Hi all. This is my first question to the board. Our cat, Bodi, just turned 17. We adopted her from a good friend who had to give her up two and half years ago. She's an indoor cat and healthy.
A little over a month ago, I was searching around the net for why she's so vocal -- the most vocal cat I've ever met! I stumbled across this board and started reading about food. Bodi was raised on Wellness dry and canned. She was an outdoor cat at that time, and she'd come in periodically to munch her dry; she got 1 can every night for dinner.
When I first brought her home -- we had to fly from LA to Boston -- she wouldn't eat. Well, who could blame her! I got her Fancy Feast to feed in addition to her Wellness dry to tempt her and it worked. So, for the past couple of years she'd been on Fancy Feast with Wellness dry and Science Diet Hair Ball formula mixed in her dry bowl. After reading the links posted here, we switched her to premium foods, letting her tell us what she likes. She's very finicky with it, so she eats only a few flavors. We alternate Wellness dry and Chicken Soup for the Catlover's Soul dry. She likes Wellness canned Turkey and Turkey & Salmon, and some of the Nutro Natural Choice pouch flavors. She gets 3 ounces of wet a day.
It's been a little over a month and we've noticed several things. First, she often doesn't finish her canned food, but I've read here that cats require lower amounts of more nutritious food, so I figure she knows what she needs. Second, her coat is softer -- YAY!
Third -- the reason for this post. For the last week and a half or so, she's been scratching herself alot, and she sometimes gives herself scabs. As I said, she's an indoor cat, but we Frontlined her the nite before last anyhow. She's still scratching, and I want to add some canola oil to her canned food because now I think maybe she's not getting enough fat -- especially because she's not finishing her canned food -- and maybe her skin is dry.
Absent an emergency, we'd rather not have a vet bill right now.
Thoughts?
A little over a month ago, I was searching around the net for why she's so vocal -- the most vocal cat I've ever met! I stumbled across this board and started reading about food. Bodi was raised on Wellness dry and canned. She was an outdoor cat at that time, and she'd come in periodically to munch her dry; she got 1 can every night for dinner.
When I first brought her home -- we had to fly from LA to Boston -- she wouldn't eat. Well, who could blame her! I got her Fancy Feast to feed in addition to her Wellness dry to tempt her and it worked. So, for the past couple of years she'd been on Fancy Feast with Wellness dry and Science Diet Hair Ball formula mixed in her dry bowl. After reading the links posted here, we switched her to premium foods, letting her tell us what she likes. She's very finicky with it, so she eats only a few flavors. We alternate Wellness dry and Chicken Soup for the Catlover's Soul dry. She likes Wellness canned Turkey and Turkey & Salmon, and some of the Nutro Natural Choice pouch flavors. She gets 3 ounces of wet a day.
It's been a little over a month and we've noticed several things. First, she often doesn't finish her canned food, but I've read here that cats require lower amounts of more nutritious food, so I figure she knows what she needs. Second, her coat is softer -- YAY!
Third -- the reason for this post. For the last week and a half or so, she's been scratching herself alot, and she sometimes gives herself scabs. As I said, she's an indoor cat, but we Frontlined her the nite before last anyhow. She's still scratching, and I want to add some canola oil to her canned food because now I think maybe she's not getting enough fat -- especially because she's not finishing her canned food -- and maybe her skin is dry.
Absent an emergency, we'd rather not have a vet bill right now.
Thoughts?