Hello everyone, I am hoping you all can help me out with some food recommendations/transitioning.
I have a four cat household and right now all of them eat Royal Canin SO. They used to eat it after my cat Angus got a total bladder blockage. Eventually I transitioned them over to Nutro because it was just so expensive. They were all fine until my cat Mattie ended up with a bladder full of stones. She underwent surgery, and they all again were transitioned back to SO.
I don't like feeding them all dry food only, and I don't particularly like feeding them the SO. From what I can understand from various forums and catinfo.org, for a dry food, SO (and other RX diets) don't even have really high quality ingredients considering the price you pay. After her bladder surgery, Mattie just kind of ballooned in weight, and one of my other cats, Pierre packed on some pounds eating the SO. I don't think they feel as full when they eat it. Mattie has also started throwing it up.
However, I haven't had crystal and bladder issues while I've fed it, so from that aspect, it makes me feel pretty hesitant about changing it. My cat Pierre has an extremely sensitive tummy, so he throws up any and all canned food if he eats more than a miniscule amount (like a teaspoon or less is what he can tolerate). Angus wouldn't even touch canned food, and Mattie is extremely picky unless the canned food contains fish, so I just felt it was easier to stick with the dry SO.
I am feeling again like I'd kind of like to get them off the SO. My vet wanted me to feed Mattie a DIFFERENT RX diet food to try to help her lose weight, and she ate it, but it was a hassle to keep all the food separate and she really wasn't too wild about it. Plus it didn't come in big bags. I'm feeling overwhelmed by conflicting information (and occasionally, an overload of information) on cat foods so this is where I'm hoping you can help.
What I want to do is try to find a wet food Pierre can tolerate that Mattie will eat and transition them at this time to a partially wet food diet, with a high quality dry food that helps them feel fuller, and won't aggravate bladder stone formation (except for the fact that it lacks moisture of course). Then if that's a resounding success, I'd consider transitioning over to much more wet and less dry.
Is grain free good or bad (canned) for bladder crystals/stones? I know grain free doesn't mean low carb and 2 of my cats have weight issues.
Does fish have to be avoided altogether in dry and canned food?
What wet foods can be good for a very sensitive tummy?
Any recommendations on how to get Pierre to better tolerate wet foods so he can eat larger amounts without throwing up?
Does Pierre need an L.I.D. food or is that only useful for food allergies?
I know everyone has very low opinions of dry foods, and I understand why, but I need some help on that too. Is grain free dry the way to go? I've read about that causing crystal issues (or is it possibly just due to the dehydration)? I've been looking at Fromm's, Evolve, Wellness, Natural Balance... I'm open to suggestions or criticisms of any of these, dry or wet varieties. I hope I didn't post TOO much info. I tend to be wordy.
I appreciate any and all help you can provide. Thanks!
I have a four cat household and right now all of them eat Royal Canin SO. They used to eat it after my cat Angus got a total bladder blockage. Eventually I transitioned them over to Nutro because it was just so expensive. They were all fine until my cat Mattie ended up with a bladder full of stones. She underwent surgery, and they all again were transitioned back to SO.
I don't like feeding them all dry food only, and I don't particularly like feeding them the SO. From what I can understand from various forums and catinfo.org, for a dry food, SO (and other RX diets) don't even have really high quality ingredients considering the price you pay. After her bladder surgery, Mattie just kind of ballooned in weight, and one of my other cats, Pierre packed on some pounds eating the SO. I don't think they feel as full when they eat it. Mattie has also started throwing it up.
However, I haven't had crystal and bladder issues while I've fed it, so from that aspect, it makes me feel pretty hesitant about changing it. My cat Pierre has an extremely sensitive tummy, so he throws up any and all canned food if he eats more than a miniscule amount (like a teaspoon or less is what he can tolerate). Angus wouldn't even touch canned food, and Mattie is extremely picky unless the canned food contains fish, so I just felt it was easier to stick with the dry SO.
I am feeling again like I'd kind of like to get them off the SO. My vet wanted me to feed Mattie a DIFFERENT RX diet food to try to help her lose weight, and she ate it, but it was a hassle to keep all the food separate and she really wasn't too wild about it. Plus it didn't come in big bags. I'm feeling overwhelmed by conflicting information (and occasionally, an overload of information) on cat foods so this is where I'm hoping you can help.
What I want to do is try to find a wet food Pierre can tolerate that Mattie will eat and transition them at this time to a partially wet food diet, with a high quality dry food that helps them feel fuller, and won't aggravate bladder stone formation (except for the fact that it lacks moisture of course). Then if that's a resounding success, I'd consider transitioning over to much more wet and less dry.
Is grain free good or bad (canned) for bladder crystals/stones? I know grain free doesn't mean low carb and 2 of my cats have weight issues.
Does fish have to be avoided altogether in dry and canned food?
What wet foods can be good for a very sensitive tummy?
Any recommendations on how to get Pierre to better tolerate wet foods so he can eat larger amounts without throwing up?
Does Pierre need an L.I.D. food or is that only useful for food allergies?
I know everyone has very low opinions of dry foods, and I understand why, but I need some help on that too. Is grain free dry the way to go? I've read about that causing crystal issues (or is it possibly just due to the dehydration)? I've been looking at Fromm's, Evolve, Wellness, Natural Balance... I'm open to suggestions or criticisms of any of these, dry or wet varieties. I hope I didn't post TOO much info. I tend to be wordy.
I appreciate any and all help you can provide. Thanks!