Pet Nutrition Thread: I see no problem with my cat's vegan diet.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Pet Nutrition Thread: I see no problem with my cat's vegan diet.

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Wet food only is fine and preferable. Dry food is just more convenient and cheaper.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2013 23:41

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# ¿ May 1, 2024 19:20

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Have you been to the vet about this? Have you tried a variety of foods (even crappy brands) just to see if she'll willingly eat any of them?

# ¿ Nov 19, 2013 05:50

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Maybe kitten food? You could give it to her in addition to her wet food.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2013 07:16

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Violen posted:

I'll double-check to make sure he's specifically buying the formula targeted toward kittens when I'm up there later today. Appreciate the response!

Kitten food or food for "all life stages" is fine.

# ¿ May 12, 2014 02:24

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Unless your cat is chews the hell out of dry food (most cats don't chew anyway) don't bother, it's a waste of money. Cats don't care about eating one type of food, feed what you have. Not sure about the seafood/mercury thing but AAFCO approved foods are balanced in a way that won't kill your cat. No reason you couldn't give your cat the seafood stuff as a treat if you're worried about feeding it daily.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2014 01:04

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Sirbloody posted:

Does anyone have any suggestions on training treats? I am picking up my puppy on the 27th (Possibly on the 26th if I get the day off). and I will be feeding her 4Health puppy and I was thinking of getting some of the 4Health treats but I have no idea on their quality compared to the dry food.

Freeze dried liver is recommended a lot. You can also just use regular kibble if you dog is especially food motivated.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2014 10:20

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Majority of wet foods are fine so long as they're aafco labeled. There have been quite a few posts about quality issues with wellness recently, so that might explain things for you.

Chicken soup is good though yeah.

# ¿ May 28, 2015 16:50

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Don't sweat it too much.

FWIW I have a cat with crystals and I split his feedings between Royal Canin dry in the morning and canned fancy feast at night because he won't touch the royal canin crystals wet food. While it isn't great and I'd rather feed him something better, it's miles better than what he was on originally (9 lives) and he does really well on it. He stopped feeling like a weird greasy goon at all the time and is actually pleasant to pet and he stopped smelling weird.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2016 18:17

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

Glass Hand posted:

My 8 year old indoor cat, Chai, has been on Natural Balance dry food most of her life. Recently I began learning about the health benefits of wet food and started scoping out brands at the local pet food stores. By a complete coincidence, apparently one of them is celebrating "Cat Hydration Month" in August and gave me some free cans of Weruva "Cats in the Kitchen" food that a Weruva sales rep had given them. That brand's not in the OP, but I've seen some other people on this forum mention it, so I assume it's legit, being grain-free and all. She certainly likes it.

The thing is, I'm reluctant to go all-wet because of how well Chai already manages her weight. She's been completely free-feed since she was a kitten, I just put more food in when I see her dish getting low. Two years ago, when I took her for an annual vet checkup, she weighed 11.06 pounds; one year later, they weighed her again and she was still exactly 11.06 pounds. Not caring about how much I feed her has been pretty convenient, and I'd hate to lose the benefit of her uncanny ability to not balloon up like the cats my family had when I was a kid. Thus, I thought maybe I could use the wet food as a supplement, giving her some daily amount and still letting her have her dry food bowl to self-regulate. Is this sensible or retarded?

I have had no health issues whatsoever with her, I just want to avoid giving her early kidney problems or otherwise harming her via dehydration.

As for water, I replace her drinking water every day, but she doesn't have a fountain because she would never use them when she was younger. I used to have a fountain years ago, but she wouldn't touch it unless the motor was off, which sort of defeated the purpose of the fountain. As far as I can tell she has no interest in running water whatsoever. Should I try to get a different (quieter?) brand of fountain or something, or are there just cats that don't like them generally?

Wevera is a good food, but it isn't AAFCO approved because it doesn't meet certain nutritional requirements. Since you're not planning on feeding exclusively wet food you should be fine feeding it as a supplementary food.

Re: dry/wet food: My elderly family cat had to go on an all wet food diet because he is Old and his kidneys aren't as good as they used to be, but up until that point he did great on self regulating a set amount of dry food as you described. If she does get fat just cut back on the amount you put in the bowl.

As for the fountain if your cat is fine drinking out of a normal bowl I don't see much use in getting a fountain. If you haven't already move her water bowl away from her food bowl. Cats don't always like drinking next to where they eat for whatever reason.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2016 00:41

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

This is purely anecdotal to these forums but a lot of people have reported their dogs not really doing well on blue buffalo for some reason. Their dogs had dame kind of issues you're having now. If she was doing fine on it before and I missed it ignore me, I just wanted to throw that out there if it's been a problem since you switched.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2016 22:14

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

khysanth posted:

We tried a TON of brands (including Tiki). She seems to like the morsel/shredded texture much more than p�t�, and also likes there to be more liquid it seems.

With an old cat, whatever they eat is the best food. Our old family cat has similar "flake only, lots of liquid" pickiness. He'll only touch 3 specific flavors of fancy feast wet food. It's not is perfectly ideal as other wet food, but he actually likes eating it he does well on it so that's all that matters.

If you've already played brand roulette just stick with what you know she eats and hope for the best.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2017 08:34

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# ¿ May 1, 2024 19:20

Kerfuffle: Aug 16, 2007; The sky calls to us~

khysanth posted:

So it turns out on the first brand roulette we did, we only got the Tiki food with the added pumpkin. Went back to the store and picked up a few of the small cans of regular Tiki and old kitty has been devouring it!

~2 of the small cans per day (1 in the morning and 1 at night) seems like as much as she will eat. Pretty normal for an old cat who has always had a small appetite? She only weighs ~10lbs.

Yayyy

This is also almost exactly what our cat eats, he's around the same weight and has been a very regulated eater too. Only difference is he's just fed when he's hungry and asks to fed because it prevents him from being pukey. So if that crops up later you can try doing that :V

# ¿ Jan 26, 2017 19:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Pet Nutrition Thread: I see no problem with my cat's vegan diet.