[crazy4cats]

Yes, they sure can be a pain! They get tired of stuff, but then they can be real cautious with something new as well. Stinkers! I fed the chicken and beef 4health so far and all four ate it. Two were more enthusiastic than the others. I think I’ll go back for more. I’m not sure how many stores I have to visit to get all my canned cat food. Embarrassing! Lol! At least I’ve been buying the CSCLS off Amazon. Mine are still eating it! Nice to hear from you, Sharon.

Akari-
I can’t believe your deals! You are a stinker also!

BDog-
Good luck with Bobby’s buffet!

[Bobby dog]

Bobby’s buffet, that has a nice ring to it. I feel a theme song coming on for meal times! 😉

[Akari_32]

Wow, we have over 1000 posts going on this thread!

Anyways, I thought the Salmon and Trout Wellness would go over well, but it’s not. He eats the shredded and whatever ones that were discontinued a while back (the purple cans), but the pate style is not his favorite, which really does lead me to believe it’s the carageenan he doesn’t like. He will eat anything I throw at him, but it takes half the day for him to eat a can of the Wellness. And the dog food cans are the same way! Really thick. I’ll have to email them and see what they have to say.

Also, I found this in tonight can:

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/9460217F-C419-4BB4-931F-81885465E447_zpstcrez1rl.jpg

That thing is huge! I’m glad I’m found it! It did crumble easily under pressure, but that can’t be safe, to have a bone in there :O

And I tried to post these the other day, but PhotoBucket was being stupid and wouldn’t let me upload them. Here are some (old, but favorite) pics of Dweezle and Haley 🙂

(Picture of a picture, sorry lol)
http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/6254A7BD-CA3B-40A1-84F7-D0B4428E6FF5_zpsf0gv78yt.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/19DF1FA6-7CB9-42AC-9FEC-5CBBDC64F519_zpsxdmxdysp.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/D6529CD4-84A6-476E-9595-4DC69109DF7E_zps0jtyl7bb.jpg

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/2C39153F-B0A2-4345-9653-61B7BF9F8059_zpsklzm6vni.jpg

And yes, Dweezle is snuggling an ice pack LOL

[crazy4cats]

Akari-
Very cute pups! Over 1,00 posts. Wow! I always crack up when I go to the first page of this thread and it starts with something like. Hey guys my friend says she has a stray cat in her neighborhood! And so it began! We’ve come so far!

[Bobby dog]

Those are really, really nice pictures!!!! Love them all.

That is a big bone, glad you found it! I only feed the pate’ style of Wellness. And the only fish variety I feed of that is the chicken and herring, I’ll be on the lookout for bones. I am glad I am in the habit of smushing and chopping up their food before I feed it. If I don’t they are too messy eating it, most of the time dragging it out of the bowl and eating it on the floor. lol

Bobby loves the Wellness canned, but he is a pig. I have only fed the Core and 95% and I always mix with water too, just enough to make an extra, extra thick gravy consistency.

[Akari_32]

Thanks guys! Dweezle is much more black now (very little grey left), and much beefier (or maybe jigglier? LOL) than he was in these two pics.

I always mash up his food too, and add some water. He still doesn’t drink water, so I add it to his food for an extra boost (and even more extra to the Wellness to thin it out lol). Turns out, he didn’t even eat *half* of his food last night! Guess he’ll be really hungry when it’s time for breakfast lol

This is the first time trying this flavor on him. I try to only do fish mixes (like chicken and tuna, or something like that) when I buy something with fish, rather than all fish, but these were 9 cents a can after clearance and coupons and I really needed it because of all the Friskies I had to buy. Had to get *some* good food in there! Lol I may try the Signature Selects next time I get Wellness and see how he likes that, since it’s a shredded sort of food, rather than a Pate. It’s just so high in carbs, though. But at the same time, I hate to feed him all Friskies.

[Bobby dog]

I was wondering if you still were adding water to his food, he has been doing so well and I figured you incorporated that into his permanent food preparation.

I wasn’t giving you the side eye for feeding fish. lol I was just mentioning what recipes I feed because I don’t know what the foods texture is like. I still feed fish because they make me so I look for recipes with small fish breeds added (menhaden, sardines, herring, or small mackerel species) or I buy a can of fish packed in water and mix it in. I tried the Signature when it first came out, it was a no go except for one flavor for only one of my pickiest kitties the salmon and chic. I don’t buy it, but if I ever need him to eat anything I keep that recipe in mind.

[Akari_32]

Yeah, he doesn’t do straight water still lol He doesn’t mind his food watered down, though, so I do that.

Oh, I know. I was just saying, I don’t typically buy all-fish foods, so this bone business is very strange to me! He has had all-fish Wellness in the past, but it’s been those purple grain free cans, and they weren’t pate, they were chuncks. He ate those just fine. Seems to me, all Wellness canned foods are pate unless otherwise stated.

I’ve not tried him on the Signature Selects yet because it’s so low calorie, and very high carb. He’d need like 3-4 of the big cans a day! Rotating between other brands, I could probably get away with just 2 cans, cans though. How do they expect a cat to eat that much, though?? LOL

[Bobby dog]

I don’t know how they expect cats to stuff it in because it really is mostly sauce in those cans. The meat is shredded but the fish is in little chunks. I don’t see what the harm would be to add it to his rotation though. I can’t imagine a cat could eat more than one can for a meal, they really are saucy! Let us know what you think if you get them. I didn’t know Wellness stopped making their chunk styles.

[arwyru24]

Hey guys! Akari I love those pictures! I have tried to post pictures on here before, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. The puppy is now 42lbs. Holy Moly. He is getting neutered on Thursday. Don’t tell him.

I don’t really buy any of the shredded cat food because it winds up being actually twice as expensive when you figure that it is about half as filling to my cats. My cats are funny about Wellness canned pates, they only seem to like the Turkey, Turkey and Salmon, and Chicken and Herring types. I don’t think they discontinued the minced, sliced, cubed varieties, I just ordered a case of the turkey minced. My cats really like that minced texture, hopefully they won’t get bored with it like they have with chicken soup for the soul. They don’t have it as good as your guy does Akari, I usually get a case of two different canned foods, and that is their rotation. Usually I have some left overs from the month before, so I will rotate those in too, and I think that is what is leading to some of their food boredom. I am probably going to have to suck it up and clip some coupons and buy some individual cans locally to mix it up more, but I have just been liking not having to go to the store for my pet food. Oh well.

[arwyru24]

So I have been pretty broke, and I was almost entirely out of dry cat food when I realized that I still had some bags stashed that I have been meaning to get over to the local feral TNR group, including three 4lb bags of Authority that I picked up for 99cents each. So I decided to just open up one of those babies and feed that to get me until I get paid at the end of the week, since it at least has no corn, and no by-products.

http://www.petsmart.com/cat/dry-food/authority-senstive-solutions-adult-cat-food-zid36-23724/cat-36-catid-200028?var_id=36-23724&_t=pfm%3Dcategory%26pfmvalue%3Dfaceted

So I went back to look at the nutritional info online today, and saw that the calories are actually not bad at all at 379/cup, so now I am thinking that I might just use this bag up, (which will take me a couple months) instead. Its not too bad right? They get canned food too, I feed them together, they get about 2 5.5oz cans and just under 1/2 cup of dry food per day split into meals. One cat eats almost all wet food, and only a little dry (I think sometimes none at all) , and the other cries and cries for his crunchies and I think he eats all of the dry food, but he also eats wet.

[crazy4cats]

Hey Sharon-
It is totally fine with me for you to feed that food for a rotation, if you are looking for permission. Lol! I’m not sure about the brewers rice or oat groats, but just for a few months with some canned food, they will be fine! There are probably millions of cats living on much much worse! You should definitely make use of that food!
When you have multiple cats, it’s sometimes hard to know who eats exactly what! They just seem to work it out. Although, I do hear some growling now and then when one cat encroaches another a little too soon!

[Akari_32]

Hey guys. Popping in to say I took the fish Wellness out of his rotation (6 days worth– UUUUUUGH!). He ate just a couple bites of his dinner last night, and I could just give him half a can per meal, but who wants to forced to eat something they don’t like, and in a quantity that isn’t large enough to sustain them? I did leave the 4 beef and chicken cans in there, just for something different, but all the fish ones came out except one that I had to put with an extra can of the Authority I had (couldn’t count when I bought them apparently LOL). He won’t be getting that for several weeks (hoping he’ll forget he hates the fish one) and when he does I’ll just mix the cans together and give him half and half.

So right now, he’s pretty much just getting Friskies and Authority rotating every other day (and rotating the Friskies between the two flavors I have). So he gets Friskies Beef and Gibblets, Authority Flaked Turkey, Friskies Chicken and liver, and then Authority again and it starts all over again. There is the few cans of beef Wellness and the Applaws throw in here and there, substituted for a day of Authority, as well. And I had 4 days left of just Friskies after working out the rotation that I tucked away. I couldn’t bring myself to feed him Friskies for more than one day in a row, especially because it’s the Special Diet, and who knows what the “urinary tract health” part of it will do to a cat who doesn’t really need “urinary tract health” help.

Anyways, I guess I’ll be looking for another food to add in… Lol

[arwyru24]

Thank you C4C I really did need that validation! !

[Bobby dog]

Hi Sharon:
I think the Authority is fine, that’s the advantage of rotating foods! Check out the TSC canned cat food when you get a chance to shop there; they have it on their website now too. It’s a decent food with a great price point.

Akari posted a link to Petsmart for $5 off selected kibbles. “The link is always good, and the expiration date changes every day.”
/forums/topic/coupons/page/15/

C4c:
How’s your kitty?

[crazy4cats]

Hey, thanks for asking about my kitty. She’s doing very well for the most part. It makes me smile to see her already waiting at her food dish when I go upstairs. She has thrown up a few times and sometimes and looks a little unkept. But… she at least has her appetite. Today, at feed store, they had Nature’s Logic and Nutrisource canned cat food on a 50% clearance. I bought two cans of each. Would have bought more if I knew for sure they would eat it!

[Bobby dog]

Good deals! Hope they like them. My cats like the Nutrisource canned. Actually, if you look at all the recipes, they are pretty much the same with the ingredients shuffled a bit. Grandma Mae’s does the same thing.

Glad the kitty is getting better!

My pet store had some awesome deals yesterday too. I was able to buy half the stuff I needed with the clearance they had going on. For the cats they had Nature’s Variety 2.2 lbs. chicken meal kibble for $5, Innova 5.5 oz. canned for 45 cents, got a case, Canidae 5.5 oz canned for 48 cents, got six because not all like it, 12 cans of 5.5 oz Wellness canned for $1 each after sale and coupons, and 40 lbs of litter for $5 after applying a coupon. For Bobby, two Primal FD small bags for 1/2 price and a small bag of Pro Plan Select GF for $5. Wahoo for clearance sales! 😉

[crazy4cats]

BDog- Wow! You did do great. The Innova and Canidae cans were a steal! Akari is rubbing off on you! Yes, I’m happy about my kitty’s turnaround. It must have been too much change for her. She’s never been away from home in her life. Except for 3 or 4 days up in trees in her younger years! I can’t help but always wonder about previous pets. I really wish I knew as much then as I do now. I feel like a couple of them could have lived longer. I guess that is just how it is in many aspects of life though.
My sister is coming around a bit with her dog . He is getting a few eggs a week, yogurt and some fish oil. She tried a little canned and it gave him explosive diarrhea. Her boyfriend got a little mad and told her just to only give him kibble from now on. I wish she would have asked me about canned first. She tried Merrick right off the bat when he’d never had any before. She probably should have started with a little lower level food. I hope she continues to try and improve his diet. And doesn’t let the set back stop her quest. They are still battling fleas a bit, however.
We have today off and are probably going to take the canine boys for a ride. Maybe even a dog park! They love them so much. But I’m so nervous about them “picking” up any cooties. We have been clean for a while now! Have a great day!

[Bobby dog]

Yes, hopefully Akari will be proud of her protégé! lol

I wonder what those kitties think while they are up there looking down at us when they tree their selves.

Yeah for your sister and if she would have consulted with you she would have at least got info on how to firm up his stool easily. I don’t think Merrick was a good choice either. Maybe give her some info on how to judge the fat content of canned food if she tries again too, and hopefully she will.

Lately, even though I had to purchase a new supply of low carb and no potato canned, I have been paying close attention to fat content. I have a pretty decent list of foods that fit the low fat/carb and no potato criterion that are available at my pet stores. Feeding the lower fat varieties is due in part because of his summer time sedentary behavior. With the upcoming colder seasons it will not be an issue because his activity level increases.

I don’t blame you for having some paranoia about visiting the dog park, have fun! 😉

[crazy4cats]

Hey, the dog park went great! We tried a new one. There was only one other dog there. It was VERY clean and well kept with wood chips. It was wooded with some trails and fully fenced. The boys loved it! Open field for Buhner to sprint and bushes and trails for Griffey to sniff and explore. Both had big smiles!
As for my sister, I’ll probably give it a break for a while. She will definitely listen to her boyfriend every time!
Now, for kitties in trees… I think they are saying, “what have I got myself in to?” Last time Rosie was in a tree, with much coaxing, my friend talked me in to calling fire dept. She was in the tree for 3 days and the weather was getting colder and windier. They actually came because they didn’t have anything going on. They warned me that the rescues didn’t always have a happy ending. Up went the ladder and up went Rosie higher in the tree. The cats don’t usually go running to the firemen to save them like you see on TV apparently. Especially Rosie, because she is extremely shy. This was about 4 or 5 years ago, so she was 10 or 11 years old. Anyways, the harder we tried to get her, the higher she went and then started going out on a limb. I ran to get the biggest blanket we had. My son took one end and I took the other just in time to catch her from about 30 or 40 feet up. Yay! Happy ending! I wish we had it on video. Another cat, Crystal, was also treed, but got down on her own. I’m assuming that coyotes had come through and scared them up the trees. They were so bad that year. We tried to keep the cats in, but Crystal wouldn’t listen. She disappeared a few months later. :,(. We had a hard time with it. Now the new guys don’t get to go outside, except for their outdoor enclosure. The end!

[crazy4cats]

So, I mentioned earlier that our feed store had a clearance on Nutrisource and Natures Logic canned cat food. I bought two of each. They all liked the Nutrisource and none were crazy about the other. So, I went back today and bought all 10 cans they had left of the Nutrisource at half price. Hopefully, they will continue to like it! I don’t think I would buy it at full price, however. Too expensive for what you get IMO.

[Akari_32]

Glad they liked it! I always liked how NutriSource looked for the dry dog food. I used the Super Performance once for the big dogs and thru did great on it.

[arwyru24]

I have heard of so many cats getting themselves stuck in trees recently. Jeez. That is a scary proposition.

Great deals Bobby’s Mom, I am a little jealous.

My cats don’t care much for Nature’s Logic either. My cats have actually been not wanting to finish most of the canned food in their rotation right now. So I went to petco, and got 15 cans of a few different kinds of pro-plan, they had a sale that they worked out to be about 70cents a can which is more then I would like to pay but whatever, and then later on I used some peelies I have been hanging on to forever, that miraculously had an expiration dater of over a year out from when I got them for Purina One cans, that are about to expire in early November, so I used two of them and got 12 cans of the purina one for about 40 cents each. The cats gobble those down and lick the bowl sparkling clean. I don’t like feeding all the artificial colors and flavors per se, and the bigger concern is that I have one cat that is prone to heaving up his dinner all over my apartment, but so far that hasn’t happened, and they are happier to eat their regular food when I add a bit of variety to their rotation. So I plan to use these sporadically, and begrudgingly, unless puking becomes and issue.

[Bobby dog]

Hey Sharon:
If you buy any Pro Plan canned in the future here’s my cheat sheet for the recipes without added color (out of 47 recipes there are only 4 lol):
~Finesse – Chic & Liver Entree Classic
~Savor – Beef & Carrots Entrée Classic, Chic & Spinach Entrée Classic, and Turkey & Veg Entrée Classic

[arwyru24]

Hey thanks BD that is really good news, because of the pro-plan I bought the most of that Chicken and Liver just because it seemed like it was probably the ‘best’ choice, although I didn’t know that it didn’t have any color added. I have always suspected that the Purina One chicken pate might not have added color either, or the ocean fish, but I dont remember to tell the truth. I did get a few of the “in gravy” kind despite knowing about all that wheat gluten. I knew I was getting “junk food” for them, and wanted to get a real variety of things given the propensity of late for them to get bored of the same old thing day in and out. (Poor babies right? Chicken Soup for the Soul, Wellness turkey minced, wellness turkey pate, Go! Duck pate. They have it rough) So I got some fish ones, and some of the gravy ones. I am a slave to my cats.

[Bobby dog]

You’re welcome! Those Pro Plan recipes I listed are not bad at all it’s the price they charge for the small portion that’s the problem! I have a few others on the also eligible list in case I can’t find my first choices, but they have added color and a few contain fish.

With the Purina One pates’, the last I checked, they all contain color. I only feed the chic, beef, or turkey. Of those three I try to get the turkey when I do feed them because that is the only recipe without fish. I never looked at the other One varieties because of the sauces or gravies, but I am sure they have added color as well.

The Beyond recipes don’t have colors either but for one reason or another I only feed the GF chic & sweet potato pate’ and the chicken & brown rice pate’. This line is way, way overpriced IMO, but there is a local grocery store that always has them on sale and I throw them into my rotation. So if you happen to see some on sale, maybe this info will help.

My cats still won’t accept eating other foods for any length of time (except the hyper-t kitty, he’s a pig!) so I have to mix in several varieties of Purina. lol That’s okay, they are happy and healthy. 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Hi all:
I signed up for Honest Kitchen’s newsletter a while back and the other day I received some treat recipes from them; they have others posted on their site too, but I didn’t see these recipes there. So, since Bobby isn’t thrilled with eating THK I read through them and it looks like a perfect way for me to use up the boxes I have. I think Bobby would gladly eat them. Although they list specific flavors to use for each recipe I don’t think it would matter if you add a different flavor and they also look like recipes that you could play around with the ingredients if you wanted to.

Since you guys have run into the same issue as I have with Bobby not liking THK, I thought I would post them in case you would like to give making treats out of THK a try:

~Chicken, Pumpkin & Apple Loaf
Ingredients:
2 C THK Force
2 C warm H2O
½ C plain pumpkin puree’
1 apple de-cored & finely chopped
2 eggs lightly beaten
½ C cooked diced chicken
¼ C grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Hydrate THK with 2 C warm H2O and mix well
3. Mix the pumpkin into the hydrated THK and then add the chopped apple, eggs, cooked chicken and cheese.
4. Stir mixture thoroughly
5. Pour mixture into greased loaf pan
6. Grate a little extra Parmesan on top if desired and bake for about 50 minutes or until the top is firm to tough and slightly crispy
7. Cool thoroughly and cut into slices appropriately sized for your pet

~Duck & Ham Dumplings
Ingredients:
1 C THK Halcyon
1 C warm H2O
1/4 C plain pumpkin puree’
2 slices nitrate-free ham, torn into small pieces
½ t cinnamon
3 T sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg lightly beaten

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Hydrate THK with warm H2O and mix well
3. Thoroughly mix in remaining ingredients to form a thick batter
4. Using your hands roll the mixture into small balls or dumplings and place onto a greased baking sheet
5. Bake for 20 minutes and serve when cooled

~Pumpkin Ginger Nibbles
Ingredients:
1 C THK Love
1 C warm H2O
1 C lean ground beef
½ C pumpkin puree’
2 T honey
¼ C cream cheese
½ t ginger
1 egg lightly beaten

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 375 degrees
2. Hydrate THK with warm H2O and mix well
3. Mix in ground beef, pumpkin, honey, cream cheese & ginger
4. Add egg and stir well
5. Using your hands scoop out small marble to golf ball sized quantities and shape into balls; place directly onto a greased baking sheet and flatten gently
6. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes and serve when cooled

[Akari_32]

Thanks for sharing! I have almost a whole bag I opened and never finished sitting on top of the fridge that I want to do something with lol Not sure if I’ll use it as a topper for Ginger, or if I’ll make treats with it.

As for the cat, I think he’s got another blockage. This cat is as bad as a puppy when it comes to chewing on things! Mom bought this cool portable camp fire thing, where its a log, with some holes cut into the top with starter and whatever in it, and since its a natural log, its got bark on the outside. Well, the cat has a paper and cardboard fetish and he has to eat anything papery, and I noticed a few days after mom bought the log that there are several large (like 3+ inch squares!) areas missing out of the bark. The dogs are locked up all day, and when we’re home, they’re under our feet, or sleeping on the couch. The cat is out and about in the house, and he’s just down right naughty, so I know who to blame when it comes to the missing bark.

Anyways, he’s not eating like his usual “starved” self, and when he does, he doesn’t eat much. He’s even turning down Friskies, which is just crazy. He’s been working on his current can (which is spiked with enough coconut oil to kill a horse, and some of the dogs liquid fish oil) for a good 24 hours. Todays food was supposed to be Wellness Beef and Chicken, but I’m not going to put down a $2 can of food for him to let sit all day (and he’s still willingly working on that can of Friskies). In fact, I’m not going to give it to him until he’s passed all that bark he’s eaten, and is eating his food properly again. I don’t want $4 worth of food to go to waste! He’s also spending a lot of time stretched out when laying down, and licking his tummy and “special place”. I think he’s about finished the can of food thats down, so I’m going to put down some fish oil in a bowl, and let him lick at it when he’s hungry tonight.

So far, no puking like last time, and fingers crossed it doesn’t get to that point. The bark is papery, so it should move out with some buttering up, and not actually completely block him like last time.

To end on a positive note, I had a helper while doing my homework tonight. Heres a picture of him eating my ($170) textbook *rolls eyes*

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/EEC881D8-3847-4DDC-8CCE-74467D7D41E2_zpshq9q1qjp.jpg

And him pretending to have no bones LOL

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/88A86A9F-431B-4F5E-A015-971B4694BA22_zpswf0pw4wc.jpg

[Bobby dog]

Not that homemade treats aren’t good, but I would probably give THK a try for Ginger. She sounds like she needs a soft food and if she likes it, why not use it up on her. If she doesn’t then throw some treats together.

He looks so handsome and fluffy. I hate having to worry about pets eating things they shouldn’t. Like we don’t have to supervise them enough. lol I hope he is just a little under the weather and it’s nothing serious.

When Bobby was a puppy he chewed my computer cord, two pairs of glasses, my favorite hand crème, and various other things. I just forgot how puppies were it had been so long since I had one. I would think I had a room puppy proofed, but nooooooo he would manage to find something to destroy. Don’t miss those days. When he chewed open my hand crème I remember thinking Bobby smells so good today as I was petting him. Then all of the sudden I realized he smelled like my hand crème. lol It was all over my bed. Thank goodness he only chewed the container and didn’t eat any quantity of it; it must not have tasted good. In all fairness to Bobby, the lady from the rescue did warn me he liked to chew computer cords. He must have been pretty excited when I left my laptop out that day. Imagine telling your professor you didn’t do your homework because the dog ate your computer cord. lol

[Naturella]

Bobby dog, I am snatching up those recipes! Just FYI!!! 😉

[crazy4cats]

Hi All-
I’ve had a very rough couple of weeks. My Casper kitty somehow ended up with a urinary tract blockage. He jumped up on the bathroom counter and then tried to pee in the sink and failed and started crying a bit. He’s an extremely quiet cat, so I knew something was very wrong. He then started licking himself frantically. I had already had him to the vet as he had only been peeing in small amounts recently. He had some crystals and blood in his urine, so was put on antibiotics and prescription food that he wouldn’t eat. I took him to a walk in clinic and they took an X-ray which showed no stones, but they could not express his bladder so they deemed him blocked and catheterized him. I took him home with a catheter and brought him back the next morning. We did that another day as well. His bladder was having spasms and still couldn’t pee. They kept prescribing different muscle relaxers and pain meds to try to combat the spasms. I got fed up and took him to a fancy emergency hospital. They told me they had to redo the procedure “correctly” or should be euthanized. They are extremely expensive, but I couldn’t pull the plug. There was not a guarantee it would work as his bladder had been stretched out and damaged. he stayed there for 2 1/2 days. I got to visit him, however. Well, hooray, he’s been home for a week now on relaxers and prescription food. Doing pretty well. I have to keep him isolated to monitor his output, which is very difficult with three other cats and two dogs. So far so good. The prescription food looks hoerrible, but the vets swear by it. I’m afraid to take him off as I don’t want to go through this again! I was very surprised that he ended up with this condition as he eats canned food with every meal. After reading more, I’ve come to the conclusion that stress might be involved as well. So in conclusion, keep an eye on your kitties output. And, please take them to a reputable animal hospital if you have a serious concern! Also, keep feeding canned to keep those tracts cleared out. As I write this, my heart is very heavy as there was a terrible school shooting about 50 miles due north of us yesterday. When will this madness stop!

[Bobby dog]

🙂

[arwyru24]

C4C I am so sorry that you and your poor Casper have been going through this. I am so glad to hear that he is doing so much better and that he is improving. You are such a good mom. I would definitely keep him on
the rx food too. Thoughts and prayers!

[theBCnut]

I’m glad Casper is doing better now!! I hope soon you will be too. 😀

[crazy4cats]

Thanks, Bdog, Sharon and BC for your well wishes. I am doing better. I was pretty twisted up for a few weeks. It was scary. Just the fact that I can write about it now feels good. I was feeling like a bad cat mom. My boss was pretty understanding as I often went in late and left early. BTW, he is a self admitted cat hater. Boo! I’ve been with the company for almost 17 years and hardly ever miss work. So, I have a lot of paid time off saved up. I’m doing some more research on how to prevent this condition in the future. Possibly some type of anti anxiety meds were suggested by emergency hospital. For now canned Purina U/R and Hills c/d along with regrettably Royal Canin s/o kibble. He was a crunchy addict when I rescued him, but got him to finally eat canned. Him and I really bonded during this crisis. I’ve never heard him purr so much as when he was on pain meds. Lol! We will always have to keep an eye on him as it is common to reblock apparently.

[theBCnut]

It is common to reblock. They can get scarring in there which reduces the size of the opening even more. Watch that purring too. It can be a sign of pain in cats. If when this is all over, he goes back to his usual purring habits, you will know something is wrong if he starts purring like crazy again. Most people know their male cat is having issues first because they start trying to pee in weird places.

[crazy4cats]

No, he is not purring like crazy anymore. I guess that’s good then? He is following me around more though. He jumped up on the bathroom counter this morning and I foze thinking, great, here we go again. He is gonna pee in the sink. But, no, he swiped my eye drops off the counter to the floor, then jumped down and started batting it around! He has a stash under our bed! Boy, was I relieved.

[theBCnut]

YAY!! That sounds like a happy kitty!

[jakes mom]

C4C so sorry to hear about Caspar, glad he seems to be getting back to normal. Is this the first time he’s had this problem? Years ago I had a male kitty, Andy, with recurring blockages. We ended up doing a PU, pretty drastic but solved the problem once and for all. I’m sure BC can explain it better than me, but essentially the vet reconstructs the cat’s urethra to make it more like a female, wider, so it doesn’t get blocked so easily. Something to keep in the back of your mind, maybe.

[crazy4cats]

Yes, jakes mom, the vet did mention that surgery. I hope we don’t have to make that decision. But, I know it is a possibility. It’s probably very expensive. Did you feed your cat the prescription food and he still ended up getting blocked? I’m struggling with paying so much for food with mediocre ingredients. But, I sure don’t want this to happen again. The vets seem to swear by it though. Plus, I’ve been feeding to my other cats as well because it’s just easier unless I find a way to separate them at feeding time. This has been stressful and expensive. We were hoping to get new furniture, not pay big vet bills. Lol! Thanks for the well wishes!

[jakes mom]

C4C, yes, Andy was on the Hill’s for a while, he didn’t like it either. Still had problems, like BCN said, sometimes scarring is an issue. I decided to have the surgery as he was so young, only about 2, so we could all breathe easier. Only problem after that was an occasional UTI caused by fecal bacteria, vet said, since the 2 openings were closer. But a bottle of antibiotics now and then was no big deal in comparison.
Also, to maybe make you feel better, Dustin, my 19yo hyper-t kitty, had similar problems in the past. He ate the Hills’ and Royal Canin. Made lots of trips to the vet late at nite! I also gave him sub-q fluids at home, easy to do and will help flush all the crap out of his bladder. After he’d been symptom free for a while I slowly swapped him back to regular food. Watched him like a hawk for a while but he’s been fine now for years.

[crazy4cats]

Yes, that does make me feel a little better. Bdog has a kitty that was blocked before and had to be catheterized and is fine now too. I definitely need to get more fluids in him somehow. He didn’t even drink tuna water or the kitty milk I bought. I am going to keep trying though! I really don’t want to be faced with the decision of the surgery or permanent “sleep”. He has definitley been more active the last few days. Makes me wonder how long he had been suffering. I just thought he was staying upstairs due to the dogs being in the house loose more. He does seem to like the Purina canned vet food at least. And… at least Royal Canin kibble’s first ingredient is chicken, not corn grits or brewers rice like the other rx kibbles. Today is the last 1/4 dose of his muscle relaxer. I will really watch him now. My 15-year hyper-t kitty is eating the prescription food along with the kittens (4 years old) as well. It’s just easier that way. I think I will eventually feed half rx and half regular canned and keep them on the rx kibble for a while. Hoping not to feed any kibble in the near future. Thanks for your help.

[jakes mom]

Glad he’s doing better and at least he likes the Purina food. Have you tried giving him some clam juice?

[jakes mom]

forgot to ask, does anybody know if I can freeze FreshPet cat food? I’m talking about the bagged stuff that’s shaped like kibble, the “roasted meals”. I came across a great deal at my grocery store last nite, a 2# bag for $4.50 (regular $8.99) so I got a bag of each flavor. Would like to portion it out and freeze some.

[crazy4cats]

No, but I’ll give it a shot. What the heck? Do your cats drink it?
Hey, does anyone have the link to that carb calculator that I believe was posted on this site a while back? When figuring out the dry analysis on canned food, does the fiber count as carbs?

[theBCnut]

Yes, fiber is a carb, just not a digestible one.

[crazy4cats]

I’m going to say, yes, you can freeze it. There are people on here that freeze both dry kibble and canned with no issue. I don’t know why you couldn’t. I bought that once thinking my senior kitty would love it, but it was a no go. Darn, I think it looks really good. Lol!

[Bobby dog]

Here’s some carb calculators:
This site has other calculators too.
http://fnae.org/carbcalorie.html

This is one Akari uses.
http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

Tabitha posted this one a few months back.
http://naturalalternativesvet.com/pet-food-label-translator

[crazy4cats]

I knew you’d come through for me Bdog! Thanks.

[Akari_32]

Hey guys! All this talk about surgery has me tweaking out. I’m pretty sure the cats got another UTI, and we are going in at 1:30 today, and I’ve got him locked in the bathroom with a bowl of watered downed canned food, water, and a litter box full of packing peanuts to try and get a pee sample. I’m just hoping he doesn’t have/get a blockage or something.

Hope your baby feels better, C4C!

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