How bad is dry food?

I hate that I'm even asking b/c I've read the info, I got Arnold off of it and he almost instantly went OTJ. We're having such a hard time w/ food right now though. He was having problems w/ the canned so I switched to raw and that was great, but now he won't touch it. We were having problems w/ canned again so I switched to all Nutro to try and track down what the issue was. I didn't see any blood last night but it was so dark (the stool) it was hard to tell, but it was nasty. I just feel bad for him and I want him all better and I'm about to give up and go back to high quality dry but I don't want to, especially since he was a little dehydrated already last time they did his bloodwork. I'm just at a loss and I want his stools to be normal again.

 

The raw food will make his stools very hard and crumbly. Kitties not used to it will tend to have a hard time passing poop. Normally when a cat is on raw diet, he poops less because less waste is made with the raw diet. You can always put a little bit of fiber in kitties food to get him going. But be careful, too much will make kitty have diarrhea. Personally I use Galactin:

http://purelifenutrition.com/inc/sdetail/164

Not only is it fiber, but it promotes pro-biotic growth in the intestines and helps regulate Blood Sugar! Other people here use MiraLax I believe and have had great results from what I've read.

http://www.walgreens.com/store/cata...=G&ec=frgl_&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=sku5637795

 

if you have to feed dry food, then get a lower carb one like wellness core.

I hope you're able to figure out what's going on and it's an easy fix.

 

Evo Turkey & Chicken Formula is the lowest carb kibble available on the market at 7%...

http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?id=1500

*IF* you must feed kibble, that is the one I would choose. It IS the one that my diet controlled diabetic gets ten pieces of twice per day.

~M

 

When I was feeding my cat Nutro wet food, her stool got very very black. I think that is just the way their food "comes out". Their food is very good quality food, and high in protein but much of it is also very high in carbs. I have it in my hypo kit.

 

Thanks. Things have looked better today I think, no diarrhea that I can tell so maybe that old food is working it's way out and he'll be feeling better? It's good to know the stools were dark for your cats on that food b/c that was a little unusual for him and made it hard for me to see if there was any blood. There was less mucous so I guess we'll give him some more time on it and see if he adjusts. I just think there is something in that Fancy Feast that upsets him and now that he won't eat his raw food, I didn't know what to do.

 

Question: I had to give Jake dry food today, I gave him Innova EVO (Purple Bag). It says on the label 7% carbs and 50% protien. Jake was so happy I had given him kibble he purred while he ate.

I'm a little worried I might be undoing what I'm trying to by getting him regulated... but I see on some of my canned food it says 9% carbs! So I'm confused. Is kibble really all that bad if it's grain free and ultra low carb?

Breayle and Jake

 

if it say 7% i wonder what the serving size is. if it is enough for a meal the i guess it would be ok....however, having said that i think you will know in very short order if you are doing damage to your diabetes regulation.
it's kind of risky..i see your dilema.
YIKES if he won't eat anything eles anymore that also is a problem
normally i would say NO absolutely not, no dry. my cat came back from being otj perhaps in part because after 2+ years I got casual and gave dry kibble treats....everyday.

 

It just says 7% carbs. Nothing else... he's weird... he wont eat anything I give him MYSELF. However, he'll eat anything my mom or dad give him so I'm starting to think it's just me. I'm doing more reading and there are claims that Innova EVO is actual 13% carbs and not the 7% stated on the package. So now I'm worried... yet again.

Blah.

Regardless of the almost double the amount of the carbs stated on the package, it's still way better than most commercial dry foods. I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to do with a cat who doesn't wanna eat what I give him.

-breayle and jake

 

is your cat mad at you???? confused_cat perhaps you can put him in another room when you set the food down (wearing gloves so he won't smell your scent on the bowl) and then let him in the room when the food is down and you leave the room
SHEESH what we do for out kitties ohmygod_smile

 

Yeah I've done that... he's such a weird cat. I have never... and I mean NEVER owned a cat that is so dopey, and so DIRTY! He's so ODD and I've had many cats! If I don't find him something he wants he just doesn't eat, and then gets all sleepy and groggy 'cos he doesn't eat. Then once I've found something he'll eat "almost" anything... but I still gotta be careful. Pain in my bootie I tells ya! But he's my pain in the booty

-Breayle and Jake

 

he's dirty? as in not preening himself? hmmmm? interesting.
is he...ummm, how do i put this gently...."special"?

 

Even though the dry Evo is supposed to be low carb, it can affect some cats' BG. My Danny is one of those. His BG climbed significantly when he ate dry Evo. But BG testing will show if your cat is one of those who's affected. One thing you might try is crushing some dry Evo then sprinkling it on the wet or raw food.

The poops on raw food are typically a lot drier but in my cats' case, the poo was lighter colored and way less stinky. But I never fed Nutro. I made sure to add plenty water to the raw, and salmon oil. Something like Miralax is excellent for keeping poop soft too.

If you are concerned about missing seeing any blood in the stool, there are people test kits you can buy at the pharmacy. I don't know how much they cost though.

good luck,
laur

 

When we talk about % of carbs in food, we mean the % of calories in the food that comes from carbs. If you notice the label will say like 40% protein, 12% fat, 7% carbs, but that obviously doesn't add up to 100%, so they are including water weight and other things in those %. So, the label is pretty useless for us, which is why most everyone uses Binky's food lists for reference.

http://binkyspage.tripod.com/dryfood.html

 

Is the kitty 'special', that made me giggle. :smile:

I loved the raw food poo. He went from having clear the house, mucousy, bloody diarrhea to no stink, no problems, it was great. Why he suddenly quit eating it I have no idea. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow and see what happens. Maybe he'll like it if I go back and forth between the raw and the Nutro? Maybe he's bored. Cats are weird, lol.

 

It made you giggle? I burst out laughing!

Yes... my Jake n Bake is very... VERY special. He's always been super dopey and dirty... his big brother was and still is his main cleaner! He'd always look at Jake, sigh and come clean him. Like "really man? Really?" When Jake was diagnosed with FD the vet said "See you can tell he's lethargic and doesn't focus very well... etc." I responded with... um... doc... he's ALWAYS like that. I didn't notice any difference in his personality, just the fact that he was super underweight!

He's my goofy, "special" boy. And if there was a short bus for kitties... he'd totally be on it with one of those pinwheel caps!

<3

-Breayle and Jake

 

O.K. THAT made me laugh. :lol: