Giving fresh canned food when nobody is home?

[treeclimber]

I have a fussy eater with tummy trouble.

After a lot of observation, I’ve concluded that:

• It’s hard to find a canned food that he likes, but not impossible
• Even if he likes a canned food, he will only eat it if it’s fresh. If it has sat out more than 2 hours, he won’t go back and have more.
• He doesn’t mind eating canned food that’s cold from the refrigerator
• He’s less likely to have diarrhea with canned food than with dry
• He gets an upset tummy and pukes stomach juices if he goes too long without eating (8+ hours)
• He likes to eat small amounts every 3-6 hours. If meals are spaced further apart, he doesn’t increase the amount he eats enough to compensate.

So I think the optimal situation for him would be a 100% canned food diet, with small amounts of fresh canned food every 3-6 hours. Which is… not possible… I have to do things like go to work and sleep.

I know there are timed feeding devices, but I don’t think they’d do much good if he won’t eat non-fresh wet food and dry food gives him diarrhea. I’m looking into ones that have an ice pack for wet food - has anyone had much luck with any of those?

Or if not, then I need to find a dry food that doesn’t give him diarrhea that he can have for some of his meals when I’m not around. So far our focus has been limited ingredient/novel protein (no improvement in diarrhea), but I’m not sure if he actually has a food sensitivity or if his symptoms could all be explained by being a fussy eater who pukes when he doesn’t eat. In which case, is there some dry food out there that’s less likely to cause diarrhea? Possibly something that doesn’t contain carbs and is just dried meat, but is meant to be eaten dry and doesn’t require that there be a human home to put water on it?

 

[daftcat75]

I would say stick with the wet food that works for him.

Yes, you can get timed feeders with ice packs that keep the food cold for awhile. My Betty (and Krista before her) do not care for cold food. I skip the ice packs with her.

I recommend getting a small army of clamshell feeders below and conducting experiments such as:

a. Freeze the food, and put the frozen food in the feeder. How long does it take at "room temperature" (whatever that means for your home) for the food to defrost to a temperature that Mr Fussy Eater will eat? (What's his name? And you may as well share a picture too )
b. Put the can in the fridge overnight and then put the fridge-cold food into the feeder. How long does that take to defrost to an acceptable temperature for Mr Fussy?
c. Put the ice packs in the freezer overnight and then put room temperature food on top of the ice packs. How long does that keep the food acceptable for Fussy Pants?
d. Repeat a. and b. with frozen ice packs.

You can run multiple experiments if you have multiple feeders. With these experiments, you should be able to figure out the magic formulas for different feeder intervals e.g. (this is just guesses and not actual data)

three hours: fridge food, no ice packs
six hours: frozen food, no ice packs
nine hours: frozen food plus ice packs

Now you know from your data that if you need to cover nine hours of meals (or six since you want him hungry when you get home), then you know how to prepare the feeders to cover the different intervals.

My favorite feeder is finally back and got a refresh. I love these single compartment clamshells because they are affordable, small footprint, and you have the most flexibility as you set each feeder's interval and contents separately.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7WNDKWT/?tag=thecatsite

 

[FeebysOwner]

I don't think your cat's issue is not wanting to eat non-fresh food - if he eats food that has been previously opened but refrigerated, that is technically no longer 'fresh'. The difference may be due to the moisture that is retained in the opened foods that are refrigerated. My cat has to have extra water added repeatedly to keep her eating a food that has been sitting out for more than two hours.

I think as outlined above, a timed feeder that allows you to add ice packs might be your solution. You might also consider adding a bit of water to each feeding to ensure it keeps moistened.

 

[Astragal14]

He gets an upset tummy and pukes stomach juices if he goes too long without eating (8+ hours)

Have you tried slippery elm? It helps control the stomach acid that leads to the bile vomits that you described. One of my cats has bilious vomiting syndrome and we give him slippery elm with his evening meal because overnight is his longest stretch without much food.

Possibly something that doesn’t contain carbs and is just dried meat, but is meant to be eaten dry and doesn’t require that there be a human home to put water on it?

Have you tried foods like organ treats or freeze dried raw food? My cats go nuts for chicken hearts and we've been testing them as an overnight snack in a timed feeder bowl. In addition to being very nutritious, chicken hearts are the perfect size to encourage chewing... which creates saliva... which helps manage stomach acid.

Some freeze dried raw foods are okay to be eaten dry, both of my cats like Vital Essentials Turkey Nibs (I cut this down to kibble size) and one of my cats likes Feline Natural. Their ingredients are completely different from dry foods so I hope they won't cause diarrhea, but I really don't know.

 

[treeclimber]

What's his name? And you may as well share a picture too

Murphy, but he is a cat of many nicknames and I'm pretty sure "Mr. Fussy-Pants" is about to become one of them!

You can run multiple experiments if you have multiple feeders. With these experiments, you should be able to figure out the magic formulas for different feeder intervals e.g. (this is just guesses and not actual data)

Great idea!!

My favorite feeder is finally back and got a refresh. I love these single compartment clamshells because they are affordable, small footprint, and you have the most flexibility as you set each feeder's interval and contents separately.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7WNDKWT/?tag=thecatsite

Looks great!!

I especially love that it doesn't rotate and take the old food away - if I get the timing wrong on freeze/thaw/etc. I want to make sure there's something out that he can eat!

I also found a Farmina limited-ingredient dry food with herring and a maximum of 1.8% fiber (which puts it in the range usually occupied by canned foods). We will give that a try too and see what he and his tummy think of it. I don't want it to be his primary food, but given his extreme food-fussiness I think it would be good to have the least-worst dry food I can find around too in case we need the option! Given a choice between puking/not eating or diarrhea, we'd pick the diarrhea...

 

[treeclimber]

I don't think your cat's issue is not wanting to eat non-fresh food - if he eats food that has been previously opened but refrigerated, that is technically no longer 'fresh'. The difference may be due to the moisture that is retained in the opened foods that are refrigerated. My cat has to have extra water added repeatedly to keep her eating a food that has been sitting out for more than two hours.

I think as outlined above, a timed feeder that allows you to add ice packs might be your solution. You might also consider adding a bit of water to each feeding to ensure it keeps moistened.

Good point - I'll try adding moisture, but also want to be careful about food safety. It looks like the maximum window for canned food is 4 hours at room temperature, so it's probably a good thing he won't eat canned food that's been out at room temperature all night!

 

[treeclimber]

Have you tried slippery elm? It helps control the stomach acid that leads to the bile vomits that you described. One of my cats has bilious vomiting syndrome and we give him slippery elm with his evening meal because overnight is his longest stretch without much food.

Thanks! We'll look into that!

With bile vomits, if your cat pukes on a tile floor, is there a color to the puke or is it clear?

Have you tried foods like organ treats or freeze dried raw food? My cats go nuts for chicken hearts and we've been testing them as an overnight snack in a timed feeder bowl. In addition to being very nutritious, chicken hearts are the perfect size to encourage chewing... which creates saliva... which helps manage stomach acid.

Some freeze dried raw foods are okay to be eaten dry, both of my cats like Vital Essentials Turkey Nibs (I cut this down to kibble size) and one of my cats likes Feline Natural. Their ingredients are completely different from dry foods so I hope they won't cause diarrhea, but I really don't know.

Raw foods are a totally new and unfamiliar thing for me, but I'm not against the idea. How do you know which ones are/aren't OK to be eaten dry?

 

[Astragal14]

With bile vomits, if your cat pukes on a tile floor, is there a color to the puke or is it clear?

Yes, a bile vomit is clear or light colored (sometimes pale yellow) and there is usually a small amount of foam present. There may also be a small amount of hair from bathing, this doesn't mean it's a hairball. My cat's bile vomits usually have a small amount of hair in them.

A bile vomit comes from an empty stomach bringing up excess stomach acid, whereas a regular vomit is when a stomach brings up digested contents. And separately, regurgitation is bringing up undigested contents.

Raw foods are a totally new and unfamiliar thing for me, but I'm not against the idea. How do you know which ones are/aren't OK to be eaten dry?

Technically, all freeze dried raw foods are meant to be reconstituted with water, otherwise a cat won't have enough moisture in their diet - but this is assuming freeze dried raw is their only food. My cats eat mostly wet food, so I'm okay using freeze dried raw in place of dry food or as a snack.

As for which ones can be eaten dry, there are no specific rules. I judge it based on my cats' preference and how "fiberous" the food texture is (is fiberous a word?? I hope that makes sense). Some foods, like Vital Essentials Mini Nibs, are crunchy like dry food. Others, like Stella & Chewy's, have a texture that seems heavy on the fiber and would be equivalent to humans eating a bunch of dry crackers without a glass of water. I did some googling for photos and Amazon product reviews seems to be the best place to see what the actual product looks like.
Vital Essentials Mini Nibs for Cats at Amazon

There are two important notes about freeze dried raw foods if you decide to try them: one, the food is generally good for 30 days once opened and two, be conscious of the bone content and if it causes constipation (my cats have been fine with all brands of freeze dried raw, but Rawbble is the only one that caused constipation).

Here are some of the brands that my cats like. All of these offer several different protein options.

NULO FreeStyle Turkey & Duck Recipe Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food, 3.5-oz bag - Chewy.com
https://www.chewy.com/vital-essentials-turkey-mini-nibs/dp/298836 (the nibs are large so we cut them with scissors)
https://www.chewy.com/meat-mates-chicken-dinner-grain-free/dp/186421
https://www.chewy.com/feline-natural-chicken-lamb-feast/dp/35432
https://instinctpetfood.com/cat/freeze-dried-raw-meals/ (these seem to be very palatable)

I think it's worth considering freeze dried foods and/or organ treats; they have the convenience of dry food but are much more nutritious. Good luck!!

 

[treeclimber]

Yes, a bile vomit is clear or light colored (sometimes pale yellow) and there is usually a small amount of foam present. There may also be a small amount of hair from bathing, this doesn't mean it's a hairball. My cat's bile vomits usually have a small amount of hair in them.

A bile vomit comes from an empty stomach bringing up excess stomach acid, whereas a regular vomit is when a stomach brings up digested contents. And separately, regurgitation is bringing up undigested contents.

Woah, that sounds like exactly what he’s been doing - beige or clear, and sometimes a bit of non-hairball hair!! Once it also had a curl of blood in it, but knock on wood that hasn’t happened again.

We will definitely bring this up at the next vet appointment. This all started with puking and no diarrhea (as long as he didn’t have dry food), then as we went into the special foods (which he mostly doesn’t like) it’s gotten harder and harder to get him to eat and his diet has involved more dry food (and more diarrhea) since it’s sometimes been the only way I could get food into him. And his mood and energy got worse on special food, probably because he tends to partially starve himself if he doesn’t like it.

If the real solution here is “give Mr. Fussy-Pants* whatever he wants to get him to eat regularly” and it doesn’t have to be limited ingredient/novel protein, then getting him to eat regularly and getting him back on an all-canned-food diet will be a LOT easier!!

* Thanks for the nickname daftcat75 , it’s perfect!!

As for which ones can be eaten dry, there are no specific rules. I judge it based on my cats' preference and how "fiberous" the food texture is (is fiberous a word?? I hope that makes sense). Some foods, like Vital Essentials Mini Nibs, are crunchy like dry food. Others, like Stella & Chewy's, have a texture that seems heavy on the fiber and would be equivalent to humans eating a bunch of dry crackers without a glass of water. I did some googling for photos and Amazon product reviews seems to be the best place to see what the actual product looks like.

Thanks!!

You mentioned Instinct, which is a brand I recognize since they do some novel protein foods - is this one of the brands that can be fed dry as a snack?

I think we’ll try to look for novel protein or tuna until we can talk all of this over with the vet. Tuna because out of desperation I started supplementing his diet with some canned-tuna-for-people to get him to eat, and he seems to be thriving on it (best I’ve seen him in a long time!) so even if he does have a food sensitivity it’s pretty clearly not to tuna! (We have our vet’s permission to continue with the tuna short-term.)

I also see some brands that say “air dried” instead of “freeze dried” - is there a difference there in terms of texture and potential to use as a snack while still dry?

 

[daftcat75]

Human-grade tuna is not a nutritionally complete food and it's not an ideal protein. But it's fine for the short-term. Better to eat at McDonald's than starve at Whole Foods is what I always say when trying to get a cat to eat something they don't want. Hills A/D is a high calorie recovery food that is meant for getting sick dogs to eat something when they don't feel like it. It's also not a forever food. But it's going to be more nutritionally appropriate than tuna meat alone. You may well be able to mix the A/D into another food he likes less to get him to eat both. I did this with Betty for awhile. She loves Hills I/D (the small stew cans, not the pate.) I used to mix two parts I/D to one part A/D and serve her that. Then she actually had a spell where she went off food (fever of unknown origin) and would only eat A/D, but only small amounts of it. When she got through her fever, she wanted only I/D. Now I reserve the A/D only for twisting her capsules into it before letting her pill herself. But I do have a few cans on hand in case she ever does go off I/D again.

I don't know the ins and outs of air dried vs freeze dried. Stella and Chewy's is popular as a dry snack--so popular that they started pre-powdering it and selling it as "magic dust" to sprinkle over food to up its appeal.

 

[Astragal14]

You mentioned Instinct, which is a brand I recognize since they do some novel protein foods - is this one of the brands that can be fed dry as a snack?

I also see some brands that say “air dried” instead of “freeze dried” - is there a difference there in terms of texture and potential to use as a snack while still dry?

Yes, Instinct has several freeze dried raw foods that can be eaten dry, as a snack or a meal. They're called "Raw Meals" and "Raw Longevity".

I don't think there is a nutritional difference between air dried or freeze dried, you just want to be sure it's raw food.

This all started with puking and no diarrhea (as long as he didn’t have dry food), then as we went into the special foods (which he mostly doesn’t like) it’s gotten harder and harder to get him to eat

What was his previous food and what is his current food? Is it prescription? And it sounds like the diarrhea started on the new (current) food, is that correct? Or is he just having increased diarrhea because the new foods include more dry?

 

[treeclimber]

What was his previous food and what is his current food? Is it prescription? And it sounds like the diarrhea started on the new (current) food, is that correct? Or is he just having increased diarrhea because the new foods include more dry?

Before special food:

Until this year, he was eating almost 100% canned Fancy Feast in seafood flavors, with the occasional dry food (Purina ONE) snack. He started rejecting one flavor of Fancy Feast last year, then it escalated this year with another and another, until eventually he wouldn’t eat any Fancy Feast seafood flavors, just turkey. Then he started rejecting the turkey Fancy Feast and we switched to Friskies (mostly turkey and chicken).

I am not sure when the puking started - it may or may not have correlated with the switch to turkey/chicken foods. But it was usually stomach juices or the occasional hairball.

He had also been eating less than the recommended amounts on the cans since sometimes last year. That escalated a lot in the past few months before our first puking-related vet appointment - his weight was already drifting downward, but in the 4-month period between his dental and his first puking-related vet appointment he lost almost a pound and a half.

Diarrhea-wise it was just the occasional mushy poo that was still poo-shaped but had a lot of mucus and got in his butt-fur. It seemed to be correlated with when he got dry food snacks. There were weeks when he didn’t get any dry food, and in those weeks there was no mushy poo.

He NEVER had the totally-shapeless diarrhea puddles like he gets now on the specialty dry foods.

Meds but no special food:

After the first puking-related vet appointment he got some tummy meds while we waited for prescription food - sucralfate and famotidine. The puking and appetite improved almost immediately on the meds, even before the prescription food finally arrived. During this time I had also started free-feeding his old dry food because I was worried about his weight loss and wanted him to eat *something*, so I don’t know if it was the meds or the free-feeding that stopped the puking.

I am not sure, but I think his appetite may have gotten a bit worse again after the famotidine prescription ended (he was on it for a month).

With special food:

Since he’s been on specialty foods it has been mostly dry foods because it’s so hard to get him to eat canned (he tried and rejected 4-6 different limited ingredient duck canned foods). On the dry food side, we’ve tried Hill’s d/d, Royal Canin PR, and Rayne rabbit-maint - he didn’t eat enough on any (wouldn’t touch the Rayne at all), would sometimes still puke, and began to have outright diarrhea where there was just a puddle and no poop-logs in the litterbox. Fortunately we found the First Mate Duck & Blueberry dry food, which he likes a lot - he ate more and had no puking, but he still had diarrhea on it (puddles) and still acted kinda weird (hiding more, less energy, less playful).

Since this weekend, he’s been getting canned tuna for people in addition to the First Mate dry food. He’s thriving - energetic, outgoing, playful, and just happier. The only time he’s thrown up was when I took away the dry food and tried to take him to 100% canned tuna - he had a morning empty stomach puke before his breakfast (probably because he went most of the night without eating after the tuna sat out too long). So for now I’m leaving the dry food out if I’m not going to be around to get him fresh tuna whenever he wants it. Even on this mix of dry food and tuna, his litterbox poos stink a lot less and occasionally contain some partially-shaped pieces in among the puddles. And no puking.

I’ve found a few online stores that sell single cans of non-prescription limited ingredient wet food, and we’ve got a bit of everything on the way - Mouser, Rawz, Koha, Tiki Cat, and more. I’m hoping to find at least one canned food that’s limited ingredient (and ideally a novel protein) that he will eat.

I’ve also got a Farmina dry food on the way that’s only 1.8% fiber, in case the higher fiber in dry food is what gives him diarrhea.

He seems pretty happy on the combination of people-tuna and First Mate dry food - outgoing, energetic, playful, no puking - but still diarrhea, and people-tuna is not cat food. So I’d like to get him eating canned food meant for cats instead of people (if he likes anything I’ve ordered), and hopefully eventually get dry food out of his diet entirely (unless the Farmina turns out to be a diarrhea-safe between-meals snack).

Random other details:

• He’s had an ultrasound and they found no abnormalities. None of the intestinal wall thickening that would suggest IBD or cancer.
• The puke that finally got him taken to the vet had a string of blood in it, but usually there’s no blood when he pukes
• He had moderately elevated eosinophils, but he’s an asthma kitty so that may or may not have anything to do with his digestive issues.
• No skin issues or itching, except that once every year or so he gets a nose blister that’s probably an eosinophilic granuloma.

 

[treeclimber]

…and now he doesn’t want to eat the tuna either. Not from the fridge, not fresh from the can, not warmed in the microwave, just “no thanks”. A few mouthfuls here and there, but mostly he wants the Duck & Blueberry dry food, and if he doesn’t get it then he won’t eat.

Still waiting for our taste-test cans to get here (hurry up!!!) but I’ve got a gut feeling that if he’s rejecting tuna then and everything else in a can will end up rejected too. If not at the first feeding then within the first week.

I can’t out-stubborn him into eating a non-preferred food, that’s a big part of how he starved himself down to 9.8 pounds in the first place. Plus he pukes when he doesn’t eat.

I don’t know what to do.

I’ve tried to explain to him that dry food is bad for his health and gives him diarrhea, but I know he can’t really understand.

How the heck do you get a cat that doesn’t want to eat canned food to eat canned food???

 

[treeclimber]

Has anyone ever had a fussy eater improve enough with the right stomach med that they stopped being fussy?

It seems like his fussy eating is interfering with attempts to treat anything else with special foods, canned or dry, so if we could just find a way to get him to stop being fussy… two years ago he’d eat anything, I wish there was a way to get him back to that.

 

[Astragal14]

...he got some tummy meds while we waited for prescription food - sucralfate and famotidine. The puking and appetite improved almost immediately on the meds, even before the prescription food finally arrived... I don’t know if it was the meds or the free-feeding that stopped the puking.

I am not sure, but I think his appetite may have gotten a bit worse again after the famotidine prescription ended (he was on it for a month).

Has anyone ever had a fussy eater improve enough with the right stomach med that they stopped being fussy?

It seems like his fussy eating is interfering with attempts to treat anything else with special foods, canned or dry, so if we could just find a way to get him to stop being fussy… two years ago he’d eat anything, I wish there was a way to get him back to that.

It sounds like it was the meds that stopped the bile vomits and improved his appetite (especially the famotidine). And that could mean his reduced appetite is caused by the nausea he feels due to excess stomach acid. One way to find out is to restart the famotidine without changing his diet and see what happens. Is he currently taking any other meds?

If his biggest issues are the bile vomits and hairballs, those can both be managed through some combination of supplements, timed meals and/or medication. Hopefully controlling those issues can help you move away from dry food, which then helps the diarrhea. I manage my cat's bile vomits through supplements and timed meals, with famotidine on rare occasions when needed.

Another possibility I want to mention is if he has any nasal congestion, which can reduce a cat's appetite because they can't smell their food as well. Congestion could be related to asthma or potentially the histamines in seafood. It doesn't sound likely based on his increased appetite while taking famotidine, but it's something to keep in mind.

The specialty wet foods you mentioned are quite unpalatable, so I'm not surprised he rejected those and was left with only dry options - the same thing happened with my IBD cat when we were doing a diet trial. The foods you ordered are all very good brands and I think you'll have success with at least some of them. But I think it may be worth focusing on his stomach acid first (to see if it improves his appetite) because otherwise you won't know if he rejects any of the new foods because he doesn't like the taste or because he's a little nauseated. A few other good brands are Avoderm (usually a hit with fish-obsessed cats), Weruva and Dr. Elsey's (I've only seen them sell online by the case, but they have excellent customer service and I think they would help you out if you contact them and explain you're only looking for a few cans for your cat who has had stomach issues).

Avoderm had a lot of pandemic related supply issues but are now getting back to a normal supply level. Chewy doesn't have everything back in stock yet but Amazon has many options. The sardine, shrimp and crab and the tuna and crab are two of my picky cat's favorites.
Sardine, Shrimp & Crab
Tuna & Crab

One of my cats can be extremely picky about wet food and two things that really helped her are Forti Flora and Soulistic canned foods with gravy. Forti Flora is a probiotic that uses animal digest to enhance it's palatability and many cats find the smell and taste to be irresistible. I sprinkle it on top of my cat's food rather than mixing it in. Soulistic is a brand made by Weruva exclusively for Petco. They have a line of foods in gravy that my picky girl LOVES! Of course she loves it for the gravy. She loves it so much that I actually never give her this food by itself, I always mix with with other healthy foods. She'll eat almost anything when it's mixed with the chicken flavor. The chicken one must taste amazing because my fish-obsessed girl likes it more than their fish flavors.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...chicken-dinner-adult-canned-cat-food-in-gravy

 

[treeclimber]

It sounds like it was the meds that stopped the bile vomits and improved his appetite (especially the famotidine). And that could mean his reduced appetite is caused by the nausea he feels due to excess stomach acid. One way to find out is to restart the famotidine without changing his diet and see what happens. Is he currently taking any other meds?

If his biggest issues are the bile vomits and hairballs, those can both be managed through some combination of supplements, timed meals and/or medication. Hopefully controlling those issues can help you move away from dry food, which then helps the diarrhea. I manage my cat's bile vomits through supplements and timed meals, with famotidine on rare occasions when needed.

Currently his only med is a fluticasone asthma inhaler (and occasionally an albuterol one if needed).

I think the famotidine may have caused some appetite improvement, but not enough - he still rejected several duck-based canned foods and at least one prescription dry food while he was on it.

I don't know if that means he didn't feel completely better on the famotidine and something else might be better, or if it means he's now habitually a fussy eater and will continue to be one even if his stomach feels better.

Another possibility I want to mention is if he has any nasal congestion, which can reduce a cat's appetite because they can't smell their food as well. Congestion could be related to asthma or potentially the histamines in seafood. It doesn't sound likely based on his increased appetite while taking famotidine, but it's something to keep in mind.

Hmm... definitely an interesting possibility. He snuffles and snores and it's definitely not weight-related, so maybe...

And one of his eyes is getting crusty like he might be having a bit of a kitty-cold right now, which seemed to coincide with when he started rejecting the tuna.

The specialty wet foods you mentioned are quite unpalatable, so I'm not surprised he rejected those and was left with only dry options - the same thing happened with my IBD cat when we were doing a diet trial. The foods you ordered are all very good brands and I think you'll have success with at least some of them. But I think it may be worth focusing on his stomach acid first (to see if it improves his appetite) because otherwise you won't know if he rejects any of the new foods because he doesn't like the taste or because he's a little nauseated.

I agree - right now he's such a fussy eater it's making everything else impossible, this needs to be priority #1 before we even have a chance with the other issues.

Ideally I'd still like to get him onto a novel protein wet food, since I don't know if there's a food sensitivity contributing to his problems or not (and I am pretty sure it's the dry food causing his diarrhea). But in order for any special food to do him any good, he has to eat it...


Thanks for the food/addon suggestions! I keep hearing good things about Forti Flora - we should be having a vet appointment soon and I'll definitely ask about that!

 

[treeclimber]

I found a turd!!! An actual poop-shaped turd!! *sings with joy*

Today his diet was a 5.2 oz can of Stella & Chewy's minced tuna morsels (he's eaten about 75% of the can spread throughout the day), and snacking on a dry food mix of 20% Farmina Digestive (lamb)/80% First Mate Duck & Blueberries (way less than he would have eaten if it was 100% First Mate, he doesn't like the Farmina). Diarrhea earlier in the day, then a nice solid turd-shaped turd this evening!!

This isn't the first time his canned food intake has exceeded his dry food intake (happened a few times when he was eating people-tuna), but it's the first time the diarrhea has stopped. I'm not entirely sure what about today's combination of foods let that happen, but I am absolutely delighted that it did.

I'm feeling the urge to compose a song in praise of solid cat turds...

 

[treeclimber]

I’m probably going to regret this and take the recording down in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here’s the turd song.

For a cat with tummy issues, this is an occasion worthy of musical celebration.

 

[daftcat75]

When Krista had a couple months of liquid stools due to a clostridium infection, we were both so impressed with her first solid poop in months. I didn’t record a song. But I took a picture.

And then I censored it because no one but me and Krista need to see that.