So I had been trying to get my kitties on a rotation of different wet foods. While my one cat did fine on most of them(he has a habit of vomiting on some brands but I actually don't recall running into any that made him do that exclusively), my younger guy is another story. I had posted about him before, how his stools smelled awful and a change of food solved it.
Most of the brands I tried had given him diarrhea! Merrick, Soulistic(I think this one was actually okay but there was no consistency in the food and I got some questionable cans), Earthborn, and I think even Fancy Feast gave him the runs.
Anyway, finally I worked something out that worked for both of them. They got Authority in the morning for breakfast(not the best, but it worked for the time being), and different wets for dinner. The kitten did well on Natural Balance Wild Pursuit, NutroMax chicken/liver adult formula, and a few bits of I/D strew that I picked up from work when he decided he wasn't interested in his current food anymore. The small amount of I/D was enough to encourage him to eat. Not sure why he went through a bought of not wanting to eat much, but he's over that now. He stopped wanting the NB by itself so that's why I mixed in the Nutro, and to see if it helped his smelly poop. Strictly having NB gives him smelly stools, the Nutro solved the smell and he was more interested in it, until he did the same thing and I had to add I/D to it as well.
So recently both cats got sick, vomiting and diarrhea. My older boy never gets diarrhea so something was definitely up. I attributed it to their breakfast food, the Authority. I had just picked up some Catfish formula and went with that one morning. They had had one can of it previously with no issues and it had been a few days between the first can and this one. That's the only thing I could think of that caused them to be sick since that's the only thing they share and they don't have any parasites. They had been having liquid diarrhea, it was bad. I picked up some RC Gastrointestinal High Energy from work and they've been eating that. Both of them LOVE it, but I hate it. No way do I want them to continue eating that. I believe it's safe to put my other cat back on his normal dinner meal of Wellness Core, but it's the younger guy that I'm concerned about. He's the one who gets diarrhea off of almost everything.
What can I try feeding him? His stools are perfect on the Royal Canin, which sucks because I don't want him eating that forever. They were okay on what he was eating before they both got sick, only with occasional softer stools. Part of me thinks he just can't handle the higher quality brands and that upsets me because I want him eating good foods.
Ideally I'd like them both eating the same thing in the morning(rotating it hopefully), and to keep what they eat for dinner the same to provide some consistency.
I've tried limited ingredient brands, I've tried different proteins, I've tried with/without grains, etc... He honestly seems to do better on brands with grains, poop wise... Not counting the Natural Balance since that was grain free and he did okay on that, he just didn't want to eat it and it made his stool smell horrid. But no diarrhea.
Raw is also off the table at the moment, at least until I move and my chinchilla has his own room. The kitten is always going after the cage and I don't want to deal with contamination.
SIGH. Thoughts?
Most of the brands I tried had given him diarrhea! Merrick, Soulistic(I think this one was actually okay but there was no consistency in the food and I got some questionable cans), Earthborn, and I think even Fancy Feast gave him the runs.
Anyway, finally I worked something out that worked for both of them. They got Authority in the morning for breakfast(not the best, but it worked for the time being), and different wets for dinner. The kitten did well on Natural Balance Wild Pursuit, NutroMax chicken/liver adult formula, and a few bits of I/D strew that I picked up from work when he decided he wasn't interested in his current food anymore. The small amount of I/D was enough to encourage him to eat. Not sure why he went through a bought of not wanting to eat much, but he's over that now. He stopped wanting the NB by itself so that's why I mixed in the Nutro, and to see if it helped his smelly poop. Strictly having NB gives him smelly stools, the Nutro solved the smell and he was more interested in it, until he did the same thing and I had to add I/D to it as well.
So recently both cats got sick, vomiting and diarrhea. My older boy never gets diarrhea so something was definitely up. I attributed it to their breakfast food, the Authority. I had just picked up some Catfish formula and went with that one morning. They had had one can of it previously with no issues and it had been a few days between the first can and this one. That's the only thing I could think of that caused them to be sick since that's the only thing they share and they don't have any parasites. They had been having liquid diarrhea, it was bad. I picked up some RC Gastrointestinal High Energy from work and they've been eating that. Both of them LOVE it, but I hate it. No way do I want them to continue eating that. I believe it's safe to put my other cat back on his normal dinner meal of Wellness Core, but it's the younger guy that I'm concerned about. He's the one who gets diarrhea off of almost everything.
What can I try feeding him? His stools are perfect on the Royal Canin, which sucks because I don't want him eating that forever. They were okay on what he was eating before they both got sick, only with occasional softer stools. Part of me thinks he just can't handle the higher quality brands and that upsets me because I want him eating good foods.
Ideally I'd like them both eating the same thing in the morning(rotating it hopefully), and to keep what they eat for dinner the same to provide some consistency.
I've tried limited ingredient brands, I've tried different proteins, I've tried with/without grains, etc... He honestly seems to do better on brands with grains, poop wise... Not counting the Natural Balance since that was grain free and he did okay on that, he just didn't want to eat it and it made his stool smell horrid. But no diarrhea.
Raw is also off the table at the moment, at least until I move and my chinchilla has his own room. The kitten is always going after the cage and I don't want to deal with contamination.
SIGH. Thoughts?