wet food question, quantity, and easy on stomach?

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Theresa6

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I have been on the board a short time only, but it seems like many people really prefer a wet diet for their cats. I have posted about this before, but my Stella has issues vomiting, and seems to upchuck everything she eats other than the hydrolized protein diet. In addition, she is weird about wet food usually only eating a small amount if any.

I am continuing to try giving her small amounts of wet food, in the hopes that at least I can cut back a little on the dry. I found one flavor of fancy feast she would eat and, when given one spoonful at a time, did not make her throw up. The second flavor I tried came up within an hour (and stained my carpet pink) and she refused to eat more than a bite of it anyway. I try to stay away from chicken because in the past it always made her barf.

So my questions are, how much wet food does a canned food only cat receive on a daily basis? What canned foods are recommended, particularly for a cat with an extremely sensitive stomach?
 
Maybe your cat has a food allergy.
Egg, soy, wheat, milk, beef, chicken, etc. Start looking at the labels & look to see what the ones that are making her sick have in common. There is some ingredient that is making her body want to purge.

Anything with milk makes Baxter throw up. He throws up on beef as about 80% of cats are allergic to beef.

The best diet for food allergy cats is raw diet.
1. Natures Variety
2. Primal
3. Fresh Pet
Or make your own food using Dr. Lisa Pierson receipe.

Hope this helps.

Jenn & Baxter
 
Hi Theresa, you might want to try a hypo-allergenic food that uses a single (novel) source of protein and carbs. The best on the market is Natural Balance either duck/green pea or venison/green pea. This eliminates grain as an allergen as well as its a protein most cats immune systems aren't use to. My cat, Sitka, has multiple food allergies and these foods helped to keep her off steroids for a long time. Sorry to hear your having such a hard time getting your kitties food issue resolved. Jan
 
Jenn & Baxter said:
Anything with milk makes Baxter throw up. He throws up on beef as about 80% of cats are allergic to beef.
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While beef is a common food allergen for cats, it's not correct that 80% of cats are allergic to it. Some cats are allergic to it, but the majority of cats tolerate beef just fine. The most common food allergen by far for cats is fish, and the intolerance usually builds up over time. Most of the grocery store foods do contain some fish, even if it's not prominent in the name of the food (for example, Fancy Feast Tender Beef feast contains Beef, Liver, and Fish). Lamb, eggs, wheat, corn, soy and milk are the other common culprits.


I second the idea of using a novel protein source to eliminate the possibility of an allergen, as mentioned. If your cat handles the Natural Balance fine, then you can slowly introduce foods one at a time to see where the problem lies and avoid that food. It's much easier to do this with foods without byproducts or animal digest, because you never know for sure what's going in them.
 
Thank you everyone. I use natures balance dry food for my dog who has a chicken and beef intolerance. I have tried the limited ingredient diet canned for Stella, and she wouldn't eat it. I can try again though, anything is worth a shot at this point!


I also tried various pre packaged frozen raw diets. Either they made her yarf or she wouldn't touch them. That was my first 'go to' actually.
 
Leko has good luck with Nature's Variety. We alternate lamb and beef and he tolerated chicken OK, too. No beef sensitivity, but he's definitely sensitive to grains. He was on Orijen and Acana for years prior to this switch.
 
heatherh said:
Leko has good luck with Nature's Variety. We alternate lamb and beef and he tolerated chicken OK, too. No beef sensitivity, but he's definitely sensitive to grains. He was on Orijen and Acana for years prior to this switch.
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Nature's Variety Rabbit (contains pork) and Duck (contains turkey) formulas might work, too--just stay away from their Venison Formula.
 
Re: wet food question *new questions at bottom!*

Hi again everyone

I still have had no luck with the raw and have decided to just feed it to the dogs. But, I seem to be making progress with canned! It seems that she will eat fancy feast classic (the mush one) so I am on the right track.

So here are my new questions:

*how much, in ounces, should she be eating a day? She seems like she'll eat 2.5-3 cans of fancy feast (3 oz cans) per day. Is that too much, too little? Doesn't that get pricey? At .50 per can thats $45 per month for just canned food.
*Are there any lower priced foods that are like the fancy feast that I can try?
*I feel badly feeding Stella the lower quality canned food... i have always tried to get 'better' stuff for my pets. Is cheap-0 canned food really good enough?

*Do I need to watch for carb content in canned food as well? If so, how? The labels don't indicate carbs on them. What percentage of carbs (for wet food only) do I want to stay under?

Thanks!
 
Generally, you want to stay under 10% carbs; most of us aim for under 7%. The FF Classics are all fine, just be careful of feeding seafood flavors more than once or twice a week as they can lead to urinary issues and large fish do carry toxins. You want to avoid the other FF varieties, especially ones with gravy. Cheaper canned foods are fine; you do want ones with muscle meat ("chicken", etc.) but by-product isn't as bad as many people think it is; think of a cat eating a mouse. They eat the whole thing, including what we would consider "by-product." If the cat has kidney or urinary issues, you may need to limit phosphorus, but in general, the cheaper foods are fine; that all have to meet certain nutritional standards. I'd love to feed premium brands, but I can't afford to right now. May cats are fine on what I can get.

Janet & Binky's page http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html lists the actual % of calories from carbs in many foods; if you don't find it on the new chart, check the old one; both are at the link I sent.

My FD cat eats the equivalent of about 4-5 cans of FF a day. He gets 2 cans of actual FF and then the rest is Sophistacat from PetSmart. They are relabeling that brand soon to Great Choice, but supposedly won't reformulate. The carb % for those kinds is on the chart as well. A 5.5 oz. can is currently $.36, that may go up with the new label, but will probably still stay reasonable.

The amount you need to feed will vary. In general, a cat needs 20-30 calories per pound of body weight, so a 10 lb. cat would need 200-300 calories a day, depending on activity level. Unregulated FD cats may need more; Mikey is gaining weight on about 400 calories a day, but he needs to gain. FF has between 80-95 calories per can for most flavors (calories are on the chart, too.)
 
What is Stella's ideal weight? How much you feed depends on the type of food (calorie content) and the size of your cat (what your cat is supposed to weigh vs. actual weight).

To give you an idea, Bandit's ideal weight is 12-13 lbs, and he needs 7.5 oz (2 1/2 cans) of Fancy Feast per day to maintain a healthy weight. A 8-10 lb cat would likely need around 1 1/2 to 2 cans a day.

However, that's for a non-diabetic or regulated/remission kitty. An unregulated diabetic needs more food since it's not be metabolized properly. When Bandit was unregulated, I fed him 3 cans of Fancy Feast a day. If your cat is underweight, you especially want to err on the side of more food than less.

Sophistacat (the petsmart brand which is now being relabed as grrreat choice) has some low carb choices that are comparable to Fancy Feast (with a muscle meat as the first ingredient). It might be difficult to find while their doing their relabeling. Many grocery stores also have their own generic versions of Fancy Feast-you can figure out if it's low carb by reading the label if it's not on Binky's list. Most pate (mushy) foods with no gravy or grains (corn, wheat, soy, rice) are going to be low carb.

Here's a great page that talks about how to read a cat food label: http://catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Food_Ingredient_Label

Foods like Friskies pates (which contains rice, but not much so it's still low carb), and Special Kitty (Walmart) pates will also be low carb, but they have byproducts as the first ingredient instead of further down the list. Byproducts in canned food aren't as bad for cats as the byproducts in dry food--canned byproducts are "fresh" vs. the rendered byproducts in dry. Mostly it's organ meat, which is not bad for a cat to eat some of. It's a lower quality protein source than a muscle meat, but still a much healthier alternative than even expensive dry food brands.
 
Thank you for the canned food education! I am actually headed to petsmart later today to return my recently purchased bag of prescription dry food, so I will check out the sophisticat to see what they have.

Stella currently weighs about 10.5 lbs, and is slightly overweight but not much. She was closer to 12 lbs in April and when we had repeat bloodwork done in November she had lost a little over a lb (presumably the hyperthyroid or fd). She has a tummy but isn't as chunky as she used to be. I don't know how else to describe her ideal weight :)
 
If she's slightly overweight, then you can probably safely feed her as if her ideal weight was 10 pounds, so 200-300 calories a day. Because of the FD/Hyper-T, you will probably need the higher end of that spectrum, and don't worry if it's more than that until both are regulated, as both cause weight loss. I have two fatties who need to lose weight, so they get are getting fewer calories right now, and Mikey who is slowly gaining-he eats as much as, if not more than, the other two put together!

If they're out of Sophistacat, don't be surprised; many aren't restocking until they get the newly labeled product.

I just switched the last cat fully over to an all-wet diet this week.
 
Can I butt in? I was reading this b/c I'm trying to figure out how much to feed Hobbs and if I'm feeding him too much. How does one figure out what their cat's "ideal" weight is? Is it based on their breed/gender? Or do I need to just ask the vet?
 
Unregulated, I would feed 2-2 1/2 small cans of food a day, or 1-1 1/4 medium sized (5.5 oz) cans a day. If you decide to go with a premium food like wellness or evo, that amount is going to be lower because they're higher in calories.

I would probably start out on the high end of that, and slowly reduce the amount by 1/4 of a can if she's gaining weight on it. If she drops below 10 lbs, I would increase the amount of food. Every cat is different, so it takes some trial and error to figure out what the right amount of food is for your particular cat. Other factors might affect her food needs as well, like level of activity, the Hyper-T, etc.
 
SabrinaFaire said:
Can I butt in? I was reading this b/c I'm trying to figure out how much to feed Hobbs and if I'm feeding him too much. How does one figure out what their cat's "ideal" weight is? Is it based on their breed/gender? Or do I need to just ask the vet?
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Asking your vet is a good idea. They determine the ideal weight by doing a body condition score: http://cp.vetlearn.com/Media/images/PFMN/2008 Winter/feline chart.png. From their experience, they can give you a weight target in lbs where they think the ideal weight lies.
 
Definitely ask the vet for "ideal" weight for your kitty.
My vet determined 14lbs for Bob, and that's sort of high. But he was 22 a few years ago. He gets 250-300 calories of FF and friskees pates a day. My civvie, Mullet, only weighs about 11 pounds and he eats about the same amount maybe a bit less. But he's a lot more active than Bob is. The simple formula I use is 20 calories per pound per day, and then account for activity level by adding a few calories for Mullet.

Theresa, I can't help much with suggesting food that will stay down. Both my kitties have iron stomachs apparently, and their digestive tracts are one-way streets.
 
Theresa6 said:
Hi again everyone

I still have had no luck with the raw and have decided to just feed it to the dogs.
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It takes some cats a bit of time to start eating raw food, especially older cats who have never eaten anything but dry food ther entire lives. I wouldn't completely give up on it yet. The same tips used to transition a cat from dry food to canned food also works for raw food, like sprinkling treats on top or a little stinky tuna juice.

Have you tried freeze dried raw food? Some cats may prefer that to frozen raw. It's kind of like freeze dried meat treats to some cats :smile: Stella and Chewy's makes one that is 100% nutritonally complete, http://www.stellaandchewys.com/cat-products.php You can rehydrate the food in water before feeding. Some brands of freeze dried raw, like Nature's Variety, are not complete diets so be sure to carefully read the label before buying.

There are cats who won't eat commerical raw but will eat homemade raw. Have you tried offering a small piece of raw meat as a treat? I think Dr. Lisa's web site mentions starting with cooked meat as treats and then slowly cooking the meat less and less until the cat is eating raw meat and then starting a raw diet.

My two cents :smile: Hope you find a food that your cat will like :smile:
 
One of the brands on Binky's list is Wal-Mart's Special Kitty. With two cats, I buy the large 13 oz. cans of the flavors low in carbs (4-7). I also buy the Sopisticat from Petsmart for a variety of flavors. I'm on a tight budget so the lower costs works. :-D

My civvie kitty was always a barfer. At least once a day and usually more, up would come whatever she ate. Since I switched Poopy, and MIa the civvie, over to all wet....Voila! The barfing has all but ceased!

As far as how much to feed? For both cats (Mia is 8 lbs. and Poopy was 20 lbs before dx), I feed two large cans daily, and a smaller Sopisticat can if they are hungrier than usual. Calorie wise, using the 20 oz. per pound, it's about right. :smile:
 
Sure enough, Petsmart only had the gravy sophisticat cans left. They had tons of the smaller 3oz gourmet (like ff) cans, but I didn't bother with those. I ended up buying a box of 12 turkey and giblets and chicken.

Does anyone know when the sophisticat label change is over?
 
Febuary. I read it on the post about the Sopho Cat food. Im sorry I don't remember who posted it.
On the post is also a copy of a email from Corporate with the favors they will be offering.
 
If you can buy raw chicken at an ok price then try cutting it up and using it as a filler for fancy feast. LB isn't vomiting much these days. I always thought vomiting is what cats do. But he goes for very long periods without vomiting if I avoid the foods that he's allergic to. He has skin issues and a growth on his tongue from allergies to food so I can't give him any tinned food. He will lick himself silly and cause the growth on his tongue to get bigger. I hadn't made the connection until this thread that he's not been vomiting lately because I only give him diced chicken breast and some Royal Canin Gastro Intestinal dry on top. He gets very little of the dry but we use it as an enticement for the plain chicken plus it's pre-digested and meant to be good for them. I gather they do Royal Canin gastro intestinal wet food but I suspect it's expensive. I tend to think Stella might be ok with a bit of raw chicken mixed with the fancy feast. It's easy to add some to your shopping list for when you are buying chicken for family meals. Chicken and rabbit is the only meat that my kitty isn't allergic to (that I know of).
 
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