Canned Cat Food Question

Trixie

Trixie

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Staff member
For those of you who have/know cats:

My little baby Spotty (she's 13) is now eating canned cat food after all these years. My question is, they have all these different flavors, but I don't know if that's to find out the cat's favorite flavor and just feed that one regularly, or if you are supposed to keep giving them different flavors.

Any advice is appreciated as I have to get her to eat more. She had fatty liver disease and is a skinny little thing now. She's doing good now (we were feeding her through a PEG tube for a while there), but all of a sudden she's taken a liking to canned food, and I have no experience with it.
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

In studies with animals such as rats, if you feed them the same exact food every day, their weight tend to stabilize, even if they have unlimited food available. If you feed them something different everyday, their weight increases and they become obese. The same thing happens with cats and people.

Alexander
Board of Directors
Lincolns of Distinction
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

Cats, like dogs, are creatures of habit. They usually don't like change. Also, changing the food can cause diarrhea and other problems with cats. it's best to stick to the same diet once they like something. We have a cat that will eat nothing but Meow Mix... NOTHING! No milk, no meat, no canned food, NOTHING. First truly vegan cat the vet has ever seen. and to make matters worse "Starvin Marvin" weighs 25 lbs :eek:
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

OK, that helps.

This is weird, because we had to get her interested in food again and she's NEVER liked canned food before. Let me tell you Bilbo the kitten is having a field day with all these choices - he eats anything! I'm worried he's gonna turn into a little fatty.

As an aside, if there are any cat owners in the area - I have a ton of cat food that has been sampled and did not meet my cats' taste test. I don't think the shelters will take it, but if there's anything you need, let me know. ::nono::
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]As an aside, if there are any cat owners in the area - I have a ton of cat food that has been sampled and did not meet my cats' taste test. I don't think the shelters will take it, but if there's anything you need, let me know. ::nono::
[/div]A lot of the pet supply stores will refund your $$ if your cat will not eat the food you buy there, providing of course you have a receipt. They know cats are fussy eaters.

We've done that several times.

 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

My cat used to only eat dry food, but now she also eats canned. But only 3 or 4 varieties - she seems to be happier if I alternate a little, otherwise, she seems to get tired of the flavor of the day/week.

The only things she'll eat are the Friskies varieties with gravy, and then, only the "filets" - she totally ignores the same when it's the "sliced" variety. She also totally ignores any of the regular ground flavors.

John
[link:www.goldengatemark8.com|Golden Gate Mark VIII Website]
http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Mark_VIII_s.jpg
'97 Mark VIII LSC (Sold to SCcouper)
'96 T-Bird 4.6L
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

Buy the little soft packets of food(look like little capri-sun drink packets)...

and take the time to actually mix the wet with the dry. There will be enough flavor variety to not worry about what you chose.

I would do this only 2-3 times a week, and after 2 hours of the food sitting out, throw it away, and fill another bowl with dry only.

My cat is the farthest thing from a feline I have ever seen, as far as eating habbits go.

she LOVES dry food...(I read somewhere that the "crunch crunch" is soothing to them, something about the design of their skull?)

she'll eat(and loves) wet food, but wont eat very much at one sitting...she has dry food in her bowl 24/7, and gets a 'treat" of wet food every now and then.

also, be carefull for stomach disorder...sometimes the change in diet/menu can cause stomach issues which can be messy, and stinky.

I'd work the dry food back in to your cat's diet slowly, so you can shelve the canned food.

My cat wants me to come over to her food dish and actually pet her while she eats....freak!

one more thing....dont put the dish on the floor...elevate it a couple inches...helps their intake tract...

and if anyone here wants to use my love for my cat against me later,...dont even think about it...i hate my cat...ask anyone....but it gets plenty of that other stuff from me(starts with a L and is usually associated with drawing a heart shape)
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

I used to do the exact same thing as Craig is talking about. Mixing wet and dry food together. Well i think it spoiled my cat a little too much. But i stopped doing that and i just give him 2 cans of food a day and fill up a bowl of dry foood and he also has 2 small bowls of water. It is alot of food for him but its his regular routine and just like everyone else said, if you change things up it confuses them and they wont eat or they get sick or something. He eats a lot of other stuff though, sandwich meat, chips, cheese, ice cream, and even will drink soda! Hes an overweight cat big time but i still love him! we also have one small girl cat she is now about 12 years old. she only eats her dry food and has maybe 1 bite of wet food.
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

Hee hee, I knew this was the place to go for cat advice. ;)

Well, part of my problem here is not upsetting her and assuring that she continues to eat. She apparently got hooked on the canned food when I'd put out the stuff that we were feeding her through her tube in an effort to tell her it was time to eat. The problem was I couldn't get her to eat anything, and had to convince her to eat on her own.

She used to only eat her Science Diet Senior formula, but now both cats like the Purina Fancy Feast Gourmet Gold (dry), so that's out all day for both of them. I think a long time ago I fed my cats Meow Mix which they loved, but after the male got a bladder stone, switched over to Science Diet.

So now, I've found that she won't eat any chunky food with gravy, seems to like the meat flavors better than seafood, and right now I'm using the Science Diet canned food, and putting that out a few times a day. Of course, she likes me to go with her to tell her what a good girl she is for eating. I'm still worried that she's not eating enough, she's so skinny it's gross.
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
Hee hee, I knew this was the place to go for cat advice. ;) Well, part of my problem here is not upsetting her and assuring that she continues to eat. She apparently got hooked on the canned food when I'd put out the stuff that we were feeding her through her tube in an effort to tell her it was time to eat. The problem was I couldn't get her to eat anything, and had to convince her to eat on her own. She used to only eat her Science Diet Senior formula, but now both cats like the Purina Fancy Feast Gourmet Gold (dry), so that's out all day for both of them. I think a long time ago I fed my cats Meow Mix which they loved, but after the male got a bladder stone, switched over to Science Diet.So now, I've found that she won't eat any chunky food with gravy, seems to like the meat flavors better than seafood, and right now I'm using the Science Diet canned food, and putting that out a few times a day. Of course, she likes me to go with her to tell her what a good girl she is for eating. I'm still worried that she's not eating enough, she's so skinny it's gross.
[/div]

My only advice would be to make sure she is getting her vitamins. Most cat foods have very little to none; Science Diet, Eukanuba, and a couple others are the only ones that have enough vitamins for cats. Anything else is like feeding yourself nothing but McDonald's...you wouldn't live very long. Your other option is to go ahead and feed your kitty whatever she likes, then pour some vitamin enriched gravy that is sold separately.

When I was young (12-21) and didn't know better, I killed two cats by age 7 because I fed them the cheap stuff.
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
I wouldn't wait too long with her not eating before seeing a Vet with her. Cat's get sick with liver problems very quickly when they don't eat[/div]

Sorry Paul, I should clarify. She was going back and forth to the vet late last year for weight loss, and we FINALLY got a diagnosis of hepatic lipidosis at the very end of the year with a liver biopsy since she had no other symptoms really than anorexia. They placed a feeding tube in her stomach and we were feeding her through that. There was an 85% chance she'd recover with that, but I've got to keep her eating. We go back to the specialist on Wednesday this week and will probably have the tube taken out since she's been eating by mouth for a week or so now. When I go I'll ask him more specific questions about her diet, but til then I was wondering if I should be mixing up the food here or not. He just wanted me to get her to eat. ;)

And Logres, yes, I really worry about not just feeding them the special food, especially the male. I'm hoping that the foods have really improved over the years though. But again, I will ask specifics when I see the vet Wednesday about brands, etc. But the info here so far is helpful in terms of what I need to do short term, and then again if he says she can have what she wants it looks like I'll keep it to one brand, with maybe 2 or 3 of her favorite flavors.
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

Does she like canned tuna, (preferably canned in water)? A friend of mine had a cat that desperately needed to add weight, and canned tuna for a while did the trick just fine, and the vet told her that was fine, as long as she continued it only as long as it took for the cat to gain some weight. Once he added some weight, eating went back to normal food. They also have other canned foods, like chicken, that your cat might like.

John
[link:www.goldengatemark8.com|Golden Gate Mark VIII Website]
http://mark8.org/users/johnaec/Mark_VIII_s.jpg
'97 Mark VIII LSC (Sold to SCcouper)
'96 T-Bird 4.6L
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

I'll ask about the tuna, I know while my regular vet had her they tried to feed her tuna, but she only took a little. She is eating the Science Diet, fairly well, but we'll see what the vet says.

Thanks Paul. It got pretty scary. The hard part about the diagnosis was that she had had elevated liver enzymes earlier in the year with absolutely nothing wrong (ultrasound and needle aspirate showed that), and then by the time she started losing weight, all her blood work showed up normal. So everyone was a bit lost as to what the problem might be.
 
RE: Canned Cat Food Question

Update: Spotty got her feeding tube taken out yesterday. She's 8 lbs. even and eating the canned food.

Specialist was busy with an emergency (apparently a dog needed change removed from his stomach), so I just spoke to his assistant quickly.

They'd rather see the cats on dry food, and said Science Diet is a good bland food for cats like her. They said not to vary her foods (although part of all this variance is trying to find out what she actually likes). So, I think I'm gonna try that mixing some of the canned food with the dry and see if she'll start getting interested in that. Until then, I'll just put it all out there so that she keeps eating.
 
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