Looking for canned kitten food in a variety of flavors

Furballsmom

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Jasmine, baby, c'mon - listen to your mama!!

Maybe that pate style will come back in favor down the road :vibes::crossfingers::redheartpump:
 
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Margret

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Yesterday afternoon Jasmine followed me into the kitchen and decided that maybe she could tolerate some duck with pea paté. She ate about an eighth of a can of it, so last night I gave her the fourth quarter of the can. She didn't touch it. Cattitude.

So this morning I opened the first can of duck with lamb in gelée (kind of like aspic). It looked like her kind of food, but I'm not sure. It appears that she's eaten some of it, but not much. Still too early to be sure. I'll give her the second half of the can tonight and see what her bowl looks like in the morning. If this doesn't work I don't know what I'll do.

Margret
 

Furballsmom

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Would you consider handfeeding? I have to with Poppycat, he'll eat the Royal Canin but not the Hills which he needs.
 
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Margret

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Hand feeding? I'm not sure what that means. She'll take treats from me (not that we have any she isn't allergic to), but she's no more likely to eat her food directly from my hand than from her bowl.

If you're talking about homemade food, yes, I've been considering that. The biggest problem is finding a source of novel protein for it - there's no way I'm going to rely on trapping and personally butchering the rabbits that live in my neighborhood, for instance.

Margret
 

Furballsmom

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Hare Today is one source for rabbit, and there are other online sellers that raw feeding members use. LTS3 LTS3 can provide more information 👍

I put Poppycat on a counter (it's easier) have a pate with his supplements mixed in, and using a tongue depressor, scoop a little on the end, open his mouth and gently scrape the food off on his tongue.

His vet suggested we do this to get him over his triaditus in early 2019, since he wasn't eating on his own. It worked, and is very helpful now :)
 

Novus888

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Hello, all.

My Jasmine has been losing weight recently, for no obvious reason. The earliest vet appointment I can get for her is next Monday, and I'll be asking them to check for thyroid problems as well as cancer and anything else they can think of.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get extra calories into Jasmine. She normally gets 1/2 a can of wet food, twice a day, plus all the kibble she wants to eat, and I've changed her kibble to Kitten kibble, which she likes, but I'm having problems with the canned food. I have some Royal Canin Mother & Babycat canned food left over from Bright Eyes's final illness - Jasmine won't touch it. Because she generally prefers shreds or chunks to paté style foods I picked up some Royal Canin Kitten food, thin slices in gravy - Jasmine won't touch that, either. I found some Authority Kitten Turkey Entrée Paté and tried her on that. She gobbled it up, and then proceeded to throw up in her water bowl (and that's making me wonder about a possible turkey allergy). Anything with fish in it, she won't eat (I know - atypical, but it is what it is). The only wet kitten food I've been able to find that she'll eat (and keep down) is Purina Pro Plan Kitten Food Chicken & Liver Entree, which is another paté style food, but apparently it tastes good enough to overcome the form factor. I called Chewy to see whether they could send me an emergency shipment of some other flavor of Purina Pro Plan Kitten Food, and the only other flavors available are all fish.

I have six days to go before she sees the vet, and I already know that she'll get tired of the same flavor before then. Can anyone come up with some other ways for me to get extra calories into her? What do they add to kitten food to increase the calories, fat? I'm wondering about frying some hamburger and draining the fat into her regular cat food. Starting to feel desperate here.

Margret
 

LTS3

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Hare-Today.com is probably the most popular place to buy raw novel proteins for pet food use from. There is a minimum amount to buy (10 lbs I think?) and ice packs are needed during summer shipping and are an extra cost. A local butcher shop should be able to source rabbit for you if you give them advanced notice. Independent pet stores may sell chubs of raw meat. Some chubs are just boneless meat only, others are grinds that contain bones and / or organs.
 
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Margret

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Furballsmom Furballsmom , thank you for the information about Hare-Today. I may go that route if her current food doesn't work out.

I put Poppycat on a counter (it's easier) have a pate with his supplements mixed in, and using a tongue depressor, scoop a little on the end, open his mouth and gently scrape the food off on his tongue.
That might work for getting medications into her (and I'll bear it in mind for future use), but I can't see it as a way to get her to eat something she's decided isn't "really" food. Yes, she'd swallow it if I put it on her tongue, but she'd never give me another chance to put it in her mouth. It wouldn't be long before feeding time became a matter of first finding a cat who's in hiding, then wrapping her in a towel, and then struggling to keep her in the towel while using both hands to force her mouth open and put the food on her tongue. :runaround:

N Novus888 , thank you, but she's now been diagnosed with IBD, probably caused by a chicken allergy. At this point it seems to be a matter of persuading her to eat enough of a novel protein diet.

LTS3 LTS3 , thank you very much. I'll save the information for use if it gets to that point.

Margret
 
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Novus888

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Furballsmom Furballsmom , thank you for the information about Hare-Today. I may go that route if her current food doesn't work out.



That might work for getting medications into her (and I'll bear it in mind for future use), but I can't see it as a way to get her to eat something she's decided isn't "really" food. Yes, she'd swallow it if I put it on her tongue, but she'd never give me another chance to put it in her mouth. It wouldn't be long before feeding time became a matter of first finding a cat who's in hiding, then wrapping her in a towel, and then struggling to keep her in the towel while using both hands to force her mouth open and put the food on her tongue. :runaround:

N Novus888 , thank you, but she's now been diagnosed with IBD, probably caused by a chicken allergy. At this point it seems to be a matter of persuading her to eat enough of a novel protein diet.

LTS3 LTS3 , thank you very much. I'll save the information for use if it gets to that point.

Margret
Good luck getting a cat to eat anything it doesn't like. It took Mirtazapine to get Buddy to eat the the Hills wetfood, and as soon as the three day limit expired, he was back to a hunger strike. IBD or not, either find something the cat will willingly eat, master the use of a feeding tube, or watch the effects of anorexia blossom. In the end it ain't up to the guardian, or the vet...it's up to the cat to decide what goes over the gums and across the tongue. If you do find something your cat will eat, and have trouble finding it, I may be able to source it.
 
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Margret

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Good luck getting a cat to eat anything it doesn't like. It took Mirtazapine to get Buddy to eat the the Hills wetfood, and as soon as the three day limit expired, he was back to a hunger strike. IBD or not, either find something the cat will willingly eat, master the use of a feeding tube, or watch the effects of anorexia blossom. In the end it ain't up to the guardian, or the vet...it's up to the cat to decide what goes over the gums and across the tongue. If you do find something your cat will eat, and have trouble finding it, I may be able to source it.
Exactly. Some vets will tell you that a cat won't starve itself; when it gets hungry enough it will eat the detested food. And I consider any vet who tells me that to probably be a dog person. Jasmine proved to me years ago that if she doesn't get the food she wants she's perfectly willing to refuse all food (crying pitifully about it the whole time) until she gets her way, and she'll do it for months.

Thank you for your kind offer; I may take you up on it at some point.

Margret
 
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Margret

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Jasmine has now made it plain that she dislikes all three of the canned foods I got from Chewy, so I decided to try raw food, thinking that she might find it more enticing. I decided to go with Stella & Chewy's, which has two varieties of novel protein that might work for Jasmine: STELLA & CHEWY'S Absolutely Rabbit Dinner Morsels Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food, 3.5-oz bag - Chewy.com, and STELLA & CHEWY'S Duck Duck Goose Dinner Morsels Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food, 3.5-oz bag - Chewy.com. Both are available in either frozen or freeze dried varieties, and both are chunky. So on Thursday I got a bag of the frozen rabbit from a local store and tried her on it. (My first preference was the Duck Duck Goose, but Absolutely Rabbit was the only one I could find that day.) And Jasmine took one look at it, sniffed it, and basically said, "This isn't food. What's it doing in my dish?" Okay, that won't work. As a general rule, however, Jasmine prefers fowl over mammalian foods, so it was time to try Duck Duck Goose. On Friday I was awake early, on Stella & Chewy's' website, making a list of local stores that carry their freeze dried and frozen cat foods, sorting by distance. Then, once it was late enough for the stores to be open, I started calling. I found a store about 5 miles away that would sell me a small bag of Duck Duck Goose freeze-dried, and picked it up.

I reconstituted 1/4 cup of it. I cut the chunks up into bite-sized morsels for her. I crumbled one chunk up and added a bit more water in an unsuccessful attempt to create a gravy. And her bowl is still full, sitting on the kitchen floor, untasted, after more than 12 hours.

I'm totally out of ideas here. If professionally made food won't entice her I see no point in going the home-made route -- she's no more likely to accept it just because I made it myself, and there's more likelihood of error. The only other novel proteins I've found available are venison and lamb, and she's less likely to accept those. Fortiflora uses chicken, so it's no good for enticing her to eat. I hate to even consider euthanasia this early in the process, but I'm honestly beginning to wonder whether that isn't the only remaining option.

Margret
 

Furballsmom

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By the way, as mrsgreenjeans mentioned, I've been reading that the thought of needing to decrease protein has changed, and it's now considered that the protein can remain at a higher level.

Does that help regarding letting her have the kitten food she likes or the Fancy Feast Chunky? Or just let her eat her kibble - I apologize that I don't recall, but will she eat any kibble that has been moistened?

There's this as well, again I'm sorry if I already posted this for you, but take note especially of the baby food soup - I realize you're after calories not water consumption, but there's also your frame of mind as well. Since my Poppycat sounds so much like Jasmine in regards to food, and he LOVES the baby food soup (he likes his with less water) it makes a big difference in my perspective to see him dive into the bowl and literally lick it dry, and look at me for more :);

Tips To Increase Your Cat’s Water Intake – TheCatSite Articles

This isn't necessarily kitten food but something for you to consider if you haven't tried them, Identity has bison and quail. Did you have a chance to try Smalls?
 
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Margret

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Furballsmom Furballsmom , it wasn't CKD after all. She's been diagnosed with IBD and doesn't consider hydrolyzed protein to be edible (though she does eat the hydrolyzed protein kibble). At this point I'm searching for a novel protein wet food that she'll actually eat. Right now I'm about to go to a local store that carries Lotus Pet Foods - Just Juicy Venison Stew for Cats. If she'll eat it I'll put in an order with Chewy for regular shipments. I'm giving her B12 shots once a week (which are supposed to improve her appetite); I've seen no change caused by the B12. She continues to be seriously underweight and the current kibble-only diet doesn't seem to be enough. And I've seen no kitten foods with novel proteins, though some of the others I've tried (and she's rejected) are listed for "all life stages."

Margret
 
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Margret

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So far she's eating it! :dance: :cheerleader::bunnydance: I don't know how long this will continue (and I'm rather surprised by it since, while they call it a stew, it looks more like a paté), but I'm not complaining; I'll call Chewy tomorrow and set up a delivery schedule. If she tires of this one I'll give their Just Juicy Pork Stew a try. I also intend to look for a venison kibble for her, so I won't have to keep renewing a prescription for hydrolyzed protein. Jasmine doesn't need the stress of unnecessary vet visits, and neither does my pocketbook.

Darn!, but I'm tired. How long have I been working on this - a whole month? Yes, 1 month exactly; it only feels like 2. Continual worry is wearing. I think I'll watch a movie and go to bed early.

Margret
 
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Margret

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Delivery is set up. I'm getting 2 24-can cases in the first shipment so I'll have some extra on hand for emergencies (stuff happens), and one case every 3 weeks after that. Since she eats 1 can per day I'll occasionally need to skip a shipment, but the other option was every 4 weeks, which would leave us 4 days short of food between shipments.

As for the kibble, I'll be ordering this: NATURAL BALANCE L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Green Pea & Venison Grain-Free Dry Cat Food, 4.5-lb bag - Chewy.com next Sunday, when it should be back in stock. I have enough of the hydrolyzed kibble to keep her a bit longer, as well as two refills on the prescription, so that should be okay. I'm just going to have to figure out how frequently those shipments need to occur; I'm accustomed to just going to PetCo or PetSmart whenever she starts running low on kibble.

I do love the customer service folks at Chewy; they're so helpful!

I think it may also be time to shop for a scale; I only realized Jasmine was losing weight when I started feeling her spine and ribs while petting her. It may be time to begin weekly weigh-ins. Does anyone have any idea how soon I should notice weight gain, now that she's eating normally again?

Margret
 

Furballsmom

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Oh my gosh I'm SO happy for you!!

You'll likely see small gains fairly soon I'm thinking. Within a week?
 

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Well, the customer service representative at Chewy spent about 45 minutes with me, looking for novel proteins. Eventually we settled on 3: Pork Stew, Duck with Pea, and Duck and Lamb in Gelée. I tried the pork first, and Jasmine informed me that pork isn't food. Next I tried the duck with pea. It comes in 5 oz. cans, and I was disappointed to see that it's patée style (something that isn't mentioned on either the label or in Chewy's database, or they wouldn't have sent it to me). Despite the fact that it's patée style I tried Jasmine on it and she attacked it with gusto. Once. She hasn't eaten any of it since as far as I can tell. I'll try her on the duck and lamb tonight.

Margret
I am so sorry you’re going through all of this; I’ve got a similar situation going on with my cat, Dean. He HATES pates. He’s proven to me he will starve himself before he eats anything without shreds or chunks or something he deems isn’t food - like rabbit or venison. You might want to check out Koha foods - they have shredded food for cats and maybe there is something there that might interest your baby. Nice think is that you can order 3 packs instead of a whole case of it. Which brand is the pork stew that you tried? I’d be interested in looking at that one. Keep us posted on how Jasmine is doing.
 
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Margret

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Irisinatl Irisinatl , it was the Lotus Just Juicy Grain Free Pork Stew for Cats, and I'm beginning to wonder if that first can didn't have something wrong with it. The Lotus Just Juicy Grain Free Venison Stew is more like small shreds in paté, and this just looked like paté, period. If you want to try it, go to Lotus's website. They have a store finder. Give a call to a few of the stores near you and see whether they carry it. That way you can buy just a few cans.

Margret
 
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