- Joined
- May 11, 2015
- Messages
- 23
- Purraise
- 1
Hi,
I'm new to this forum, although, not so new as I have read some of your conversations for a while. First of all, thank you! I feel a little bit less like a control freak and more like a good cat parent
Quick introduction: we adopted our cat in 2009, he had been at the Humane Society for more than a month, likely because he's black and he wasn't a tiny kitten (~7 months old). Poor Dude. 1.5 years later, we moved abroad with a healthy cat. We had a horrible experience which lasted for months with his first vet, we eventually got our cat back on track emotionally. Almost, he started to vomit bile during the night. "Feed him more before going to bed" said the next (great) vet, it helped for the next 2 years. Back in November, Ishi (aka The Dude and Monstro) started to vomit large dense hairballs. He never had done that before (for about 6 years), the husband assumed it was because of the hot (no AC) summer. I thought it was the carbs in the food; I had switched to a wet diet mostly (less than 1/4 cup of kibbles for the night) and my only access to cans was Whiskas or Science Diet Hairball Control. We were about to move back to the US and I was hoping everything would be better once fed a much better food. That didn't happen...
I decided to go with Tiki Cat - poultry since the proportions of protein/fat/carbs was the closest to a species appropriate diet. Actually, to my surprise, those numbers are better than most commercial raw foods if I stick to Dr. Lisa Pierson's chart. I added some probiotics and for a month, no more vomiting. Then he started to vomit bile again on a weekly basis. I note everything so I know it always happened after more than 4 hours after his last meal. After a few weeks, the new vet suggested to try a new protein source, he was getting tired of the Tiki Cat anyways. The vet wanted me to go with Royal Canin, I said I wanted to stick to a good brand and chose Ziwipeak venison. I also went with Naturvet probiotics and digestive enzymes instead of probiotics only.
Here's my problem with Ziwipeak: his stools. They are formed and look normal but soft to the touch, sometimes very soft inside (like a chocolate fondant). My concern was that for the past 6 years, he had a tendency to constipation. The vets always said he had hard feces in the colon, although he had a bowel movement daily and of course, the stool would be very dry, even when fed mostly wet food. After two months on Tiki Cat, there was no fixed pattern, he would go daily and then every other day, if not every 3 days but feces looked like the pictures from cats on raw food: smaller and crumbly. I expressed my concern twice and I was told each time that I was overthinking it. Frankly, it is possible. Except that last week, he had a mushy stool (back to normal the next bowel movement -- maybe the pro/prebiotics work wonder) and yesterday it was partly normal, partly bland. It is supposedly a highly digestible food and all the ingredients look great so I am scratching my head over this. I've been thinking of eventually go raw but I was hoping for a smooth transition from Tiki. Now we're already into 2 brands in 3 months, I don't know if it would be wise to change again. And our current vet wants to do an invasive biopsy to check for IBD. I realize it might be it, even though, the symptoms are mild but I'd rather try other solutions first.
Anyone has had issues with Ziwipeak ? Anyone with that kind of experience ?
Thank you in advance!
I'm new to this forum, although, not so new as I have read some of your conversations for a while. First of all, thank you! I feel a little bit less like a control freak and more like a good cat parent
Quick introduction: we adopted our cat in 2009, he had been at the Humane Society for more than a month, likely because he's black and he wasn't a tiny kitten (~7 months old). Poor Dude. 1.5 years later, we moved abroad with a healthy cat. We had a horrible experience which lasted for months with his first vet, we eventually got our cat back on track emotionally. Almost, he started to vomit bile during the night. "Feed him more before going to bed" said the next (great) vet, it helped for the next 2 years. Back in November, Ishi (aka The Dude and Monstro) started to vomit large dense hairballs. He never had done that before (for about 6 years), the husband assumed it was because of the hot (no AC) summer. I thought it was the carbs in the food; I had switched to a wet diet mostly (less than 1/4 cup of kibbles for the night) and my only access to cans was Whiskas or Science Diet Hairball Control. We were about to move back to the US and I was hoping everything would be better once fed a much better food. That didn't happen...
I decided to go with Tiki Cat - poultry since the proportions of protein/fat/carbs was the closest to a species appropriate diet. Actually, to my surprise, those numbers are better than most commercial raw foods if I stick to Dr. Lisa Pierson's chart. I added some probiotics and for a month, no more vomiting. Then he started to vomit bile again on a weekly basis. I note everything so I know it always happened after more than 4 hours after his last meal. After a few weeks, the new vet suggested to try a new protein source, he was getting tired of the Tiki Cat anyways. The vet wanted me to go with Royal Canin, I said I wanted to stick to a good brand and chose Ziwipeak venison. I also went with Naturvet probiotics and digestive enzymes instead of probiotics only.
Here's my problem with Ziwipeak: his stools. They are formed and look normal but soft to the touch, sometimes very soft inside (like a chocolate fondant). My concern was that for the past 6 years, he had a tendency to constipation. The vets always said he had hard feces in the colon, although he had a bowel movement daily and of course, the stool would be very dry, even when fed mostly wet food. After two months on Tiki Cat, there was no fixed pattern, he would go daily and then every other day, if not every 3 days but feces looked like the pictures from cats on raw food: smaller and crumbly. I expressed my concern twice and I was told each time that I was overthinking it. Frankly, it is possible. Except that last week, he had a mushy stool (back to normal the next bowel movement -- maybe the pro/prebiotics work wonder) and yesterday it was partly normal, partly bland. It is supposedly a highly digestible food and all the ingredients look great so I am scratching my head over this. I've been thinking of eventually go raw but I was hoping for a smooth transition from Tiki. Now we're already into 2 brands in 3 months, I don't know if it would be wise to change again. And our current vet wants to do an invasive biopsy to check for IBD. I realize it might be it, even though, the symptoms are mild but I'd rather try other solutions first.
Anyone has had issues with Ziwipeak ? Anyone with that kind of experience ?
Thank you in advance!
since they made the change. The three ounce can shape was also changed and the product looked more fatty and soft throughout - not as dry. My cats refused to eat the new canned ZiwiPeak. My cats would readily eat the Venison, Rabbit and the Venison/Fish. The new flat cans did not seemed as full either and the product practically fell out as it was very, very moist. The older 3 ounce cans were much more tightly packed and I just added a little warm water. I believe they removed the Carrageenan and this caused the consistency to change. I am still going to try to feed it in rotation and just add a topper because I just love the ingredients but for now we are skipping it. It is very pricey and such a waste IF they won't eat it anymore.
