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- Apr 10, 2018
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Hi everyone! First time cat owner as of this weekend. I can't wait to pick her up! I've done a bunch of reading in advance and I'm really concerned about changing her food, but I don't want to feed dry. Sorry this is so long, but I'd really appreciate some advice from more experienced owners.
Background: Kitty was taken from a high-kill shelter to a rescue. After some vet checks and personality checks, she was deemed highly adoptable and put in a cage in a partner pet store. After about a week in the pet store she started vomiting a lot. They found blood in the vomit and she started losing weight. She was moved to a foster home and seen by a vet. In the foster home, she was able to keep her food down. The vet did blood tests for all the scary conditions associated with that and she came back with a clean bill of health. Vet decided that the blood was probably from a small tear from throwing up so much.
After a while at the foster, everything seemed to be under control, so they put her back in the pet store in hopes that she'd be adopted. The vomiting started again and again there was some blood, so they moved her back to the foster and the vet put her on Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric dry food. The vet said she had some food intolerances. Poor thing had lost about 2 pounds, and she's a little kitty, so this wasn't good. Once back in the foster and on this food, she kept everything down and gained back the weight she needed. The rescue didn't risk putting her back in the store and she's happily been at the foster every since.
So - the dilemma is this; the ingredients on this food seem terrible to me. Mostly soy protein. Ideally, I'd like to get to a raw diet, but I don't want to risk such a terrible episode again. I definitely won't do anything until she's good and settled in, because it seems to me like it could have actually been a stress reaction. The foster says she isn't very interested in food or treats in general. I thought I'd try offering her a bit of the wet formula for this food to see if she's even interested in wet, and how that sits in her stomach. Any ideas or advice? Will it just be trial and error? Is that even okay, given her previous reaction? Thanks!
Background: Kitty was taken from a high-kill shelter to a rescue. After some vet checks and personality checks, she was deemed highly adoptable and put in a cage in a partner pet store. After about a week in the pet store she started vomiting a lot. They found blood in the vomit and she started losing weight. She was moved to a foster home and seen by a vet. In the foster home, she was able to keep her food down. The vet did blood tests for all the scary conditions associated with that and she came back with a clean bill of health. Vet decided that the blood was probably from a small tear from throwing up so much.
After a while at the foster, everything seemed to be under control, so they put her back in the pet store in hopes that she'd be adopted. The vomiting started again and again there was some blood, so they moved her back to the foster and the vet put her on Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets EN Gastroenteric dry food. The vet said she had some food intolerances. Poor thing had lost about 2 pounds, and she's a little kitty, so this wasn't good. Once back in the foster and on this food, she kept everything down and gained back the weight she needed. The rescue didn't risk putting her back in the store and she's happily been at the foster every since.
So - the dilemma is this; the ingredients on this food seem terrible to me. Mostly soy protein. Ideally, I'd like to get to a raw diet, but I don't want to risk such a terrible episode again. I definitely won't do anything until she's good and settled in, because it seems to me like it could have actually been a stress reaction. The foster says she isn't very interested in food or treats in general. I thought I'd try offering her a bit of the wet formula for this food to see if she's even interested in wet, and how that sits in her stomach. Any ideas or advice? Will it just be trial and error? Is that even okay, given her previous reaction? Thanks!