Changing diet for a junk food cat

ailish

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No, not a dry diet! A canned diet, but monoprotein food is very meat heavy and dry-ish
I have found that Instinct and Merrick Limited Ingredient food to be fairly dry as wet foods go. Also Ziwipeak, which is harder to find, and Feline Natural which according to my pet food store is having distribution problems. Merrick is available at Pet Smart if you don't have a good pet food store nearby. I don't know if Merrick is actually monoprotein, as that's not why I use it. Ziwipeak Venison used to be a couple years ago when I used it for an elimination diet
 

ailish

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What are you currently feeding Musiaka? In my experience -- which includes lots of dietary limitations because of our cats' digestive sensitivities -- drier canned food isn't necessarily better: Tiki, for example, makes some really good brothy foods (that our cats currently hate!) but there are some drier pates that have thickeners that I can't/won't feed. (Last I checked, for example, Hound & Gatos had agar-agar, which makes both our cats barf.) I recognize that Musiaka (or you) may have very different limitations for his diet!

🤷‍♀️
I thought my cat, who isn't a picky eater, was the only cat on the planet who doesn't like TikiCat. Never has, apparently never will. Seafood or non-seafood.
 

ailish

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We don't have Fancy Feast in Lithuania, but we have Melting Hearts from Purina, which Musiaka currently eats and loves. But it's not a good food for his ibd and we need to either introduce a novel protein or a hydrolized protein. He has triaditis, so there's a lot of inflammation going on.

However all the novel protein canned food I managed to get hold of are not as saucy and moist as Melting Hearts, which isn't up to Musiaka's standard 😀
I'm pretty sure Musiaka would love a bigger variaty and rotation, but new foods can cause a flareup for him too. Finding 2-3 sorts that are ibd friendly and doesn't cause a flareup would be ideal and I have actually found good candidates, but getting him to eat it... gosh, this cat would rather starve, get acid barfs due to hunger and not have energy than eat something he doesn't find tasty. Maybe I need to be persistent, if, as @StanAndAlf says it can even take up to 18 months to get a cat used to a new type of food
Can you mix what he likes with what he doesn't? I have found that with Ailish if there's a food she won't touch, instead of wasting it I mix it with her favorite, Weruva's Mideast Feast. She's never had any problem eating what she previously turned her nose up at when I do that. Then slowly cut back on what you don't want to feed him anymore. OR, maybe some tiny amount of his previous food will not bother him when mixed with the healthier food.
 

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I thought my cat, who isn't a picky eater, was the only cat on the planet who doesn't like TikiCat. Never has, apparently never will. Seafood or non-seafood.
Our cats are not alone! I've noticed this before: some cats just hate it. Or love it and then hate it. Tiki does seem to changes recipes fairly often.

The latest challenge is that one cat has been barfing a bit too regularly... and I'm suspecting tapioca, which is added to so many foods now that carrageenan (and even, so it seems, potato) is less common. The cats only get one commercial wet meal a day (most of their food is commercial raw or homemade cooked) but Edwina's gut is very sensitive. I've always been careful not to feed too many things with tapioca high on the ingredient list (for carb reasons) but am wondering if repeated small amounts might be Edwina's problem. To circle back around: the Tiki will get pulled out back for her bedtime snack so 🤞 🤞 on that.
 

Catmom1234567890

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Our cats are not alone! I've noticed this before: some cats just hate it. Or love it and then hate it. Tiki does seem to changes recipes fairly often.

The latest challenge is that one cat has been barfing a bit too regularly... and I'm suspecting tapioca, which is added to so many foods now that carrageenan (and even, so it seems, potato) is less common. The cats only get one commercial wet meal a day (most of their food is commercial raw or homemade cooked) but Edwina's gut is very sensitive. I've always been careful not to feed too many things with tapioca high on the ingredient list (for carb reasons) but am wondering if repeated small amounts might be Edwina's problem. To circle back around: the Tiki will get pulled out back for her bedtime snack so 🤞 🤞 on that.
most vets say it’s protein(most commonly chicken) most IBD cats are allergic to and promote hydrolyzed protein diet. When you read ingredients on commercial foods, most contain corn, some sort of thickners, gums etc. My own vet tells me this🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️
 

lisahe

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most vets say it’s protein(most commonly chicken) most IBD cats are allergic to and promote hydrolyzed protein diet. When you read ingredients on commercial foods, most contain corn, some sort of thickners, gums etc. My own vet tells me this🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️
It's so true: a lot of vets seem to focus mostly (even solely) on the proteins... but the ingredients we know for certain bother Edwina -- green-lipped mussels, agar-agar, and potato -- are thickeners or, in the case of the mussels, a source of omega-3s. None of those three ingredients is exactly a substance that cats evolved to eat so it makes sense that they cause problems in lots of cats. And as your vet says, there are tons of those ingredients in food! Fortunately, our vet (who's a cat specialist) also pays attention to these! We're fortunate with our vets.

The reason I'm focusing soltely on tapioca this time around, at least thus far, is that I used to feed fewer foods with it but have recently added more because the cats are apparently tired of Tiki and Tiny Tiger. (Maybe it's only the "t" foods?🆘) So I'm going to try reducing/eliminating Edwina's exposure to tapioca and see what happens. It's not as if she's barfing constantly but there's enough of an increase that I'm pretty sure something's going on. So 🤞🤞 that this one can be figured out faster than the green-lipped mussels, which took several months of observation and notes. 🙀😱

As I often say, feeding cats isn't easy.
 
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Musiaka

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Can you mix what he likes with what he doesn't? I have found that with Ailish if there's a food she won't touch, instead of wasting it I mix it with her favorite, Weruva's Mideast Feast. She's never had any problem eating what she previously turned her nose up at when I do that. Then slowly cut back on what you don't want to feed him anymore. OR, maybe some tiny amount of his previous food will not bother him when mixed with the healthier food.
Musiaka won't eat it mixed unfortunately, he immediately gets suspicious if the taste isn't what he expects it to be and then might even stop eating alltogether :/
 
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Musiaka

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I'm going to attempt to gradually change Musiaka's diet again, because his random unexpected barfs don't stop even after a round of antibiotics.
I opened a can of Specific's allergy food today (veeery stinky omg, even stinkier than their digestive food) and offered him a bite in his bowl - he ignored it completely. Offered the same bite from my hands - ate it up. Maybe it's a good sign that it might be possible?
 
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Musiaka

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When it's in a bowl (tried mixint with the food he limes) Musiaka acts as if it's poison in there. I even added fortiflora, s boulardii, but nothing. Of course, it's day one now again, but we had multiple attempts this year and all failed. At the end of those attempts I always choose having a fed cat, hate seeing him struggle with food
 

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Musiaka Musiaka

Yes, one of my cats will sometimes eat from my hands what he will not from a dish. Usually a new food or food he does not like too much.

I think on another thread I wrote you about some food possibilities. I am in EE also but not Lithuania.
Do you have access to Go! ?
It is a Canadian brand but sold here.
They have limited ingredient Turkey & also limited ingredient Lamb if I recall correctly.

I think you said, you cannot get Animonda Vom Feinstein? They have a pure Turkey in pate. My two eat that if mashed with a fork.
 
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Musiaka

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Musiaka Musiaka

Yes, one of my cats will sometimes eat from my hands what he will not from a dish. Usually a new food or food he does not like too much.

I think on another thread I wrote you about some food possibilities. I am in EE also but not Lithuania.
Do you have access to Go! ?
It is a Canadian brand but sold here.
They have limited ingredient Turkey & also limited ingredient Lamb if I recall correctly.

I think you said, you cannot get Animonda Vom Feinstein? They have a pure Turkey in pate. My two eat that if mashed with a fork.
Go! Is not available here, but Animonda Vom Feimstein is. Musiaka was keen on Turkey hearts in the beginning, but then he started leaving most of it uneaten, even mashed up. Not sure why he lost taste for it, as most cats seem to love it. My guess is he only likes saucy paté
 

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Musiaka Musiaka
Ah ok sorry couldn't remember which foods you can get.
My guys like the turkey and hearts but as it is a bit rich in offal, I don't feed two meals in a row but once or twice a week.

Animonda pure turkey Musiaka may like mashed.

Reading this newer thread, it seems like you are trying him on more limited ingredient foods?
Monge does flakes in creamy sauce that are mono protein. Rabbit, turkey, buffalo, beef and chicken I have seen.
 
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Musiaka

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Ah ok sorry couldn't remember which foods you can get.
My guys like the turkey and hearts but as it is a bit rich in offal, I don't feed two meals in a row but once or twice a week.

Animonda pure turkey Musiaka may like mashed.

Reading this newer thread, it seems like you are trying him on more limited ingredient foods?
Monge does flakes in creamy sauce that are mono protein. Rabbit, turkey, buffalo, beef and chicken I have seen.
I haven't tried Monge, as it's... it's not cheap. Would be great finding something more budget friendly of the same quality, but I guess if I can't find anything, I will give expensive foods a try. There are some interesting brands which I haven't tried only because of the insane prices. Musiaka eats around 300 g of canned food a day, and those foods (Monge also) are around 1.50-1.70 euros per 80 g. Gulp... I know I wrote that I don't care about money and in worst case I won't, but if it's possible to find something a bit cheaper... would be really good. His supplements and cerenia injections cost a lot monthly too.
I'm awaiting a package from zooplus, ordered Purina Pro Plan Sensitive canned food, which seems to have better ingredients. Fingers crossed...
 
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Musiaka

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How is this ingredients list for ibd/liver/gallbladder?
Lamb meats, pea protein, tomato pomace, cassava, potato flakes, sunflower oil, linseed oil, fish oil, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, chicory extract, xylose, cranberry extract, glucosamine, yucca extract.

Pea protein, tomato and cassava sounds like it could be problematic...
 

lisahe

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How is this ingredients list for ibd/liver/gallbladder?
Lamb meats, pea protein, tomato pomace, cassava, potato flakes, sunflower oil, linseed oil, fish oil, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, chicory extract, xylose, cranberry extract, glucosamine, yucca extract.

Pea protein, tomato and cassava sounds like it could be problematic...
Yes, I'd especially skip the pea protein! And potato can be a big problem, too.
 
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Musiaka

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Yes, I'd especially skip the pea protein! And potato can be a big problem, too.
Pity, I saw in the comments on zooplus, that this food helped some cat's with their chronic vomiting, but seeing the ingredients I was like hmmmm, how? :/
 
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I will now devote myself completely to finding a food that helps with Musiaka's vomiting. All vets tell us to remove his gallbladder but my instinct tells that this is a food allergy! I made a list of arguments why it's an allergy issue, what do you guys think?
- Musiaka doesn't have a nice coat. It's patchy and he often has dandruff
- He scratches his head a lot. We went through a couple of rounds of anti-mite treatments but he still scratches
- His bum is itchy, he often scoots and licks his bum
- When we switch to a new food, he is sensitive to it in the beginning, but then there's usually a period of less vomiting, even if the food is junky. Then it comes back and I have a suspicion that his immune system takes some time to recognize the ingredients in the new food as allergen
- Musiaka was vomiting even before he was diagnosed with gallstones
- He didn't vomit at all on a daily 5mg pred, no matter what he ate
 
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Musiaka

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Animonda Integra Protect sounds promising and looks moist, with some jelly Musiaka loves
But the digestive one is out of stock, could their Urinary one (with duck, no grain) still fit?
 

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Hi,
I would compare the ingredients in the two Animonda foods, the integra and the urinary.

Do you have Beaphar? They also do special diet foods. When my cat had renal failure, I gave him Animonda and Beaphar.
 
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Musiaka

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Hi,
I would compare the ingredients in the two Animonda foods, the integra and the urinary.

Do you have Beaphar? They also do special diet foods. When my cat had renal failure, I gave him Animonda and Beaphar.
Only the renal one is available from Beaphar in Zooplus.
However we have received a package with Purina Pro Plan Delicate and so far so good! Musiaka seems to think it's alright. It has the same texture as his regular Purina ones (the european version of Fancy Feast) which seems to help a lot
 
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