[Irene Jims]

Originally Posted by jordi

Thanks to you all for helping me. Here's another pic of my cat:

What a stunning kitty Lilit is !! I hope she will do fine on the new food...

[mj29]

Let me start out by saying that Lilit is a beauty and I love her name. I feed my Zipper a dry food called Wellness which contains No meat byroducts corn or corn gluten wheat soy artificial preservatives colors or flavours. This company also makes a canned food and I just got the treats as well and she does excellant with them. They have a website as well which is WELLNESS® - Healthy Dog and Cat Food When I bring my kittens home they will get the kitten version of it. I have the Indoor Health one which helps with shedding and hairballs while promoting lean muscle mass and weight management. I started giving it to her in December.

[jordi]

New problems:

I think that I will not try mixed diet (dry+wet) anymore. After buying the Almo lamb+rice dry food, it started well. She ate 9 gr when I filled her dish, she seemed to like it. But then she ate less and less, and from 3 pm to 6:30 in the morning of the following day (today) she ate nothing.

I think my cat is multi-allergic to almost everything in dry food that is not meat. All food has some allergen, when it is not corn, it is rice, chicken, potatoes, or that long list of vegetables that "natural dry food" has.

She seems to feel real fear for dry food. She prefers not to eat. So I have selected some wet foods based on their composition and not in if they're famous foods or not.

I also talked with another veterinary from the same clinic that I go. He said me that there were allergy test. They cost 400 euros +300 to make the vaccine to immunize against the allergies she may have + 3 months of treatment. It is just 50% effectiveness, and may be aggressive for some cats. 400+300+200 = 900 euros in a treatment just 50% effective and that may end if no dry food alternative because ALL dry food contains some cereal, vegetable or chicken.

If effectiveness was at least 80 or 90 percent I may do it, but this is plain stupid because it is really random and in addition there is no dry food to choose.

She also rejected raw chicken meat that I tried to feed her, that is something that she always liked. I think that she instinctively rejects what is harmful for her.

So I tell you what I'm going to do, and please tell me if you find it's right or not.

I will be feeding her with 3 cans of 100 gr of wet food, at 7:00, 15:00, and 23:00, so there's 8 hours between meals.

This is because sometimes she asks for food all night and we can't sleep. We are trying to educate her to not eat by night from 23 to 7.

I will use some foods that are 11% protein, 4-5% fat, 2% ash, 0,5 cellulose, humidity 82%

I have used this calculator to know that it's more or less 76 calories per 100 gr. I have calculated that these cans have 2% carbohydrates.

ScheyderWeb Cat Food Nutrition Calculator

Is this ok? Is 8 hours between meals acceptable? Sometimes she eats 250 gr or less per day, never uses to eat 300 gr. Is this right?

[jordi]

Also, if you know some vitamins for cats that work for you please tell me. Thanks

[acerlt]

I think the feeding schedule you've worked out will be fine.

I think feeding just canned food is fine, just make sure it is good quality and not full of by products, gluten and grains.

Regarding the dry food, I know you've decided not to give it to her any more but I do have one comment. Dry food gets stale and rancid when left sitting in a dish. So if when you describe her as eating less and less, and you are talking about the same food left out all the time, that may be the reason she rejects it.

For cats with poor appetite, free feeding is counter productive. Leaving food out all the time, her sense of smell and appetite center becomes desensitized to the food and it means nothing to her any more.

For general guidelines to anyone free feeding dry, never put fresh food over old. Don't let uneaten food sit for more than 8 hours. Throw away uneaten food, rinse and scrub dish under scalding water, let air dry, before putting fresh food in.

Bacteria forms on dry food rather quickly so it gets nasty, just like canned food. Bacteria also forms on the dish so hygiene is very important.

Thanks for keeping us updated on Jordi

.

[jordi]

Thanks Acerlt.

Yes but yesterday we replaced the dishes themselves, and filled just with 45 gr of the new dry food, so that was not the problem. She rejected the food just in some hours, we were really scared how she rejected it. There was no way to make her eat it.

I wonder, if we need to be late for some more hours than usual, what can we give her? I have seen some meat bits in jelly, are they good for this situations? Or what?

[jordi]

I am now very sad because she seems to be unable to be without eating for more than 3-4 hours. She has vomited saliva and something white. I could not wait until 23:00, and this means that we'll have to wake up several times at night to feed her.
If we place the can out, she doesn't eat it. We don't know why she can't be without eating frequently, and why does the can to be recently opened or she refuses it.

PLEASE HELP!

[acerlt]

Oh Dear I understand your frustration and worry.

When I still had my little Ootay she couldn't go more than a few hours without food either. I got up at 3 a.m and 6 a.m to feed her and had to rush home from work every few hours, too.

I wonder if sprinkling a little probiotic over Lilit's food might make her more interested in it?

I apologize if you've already mentioned this, but when was her last blood work?

I'm wondering if she's going into kidney failure?

.

[jordi]

Thanks for your understanding acerlt.

The problem is not that she has not appetite. SHe has a huge appetite, the problem is that she seems to need to eat every few hours or she goes into a gastritis.

I may do a blood test but I can't see what has kidney failure to do with this. She seems hydrated, and has no signs of that.

[acerlt]

Okay, I see she eats fine, but needs to eat frequently. Hmm.

Well CRF (kidney disease) can cause vomiting when a cat's tummy is empty.

Now I am just thinking of something.....I wonder if giving her a little antacid every day will help.

My Ootay who had to eat every few hours took 1/4 tablet of a 10 mg pepcid ac every day. She was only 4 pounds. Lilit might need a half tablet.

of course check with your vet before starting this medicine, but this may help her.

The probiotic will help too, because it keeps things in proper balance, which will also help her tummy.

so my recommendation is to start her on 1/4 or 1/2 tablet of a 10 mg pepcid ac daily, (check with vet first) plus add a probiotic to her daily diet.

Probiotics such as probios, benebac, fortiflora or even just an acidophilus capsule opened and sprinkled on her food once a day.

But I do advise an updated blood panel too.