Need help with wet food

Hello

I have two Bengal cats. Bella who is 4 and Oswald who is 5 months. Bella was on Fancy Feast Kibble and Oswald was on Royal Canine Baby Cat, but now that he is 5 months I have moved him up to the next Royal Canine kibble for kittens.

So - after doing some reading the worst food in the world that I could have feed Bella was the FF Kibble.....so I decided I was going to switch my cats to a natural grain free high protein no fish diet.

I introduced them slowly to Weruva. Got Bella totally off the FF Kibble. They would only eat the Nine Liver and the Paw licking good. Bella loved it. So did Oswald. As soon as I transitioned them over 100% to Weruva Oswald started with vomiting and diarrhea! So bad he was pooping outside the litter box on the office carpet, in the catio, etc.....

Now I have him back on Orijen Cat and Kitten (mixed with his Royal Canine Kitten). I have to wet it and put FortaFlora on it. He seems to be going back to normal poop after 3 days. Bella has been eating the Orijen.

I really don't want to keep them 100% on kibble. I would like to find a non fish, wet food for them. But I just don't know what to try.

If Oswald is allergic to Chicken, or perhaps the potato starch in the Weruva, I don't know what I should try?

Any suggestion. (not to be rude) please don't suggest raw diet. I have already decided that this is not for me. But I am happy to try good grain free, fish free food for my fur babies.

Thank you for you help

Shelly

I suggest trying Nature's Variety Instinct. They have a few limited ingredient diets (LID) Turkey, Duck, Pork and Rabbit. Also, the Beef formula only contains beef ingredients; but, is not labeled LID, so there is the chance it could contain traces of other proteins.

NVI also is gum-free, so really a good choice when trying to decide if there is a food allergy.

Also, because Oswalt has been eating RC and Orijen (I suspect the cat&kitten one) without issue, I highly doubt chicken is the culprit.

Yes - Oswald and Bella are now eating the Origen Cat and Kitten. I did not know it had chicken in it. But the more I read other reviews about Weruva, I think it is the Potato starch that is too rich for him. I went to NVI website and read up on the Limited Ingredient food. I will give it a go. How much do you suggest I give them? I may wait a few days on Oswald. Poor boy is just getting back to normal. I would hate to throw him back into the scoots! LOL

One of our cats can't eat foods with potato in it, either. I've noticed that a few other people on the Cat Site have said their cats have problems with it, too. Weruva's Paw Lickin' Chicken can be especially goopy with potato starch.

In terms of other foods, our cats' favorite brands are Tiki Cat, Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen foods, and Nutro Natural Choice. They also to like Merrick's LID turkey and duck, and Hound & Gatos lamb. All those foods are grain-free, potato-free, and carrageenan-free. Our cats aren't thrilled with the NVI food, though they did eat the chicken, turkey, and duck occasionally for a while.

Good luck! And welcome to the Cat Site!

Thank you. I am going to pick up some nVI tonight. I have a case of Weruva to exchange. Lol

I will also look into the other brands you mentioned.

Soulistic Aromatic Chicken, sold ONLY at Petco, is very similar to Weruva Paw lickin Chickin (manufactured by the same people, only Soulistic is made for Petco) ,but it doesn't contain Potato Starch.  (I'm pretty sure it's the Aromatic Chicken ....been awhile since I bought any) 

You might try adding probiotics to their food, which helps keep their gut flora in tip top shape.  I give my cats the same probiotics that WE take.  I just open up the capsules and stir in 1/2 capsule into each cat's bowl of canned food in the a.m. and then do it again in the p.m.  With Oswald, I'd probably only give him 1/2 capsule per DAY since he's still a baby .  LOVE his name, BTW

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
Soulistic Aromatic Chicken, sold ONLY at Petco, is very similar to Weruva Paw lickin Chickin (manufactured by the same people, only Soulistic is made for Petco) ,but it doesn't contain Potato Starch.  (I'm pretty sure it's the Aromatic Chicken

....been awhile since I bought any) 

You might try adding probiotics to their food, which helps keep their gut flora in tip top shape.  I give my cats the same probiotics that WE take.  I just open up the capsules and stir in 1/2 capsule into each cat's bowl of canned food in the a.m. and then do it again in the p.m.  With Oswald, I'd probably only give him 1/2 capsule per DAY since he's still a baby

.  LOVE his name, BTW

Click to expand...

I think the Soulistic food that's like Paw Lickin' Chicken is the Good Karma, which is, indeed, thickened with tapioca instead of potato. (I remember Aromatic Chicken because it was a food our previous cat would eat when she was very, very sick: it's like aspic. *shudder*)

Since you mentioned Soulistic, though, that reminds me that our cats love their chicken and pumpkin foods, both in the can and in the pouch... and I swear it even helped Ireland when she had inexplicable diarrhea.

Here's the Soulistic Web site, @ShellyCopland!

Hi

So I went to Petco last night and read a ton of food labels. I looked at Scolastic and saw it had Tapioca Starch instead of Potato strach. Is it your opinion that this tapioca starch will give Oswald the scoots too? I did pick up some Nature's Instinct Limited Lamb. Oswald will eat it, Bella hates it! She is actually really honked off right now due to the lack of wet food she likes. I can't keep them seperated because Oswald will eat everything. And Bella is a grazer. Heck - Oswald would eat the butt out of a skunk if you let him....LOL

The Natures's Instinct is more of a pate, where as Weruva was strips of chicken and Bella was a gravy licker.

I do put FortaFlora in Oswalds food. So he is getting a probiotic. and his poop is back to normal. I only mixed a little NI with his Origen as not to get him all out of wack again.

Should I try Scolastic???? Suggestions?? Chicken???

Thanks

I haven't yet heard of a cat that is sensitive to tapioca; but, there's always the possibility.

I tried Soulistic with my cats, but it made them vomit. I believe they are sensitive to xanthan gum.

If your girl likes gravies, I would checkout Pride by Instinct and Natural Choice slices (the slices have more gravy than the minced.) You may also want to try the Natural Balance that comes in the tubs, not cans, as they have a similar consistency to Weruva.

ShellyCopland said:

So I went to Petco last night and read a ton of food labels. I looked at Scolastic and saw it had Tapioca Starch instead of Potato strach. Is it your opinion that this tapioca starch will give Oswald the scoots too? I did pick up some Nature's Instinct Limited Lamb. Oswald will eat it, Bella hates it! She is actually really honked off right now due to the lack of wet food she likes. I can't keep them seperated because Oswald will eat everything. And Bella is a grazer. Heck - Oswald would eat the butt out of a skunk if you let him....LOL

The Natures's Instinct is more of a pate, where as Weruva was strips of chicken and Bella was a gravy licker.

Click to expand...

I agree with @CatPack about the tapioca starch: I've never noticed anyone mentioning a cat being sensitive to it, either. Ours tolerate it fine, though I don't usually feed them all the sauce/gravy in the can or pouch because the tapioca raises the carb levels so much. I just don't like feeding them too much of it.

If Bella likes strips of meat with gravy then yes, the Nutro Natural Choice slices and minced are good, just like CatPack says. Our cats love those. They also like a lot of Tiki's foods, which are shreds or chunks of meat with "consomme"  (fancy!) with no thickeners or vegetables. And the Weruva Cats in the Kitchen foods that I mentioned earlier are shreds, too, but don't have potato.

So much of feeding cats is trial and error: what multiple cats will eat, what ingredients don't bother their stomachs, what feeding regimen fits their stomachs, and what you feel comfortable feeding them. It took some months to get our two off dry food and eating a rotation of canned foods they liked and I thought were healthy enough. Even now--after having the cats for a year and eight months--their food is still a work in progress because they're so into variety. But at least everybody's generally happy!

I will google those foods and read them. Thank you. Another thing about picky Bella.

She will not eat cold food!

ShellyCopland said:

 
Hi

So I went to Petco last night and read a ton of food labels. I looked at Scolastic and saw it had Tapioca Starch instead of Potato strach. Is it your opinion that this tapioca starch will give Oswald the scoots too? I did pick up some Nature's Instinct Limited Lamb. Oswald will eat it, Bella hates it! She is actually really honked off right now due to the lack of wet food she likes. I can't keep them seperated because Oswald will eat everything. And Bella is a grazer. Heck - Oswald would eat the butt out of a skunk if you let him....LOL

The Natures's Instinct is more of a pate, where as Weruva was strips of chicken and Bella was a gravy licker.

I do put FortaFlora in Oswalds food. So he is getting a probiotic. and his poop is back to normal. I only mixed a little NI with his Origen as not to get him all out of wack again.

Should I try Scolastic???? Suggestions?? Chicken???

Thanks

Click to expand...

Good for you for taking the time to read the ingredient labels.

While tapioca starch makes Soulistic a bit higher in carbs than if it didn't contain the ingredient, Soulistic is still a good choice.  Whether or not it will cause digestive upset in Oswald is hard to predict.

Soulistic tends to be on the lower calorie end, generally, so you may have to feed a bit more than you would other foods.

Also, not all Soulistic formulas are created equally - I would avoid the ones that contain carrageenan or foods with "gelee".  Good Karma and Chicken with Pumpkin are carrageenan free. 

Re: Weruva and suspecting that maybe a chicken allergy is involved, it is a bit difficult to gauge - Weruva, is a good food and carageenan free but they do use guar gum (along with other gums) and *sometimes* this can cause digestive upset in *some* cats. Guar gum in particular - guar is derived from the guar bean.

As far as NV, their lamb for cats is not among the higher sellers as far as palatability.  NV makes other LID canned food formulas, although not all available at Petco.  LID rabbit and LID pork can be found at some indy stores.

Instinct's rabbit with pork worked well for our two cats which I fed for quite some time, despite not being LID, they did very well on this food and I had one cat with IBD.

I think if I were in your situation, I would consider doing an elimination diet (LID), one single canned protein for several weeks, see how that goes and then begin introducing other proteins and see how kitty reacts.

NV Instinct (Instinct only and not Pride) is carrageenan and gum free.

Good luck.

ShellyCopland said:

 
I will google those foods and read them. Thank you. Another thing about picky Bella.

She will not eat cold food!

Click to expand...

Add a few drops of warm water to the food which may help take the chill off.

I don't recommend warming up the food with heat, that will destroy nutrients in the food.

Thank you for all your comments and help! I am sure it will take me a few months to figure out what my fur babies like.

I am going to google all these foods and look at the texture and ingredents.

thanks again!

ShellyCopland said:

 
Thank you for all your comments and help! I am sure it will take me a few months to figure out what my fur babies like.

I am going to google all these foods and look at the texture and ingredents.

thanks again!

Click to expand...

It can take months with some cats getting the right food, I'm sure it will work out.

And btw, that is one cute little kitty cat you have as your Avatar here on TCS, the curl of the tail is adorable!

This is Bella. 4 year old Brown Bengal from Flint, MI

This is Oswald - 5 month old Silver Bengal from Xenia, OH. The little dote on his nose is in the shape of a heart and I WANT TO KISS IT OFF EVERY DAY!!!!

but don't let this cure face fool you! All Boy - pure Monster!!!! LOL

My husband and I built them a Cadio. It is 12 x 8 feet and 8 feet high. Total 100 square feet with a tunnel run into the house complete with a pet door so they can come and go as they please.

Inside the cadio I have Wheat Grass, Cat nip and Cat mint. The wheat grass helps their digestive system. Both cats will spend hours in the cadio. They also have a giant cat wheel from One Fast Cat

that they run on every day. Bella works out every morning...LOL

Here is a video of it

Instead of the pate NV Instinct, try the Pride by Instinct: http://www.instinctpetfood.com/pride The canned foods are minced or flaked in gravy.

Here are pictures of what the food looks like in several different brands: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ninga/sets/72157630596066364

I know you said you don't want to do raw food, but is home cooked an option? It might help if your cats are sensitive to commercial foods. A home cooked diet doesn't have to be involved. One of the easiest ways is to cook meat and add in a pre-mix and some water.