Limited Ingredent canned foods

So the vet wants to try to put Dallas on a limited ingredient food diet, as his ALT for his Sept blood test (prior to dental) was higher than it should be (144 I believe, tests are at home) and then when he went back for a follow up on 10/25 (was on Denamarin for a month) the ALT was 193. He is currently on the denamarin again (using the small pills once a day, he had been taking the medium pills once a day, but I am using Cedric's leftover meds) and we are trying some limited ingredient foods to see if that is the cause of the higher ALT values.

Saturday night, we tried Royal Canin Hypoalergenic Duck & Pea. Left it down for an hour, wouldn't touch it. Gave him something else before I had to go to bed.
Monday night, after getting some other limited ingredient foods at the specialty pet store, tried Nature's Variety Instinct Lamb. I left it out from 6pm to 6am, putting a couple of ice cubes in it. I also put a little bit of Friskies turkey & giblets juice on it; I think that is what caused him to take a bite. he did not eat this either, even with the forta flora - which he loves - on it.

I have also bought:
http://www.chewy.com/cat/evangers-grain ... d/dp/37737
http://www.chewy.com/cat/evangers-grain ... d/dp/37736
http://www.chewy.com/cat/natural-balanc ... d/dp/29432

I also bought a can of chicken and pumpkin, but I forget the name of that brand at the moment.

What are your thoughts about getting a cat to eat "new" or different foods? Dallas is an ex-stray, so I think that is why he was able to hold out for some many hours without eating. any tips will be appreciated! This is driving me crazy!

 

Switching to the new LID food "cold turkey" doesn't sound like it is working with Dallas. How about if you try a slower transition, mixing in some of his old food and only a tiny bit of the new LID food? Gradually change the proportions of old to new food, over a week or longer period, until Dallas is eating the LID diet.

I know it's not an immediate solution, but cats can be very resistant to a change in food and a more gradual change can be accepted better.

Maybe try some of these transitioning tips from Dr. Lisa Pierson. Yes, the article is slanted towards switching a dry food addict to wet food, but could be adapted for wet/ to wet LID I think. I used so many of these tips switching Wink from dry to wet food. Some of these ideas should work in switching from one kind of wet food to another kind of wet food.

Keeping our fingers crossed that the diet change will be accepted by Dallas and make a difference.

 

Natural Balance has canned L.I.D. foods:

http://www.petco.com/product/105144/Nat ... ood-105144

 

what about trying raw foods with him? maybe he will like that better.

I have some good quality, expensive canned food that is better ingredients and quality than FF and while mine ate a little of it, they really didn't like it, I even mixed FF with it and it got eaten but not enthusiastically. I have several of those cans left and gave up on trying to force it on them.

They both will eat freeze dried raw _ stella and chewy's, Maui will eat some frozen raw. Buster won't touch it.

Work slowly and try mixing as Deb suggested.

 

When Nicholas (or his siblings Jeremy & Gypsy) get snuffy about eating something new, I will sprinkle tiny bit of parmasean cheese on top and the smell is strong enough to get them to start eating. Also I will put some of the old food on top of new so they will do same, start with old and keep going through new, as some of the old gets naturally mixed into new as they eat.
When Nicholas wants nothing to do with any wet food - then I thaw the chicken gizzards I have (keep in separate bags of 8 pieces in freezer) and give to him and he will gobble those. He knows as soon as he hears me cutting fat off, that its something for him.

 

Well, I mixed some of the Nature's Variety Instinct Duck with Friskies Turkey & giblets last night and he ate everything except the pea. :lol:
I think he was catching on to me a bit this morning when I did the same thing and he got up on the counter and sniffed the cans. There was a couple of bites left in the bowl, but a little forta flora got rid of that.

I will keep up with it, and try some of the different ones to see if he does better with rabbit instead. I have also cut Miralax out of his food, in case that is what is contributing to his elevated ALT, but he did not poop yesterday, so I might have to re-think that, or use something else.

 

No go with the rabbit, tried twice. I think I might just take the cans of venison and rabbit back and get the NVI duck and try again. I also still have that case (minus one can) of Royal Canin hypoallergenic duck. :-|

 

Any luck yet getting Dallas to eat some of his new foods?

 

Feline Constipation has a number of ideas for dealing with the constipation. You could try adding 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of plain psyllium powder to food along with a tablespoon or so of water. Psyllium fiber absorbs water and expands - if there isn't enough moisture the food becomes caked.

 

He has been doing good with the mix of Friskies with the Nature's Variety Instinct Duck. I ran out of NVI so this morning I tried the Royal Canin Hypoalergenic duck. this time it was 1/2 and 1/2 and he ate about 90% of it by the time I left.

What I don't like about the Royal Canin is that it has some grains in it. I am at work but when I get home tonight I will post the ingredients. the NVI doesn't have any grains in it, so I would rather go with that. Waiting to hear back from the vet (he is off on Wed and apparently didn't get to my email yesterday) to see if he's ok with the NVI instead.

http://www.chewy.com/cat/natures-variet ... d/dp/44642

 

Royal Canin has water, duck, duck liver, pea flour, duck by-product meal, pea protein, natural flavors, fish oil, etc
Dallas ate 1/2 and 1/2 mixture tonight, like this morning - 1/2 Royal Canin duck and 1/2 friskies mixed grill. I still think the Nature's variety might be better for him, without the grains...thoughts?

 

That's a tough call on if the Nature's Variety Instinct would be better than the Royal Canin to help Dallas the most. I hate to say it, but ECID.

My Libby (GA) actually did better on the foods that were grain free (no rice, wheat, soy, corn, etc) but she did ok on the foods with pea protein in them. It all depends on the cat. The hypoallergenic Hill's Z/d for example, had rice in it and that wrecked havoc with her digestive system. Near constant diarrhea. My vet insisted on a 4-6 week food trial, so it was hell on my cat. Never again.

I know a lot of vets like to try novel proteins, but frankly I think the elimination of all grains from the diet can often be of more help. I did not consider the pea proteins or other veggies to be an issue and they did not cause an issue with my Libby.

Not sure if sharing my experiences with Libby will be helpful to you or not.

Your in the experimental stage with Dallas, trying him on different foods but still trying to have him eat enough so he does not lose weight.