mirataz questions

[louisstools]

You've mentioned feeby is a light eater..I can't remember but how much food is she eating FeebysOwner ? I wonder if Missy is just exceptionally light for an eater...

 

[FeebysOwner]

You've mentioned feeby is a light eater..I can't remember but how much food is she eating FeebysOwner ? I wonder if Missy is just exceptionally light for an eater...

Feeby is lucky if she eats 2-3 oz of canned food in a day, which may amount to anywhere from 60-90 calories. But most days I also feed her two jars of baby food meat (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) which means she gets another 5 ounces at around another 150 calories. She eats that so much better and faster than cat food. I supplement it with EZ Complete to make the baby food meat nutritionally complete. If I had relied only on cat food, she would be in dire straits. She, btw, won't eat dry food - other than some occasional treats.

 

[louisstools]

FeebysOwner i just realized

Feeby is lucky if she eats 2-3 oz of canned food in a day, which may amount to anywhere from 60-90 calories. But most days I also feed her two jars of baby food meat (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut) which means she gets another 5 ounces at around another 150 calories. She eats that so much better and faster than cat food. I supplement it with EZ Complete to make the baby food meat nutritionally complete. If I had relied only on cat food, she would be in dire straits. She, btw, won't eat dry food - other than some occasional treats.

damn she's way better eater than my girl lol. No way I could get that much food in her.

 

[FeebysOwner]

damn she's way better eater than my girl lol. No way I could get that much food in her.

If it weren't for the baby food meat, she wouldn't be.

 

[louisstools]

FeebysOwner it just dawned on me...when you asked me if Missy could eat 5-6oz of food in a day that you might have mean FLUID OUNCES. That's why I was like "oh hell no!" b/c we use dry/weight ounces and those ain't the same. Gotta love our measurment system.

Also, there's a seinfeld-like joke in the fact that WET cat food's nutritional information is provided in DRY measurements and DRY cat food's nutritional information is provided in LIQUID measurements. Makes no sense to me!

 

[FeebysOwner]

FeebysOwner it just dawned on me...when you asked me if Missy could eat 5-6oz of food in a day that you might have mean FLUID OUNCES. That's why I was like "oh hell no!" b/c we use dry/weight ounces and those ain't the same. Gotta love our measurment system...Also, there's a seinfeld-like joke in the fact that WET cat food's nutritional information is provided in DRY measurements and DRY cat food's nutritional information is provided in LIQUID measurements. Makes no sense to me!

I meant 5-6 ounces of dry food - as I said using chocolate chips as the measurement 'gauge' to arrive at 6 ounces being close to the equivalent of 3/4 of a cup. 3/4 of a cup of almonds equates to more like 5 ounces. So, it all depends on the size of the kibble.

I don't know about the measurement for dry food being in liquid, as I haven't dealt extensively with dry food since Feeby hasn't eaten any in years. I do know with the wet food, when using 'dry matter basis' - which is the most accurate way to gauge the nutritional value - it is because they are calculating the values without the 'liquid' that is in wet food.

 

[louisstools]

I might be mis-remembering the conversions but I think using "cups" that Missy is getting somewhere more than 1/2 cup but less than 3/4 of a cup of kibble a day. I find these volume measurements too inconsistent (depends on the kibble size and how they lay in the scoop) and harder to use when trying to calculate calories. Grams/weight is a lot easier.

Early on I had trouble getting Missy to even eat 1.0oz of food in a day so we needed as accurate calculations as possible. It's crazy to think that as difficult as she is that she has improved...

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

OK, so now that I have a little more history on her, Missy needs special food to prevent crystals, and she used to be on RX wet urinary food, but the vet won't prescribe it anymore, so you converted her to dry (urinary?) food. Is that correct? And she also had most of her teeth removed about the same time as her pickiness started? Could it be that she simply doesn't like the dry food? Could it be that there are some roots left after that dental and she actually does still have pain in her mouth? I believe that has happened before to other cats and caused them to pretty much stop eating. @daftcat had this issue, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe he can advise how that was found and fixed.

As to the urinary food, there are OTC wet foods that are ok for urinary issues, if she might be amenable to going back to wet, since she's not a drinker.

 

[louisstools]

Not quite. She not on wet food initially. She was on the rx kibble for about a decade. The the vet wouldn't renew the RX so on a lark we tried wet food b/c everyone says that is good for UTIs. Well her pee volume decreased, her drinking decreased, and she had UTIs with crystals. I had to fight to get her back on the rx kibble b/c that was the food she knew b/c she just wouldn't eat wet food and her crystal UTIs came back. Other than a three month period, the only food she's ever eaten is this RX kibble. We don't do treats or anything.

I don't know that wet food is a good option for her b/c she is texture picky, won't eat more than a table spoon or two at a feeding, and won't touch wet food that isn't straight out of the can (no fridge). I never was able to get her to eat old wet food no matter what I did to it, like warm it up, etc. I'm not sure she ever figured out that it was food...like I said she had only ever known kibble as a food.

I think her pickiness started when the dental hit but I'm not sure. Right about that time our other cat had cancer and needed to be hand fed and extra care. I wasn't able to focus on Missy and only noticed one day she wasn't eating.

It's possible she doesn't like this food, that's a thought I've had. But when we started to transition her from wet to kibble after day 1 she wouldn't even touch the wet food. So I think she likes it.

The dental thing is a good point. I may talk to the vet about that. I don't know if that's the sort of thing they can exam while the cat is awake or not. It's the one thing we haven't really looked at.