Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Discussion Groups - mainly cats and dogs > Dog food forum > Cat food forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old July 21st, 2008, 07:53 PM
darraz's Avatar
darraz darraz is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2
Very Finicky Cat

Just about 2 hrs of reading posts, I have learned a lot about what cats should and shouldn't eat.
Miss Kitty was given to me a year ago, she is 6 and weighs about 8 pds. She was an outdoor cat and was fed purina dry food. I switched her to wellness canned chicken (the only canned food she would eat) and wysong vitality. She is an indoor cat now.
4 months ago she had trouble urinating and started using the house plants. The vet said wysong had a high magnesium level .10% and some cats develop urinary problems. Miss Kitty went on antibiotics and the vet told me to try Science diet indoor .073% mag. She likes it because of the bigger pieces, like wysong but the content is what bothers me. I've tried Wellness dry and others. Either the pieces were too small (she would look at me then at the food and walk away) or she started to have problems again. Tried organic raw meats, chicken but she'll only eat a very small amt. of cooked chicken. So she eats about 3 oz of wellness and 1/4 c of dry throughout the day.
I can't seem to find a grain free, low magnesium dry food. Any suggestions?


"There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person."
- Dan Greenberg
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old July 21st, 2008, 08:45 PM
sugarcatmom's Avatar
sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 5,357
Quote:
Originally Posted by darraz View Post
Miss Kitty went on antibiotics and the vet told me to try Science diet indoor .073% mag.
First things first, welcome to the board! Sorry to hear Miss Kitty has urinary tract issues.

Now for my spiel about vets and nutrition. Basically, when it comes to cats especially, vets have no business giving diet recommendations. The education they receive on the topic is minimal at best, and severely biased by Big Pet Food at worst. Unless they've been really active in doing their own research on feline nutrition, it's best to ignore 'em. You might find this little article interesting: http://catnutrition.wordpress.com/20...food-and-vets/
The fact that your vet thinks it's the amount of magnesium in the food that is causing Miss Kitty's problems proves s/he isn't all that current on the issue. Magnesium is only a factor when urine is too alkaline, and the way to make urine more acidic is to feed a meat-based, species appropriate diet, not a crappy corn/grain based one like Science Diet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by darraz View Post
I can't seem to find a grain free, low magnesium dry food. Any suggestions?
A cat with a history of urinary/bladder issues should not be eating any dry at all. The best thing you can do for Miss Kitty is eliminate the kibble (gradually, if you have to, but you have to none-the-less). I urge you to read this link for details on why dry food (even if it's grain-free) is not a good idea: http://www.catinfo.org/ There are tips on how to transition to an all wet diet: http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_

Have you tried just picking up all the dry and leaving canned down instead? Most people get overly worried about spoilage when leaving wet food out, but it really isn't a problem. That's how I feed my cat. You might also want to try a few different flavours and brands of canned food because many cats get bored eating the same thing all the time. Miss Kitty might eat more if she had more variety.

Anyway, good luck and do let me know how she does.
__________________
"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb

“We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old July 22nd, 2008, 01:25 AM
growler~GateKeeper's Avatar
growler~GateKeeper growler~GateKeeper is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 17,568
What other meats have you tried other than chicken?

How about beef, turkey, rabbit, lamb? Sometimes the key is finding the protein source your cat likes the best.

Wellness, Nature's Variety, Innova, Evo, Eagle Pack Holistic Select, By Nature's Organics and Merricks are all good canned food choices
__________________
Avoid biting when a simple growl will do

The Spirit Lives As Long As Someone Who Lives Remembers You - Navaho Saying
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old July 22nd, 2008, 09:38 AM
darraz's Avatar
darraz darraz is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 2
I've tried lamb and turkey and even mixed it in w/her wet food. She eats a tiny bit and walks away. I'll keep trying.
Most of the canned food brands and variety that were mentioned she has tried, wellness chicken is her favorite. She does like canned tuna occasionally and spiders.

[QUOTE=sugarcatmom;626267]
Have you tried just picking up all the dry and leaving canned down instead? Most people get overly worried about spoilage when leaving wet food out, but it really isn't a problem.

I'm really not worried about the spoilage issue. After a few hours she won't eat it. Even the dry, which she nibbles on throughout the day. Usually there is some left in the bowl, I have to fluff it up to pretend it's fresh, or she waits by the container where her dried food is stored.

I'm trying to ween her off the dry, she did like the sample of blue and will use it as a treat. Or is there something better to give her as a treat, she likes the larger size kibble.

Thanks for all the info.

__________________
"There is, incidentally, no way of talking about cats that enables one to come off as a sane person."
- Dan Greenberg
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:27 AM.