FortiFlora/Animal Digest and....Temptations treats??

happybird

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I was doing a bunch of research about cat nutrition online last night and cannot remember where I saw this. The site claimed that FortiFlora is animal digest and Temptations treats are made mostly of animal digest, so you can crush them and sprinkle them on top of food with the same results at a much cheaper price. This does not sound right to me.

Now, if it were true, that would be fantastic because my cats absolutely adore Temptations and I feel a little guilty giving them what I thought was junk food. The ingredients (taken from the back of the bag of 'Mixups' I have here in my lap) do not mention animal digest. The only animal based ingredients appear to be chicken by product meal, animal fat, dried meat by products, and shrimp meal.

Does anyone know anything about this? I saw that Dr. Pierson says that FortiFlora is animal digest, so I believe that, but what about the Temptations treats? Maybe another flavor has the animal digest in it?

Edit: Aha! I found it. It was from Dr. Pierson:
FortiFlora can be purchased online but an easier product to find is Temptations treats. I trap a lot of feral cats for spaying/neutering purposes and this is one of the best baits that I can use. These tasty treats can be found at most pet stores. Put a few in a baggie and crush them with a hammer. Use the crushed treats as described for the FortiFlora above.

My paraphrasing was off, but it still sounds like she is saying that Temptations can be used the same as FortiFlora? Or is this just about enticing cats to eat canned food?
 
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Willowy

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The idea of using something---anything---as a topper is to choose something your cats love in order to entice them to eat healthy food. Ideally you'd phase out the toppers as they get used to eating good food. So, yeah, use crushed Temptations if that's what they like best.
 

raintyger

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The way I understand it, FortiFlora is a probiotic with animal digest, so Temptations wouldn't have probiotic properties since it has only the animal digest part.
 

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The way I understand it, FortiFlora is a probiotic with animal digest, so Temptations wouldn't have probiotic properties since it has only the animal digest part.
You are correct. Purina puts the animal digest in with the pro-biotic to get cats to want to eat it. I haven't had any luck using FortiFlora as a topper to try and get my kitten to eat foods that he doesn't care for but it's good to have in on hand just in case your cat ever has to be put on an antibiotic. You would want to replace the good bacteria that would get destroyed along with the bad bacteria.  
 

Willowy

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Yeah, it's not the animal digest that has probiotic properties. They just put it in for flavoring. Since animal digest is what they spray on kibble to make cats like it, using Fortiflora on canned or raw food can make it taste/smell more like kibble, for those die-hard kibble addicts.

But as a probiotic, Fortiflora is pretty mediocre :/. A good human grade probiotic, with a few billion live and active cultures, would be a better choice.
 

slykat12

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Very glad to have found this as I am struggling with my 5 month old kibble addicted rescue Whitney. She came with some crappy dry food "Hill's" and I have been trying desperately to change her to wet and raw and failing miserably. She will eat raw Natures variety chicken ONLY if I hand feed her and it is an all day process. She hates Natures variety canned which I have an expensive case of . Doh!

I have crushed her kibble and sprinkled it in-no dice.

I have let her get very hungry-no dice,

I have used tuna juice-worked- ok but I can't be doing that all the time

I just end up giving the leftovers to the local stray. Whitney has liked some cans in the past mostly fishy ones. My guess is the issue is a combination of issues-the addiction, the texture change, and she simply hates the flavor.

I am gonna try temptations today and after the case is gone search for a food she likes more. This is so not easy.
 

betsygee

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Very glad to have found this as I am struggling with my 5 month old kibble addicted rescue Whitney. She came with some crappy dry food "Hill's" and I have been trying desperately to change her to wet and raw and failing miserably. She will eat raw Natures variety chicken ONLY if I hand feed her and it is an all day process. She hates Natures variety canned which I have an expensive case of . Doh!

I have crushed her kibble and sprinkled it in-no dice.

I have let her get very hungry-no dice,

I have used tuna juice-worked- ok but I can't be doing that all the time

I just end up giving the leftovers to the local stray. Whitney has liked some cans in the past mostly fishy ones. My guess is the issue is a combination of issues-the addiction, the texture change, and she simply hates the flavor.

I am gonna try temptations today and after the case is gone search for a food she likes more. This is so not easy.
I took in a kitty with FHV and IBD and she is unfortunately totally addicted to Temptations treats.   I've finally got her switched over to Friskies pate with probiotics, lysine and/or lactoferrin mixed in.  She doesn't seem to mind the taste of the supplements mixed in but the problem is getting her to eat enough food to ingest all the supplements.  So I add some Temptations treats--a few on top, a few mixed in.  She's so addicted to the treats, she will eat more of the wet food to get to them.  It's kind of sad, she makes this little noise like she's desperate to get to the treats!  On the other hand, she had me laughing the other day--she's a white cat and her whole face was covered with food, it looked like a little kid had dived face first into a birthday cake.  Wish I'd had my camera with me.

ANYWAY--I had to experiment with several brands and textures of food to find what she would eat.  I'm hoping that eventually I can get her off the Temptations treats, too, but if that's what gets her to eat right now--so be it.  

Good luck!  
 

alistair

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 She hates Natures variety canned which I have an expensive case of . Doh!
My 8 month old doesn't like Nature's Variety or Natures Logic canned either.  He reluctantly ate the first can but refused anymore.  He loves Tiki Cat chicken. Have you tried that? It's very expensive even if you feed the 6 oz. cans. I feed 2 cans a week for variety and most of his diet is freeze dried raw by Feline Natural. He loves it and it it's much more economical. I add extra water too it since he is not much of a drinker.
 
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slykat12

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I will look into Tiki chicken. I know it is a great brand. TY.  I just crushed temptations chicken on top of chicken natures variety canned . It helped!
 

jill-e

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FortiFlora was designed by Purina as a probiotic to replace killed off intestinal bacteria due to several reason (most likely the same as those listed below), improve diarrhea symptoms, and improve digestion for animals. Purina adds the other stuff to it to make it more palatable, to entice animals that have lost their appetites to eat it, and to entice them to eat whatever else they eat. It is meant to be sprinkled on wet or dry food. However, I found it doesn't stick well to dry food and my cats would leave it in the bowl. However, I don't feed them dry food anymore.

I've never used FortiFlora as strictly a food enticement though, and I don't recommend it for any reason. I know many vets will suggest it, but you must know, the vets make money on it, so they are incentivised to sell it to you, even if they do believe it will help. Even online, FortiFlora ain't cheap.

If you're trying to rebuild the good intestinal flora in your pets' guts, there is a better, less expensive, and more complete animal probiotic called Proviable-DC, made by Nutramax Labs. It comes in little capsules that can be either broken open and mixed into wet food, dissolved in room temperature water, or tuna juice or other pet friendly gravy, and squirted into their mouth using an oral syringe. Or you can shove it down their throats, but I don't recommend this as it could get stuck and cause them to chock. I personally sprinkle it on my cats' wet food every morning. I know some vets carry it, but mine wouldn't switch from the FortiFlora, even though Proviable is a better product.

NutraMax labs also makes Proviable-KP. This is a kit that contains 10 or 12 of the Proviable-DC capsules and a paste in an dial style oral syringe for accurate dosing. I also think the KP kit comes in two sizes, one for somall dogs and cats, and one for larger animals. The liver flavored paste contains the same probiotics along with other ingredients specifically to address diarrhea. I have used both for my cats. I tried mixing the paste into the wet food, but my cats didn't like this combo, so I had to resort to squirting it into their mouths. The probiotic alone has no flavor, but IS NOT FOR HUMANS as it contains an animal specific probiotic.

From NutraMax Labs' website:

"Proviable contains a source of live (viable) naturally occurring microorganisms. Proviable contains multiple species and billions of beneficial microorganisms per daily administration. The Proviable-KP paste contains ingredients to help firm stool. The Proviable-DC capsules continue to reestablish healthy intestinal balance. Added prebiotics, found in both formulations, encourage growth of the Proviable beneficial microorganisms within the intestinal tract.

Helps to reestablish healthy intestinal microflora after imbalances have occurred due to:

Antibiotic use
Dietary indiscretion
Food sensitivities
Stresses due to travel and kenneling
Weaning of puppies and kittens
Metabolic disturbances
Immune system related gastrointestinal conditions"



Purina, which is owned by Nestle's and who owns several other pet food brands too, subsidizes a lot of vets' and vet schools' research. So does the Hill's Pet Food Company (who own Science Diet, Ideal Balance, and Hill's Prescription Diets). I've looked at the ingredients of most pet foods at the big box pet stores and I would never feed my pets any of it. In fact, I've recently switched from Newman's Own Organic canned food to an even better canned wet food made in Canada, called First Mate.

I know several people who have worked for Purina/Nestle's, and one still is working for them, though she's now V.P. of Nestle's Sustainability Program. One old boyfriend, from many years back, worked at a Purina pet food plant in Denver, CO, as a quality control person for the wet and dry pet foods. When he told me what goes into their pet foods, I immediately quit giving it to them and starting looking into all the other pet foods I could find locally. This was 20 years ago now. There weren't a lot of higher quality pet foods available commercially; so I found a holistic/natural vet in Broomfield, CO (not sure she's still around though) who gave me some recipes for making my own pet foods. She and I had several very long discussions on the necessary nutritional requirements for cats, dogs and horses. At the time, I had a cat that had bone cancer and was in the middle stage of kidney failure too. I was told by the vet (not the holistic one but her regular vet) she most likely only had a few months left to live. I started feeding her only my homemade raw cat food and she lived for another 2 years. She had a remarkable turnaround in her health during that time, but the cancer was too far gone to cure. She finally passed away at age 16. None of my other cats, that I've raised from kittens, have died that young. All the other kittens lived to be 18-25, except two who ran away when I moved and likely were eaten by some wild animal (coyotes, foxes, skunks, racoons, osprey, hawks, eagles and owls are common around my area). One cat was 30 when she passed away. The cats I've adopted that were adults already I've had on average 12 years, and they were supposedly 4-6 years old when I took them in.

Dry food is not good for cats at all. It lacks the necessary moisture cats need and since most cats don't drink enough water, no one should be feeding it to their cats unless you are really desperate. It's addictive, and it's like candy to them. Most dry foods are made with junk foods (by-products, meals, grains, etc.) that cats really don't eat naturally. It's often made from sick animals, cancerous, and all the waste products (intestines, hooves, beaks, claws, skin, feathers, fur, bones, etc.) that are leftover after processing the good parts into either human food or higher quality wet pet foods. The leftovers (by-products, etc.) are then ground up into a powder, mixed with some good things, vitamins, minerals, and lots of flavoring (often artificial), then formed into chucks of varying shapes that cats could care less about, and baked to a hard kibble.

Cats and dogs that eat kibble, and lesser quality canned and raw diets, are much more likely to suffer from hairballs, vomiting, stinky stools, and other intestinal issues. They are also far more likely to develop kidney and liver cancers. Ever since i moved my cats to high quality canned food, they rarely ever cough up hairballs, their stools smell less and are much more normal in texture and frequency, their kidney values are so much better, and they get sick less often.

If you're having issues with your pets eating high quality wet or raw foods, remember, you have to go slowly in the transition stages to avoid stomach upsets, intestinal issues and diarrhea. Take at least a week or two to get them switched over. For cats, start with substituting 1/2-1 tsp. of the good food mixed with the old food per meal the first day. Increase the good food at the same rate you decrease the old food with each meal, or each day. So, if you feed about 1/4 cup of wet food, remove 1/2 tsp the first meal and mix in the new food. Repeat this for a day or two. Then increase the good food to 1 tsp the second day while removing 1 tsp of the old food. And so on and so forth. If you cat is complaining or not eating their food, just keep at it. Eventually, they will be so hungry, they will eat it. Don't let them control you. If they miss 1-3 days of meals while you're doing this, it won't kill them, as long as they are drinking water. Give them tiny portions to force them to eat the good food.

Cats are carnivorous, not vegetarians or even omnivores. They don't need to eat vegetables, potatoes, grains, pea protein, or soy anything. Giving them the occasional pumpkin for the fiber, if they are constipated, is okay, just make sure to feed small quantities, it's organic canned pumpkin, and mix it with their normal wet food. A little ground organic seed (such as sunflower or flax seed) is fine too, as it would be something birds would eat and would be found in the stomach of birds, if your cat was out hunting for itself, but really not necessary. Cats really only need grain-free meats, and stick to those made from fowl, and on occasions fish (limit tuna and other fish known to be an issue due to mercury content). Beef, pork, lamb, and venison are not natural foods for domestic house cats. They will eat rabbit and vermin too, if you can find them, such as mice that are generally raised for snakes and lizards, but I don't want live vermin running around in my house, no matter how much my cats would love to hunt and eat them.

Cats generally will chew on grasses or spikey plants when they feel ill (or they're not too smart), to make them vomit. However, many cats do like catnip for the flavor and the high, but not all of them do. Wheatgrass has some good digestive enzymes, so I keep a little growing in a box for my cats, but mostly they ignore it.

For treats, I recommend you stick to high quality, pure meat, grain-free (duck, turkey, chicken or fish) foods and treats. I've tried a lot of them and have found one of my current cats doesn't eat any treats, ever, and ignores catnip too. All my other cats have loved catnip and wheatgrass and many treats of various flavors, but not all the textures. Currently, my second cat (who's missing some teeth due to a fall off the second floor balcony railing when she was chasing her sister around the house) likes only the freeze dried Wild Side Salmon treats and Only Natural Pet freeze dried Duck Liver treats. She would probably eat rabbit treats too, if I could find them. She will also eat almost any fresh chicken, turkey or fish bits from when I'm cooking these for myself, but turned up her nose when I tried to feed raw pet foods. However, these weren't made by me. Both my cats also go after squirrels, birds, bugs, snakes and vermin when they are outside, but they very rarely actually catch or eat them. Mostly, they leave them whole, on the porch for me, if they do kill them. I only had two cats that would actually eat what they caught, and they also would leave a nice morsel for me by the front or back door, usually the liver (how nice of them, NOT). They would also disappear for days at times, and moved with me several times over the years that I had them. These two (large) female cats I adopted when they were adults, so likely they were feral and used to feeding themselves. They were also very nice to people and great indoor cats. They used their litter boxes when inside, attacked my roommates dogs (from any high perch they could get to, such as the top of the fridge or the armoire) and ran off all the other cats that stupidly came into their claimed territory. Okay, enough about my long dead cats Sand and Gravel, the feral ones, who lived longer than any of my other cats).

My point is, feed your cats what they naturally would eat, if they were wild, and make it the best foods you can afford. Look at the ingredients before you buy it. Stay clear of meal and by-products, and away from dry foods. Treats are for rare occasions or when you're trying to entice a cat to eat.
 

tdonline

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Can Fortiflora cause constipation?  My cats are on prozac and constipation is one of the side effects.  Their schedule did change with the medication but it got a lot worse a few weeks into taking the drug.  It has only occurred to me that this coincided with my adding fortiflora to their morning snack (where I slip in their medication).
 

finnlacey

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Instead of using Temptations as a topper, get some Purebites freeze dried 100% all meat treats. You can get them at Petco. I crush those up on top of my kitty's foods when needed. And agree, Fortiflora is crap. not nearly as much needed healthy bacteria and contains animal digest.
 

satori

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Well they certainly do here in England. Most pet shops have them in their freezers in various sizes and they can be ordered in bulk from many on-line suppliers. One of my cats often gets a medium as an afternoon snack. I can't imagine it's any different in America. People must buy them to feed snakes and raptors right?
 

satori

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^. Sorry. I must have hit the quote button. Comment is in response to Slykat12.
 

slykat12

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I have never seen frozen mice here only  live ones for reptiles. I could not feed my cat a live mouse. I am admittedly a wimp. In grad school I was forced to do experiments on them and when it was time to sacrifice them I got hysterical and refused. lol 
 

Willowy

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I think a lot of people don't know the pet stores have frozen mice, because, well, who looks for them if they don't have a snake, right? But even PetCo and Petsmart have them, just look for the little freezer near the fish section (there's also frozen fish food in there).
 

ammello

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Jill-E,  I read your post with great interest and agreement.

however, I wonder about the Proviable for use with a diabetic cat given that the first listed ingredient for this product is a carbohydrate/sugar.

any insight would be appreciated.
 
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