Hello, I am having problems with my cats and their food! My 13 YO was just diagnosed with diabetes about a month and a half ago. From the beginning, I was working on getting her transferred to an all wet food diet and bought FF classic. My cats LOVE wet food, so this was not a problem except they both (my diabetic and her non-diabetic sister) were getting sick and vomiting. At that point, I did the transfer from the wet to dry more slowly and felt like I had accomplished the switch. Both cats were eating FF and seemed to love it and life was generally good aside from a few vomiting episodes. Now, all of the sudden, both cats pick at their food and do not want to eat it. I don't understand why the change so suddenly, especially with both cats. I fed them their old dry food last night (I know it's bad, but I wanted to know if it was an overall lack of appetite or just an aversion to the wet food all of the sudden) Both cats ate up the dry food like they always used to with much enthusiasm... I don't know if this wet food is making them sick all of a sudden, or if there is another reason for this sudden change in eating habits for them. It's just weird because they started out loving wet food and have never been picky eaters. That's what makes me think there is another problem with it, like maybe it is too rich for them, or they have an allergy... I have been feeding them FF Classic chicken and beef. I have read that they can have an allergy to beef, but they are reacting the same way to the chicken ones. It is hard to watch because right now both cats seem depressed and not theirselves. Anyone have any idea what might be going on here!?
Diet problems!
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Kathyh
Active Member
Could it be the heat? I know my kittiies have been a bit off in their eating, and it's been very hot and muggy here.
Vinney always threw up when I tried wet foods before, if I could even get him to touch it. Then I started mixing it almost half/half with water. No more throwing up and he does a much better job of eating.
Vinney always threw up when I tried wet foods before, if I could even get him to touch it. Then I started mixing it almost half/half with water. No more throwing up and he does a much better job of eating.
C
Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)
Guest
Someone's already suggested mixing in water, which should help if the problem is that the wet food is too "rich". This is odd because I've had kitties in my house for 35 years, and have never had a single one that prefered dry food over wet. They would all eat either, but if I put both in the bowl at the same time, they'd eat all the wet first, and then eat or not eat the dry. I have one sugarcat and one who isn't, and he still gets some dry food (although when this box runs out I'm not buying anymore!). Mullet, the civvie, will still do the same thing. Eat around the dry and just eat it when he realizes he isn't getting any more wet this meal. He likes snacking on the dry in between meals sometimes though. Up unitl Bob was diagnosed with diabetes, all of our cats grazed all day long. We always left dry food for them to snack on. Amazing looking back that Bob is the first one that's had diabetes.
The only other suggestion I'd have is to try other varieties of FF Classic, like the turkey or some of the seafoods. See if it's an aversion to wet or if it's just "flavor burn out". If I give Bob 3 straight days of just the beef for instance, by the third day he's looking at me like "what, is this all you know how to cook?" I toss in a shrimp and tuna once in while to keep his taste buds happy. He's been eating nothing but FF Classics for a few weeks, and it's had a hugely positive impact on his BG numbers. You could also pick some Friskies canned off of Janet and Binky's list that have low carb values and try those. I just hope you are able to wean both of them off of the dry as soon as possilbe. Definitely the best thing for your sugarkitty, and her sister will benefit in the long run as well.
Carl in SC
The only other suggestion I'd have is to try other varieties of FF Classic, like the turkey or some of the seafoods. See if it's an aversion to wet or if it's just "flavor burn out". If I give Bob 3 straight days of just the beef for instance, by the third day he's looking at me like "what, is this all you know how to cook?" I toss in a shrimp and tuna once in while to keep his taste buds happy. He's been eating nothing but FF Classics for a few weeks, and it's had a hugely positive impact on his BG numbers. You could also pick some Friskies canned off of Janet and Binky's list that have low carb values and try those. I just hope you are able to wean both of them off of the dry as soon as possilbe. Definitely the best thing for your sugarkitty, and her sister will benefit in the long run as well.
Carl in SC
C
Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)
Guest
Just thinking after that post...
Did Tender Vittles go out of business? That was such an awesome idea - not wet, not dry, and all my cats loved them. Nice if there was a readily available choice like that which was also low carb and good for cats.
Carl
Did Tender Vittles go out of business? That was such an awesome idea - not wet, not dry, and all my cats loved them. Nice if there was a readily available choice like that which was also low carb and good for cats.
Carl
Mindy & Max
Active Member
I'll second the suggestion to try adding water to the food if you don't already. A vet recommended years ago to try getting my cats to at least half wet food to try to reduce Max's weight. Of course, I got the kind that was chunks and gravy (I soooo didn't know anything about food back then!) which my boys happily ate for a while, and then slowly started eating less. I eventually stopped buying it because they weren't eating it and I didn't want to waste money.
Then a few years later, Max became diabetic. he'd had lots of vomiting problems prior to becoming diabetic, I now believe it was the dry food that his system just couldn't handle. The vet (diff than before) put him on prednisone for a month, which stopped the vomiting, but gave him FD. After finding this site, I switched them both to low-carb wet food cold-turkey and never looked back. Both boys took to it like white on rice with no issues, so we gave away the remainder of the dry and just stuck with it.
While Max was on insulin, we did have some vomit issues. Sometimes hairballs, and sometimes I think it was from too much carb variance in his foods. We were experimenting with diff flavors, some were 4% carbs and some were up to 10%. Eventually I chose 3 flavors they liked that were 7-8% and now we're vomit-free other than the hairballs.
Both my boys share a bowl, kinda wide and shallow-ish, and they get about 6oz of Friskies mixed with 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water. They drink the water first, then eat the food. We do this twice a day, and we have no issues. My mom has had problems with her cat vomiting from eating too much of the 'sauce' that is in the can. it's not gravy, but more like juice that's run out of the pate, and sometimes there is a lot, and sometimes there isn't. Once she started adding water to it, the vomiting stopped. Incidentally, I don't know that I've ever seen either of the boys drinking from the water bowl since we started with the wet food mixed with water. we still keep it out, and we refresh the water, but the level never seems to go down at all.
Then a few years later, Max became diabetic. he'd had lots of vomiting problems prior to becoming diabetic, I now believe it was the dry food that his system just couldn't handle. The vet (diff than before) put him on prednisone for a month, which stopped the vomiting, but gave him FD. After finding this site, I switched them both to low-carb wet food cold-turkey and never looked back. Both boys took to it like white on rice with no issues, so we gave away the remainder of the dry and just stuck with it.
While Max was on insulin, we did have some vomit issues. Sometimes hairballs, and sometimes I think it was from too much carb variance in his foods. We were experimenting with diff flavors, some were 4% carbs and some were up to 10%. Eventually I chose 3 flavors they liked that were 7-8% and now we're vomit-free other than the hairballs.
Both my boys share a bowl, kinda wide and shallow-ish, and they get about 6oz of Friskies mixed with 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water. They drink the water first, then eat the food. We do this twice a day, and we have no issues. My mom has had problems with her cat vomiting from eating too much of the 'sauce' that is in the can. it's not gravy, but more like juice that's run out of the pate, and sometimes there is a lot, and sometimes there isn't. Once she started adding water to it, the vomiting stopped. Incidentally, I don't know that I've ever seen either of the boys drinking from the water bowl since we started with the wet food mixed with water. we still keep it out, and we refresh the water, but the level never seems to go down at all.
squeem3
Very Active Member
carlinsc said:
Tender Vittles was discontinued in the US in 2007 after the Menu Food recall. Wikipedia says that the food was high in sugar and salt which caused health problems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tender_Vittles
This web site says Semi-moist food, whether for dogs or cats, is the pet equivalent of junk food. It is loaded with sugar and salt. Many cats loved Tender Vittles, but Tender Vittles didn't often love them back, giving the cats obesity, bad teeth and diarrhea.
I'm not aware of any current brand that is semi-moist like Tender Vittles.
Thanks everyone! I have been adding a little water to their food now. Although they seem to be drinking the liquid and turning their nose up to the food, they are eating slightly more enthusiastically but not much. If this keeps up, I guess I will have to take them to the vet. The good news (in part, anyway) is that they turned up their noses to the dry food I gave them, so it's not a preference problem. I guess that's good news in the sense that I can take away the dry food again without worrying about what they would "rather" eat, but, of course, bad news that it is a general loss in appetite. This morning they both cleaned their bowls of wet food in the time it took me to shower though, so that is a good sign that maybe things are starting to turn around. However, my non-diabetic had another vomiting episode last night and one yesterday. I don't know what is going on with all the vomiting!!
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