Wellness Cat Food
 

So I am a new cat owner, we got Douglas about a month ago. Now that he is settled in we are starting to switch his cat food. You'll all be happy, that we are stopping the dry Purina food that he was previously fed and switching to canned Wellness cat food.

The good news is that he loves it so switching will be easy, I've been adding a spoonful of wet food mashed into his dry food in order to ease him into the new diet. And now instead of picking at his food throughout the day he gobbles it up as quickly as possible and gets much more excited at meal time. By next week he'll probably be on a 80-100% wet food diet.

So a couple of questions, Douglas is a fairly large indoor cat, nearly 20 lbs, but I don't think he is really over weight, but big built. How much should we be feeding him? Its obvious with the new wet food he will probably eat whatever we put in front of him. The Wellness cans say 1 large can for every 6-8 lbs. So will two cans be enough? Also, there is Wellness and Wellness Core canned foods. They main difference seems to be the Core has more protein, is this worth the extra cost?

Thanks.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your kitty will be much happier.


It is always very difficult to answer questions on the quantity to feed a cat because it depends on his age/activity level/metabolism, etc. etc. I feed my cats three times a day and they will eat about a quarter cup to a third of a cup a day. I mix mine with homemade raw so it is hard to judge how much canned I use, but if I was to guess, it would be equivalent to three 5.5 oz cans for four cats. One is a tiny senior who eats almost nothing so I would say one can a day for each cat.

I find my cats do much better with 3 feedings while on a canned/raw diet than just two. When only feeding 2, they seem to get too hungry waiting for the second meal, over eat, then vomit.


To tell if your cat is overweight, you should be able to see a definition of a waist line, and be able to feel his ribs without too much pressure. He should have about .5 centimeters of fat over his ribs.

Yeah I may switch to three meals a day once he's only on canned food.

Douglas is about 20 lbs and fairly inactive. He is probably a little overweight... Maybe I will start with 1 1/2 5.5 oz cans a day? (half a can per meal) And see how he does.

Also, any opinion on the Wellness vs Wellness Core?

[QUOTE=MSteve;968165]Also, any opinion on the Wellness vs Wellness Core?[/QUOTE]

I think the regular grain-free Wellness is better. The Core doesn't actually have more protein if you look at it as a % of calories, and it does contain potato starch for some strange reason. It's all a marketing gimmic - an attempt to jump on the grain-free bandwagon, which is made ironic by the fact that Wellness was one of the first companies to make grain-free food for cats anyway. Having said that, I still feed it occasionally (only the chicken one though, not the fish flavour). It's not a horrible food, and I firmly believe cats should have plenty of variety in their diet. Some cats get bored of eating the same canned food all the time, and variety also covers all the bases as far as nutritional deficiencies or excesses are concerned.

I am like SCM, I feed a variety of different foods. I only feed grain free variety of food.

Main Ones:
Wellness
Nature's Variety Instinct (lots of different flavours)

Occasional:
Organics by Nature
Fromm's
Now!

Treat:
Almo

Update
 

So I made the switch easily. He gobbled up the food and actually looked forward to meal time. Which could be a little annoying at times, but once he schedule was established he only got fussy near mealtime.

So after two weeks of no problems, he is starting to act a little funny. He used to gobble up all his food as soon as we laid it down. But now he only picks at it a little bit, and often doesn't finish. He is still eating, but not nearly as much as he used to. Its kind of like he lost his appetite somewhat. It is concerning, especially since we will be away for a week for the holidays.

Other than the food, he seems to be acting perfectly normal. Other than crying by our bedroom door a little more often (he doesn't sleep with us). He used to do that a lot when we first got him, and after we switched his food because he got hungry in the morning. But now he acts like he wants food, but only half-heartedly and then doesn't eat most of it.

He's also been drinking very little water since we switched to the wet food.

Are you feeding a variety of different foods? I know my cats seem to get bored of the same food and love it when I mix it up and add some fishy flavours every once in a while.

I've tried different flavours, but if anything he likes the different ones less...

I think the reason for your cat's appearance in loss of apetite is simple - purina cat food is loaded with junk. It's an addictive food. They put additives and so much junk in it like salt (why does a cat need salt??) and "animal fat" (which animals?? lol... and often this means sprayed by oil/fat/greese..). This all causes your cat to be addicted to their food. The reason they do this is because otherwise, your cat wouldn't bother with it. So, that's the reason I think... but the solution isn't as simple.

If it's a kibble try some water in it.. try just leaving it out all day for him to grab as he wishes. Another thing too.... higher quality foods require them to eat less of it. So, if you're feeding the same amount as you did with purina, you're very likely overfeeding, and he's just full. If he isn't eating it all, that's not good either.

I know it's been a while since you posted this but thought since I was in the nieghbourhood I could try to explain why he's all of a sudden showing signs of annorexia. I went through this with my cat too. Unfortunately, (you'll see from my other post), I can't really provide you the same solutions I have resorted to as my cat is severely allergic to chicken. On that same token though, try a different protein source. If you're feeding him chicken, check out a lamb diet, or venison (though venison is always much more expensive).

[QUOTE=MSteve;972379]
Other than the food, he seems to be acting perfectly normal. Other than crying by our bedroom door a little more often (he doesn't sleep with us). He used to do that a lot when we first got him, and after we switched his food because he got hungry in the morning. But now he acts like he wants food, but only half-heartedly and then doesn't eat most of it.

He's also been drinking very little water since we switched to the wet food.[/QUOTE]

Sometimes when cats switch from dry food to the wet they pig out for a while and then settle on what/how much they want to eat. It may not seem a lot to us but is probably more than enough for them. If he is not experiencing a large weight loss all at once then he is probably getting enough. If he is particular about one brand then use it if he shies away from others. Better he eat than not. You can leave wet food out to let him graze on it during the day. It is not necessary to lift it if he doesn't eat it right away. I leave food out for my gang every day. With the number I have I have to or some would never get to eat. :rolleyes:
The drinking very little water may be because he is getting his fluid needs met from the canned food. Most cats cut back on water consumption when they switch to canned simply because they are not dehydrated any more. Before with the dry he would have been dehydrated long before you saw him at the water bowl.


[QUOTE=aarnat;973501]
If it's a kibble try some water in it.. try just leaving it out all day for him to grab as he wishes[/QUOTE]

Please do not add water to dry kibble. After only 20 minutes of kibble getting wet molds start to grow on it. :yuck: Adding water does nothing to aid the cat and indeed may make him sicker.

I added water to mine as my cat quite literally was annorexic. I didn't leave it out like that.. I simply did it to entice him, and to also bring up his fluid intake as he was dehydrated to the extent of requiring IV fluids 3 times :) Sometimes it worked... other times not so much. Very thankful it worked sometimes because the cost and the stress of IV fluids and vet visits is something I just love to do :rolleyes: lol

I see where you're coming from though. I meshed 2 thoughts into one lol. Sorry. I meant to say leave his kibble out all day... and to add some water into to see what that would do but not the two simultaneously. I ramble a lot. :laughing:

Update:

So I think he is probably eating enough. I will continue to monitor his weight though. We do leave the wet food out all day (well we feed him 2-3 times a day). If there is a lot left in the bowl, I'll add some water and mix it in with new stuff.

As long as he doesn't start losing weight I guess he is eating enough, its as 14+ mentioned, he just gorged when his diet changed. But he's a grazer by nature. And he is also fussy and seems to dislike the food sometimes. He might skip a meal but he will eventually eat when he gets hungry enough. I'm going to pick up a variety of different flavours and brands this time around and see if variety makes him happier :)

Finally with water, I understand he is getting more water from his food now but he is literally not drinking any water at all from his bowl. Can he get enough from his food? We even tried buying a fountain for him but he wouldn't have any of it.

Thanks for the update :thumbs up


[QUOTE=MSteve;978380]Update:

So I think he is probably eating enough. I will continue to monitor his weight though. We do leave the wet food out all day (well we feed him 2-3 times a day). If there is a lot left in the bowl, I'll add some water and mix it in with new stuff.
[COLOR="Red"]I also leave wet/raw out all day and also feed 3 times a day, however, any food that is left over, I do throw out (not that there is ever much food with my two piggies, Rose and Sweet Pea :rolleyes:)[/COLOR]


As long as he doesn't start losing weight I guess he is eating enough, its as 14+ mentioned, he just gorged when his diet changed. But he's a grazer by nature. And he is also fussy and seems to dislike the food sometimes. He might skip a meal but he will eventually eat when he gets hungry enough. I'm going to pick up a variety of different flavours and brands this time around and see if variety makes him happier :)
[COLOR="red"]When I had my cats on only Wellness, they too would got through spurts where they wouldn't touch it, that is one of the reasons I changed to Nature's Variety Instinct as their main food, Wellness and others as their secondary food.[/COLOR]


Finally with water, I understand he is getting more water from his food now but he is literally not drinking any water at all from his bowl. Can he get enough from his food? We even tried buying a fountain for him but he wouldn't have any of it.[/QUOTE]

I feed my cats 50/50 raw canned and add some hot water to the raw, then mix it with their slightly warmed canned. The only cat who drinks water is Jasper and he doesn't drink a whole heck of a lot. Cats have an extremely low thirst drive (hence why they should only be on canned) so normally they get enough water through their diet ;).

I'm still working out the kinks I guess :)

So I have a variety of foods, and Douglas likes most of him. But he'll still fuss if we get into a can he's not keen on at the moment. He does seem to love the Wellness flavours that have a bit of fish in them, whether its Turkey and Salmon, or Chicken and Herring.

I feel like I read somewhere that too much fish is bad? Is that true? The fish flavoured cans are still usually chicken, turkey or beef as the main ingredient, is there any need to force him to eat just the just Chicken ones (or Beef and Chicken).

Too much fish is not great, that's true, but when it's the secondary ingredient of a better quality food, I'm not as anal about it. Plus, maybe down the road you can mix half a meal of the fishier flavours with half non-fish. And I'd take a fishy wet food over a non-fishy dry food any day.

Consistency....
 

Has anyone else noticed that Wellness wet food is not the most consistent? Many times even within the same flavour, there seem to be large differences from can to can. Sometimes Douglas will gobble it up, and other times he'll hold his nose up to it and eat at little as possible. The difference is enough that as soon as I open a can I can tell my the smell if he'll like it or not (and I don't have a good sense of smell, even for a human). I can also tell by the texture.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[QUOTE=MSteve;989271]Has anyone else noticed that Wellness wet food is not the most consistent? [/QUOTE]

I find there's a considerable difference between batches made in the US and those made in Canada. Can you check the labels on the cans and see if that might be part of it?

I'll check when I go home. How can you tell where it is made?

[QUOTE=MSteve;989271]Has anyone else noticed that Wellness wet food is not the most consistent? Many times even within the same flavour, there seem to be large differences from can to can. Sometimes Douglas will gobble it up, and other times he'll hold his nose up to it and eat at little as possible. The difference is enough that as soon as I open a can I can tell my the smell if he'll like it or not (and I don't have a good sense of smell, even for a human). I can also tell by the texture.

Has anyone else experienced this?[/QUOTE]

That's what I find with Wellness too. One of the reasons it is now mixed with either Nature's Variety or another brand.

They are all made in the US. I think I will be mixing in some of the pate fancy feast in with any bad cans so he'll eat them. (I know something like Nature Variety is better, but costs start to get out of control when I buy that as well).