# The kitties are back on kibble :-/



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Well for those of you who don't know, I have been doing battle with my cats' diets for about three years now. My oldest cat Swoshum (now 17 years old) was on kibble her whole life when I switched her to Rad Cat. Well when I moved back to Reno after a 6 months stint in Salt Lake City, she decided she didn't want to eat anymore. On a whim I got her some Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck formula and she chowed it down so that's what she ate for a while. Got my new kitten, Cyrano and started him on it as well. Finally I decided I was sick of having kibble-fed cats so I put her back on Rad Cat and him I tried on PMR, then went to Primal Grinds. Well if any of you feed Rad Cat, you know that to say it is _ridiculously_ expensive is an understatement. It's now up to $17 for a 24 oz container that lasts about 6 days. I was spending as much to feed her as I do all three of my dogs on PMR. I love this cat but there has to be a limit! 

To make matters worse, I was mixing in some Bravo grind with her Rad Cat to make it last a little longer and she decided to have a loose BM on my bed. And then Cyrano decided he didn't want to eat his Primal anymore. I finally gave up. If the darn cats want their stupid kibble, they can have their stupid kibble! 

However, Swoshum does have kidney failure so I wanted to keep the protein content lowerish while also having a high meat content. I also wanted grain free and a company I can trust. I figured since the cats already did great on Blue Buffalo before and loved it, why not go back to that? Problem is, the Wilderness is 38 - 40% protein so that's not as low as I'd prefer. I really wanted to do the BB Freedom but it's more expensive. So for now I'm being a terrible owner and going with the BB Multi-Cat formula. It has more meat up front but also has grains, but it's a bit cheaper than the Freedom, so I figure they can suffer through a bag with some grain in it until I feel more financially ready purchase something more expensive. I may also start mixing in the chicken Acana because it's the same price as the Multi-Cat but it's grain free, even if potatoes are the second ingredient *humph*. 

Boy have I not missed the smell of kibble-fed poops though! Especially transition poops, those are the worst! 

Oh and for those who care, here are the ingredients for the Multi-Cat: 


> Deboned Chicken, Deboned Turkey, Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Peas, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Chicken Flavor, Potatoes, Dried Egg, Fish Oil (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 and 6 Fatty Acids), Dried Cellulose, Whole Carrots, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Cranberries, Blueberries, Barley Grass, Dried Parsley, Alfalfa Meal, Dried Kelp, Taurine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, L-Carnitine, L-Lysine, Turmeric, Dried Chicory Root, Oil of Rosemary, Beta Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), d-Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Choline Chloride, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Salt, Caramel, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Yeast (source of Saccharomyces cerevisiae), Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, Dried Bacillus subtilis fermentation product, Dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product


Not too horrible if you ask me.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

Cat kibble poops Suuuuck. They are huge and stinky. I had my cat on raw briefly and loved it! Her poops were small and practically odorless. Then she resisted and is back on kibble/canned. AND she hid a piece of beef kidney in my (now cluttered) spare room. BARF, it stinks in there. So on my agenda is to clean that room out and find the source of the mystery smell. 

Cats are such a pain compared to dogs when switching foods!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Ellie has been on kibble for a long time after a billion failed attempts to move her to canned and raw. Ironclad has been raw fed since day 1, and I've been contemplating moving him to kibble because it's really hard to offer Ellie food until she takes it and keep clad cat away from it (or he will eat a bunch of it and then refuse his raw cuz he's full) and quite frankly, it's a nightmare feeding them different things. 
I don't think grains are the root of all evil. In fact, most grain free foods seem to just be full of potato instead, so I really don't see much benefit to them unless there's specifically a grain issue. I think that food looks just fine. We use grain free for Ellie because any time i buy anything different she has issues, but if that weren't the case, I'd buy that food without a second thought. 

You have to do what works for your situation, and if that's high quality kibble, then you're still pretty awesome. :biggrin:


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

That's a major bummer that they aren't taking to the prey model raw :/ I'm going to wen my kitten straight to raw. Hopefully since he's never had kibbles, he'll like it. I had a cat before on prey model that was originally on kibble and he took to the raw. I guess each kitty is different. And boycan they be stubborn! But I do think Blue Buffalo is good food. My aunt was feeding her cat (9years old) nutro natural choice then switched the Blue Wilderness, within days. We saw a difference. Shiny coat, less shedding, more energy, all that good stuff. So props to you for still picking a good quality feed. And 17 years is a good long life!


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## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Thanks everyone! You're right, cats are a pain to feed raw, way more work than dogs! I thought I had it easy doing the pre-made stuff but nope! My mom is so lucky, all three of her cats weaned onto PMR no problem and I'm the one who taught her about raw feeding in the first place so I'm feeling like such a failure. On the plus side, my cats love their kibble and canned food so much it at least makes me feel like I made a good decision for them. I even figured out that I can find canned chicken at Walmart (in the people food section) for less than good quality canned cat food, so I'm hoping that straight chicken might help with the poop smell at least a tiny bit. 

As far as grain-free vs. high quality grain-inclusive goes, my main concern is with Swoshum's kidney failure, I strongly believe that the gluten from the grains is what caused the problem in the first place and what will exacerbate it in the long run. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm not. I'm gonna try to save up a little more each paycheck (should be easy now that I'm not buying Rad Cat anymore) and just go for the grain-free next time. But for now, the multi-cat seemed like the best option :smile:


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## catahoulamom (Sep 23, 2010)

I love Rad Cat, but you're right... could never feed it exclusively because of the price. 

That food does not look bad at all, and you're doing the best that you can. These picky cat stories make me glad my cats will eat whatever I put in front of them! (and like it, dammit!)


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

What IS radcat, a premade raw? It sucks that cats are so picky. For my cats to eat raw it either has to be boneless small pieces or ground up. Generally they get their calcium from their canned breakfast and then a meal of boneless raw in the PM.. the canned isn't the best though as it's so pricey!!


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## brandypup (Jan 23, 2012)

I used to feed grain free cat kibble. My vet said it was just as bad as any other kibble just more expensive. My cats were getting really fat. She said to switch to an all canned diet stating that a cheap can is more healthy then an expensive kibble. I switched from Orijen to friskies canned. All my cats coats got better, they lost weight and were more active (ok didn't need that lol) Pooped better also. I went back to raw about a year after that. 

I have also transitioned many cats and foster cats to raw. No one elder but many adults. I feed canned food stickly for 1-2 weeks then start adding raw. Some take very well some take more time. 

Good luck.


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## Kat (Jul 12, 2011)

Oh yeah I totally agree. Cats are so much harder to switch to raw. I tried switching my cats to raw a few times. They would eat it for a few meals then completely refuse the meat, so I gave up and just stuck with their high quality canned diet, with a tiny tiny bit of kibble morning and night, or else they wont eat canned lol.


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## catahoulamom (Sep 23, 2010)

Caty M said:


> What IS radcat, a premade raw? It sucks that cats are so picky. For my cats to eat raw it either has to be boneless small pieces or ground up. Generally they get their calcium from their canned breakfast and then a meal of boneless raw in the PM.. the canned isn't the best though as it's so pricey!!


Yes it's a premade raw, probably the closest you can get to PMR without the whole pieces of meat and bone. However they do promote feeding chicken necks and wings, etc as an ideal diet for kitties. It's a great brand.
Rad Cat Raw Diet Premium Raw Food For Cats


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## Paws&Tails (Sep 3, 2010)

Cats can be so frustrating sometimes!! It's not just that they're picky (a lot of dogs are picky, too) it's just that you can't starve them into eating what you want them to. THAT'S what makes it so hard!

IMO grain free kibble is better. Yes, oftentimes they replace the grains with potatoes, but I still think potatoes are better than rice etc. 

I have one cat (Rocky) that is finally fully on raw! This only happened because of live versus death and assist feeding. He would have hairballs once a week or so and I didn't think anything of it. Then it started happening more and more often and it wasn't just hairballs. It was vomit. I soon made the connection between him eating kibble and vomit/hairballs. I got him promptly on a homemade diet and he started out eating it happily. He dropped his extra weight fast. Maybe too fast. Then he started eating less and less (back in the middle of December). I became extremely worried because he wasn't eating enough, was too thin and he started throwing up EVERYTHING the day we had his appointment for. I think he lost too much weight too fast because he ended up with fatty liver disease and we had to assist feed him every 2-3 hours for a little over two weeks. 
As he recovered he was only eating high quality canned food. After he got back up to an okay weight I tried giving him a small meal of kibble (Blue Buffalo Wilderness just to make sure it was and IBS type problem. It is. Testing ruled out everything else) and, sure enough, he vomited 15 minutes later. 
While on only canned he started throwing up around every other day so I started trying to switch him to raw food. He took right to it, much to my surprise!! He's eating mostly poultry and rabbit with all the skin and fat it comes with as well as heart and some various other organ meats. He still tries to get kibble and will sometimes wait a little while to eat his food to see if he can get kibble. I'm still trying to figure out how to get him to eat bone, but for now I'm just working on upping the size of the chunks he eats. I supplement with eggshell powder and taurine and a digestive enzyme. The vomiting has FINALLY stopped and he's starting to gain the little bit of weight he still needs. He occasionally gets kibble and when that happens I always have vomit to clean up. Always on my bed or the carpet, too. *shakes head* Can't wait to get rid of the kibble in the house, IF that ever happens!

Princess LOVES canned food and now that Rocky is fully on raw and off of canned we can afford to feed her exclusively high quality canned. After I got her off kibble she finally dropped her extra pound or so she was carrying around. She won't even lick raw food. Sniffs it and walks away. I'm diligently trying, though. Today I tried adding and mixing just a pea sized amount of ground turkey to her canned food and she did eat it. Looks like it's just a case of tricking her into eating it. Long, slow road. 

Penny will not eat canned food. Refuses. Snubs it. Tries to cover it like it's waste. Same with raw. Ground or chunked. Doesn't matter. She HAS to have grain free kibble because she has diarrhea when she eats stuff with grain.


Bottom line is, feed them the best food you possibly can that they will actually eat! And if they are eating canned or kibble they really need their teeth brushed! I hate brushing their teeth (they both still struggle some and it takes FOREVER), but since Princess and Penny won't eat raw (yet :thumb it has to be done. I will not let them get a dental because they have FIV and anesthesia is an immunosuppressant. Brushing their teeth every day has kept them pearly white so far.


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