I have had my cats, Tsen, Squeak and Stripe from the moment they were born... I actually watched them enter this world and I have had them ever since. One of the biggest mistakes that I made in the beginning was feeding them Iams dry food exclusively and never introducing moist food to them. I read the instructions on the bag and left out the dry food for them to feed as they pleased.
Now I know better...
Kittens learn what is "safe" to eat based on what is introduced to them... Never receiving moist food they would not eat it when I finally decided to give it a try when they were about 3 or 4 years old. I have been in a struggle to find a food that they liked and I never could find one. I have tried everything from the cheapest foods and some of the most expensive ones... None pleased my little furry darlings...
Until now...
When their mother became ill I placed all of them on Natural Balance dry and they loved it. Poor Momma Sut however could not eat it and was placed on Wellness moist until her death last February. Her 3 children would not touch it.
Eventually I placed them on Wellness dry and the Vet that I am currently taking them to said that she did not like the Wellness food and felt that many cats became ill within two years of eating it. Of course I panicked... With Stripe being diagnosed with Chronic Renal Failure I changed them (on her recommendation) to Royal Canin Senior (after I told her that I refused to put them on Science Diet Senior dry... I hate the ingredients) and started trying various moist foods.
After going through everything from Science Diet canned (yuck!) to Felidae (love the ingredients but they nibble a little and walk away) I was again about to give up on the hope of them eating moist. Suddenly Stripe decided to boycott the Royal Canin! I have no idea why but he decided to stop eating it and I was desperate to find something for him!
After searching through several Renal Failure sites someone said that they started feeding their cat Nutro Indoor formula dry because it was .80 in phosphorus. High phosphorus in cat foods are one of the things that destroys the kidneys faster. At his stage anything below 1.0 is considered okay. I ran out and bought some and low and behold he is eating it!
But the moist food was still the issue... Now that the cats are 9 years old they really need more moist in their system. Helps keep the digestive tract flowing and gives them more moisture than dry alone. On another site someone said that their cat was starving themselves to death and her son bought home a can of Natural Balance Ultra Formula and their cat began eating and thriving again. I was willing to try anything.
When I went to the store I grabbed a can and did not expect much. I popped open the can and gave each cat a teaspoon to see what would happen. They all smelled it and looked back and forth. Suddenly, they started to devour it!!! I have never seen them eat like that before! After they finished the spoonful they started to beg for more!
All I can say is WOW! If you happen to stumble across this and you need to try a food to get your cat eating PLEASE try this formula! I am completely shocked! They have been eating this happily for two weeks now! Tsen (who always refuses moist) will eat this and lick his plate clean!!!
I also notice a difference in Stripe since he is now eating a half of a can a day of the Natural Balance Ultra... He is not becoming as dehydrated as quickly as before! I am still shooting about 25-40 mls of Pedialyte into his mouth every other day but now I do not have to do it every day!
Amazing stuff! Read about it here!
http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/catformulas/NB_CatCanned.html
And the Nutro Natural Indoor Formula here!
http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncccdry-in-ad.shtml
I started giving Stripe the adult formula despite his age because he would not eat the Senior Indoor BTW. Right now I am just happy that he is eating and seems to look forward to eating! I wish I had them on these formulas sooner!
All of the best!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment