the fact this has never happened to her before nor is she a prone breed....I was quite surprised. I'm pulled between the thought of it being Instinct since I know several cat owners who's cats blocked on the food and it just so happened to be I was feeding their brand exclusively for 3-4 months OR the possibility that Charleston water is crap. She's on SO right now but I plan to figure out something else soon (likely bite the bullet and go back to raw even though it means multiple trips to the store each week because I don't have freezer space ATM) and have been using a Brita filter and purified water mixed in her food to make it soupy and in the bowls which the cats also drink from.

I hope you have better luck with this cutie. Blockages are super scary and the cost is scary too!!
 
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