So frustrated with food!

[luxum]

Well, the itching has really settled down, the air freshener was definitely bothering her. I offered some of the Evo 95% rabbit last night. Elvirah was crazy for it. Rajah sniffed it, pawed it, licked a little off her paw, and then walked away. I guess the Nature's Logic tasted better.

I may try the NL wet (without the dry and the laxatone and everything else i tried at once) and see if she can tolerate it - she really liked it. Of course i bought 4 cans of the Evo that she doesn't like, meh.

I ordered some Serengeti to try to shift the dry food, we'll see.

 

[kittylover77]

I hope Serengeti works for you!
Its not a simple formula, but maybe your girl is grain sensitive , so grain-free is a good choice to try.

 

[luxum]

I still see Rajah scratching, but the newest bald spots are filling in and i don't see any new ones, so it's not terribly intense. Removing the air fresheners helped a lot, but the fires seem to have died down as well. Or at least, we haven't had much smoke blown in lately.

The Serengeti arrived today. I have never seen a smaller kibble size! It's about the size of pellet fish food for cichlids or juvenile koi. About 1/8" diameter (a little over 3mm for the metric-ites). Very small and spherical. Rajah was excited about the opening of the package, which was a nice heavy, vaccum-sealed bag, but she didn't seem to recognize the kibble as food. Elvirah greedily snarfed the few i offered her down, making adorable/disgusting snorting sounds!

I mixed a little into their IVD rabbit and we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

 

[ping]

i have been feeding Serengeti for almost a month now with great results. I hope your kitty(s) do good on it.

 

[luxum]

I am almost scared that i'll jinx the whole deal by writing this, but so far, so good! They are up to about 3/4 Serengeti and 1/4 IVD and it doesn't seem to be triggering Raj. They seem to be adapting to the tiny kibble with no issues. So far there has been no puking, and no disturbance in the bathroom routine. I swear their coats have already improved, they are getting glossy again like they were on Chicken Soup (well, Elvirah was glossy, and the places where Raj hadn't scratched herself bald were glossy, heh). I'll post another update after they have been on 100% Serengeti for a few weeks.

 

[luxum]

OK, it's been about 20 days or so. They have been completely on Serengeti from some time now. I should mention that i got 2 bags of Serengeti when i ordered directly from Timberwolf for the same price i paid to Petfood Direct (Timberwolf gives free shipping above a certain amount), and the shipment from Timberwolf arrived in less time than it took PFD to even process my order.

I like this food. It smells good. The cats seem to like the small kibble size. Their coats have gotten really soft, and Elvirah's is shiny, minimal dandruff. I do see Raj scratching, but i have detected no hair loss - and there are other local environmental triggers for itching. I'm keeping her on this a little longer at least. My only concern is hairballs - she is still puking those up occassionally. I need to find a hairball remedy without common allergens. Any opinions about the Vetbasis hairball gel?

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by luxum

OK, it's been about 20 days or so. They have been completely on Serengeti from some time now. I should mention that i got 2 bags of Serengeti when i ordered directly from Timberwolf for the same price i paid to Petfood Direct (Timberwolf gives free shipping above a certain amount), and the shipment from Timberwolf arrived in less time than it took PFD to even process my order.

I like this food. It smells good. The cats seem to like the small kibble size. Their coats have gotten really soft, and Elvirah's is shiny, minimal dandruff. I do see Raj scratching, but i have detected no hair loss - and there are other local environmental triggers for itching. I'm keeping her on this a little longer at least. My only concern is hairballs - she is still puking those up occassionally. I need to find a hairball remedy without common allergens. Any opinions about the Vetbasis hairball gel?

Vet basis is the best hairball gel I can access with ease .... NO PETROLEUM

DO you have grass or greens avail???

 

[kalikat]

Glad to hear you're having success at last.
I've never given my 15 y/o cat anything for hairballs, mind you there was no such thing as hairball formula cat food when I got her. She has always had access to the outdoors, must eat grass occassionally & always vomits up hairballs, the 1st cat I've ever had that does.
Blossom, my kitten, is indoors always. When she trys to eat the indoor plants I go outside & pick some fresh grass for her to eat, which she does with relish. I did buy some hairball gel, but have only used it once. She doesn't seem to have a problem with hairballs yet, we'll see what happens when she starts to molt in the summer.
When I was a kid my mum used to give the cats parrafin.

 

[luxum]

Vet basis is the best hairball gel I can access with ease .... NO PETROLEUM

DO you have grass or greens avail???

I have those grass inserts for the drinkwell fountain. I stopped those awhile ago when i was trying to do food trial. But i was always under the impression that grass just aided them in throwing up the hair, not in passing it. Is that incorrect? I'd rather it winds up in the litterbox than all over my carpet.

 

[luxum]

Well, she never really stopped scratching on Serengeti. It's nowhere near as bad as it was on Chicken Soup, and she's scratching different spots which i find strange, but i decided to try the California Natural again even though i'm not thrilled about adding grains back into their diet. The California Natural had previously solved the skin issues, but then there was diarrhea - i'm still hoping that was a bad batch and that the problem won't recur.

The kitties seem to really like the California Natural better though, they are picking it out of the bowl and leaving the Serengeti, so my plans to transition them super slowly aren't really working heh. Just thought i'd post an update.