My cat is getting sick. I changed catfood and he started. Now I've changed back

[applegrove]

to the old kind and I think he is getting sick less. This is dry cat food. Anyone else ever had trouble with dry food like this?

[david13]

1. No. Never. Mine get a little sick now and then, but then go for

long periods of time where they are fine.
Sort of like me. I don't know if we get a little bad food or bad water or what.
dc

[Flaxbee]

2. What were you feeding your cat first?

What did you switch to? And did you switch cold-turkey, or phase the new food in?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. How is he getting sick?

Does he just puke a lot? One of my cats is the Duke of Hurls (Duchess, actually) no matter what I feed her. She just eats too fast and promptly horks it up wherever I am most likely to step in it. Vomiting isn't necessarily evidence of sickness; it's sometimes just a cat thing.

If it's some other kind of sick, a call or a visit to the vet is probably in order.

[carlyhippy]

6. I have a 15-year-old cat who is a regular honker

she has always done it, switched food, everything. She is really prone to hairballs. Never fails, after I vacuum or shampoo the carpets :(

[applegrove]

7. Yes. It is always just after he has eaten. Sounds like I have a horker of my own from here on in.

[carlyhippy]

4. I stopped giving my cats dry food

I switched to canned. I give one cat c/d prescription food, he has bladder problems and can't have any more dry. Because I can't police him and the other cats when I am not here, no one gets dry. So the other cats get purina proplan canned food. So far so good, they all seem to feel better..the only down side is they eat alot more food, I guess they grazed on the dry food all day, and now they have 4 meals a day with the canned.

[rurallib]

5. we are just getting over one wih a bad case of diarhea.

not sure if it was food or something else. Took 4 days of immodium-D to stop it.

[snagglepuss]

8. Keeping cats on dry food only isn't healthy as it can create crystals especially

in male cats. If cats are being fed only dry they need lots of water and cats will drink more water if water bowls are kept far from their food.



snip


"...cats have a better chance at optimal health if they are fed a canned food diet instead of dry kibble. Putting a little thought into what you feed your cat(s) can pay big dividends over their lifetime and very possibly help them avoid serious, painful, and costly illnesses. An increasing number of American Veterinary Medical Association members, including board-certified veterinary internists, are now strongly recommending the feeding of canned food instead of dry kibble.

The three key negative issues associated with dry food are:

1) type of protein - too high in plant-based versus animal-based proteins

2) carbohydrate load is too high

3) water content is too low"



http://www.catinfo.org/