What to look for in cat food.

[columbine]

Recently Smudge decided he just didn't like canned food any more, so I tried Newman's Own (the salmon & chicken flavor) because A) it lists its magnesium content (0.03, not too bad), B) the grocery store has it (most of theirs don't list magnesium percentage), and C) it was on sale. The only way I can get his vitamins & antihistamine into him is mushing it up in canned food, so I was relieved to see that he likes it! He's still a kibble-cruncher at heart, though - he gets c/d (an anti-crystal prescription food) and he absolutely adores it.

Love, Columbine

[Lorifrances]

I had to post this when I recently found a thread in which people were noticing their animals were getting very sick after eating the brand Nutro. I'd been giving this to my cat, (the Senior formula) for about two years thinking he was getting superior or at least good enough nutrition. Well I started to notice an unsettling pattern, near the last quarter of the bag he, Gizmo, would start to vomit up his food quite often. He's always had a sensitive stomach (he's a Persian) and I at first attributed the vomiting to his sensitivities. I also considered that maybe the food by that point was 'stale'?... Then with this latest bag, near the last THIRD of the bag, he really started throwing up much more it seemed. Then this past week there was a crisis where I thought he was seriously ill, unfortunately on a Sunday morning when the clinic I go to was closed, he actually brought up some watery blood which sent me into an extreme state of horror. Then amazingly enough within minutes he WANTED food. Thereafter he kept it down. Oh! how could I forget?! At that point I had suspected the Nutro and had purchased another dry food the night before.

So has anyone else noticed a problem like this? I thought he had swallowed something, had an obstruction, cancer etc. But changing the food seems to worked.
Sorry for the long-winded post!
PS If his behavior had continued I would have had him taken to an emergency vet.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I had to post this when I recently found a thread in which people were noticing their animals were getting very sick after eating the brand Nutro. I'd been giving this to my cat, (the Senior formula) for about two years thinking he was getting superior or at least good enough nutrition. Well I started to notice an unsettling pattern, near the last quarter of the bag he, Gizmo, would start to vomit up his food quite often. He's always had a sensitive stomach (he's a Persian) and I at first attributed the vomiting to his sensitivities. I also considered that maybe the food by that point was 'stale'?... Then with this latest bag, near the last THIRD of the bag, he really started throwing up much more it seemed. Then this past week there was a crisis where I thought he was seriously ill, unfortunately on a Sunday morning when the clinic I go to was closed, he actually brought up some watery blood which sent me into an extreme state of horror. Then amazingly enough within minutes he WANTED food. Thereafter he kept it down. Oh! how could I forget?! At that point I had suspected the Nutro and had purchased another dry food the night before.

So has anyone else noticed a problem like this? I thought he had swallowed something, had an obstruction, cancer etc. But changing the food seems to worked.
Sorry for the long-winded post!
PS If his behavior had continued I would have had him taken to an emergency vet.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope that he'll be okay. I used to feed my cats Nutro a long time ago before my cat Storm had urinary tract issues and became blocked. I'd call the company if I was you. So what brand of food are you feeding him now? He may still need to see a vet just rule out any kind of obstruction.

[Lorifrances]

I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope that he'll be okay. I used to feed my cats Nutro a long time ago before my cat Storm had urinary tract issues and became blocked. I'd call the company if I was you. So what brand of food are you feeding him now? He may still need to see a vet just rule out any kind of obstruction.

Thanks for your reply and your concern for my Gizmo. I'm embarassed to say that out of desperation I ran to the store and bought a Purina brand called "Natural" or something to that effect. I'm almost kind of leery to try anything else for now as he has been eating this with no problems. Whatever was in the Nutro really did a number on his digestive system or something. As for an obstruction, I noticed to my great relief that he has been going to the bathroom with no problem. (that's the benefit of having one cat, I used to have six at one time and to regulate their bathroom habits would have proved impossible!. I think I had better contact Nutro, at first I worried in case their food wasn't the culprit but it has to be.

Is there a food you would recommend, one that would be good for sensitive stomachs? I've actually considered making my own cat food but haven't a clue. Maybe there's a link that shows how to feed them what I saw one person refer to as the "BARF" diet??
Thanks again for your kind note, I really appreciated it, Lori

[Freedom]

Here is one of many sites with step by step instructions for making your own cat food.

http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.php

You can also google BARF and see loads of hits.

[catmandu]

RICHARD IS RIGHT, THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD IS NOT MUCH GOOD IF THIER LITTLE HEADS ARE NOT IN THE DISH EATING IT.
THE ANIMAL WELAFRE BROUGHT ME CANS OF WELLNESS THAT HAS ALL THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS, IS PERFECTLY BALANCED BUT THE FOUND CATS SIMPLY DO NOT CARE FOR IT.
ITS A GOOD THING THAT THE PORCH ANGELS DO.
ITS A SHAME AS I GOT IT FOR 75 CENTS FOR A 404 GRAM CAN, A REAL BARGAIN.

WE WANT OUR WHISKAS PURRFECTLY FISHY PLEASE!!!!

[jazzcat]

Thanks for your reply and your concern for my Gizmo. I'm embarassed to say that out of desperation I ran to the store and bought a Purina brand called "Natural" or something to that effect. I'm almost kind of leery to try anything else for now as he has been eating this with no problems. Whatever was in the Nutro really did a number on his digestive system or something. As for an obstruction, I noticed to my great relief that he has been going to the bathroom with no problem. (that's the benefit of having one cat, I used to have six at one time and to regulate their bathroom habits would have proved impossible!. I think I had better contact Nutro, at first I worried in case their food wasn't the culprit but it has to be.

Is there a food you would recommend, one that would be good for sensitive stomachs? I've actually considered making my own cat food but haven't a clue. Maybe there's a link that shows how to feed them what I saw one person refer to as the "BARF" diet??
Thanks again for your kind note, I really appreciated it, Lori

Sorry to hear about Gizmo. I'm in the process of getting all my cats off Nutro and over to Purina Pro Plan. Last year my vet recommended I feed Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach to my senior kidney failure cat because he was throwing up a lot and having diarrhea. The Pro Plan has worked like a charm for almost a year now. In fact, he had been losing weight and not doing well but at 16 years old he has gained back a couple of needed pounds and is doing well.

I had been feeding my other 6 cats Nutro weight loss and Nutro Adult but over the past several months I've been changing them all over to Pro Plan and everyone is doing great. In fact I notice less litterbox waste and the couple of cats that used to throw up from time to time rarely do it now.

By the way, my vet says Purina is one of the only brands that wasn't involved in last years contamination recalls.

Oh - my name is Lori too!!! Welcome to Pet Talk!

[Lorifrances]

Sorry to hear about Gizmo. I'm in the process of getting all my cats off Nutro and over to Purina Pro Plan. Last year my vet recommended I feed Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach to my senior kidney failure cat because he was throwing up a lot and having diarrhea. The Pro Plan has worked like a charm for almost a year now. In fact, he had been losing weight and not doing well but at 16 years old he has gained back a couple of needed pounds and is doing well.

I had been feeding my other 6 cats Nutro weight loss and Nutro Adult but over the past several months I've been changing them all over to Pro Plan and everyone is doing great. In fact I notice less litterbox waste and the couple of cats that used to throw up from time to time rarely do it now.

By the way, my vet says Purina is one of the only brands that wasn't involved in last years contamination recalls.

Oh - my name is Lori too!!! Welcome to Pet Talk!

Hi Lori! (most 'Lori's' are spelled differently so it's nice to see this 'rare' edition of Lori
Thanks for the welcome. I think these boards are such an incredible source of support and information. I have bookmarked this site and will be coming here much more often. THere's a great atmosphere of positivity and kindness. I am shocked you said Purina was the only brand not contaminated. My Gizmo is still doing better, he's feeling more and more normal with each day and his body is regaining some of the heftiness he'd had before the vomiting. I wonder if I should contact Petsmart where I bought my Nutro? Maybe also Nutro.com. Glad to hear your senior cat is doing so well with your new food. Is that Pro Plan one you need to purchase at a vet's office? Sounds like it is a good formula, one I might want to try eventually. I'm so glad you're getting your cats off the Nutro, I truly believe there is some ingredient in it that wreaked havoc on my cat's system. I wished I had kept the last bag so I could have a 'lot' number to report to Nutro, Maybe they got a tainted shipment.
It sure feels great to see all the subjects and read the posts on the forums, I feel like there's a wealth of information!
Have a great day and talk to you soon, Lori

[emily_the_spoiled]

You can pruchase Pro Plan at Pet Smart or Petco (and likely at other pet stores). I have seen the regular Purina in the grocery stores, but not the Pro Plan. If that doesn't work for Gizmo you can try going with the grain free cat food. One of my guys can NOT tolerate the dye and corn in commerical cat food (I get projectile vomiting from the highest place in the house if he eats it ). But there are plenty of options out there for you, so don't worry

[jazzcat]

Here is a link at Pro Plan's website to get a $3 coupon. I buy mine at PetsMart and Pet Supplies Plus (who is a little cheaper).
http://www.proplan.com/products/requestCoupon.html

Glad Gizmo continues to do better. I would definitely contact Nutro just in case there is something to it. My cats have eaten Nutro for years with no problems but just like with people food I'm sure you can sometimes get a bad batch.

Hope the Pro Plan works for you if you decide to try it. It cost about the same, maybe a little more than Nutro.

[RedHedd]

I've started giving Mitzi "Pet Promise" cat food after Jen had luck with Braveheart with it. It has no animal "by products" - it's the good stuff. Mitzi took to it immediately. Recommended by Dr. Weil, sold at Whole Foods and it costs less than the Science Diet that she was eating.

[Catlady711]

Catlady by no means did I mean to offend you or anyone else here about what I have learned from researching cat foods. I also didn't mean to classify all vets. While many vets are extremely knowledgeable in feline nutrition, many of them have had very limited training of the basics of feline nutrition. Some have relied for years on advice or knowledge only from the pet food industry and nutritional education has not been an integral part of their training.
My point in posting the link was to pass on the information to others that may be considering switching their cats food to something more appropriate and I felt this site was a very educational. Yes it was written by a vet, apparently one that has studied a great deal on feline nutrition and lists excellent sources for her findings.
It's not that I don't trust my vet, this is just another tool to help anyone with a cat that may be having dietary issues and I feel an informed patient is better able to understand and interact with their vet.

Again sorry if you felt this was an attack on you or anyone else in the animal health industry.

Sorry it took so long to find this thread again.

No problem. I just hear so many people that doubt everything thier vet says and I've seen WAY too many of our client's pets suffer because they believed a book, the internet, their neighbor over the vets recommendations.

Some days I guess I get more riled up about it than others. I'm sorry on my part for getty ornery in return. I guess sometimes it's hard to separate myself from work. lol

[jennielynn1970]

Interesting comments on Nutro... I've been feeding that for the past few years, and I just switched out the regular lamb and rice for the Weight Management, and actually I think I bought the Nutro Max cat Weight Management the last two times, and I have had more cat barf than I can keep track of since buying it. I'm not sure if they've changed their "recipe", but something is definitely not right.

I had been using California Natural before the Nutro, and that had worked well also. Maybe I just need to go back to Lamb and Rice. Not sure. I was hoping to cut back on a few of the cats weights because they just seem to be getting chubbier..

Not sure about doing the raw diet for my two with sensitive stomachs and gastro issues. That's the only thing holding me back from doing that. Has anyone using a raw diet noticed how their sensitive stomach cats have reacted to it??

[TopCat3]

This is a topic I have been researching for sometime and there are sooo many differing opinions it can really get frustrating trying to find the 'best' food for your particular kitty.
I have issues with two of my cats, one being very overweight and the other has allergy problems, so I have really been studying different foods trying to find one that we all can live with.
I came across this very informative website Basics of Feline Nutrition that really helped me understand just exactly what a cats dietary requirements are and how vets aren't always the best ones to get food recommendations from.

Absolutely brilliant link Snowshoe2 thank you
TopCat3

[TopCat3]

Interesting comments on Nutro... I've been feeding that for the past few years, and I just switched out the regular lamb and rice for the Weight Management, and actually I think I bought the Nutro Max cat Weight Management the last two times, and I have had more cat barf than I can keep track of since buying it. I'm not sure if they've changed their "recipe", but something is definitely not right.

I had been using California Natural before the Nutro, and that had worked well also. Maybe I just need to go back to Lamb and Rice. Not sure. I was hoping to cut back on a few of the cats weights because they just seem to be getting chubbier..

Not sure about doing the raw diet for my two with sensitive stomachs and gastro issues. That's the only thing holding me back from doing that. Has anyone using a raw diet noticed how their sensitive stomach cats have reacted to it??

Yes Jen.
Colette has a sensitive stomach. I find she does well on cooked chicken or canned salmon/sardines/mackerel with some cooked mashed pumpkin and leafy greens mixed in and a little raw meat with it e.g chicken hearts chicken liver and a bone to gnaw on once a week (lamb chop or chicken neck) I toss the latter in butter in a pan to give it some extra flavour and appeal.
I also give her 1/2 tspp of a 1:4 mix of slippery elm and flaxseed suspended in 4mls of water by syringe and this keeps her innards very happy! I have found since giving her a few Optimum dry biscuits for dessert (Eagle pack is hard to get in Oz at the mo) she has reverted to barfing.Eagle pack does not have this effect and pls be aware the dry is only a few little bikkies as dessert as I go out the door to work to distract/settle her. However I note and respond to her request to be let out to eat potted catgrass (too bad she prefers my pot of LEMONGRASS herb lol)
I think it's great to give them raw food - it's just not practical for me to do all the time - cooked has longer shelf life and has more appeal and is in many ways safer I feel.