Daily Kitten Chat Forum » Cats & Kittens

1. 

   Trying to find a good quality dry food for my babies! I was feeding them Wellness salmon, which they hated. So, I switched them to Go! grain-free trout. They liked the Go!, but Istra developed stomach issues (diarrhea/soft stool). I then switched them to Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Kitten and her diarrhea cleared up. But, reading online reports made me really nervous of the Nutro (it was one of the recalled foods, there have been lots of complaints about it). So, I switched them to Innova EVO. And Istra has developed loose stool again. It's not as bad as with the Go! food . . . and they've only been on the Innova for about a week, so it may just be adjusting to a new food.

   Could it be that she actually needs some grain in her food? It seems like she gets tummy issues whenever her food doesn't have some grain in it. Marzipan seems less affected by it, but his stool is kind of loose too with the grain-free foods.

   I just want to find a good food that won't make them sick--anyone have advice? And sorry for all the description of my cats' digestive woes.

   Posted 2 years ago by astrid #

2. 

   They are having issues because you keep changing their food! Cats are obligate carnivores and should NOT be fed grain products. I have been feeding KumpiKat since the poisoning episodes:
   http://www.kumpikat.com/index.html

   I buy the 20lb bag--it's more economical that way. Shipping is free.

   Posted 2 years ago by Sheba's Mom in Phoenix, AZ 10/8 #

3. 

   Wow...I had no idea Nutro foods had been recalled. I've been out of touch with animal products I guess. I've been using the Nutro wet food...

   Posted 2 years ago by kstn281 #

4. 

   I had been feeding the Hills prescription food because Sheba once had crystals, but stopped when the formula for diabetic cats was part of the recall--I won't feed anything now that is not made in the US from US-grown products and must be human-grade.

   Posted 2 years ago by Sheba's Mom in Phoenix, AZ 10/8 #

5. 

   I am not switching their foods because I think it's fun--I'm just looking for one that they can tolerate and will eat.

   I appreciate the link, Sheba's Mom . . . but did you notice that the KumpiKat has both rice flour and oatmeal in the first four ingredients? Perhaps, since your cats have done well on it, the "no grains" rule really isn't as hard and fast as we've been led to believe.

   Thanks for your advice--it's good to hear about other people's experiences. You have a gorgeous avatar kitty!

   Posted 2 years ago by astrid #

6. 

   Thanks! They have done very well on this food. Feeding only meat when you don't add nutrients, such as taurine, is not good either. Cats get the nutrients by eating the entire animal, bones and organs.

   I did not mean to make it sound as if you were changing food at whim--I apologize if you took it that way. When changing food you should mix it with the old gradually until the change-over is complete.

   Posted 2 years ago by Sheba's Mom in Phoenix, AZ 10/8 #

7. 

   for some cats a no grain food ends up being to rich for them even though it really is the best food if your going to feed dry. Instinct all the farm cats are fine with and its grain free also it isn't really expensive.

   cats simply do not get anything out of eating grains because they aren't made too - they are made to eat meat. it could be that it was to much to fast, some of the richer foods you need to change really slowly, like over a month.

   fish isn't that good for cats either, especially male cats. once a week its fine though.

   Posted 2 years ago by furryfriends50 #

8. 

   Astrid, I took my boys off Nutro a few months back. Bob was crying every night and Milo had diarrhea. I ran out of Nutro one night and had to feed them Meow Mix and while they went through that bag, Bobby never cried and Milo's stomach settled down.
   Bob is VERY picky and I went through 4-5 kinds of dry food before I found one he likes - Hill's Science Diet Light. Both my boys are happy and happy now!

   Posted 2 years ago by GreatDane #

9. 

   Thanks, Furryfriends50--Instinct ingredients look great and it is cheaper than the grain-frees that I've tried. Why is fish bad for male cats?

   Also, I think Furryfriends50 and Sheba's Mom are both probably right--it's likely that I switched foods too quickly. They self feed, so switching the foods meant I mixed part of the new bag into the old food and then topped it off with the new. That's probably too fast to move to the richer food.

   This is encouraging--I may just give them more time to adjust to the Innova Evo . . . and there's the Instinct if it really doesn't work for them. Thank you both!

   KSTN281--I had no idea that Nutro had recall issues when I got it, either! It's really hard to keep up with all the drama about pet foods. Sigh.

   Posted 2 years ago by astrid #

10. 

    I switched Bob to Blue Buffalo when they recalled the wet Nutro - only to have him come down with kidney issues because Blue Buffalo was contaminated as well. Makes me feel bad to have put him back on Nutro. I'm starting to lean toward it being the Nutro that caused his seizures last summer.

    Posted 2 years ago by GreatDane #

11. 

    Wow, that's so scary, Greatdane! Have your babies recovered fully from being poisoned? That's just awful!

    I'm very glad I switched away from the Nutro! I don't think I've ever seen Blue Buffalo--maybe they don't distribute here (I'm in Chicago), but I'm glad to know about that, too.

    Posted 2 years ago by astrid #

12. 

    This is what I fed him that caused the kidney problems:
    http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cats/spa-select.shtml

    He's recovered from the kidney problems but he was very sick for a while.
    Last summer he had two seizures out of the blue and the vets couldn't find a cause. After I switched him from Nutro and started reading up on it, seizures in both cats and dogs were one of the claims people have made against Nutro.
    Bob is on medication now for seizures but haven't had any since last summer. I'm going to eventually wean him off it. If indeed it was the Nutro that caused it and he's now off that, he should be okay to take off the meds.

    Posted 2 years ago by GreatDane #

13. 

    read this: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whyfishisdangerousforcats can explain better than i can ;)

    Posted 2 years ago by furryfriends50 #

14. 

    Poor babys! I'm feeding binx on purina indoor long haired cat formula. It's dry. And he loves it. Hasn't done anything to his tummy and I've always used it. So I know it's reliable. But you need to slowly mix in the foods whenever you change cat food. My mom taught me to change It by taking half the food your currently on and half the food youre changing to. Mix it up in their bowl and let them chow down.

    Posted 2 years ago by Binx.baby #

15. 

    when i change the farm cats food, i do it very slowly. i change it over one and a half weeks time, and that certain food is generally only 1/4 of the dry food they are getting! and dry food is only 1/2 of the food they get. so the first day each cat probably gets only 10 pieces of the new food.

    unfortunatly cats can appear to do fine but thats only on the outside. mine were doing fine on just kirkland dry. then i started mixing in brands like instinct and wellness dry, and they did great on that. then i added 50% of their total food as friskies wet, and they did amazing that way. now i feed 50% raw, 10% friskies wet, and 40% dry food, and they are doing much much better than just getting 50% wet! so there was a lot of improvement that could happen but i didn't know it. they appeared fine yes, but there is for sure always room for change :D

    Posted 2 years ago by furryfriends50 #

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