I have 4 cats, ages 17-years, 2 18- years, and 1 19-years old. None of them have many teeth left. They have all seen the vet in the last 8 months. The 19 year old and 1 18 year old - Bobby - have had senior blood work done, plus urinalysis and fecal test, all normal.
About 3 years back I had another cat who developed renal disease. Referring to Tanya's List of foods, I switched to Hill's Science Diet age 11+ indoor for kibble, and Wellness chicken and chicken liver pouch for wet. These were the closest to prescription foods without needing a prescription. That cat has since crossed to Rainbow Bridge.
The problem is all these cats have runny stools. Bobby seldom bothers going to the litter box. I have watched him walk across the kitchen, stop, barely squat, squirt out, stand and continue walking. 3 of the cats have been losing weight, slowly and steadily. One cat has gained a lot of weight since the food change 3 years back.
I tried 3 different sensitive stomach kibbles, mixing in very little - about 1/4 cup with 2 cups of regular kibble. That just made things worse, I had cats squirting all over the place. After 2 weeks with no change, I stopped one, waited a month, tried another. Same resultss. Stopped using all of that.
Six days ago Bobby hopped up on the counter when I was prepping the dog dishes, and very interested in what I had. In desperation, I gave the cats a can of dog food: Applaws chicken with vegetables in broth. They ate it ALL, even the vegetables. I didn't mix the Applaws dog food with anything, wasn't sure they would do more than lick at it. But after that first day, when I found empty, clean bowls in 2 hours, I couldn't believe it! So I kept on. Did that once a day for 6 days and the squirts have stopped. The diarhhea has stopped. Starting to see 'tootsie rolls' in the litter boxes again. The kibble is still out around the clock, they are eating very little of that. I know long term they need cat food, not dog food, for proper nutrition including taurine for their eyes.
I just don't know what this tells me, what wet food to try from Tanya's lists. How far down the list can I go to try something. I need to get them back on cat wet food, but which one(s)? I generally purchase from PetsMart, Chewy and Amazon, which narrows down the list of possibilities to what is available to me.
Suggestions, thoughts, ideas? Thank you. Photo is from last December.
About 3 years back I had another cat who developed renal disease. Referring to Tanya's List of foods, I switched to Hill's Science Diet age 11+ indoor for kibble, and Wellness chicken and chicken liver pouch for wet. These were the closest to prescription foods without needing a prescription. That cat has since crossed to Rainbow Bridge.
The problem is all these cats have runny stools. Bobby seldom bothers going to the litter box. I have watched him walk across the kitchen, stop, barely squat, squirt out, stand and continue walking. 3 of the cats have been losing weight, slowly and steadily. One cat has gained a lot of weight since the food change 3 years back.
I tried 3 different sensitive stomach kibbles, mixing in very little - about 1/4 cup with 2 cups of regular kibble. That just made things worse, I had cats squirting all over the place. After 2 weeks with no change, I stopped one, waited a month, tried another. Same resultss. Stopped using all of that.
Six days ago Bobby hopped up on the counter when I was prepping the dog dishes, and very interested in what I had. In desperation, I gave the cats a can of dog food: Applaws chicken with vegetables in broth. They ate it ALL, even the vegetables. I didn't mix the Applaws dog food with anything, wasn't sure they would do more than lick at it. But after that first day, when I found empty, clean bowls in 2 hours, I couldn't believe it! So I kept on. Did that once a day for 6 days and the squirts have stopped. The diarhhea has stopped. Starting to see 'tootsie rolls' in the litter boxes again. The kibble is still out around the clock, they are eating very little of that. I know long term they need cat food, not dog food, for proper nutrition including taurine for their eyes.
I just don't know what this tells me, what wet food to try from Tanya's lists. How far down the list can I go to try something. I need to get them back on cat wet food, but which one(s)? I generally purchase from PetsMart, Chewy and Amazon, which narrows down the list of possibilities to what is available to me.
Suggestions, thoughts, ideas? Thank you. Photo is from last December.