My F2 Kitten (5 months) Will Not Eat Dry Food Any Suggestions

[Jarnco5]

Deborah, Glad you are not deleting all the posts. You have the wisdom that a good moderator should. IMO

Taking my time out now... started to before

 

[Rafiki]

My breeder warned me against a dry diet for kittens specifically. He said that if the kitten is raised on wet (raw in Rafiki's case), they get the vast majority of their water from the wet food and do not drink much water. Switching them to dry, or occasionally supplimenting with dry, can lead to blockage and can be fatal (mostly in kittens and not cats). Apparently cats do not have a strong thirst drive as a result of being desert animals and getting their moisture from the critters they eat.

Has anyone else heard anything similar? Or evidence to the contrary?

 

[Becki]

[quote="Jarnco5, post: 53880, member: 1950"

To answer your question "NO" I do not work in the food industry however that said my expertise is in human nutrition and fitness. Currently I study Regenerative Medicine, RNA interference, Targeted cancer therapies and Broad spectrum anti virals for an investment firm.[/quote]

Thank you for answering, I honestly appreciate it. My craft is more art than science; I negotiate collective bargaining agreements and handle all labor relations for a large corporation. Actually, I am not sure it even qualifies for an art as what I really do is argue / fight for a living. I will not unleash those mad skills here unless your force me to pull this site over, Mister! I kid. (And we are all grateful I did not choose comedy as a career)

With that, cat tummies are different than people tummies. This is why we see tigers / lions / various and sundry big cats on Animal Planet eating fly covered carcasses for days out in the blazing hot sun with no ill effect. I am not suggesting we throw some dead wildebeest on the kitchen floor and go for a weeks vacation, of course, but domestic cats are able to digest and handle raw without the same risk level as you or I would. Could we exist on McDonalds? Sure. Would we be at peak health? Probably not. Would we be better off eating chipotle? Probably. Would we maximize our chances of health by eating lots of unprocessed fruits and veggies along with fresh lean proteins? This seems to be the best option, along with excercise, etc. etc. If we ate this way most of the time and on occasion ate some ice cream or cookies, would it be a big deal? Nope. I think this is what we are trying to say with our kitty diets. There are ok, good, better and best ways to feed our cats. The choice on this spectrum is the time and effort, and lets face it, money you want / are able to put into it. If you make your own raw, it is work to ensure the correct bone / meat / organ ratio along with supplements just as creating a home cooked meal takes more effort than running through a drive through would. But you do get a healthier product from this work. This doesn't mean other options, like high quality wet or prepared raw or freeze dried raw aren't healthy. They are also good options and, in my opinion, better than strictly dry. Dry / wet combo is better than only dry. I don't know I can get to being ok with dry only, but it isn't for me to tell others how to feed their cats if this is the choice they make.

Did you get my trick here? I just keep going on and on and on until you say "cheese and crackers! I will agree to everything you just said if you will just shut up already!" I told you I was good!

 

[Trish Allearz]

[quote="Jarnco5, post: 53880, member: 1950"

With that, cat tummies are different than people tummies. This is why we see tigers / lions / various and sundry big cats on Animal Planet eating fly covered carcasses for days out in the blazing hot sun with no ill effect. I am not suggesting we throw some dead wildebeest on the kitchen floor and go for a weeks vacation, being ok with dry only, but it isn't for me to tell others how to feed their cats if this is the choice they make.

Did you get my trick here? I just keep going on and on and on until you say "cheese and crackers! I will agree to everything you just said if you will just shut up already!" I told you I was good!

Darn you ruining my vacation plans~!

 

[WitchyWoman]

Meh, wildebeest is overrated. Zebra is the only way to go.

 

[MattM]

Ever since I started feeding raw, I have had 0 problems with fowl smelling feces like it's not even there. It's literally a night and day difference when you remove the fiber gums from their diet.

 

[Rafiki]

Throwing a wildebeast carcass on the kitchen floor would sure make vacation planning so much easier tho...wonder where I could get one? But she really prefers fowl. Maybe a nice ostrich would work?

 

[Treywi]

Throwing a wildebeast carcass on the kitchen floor would sure make vacation planning so much easier tho...wonder where I could get one? But she really prefers fowl. Maybe a nice ostrich would work?

Somehow I stumbled across a website last night that had listings of exotic animals for sale. Zebras, wildebeests, and even an ostrich. I kept seeing camels and joked with my husband I was going to get one. But I personally would have a fit at the mess a carcass would have left behind I would have to clean up. I'd be so worked up I'd need another vacation.

 

[renate nieman]

My *experience* is that if I give my cats a single meal of dry, they will refuse to eat the next meal if it is either raw or canned. And my ragdoll gets what we call "poopy butt" (25 lb ball of fluff dragging poo all around the house, not fun). And is more likely to urinate inappropriately if he gets more than one meal of dry.

When on raw, their poo is nice and compact (and doesn't create poopy butt).

My DSH died prematurely from eating a "high quality dry" diet. Kidney failure. My hardwood floors serve as evidence and the stains remind me every day.

My other DSH didn't ultimately die from eating a "high quality dry" diet but he had 10 years of problems with crystals and PU surgery.

My opinion is that I don't like your opinion much. Kibble is nasty (see: http://www.poisonedpets.com/pet-foo...entary-available-in-media-library-collection/ *) and creates an addiction and is linked to illness in cats. I understand wanting to feed it for your convenience, but it is not a good choice if you want your cats to be healthy and live long lives.

Note: I tried to link directly to the video but was unable to, the video is halfway down this page.

Hi I am the one that ask the original question. I have never fed raw what do you feed. The problem I have with my Savannah (is is 5 months old) is that he gets very bad diarrhea. My vet suggested that he have some dry with his canned in order to help the diarrhea. The only canned and dry that are working is Royal Cannin kitten canned and IAMS VETERINARY INTESTINAL PLUS DRY. I have tried other dry food and the diarrhea come back and he wont eat for a day. This food combination is working but he is still not solid like my other cats. Do you think a raw diet would work.

diarrhea

 

[Dantes]

Hi I am the one that ask the original question. I have never fed raw what do you feed. The problem I have with my Savannah (is is 5 months old) is that he gets very bad diarrhea. My vet suggested that he have some dry with his canned in order to help the diarrhea. The only canned and dry that are working is Royal Cannin kitten canned and IAMS VETERINARY INTESTINAL PLUS DRY. I have tried other dry food and the diarrhea come back and he wont eat for a day. This food combination is working but he is still not solid like my other cats. Do you think a raw diet would work.

diarrhea

Hi, just for kicks I gave my 2 yr old half a cup of kibble and some Weruva Peking Duckin last night and he kept me up all night with the runs and poopy butt this morning.

As to what I feed, it's complicated Primarily their diet is RADcat and Primal raw. Occasionally I slip in some Weruva canned or Lotus canned or Instinct canned or Tiki canned (this is all off the top of my head but the general point is that I spent a lot of time researching high quality foods and rotate them as much as possible, even though they're not the primary diet). I usually free feed overnight only (not during the day) either Stella and Chewy freeze dried or Ziwi Peak. There's a really great organic meat market in my town, so once a week I get something raw for them, sometimes I'll have them chop up a frozen rabbit, or get some organic chicken livers, or I'll make chicken wings for myself and give the wing tips to the cats. If I make it out to Whole Foods they sell frozen organic chicken backs. Once a week I buy a small organic chicken and roast it and share it with the boys (gizzards, heart, neck etc also go to the boys). I also share my eggs with them (as long as I haven't added any onion or garlic). Or pretty much anything they're interested in.

My idea behind feeding is to provide a varied diet of wholesome foods, not much different than what I do for myself. What I want to avoid is giving them the same diet for an extended period of time. I do keep some kibble on hand (currently Wysong) because it's awesome for training (along with freeze dried chicken treats and bonito), and also because I do have a life outside of the boys and if my neighbor is going to feed them I do want to make it easy on them (although my neighbors are no longer squeamish, and the cat sitter/vet tech has no problem feeding RadCat or Primal).

HTH