Switching Cats Over To Wet Food... Advice,Please.

[redhen]

First question is; how much are they EACH supposed to get a day? My mother said the vet told her 6oz a day per cat...Is this correct?
I'm switching them over for a couple of reasons. First is more water intake, which is very very important in cats. And secondly, to TRY to stop the vomiting. The vomiting is horrendus! (good thing i have no life. I spend my day vacuuming and picking up cat puke...yay me!!)

I have 6 indoor cats..(had 7 but convinced my mother to take her "baby" Blue back to her house last week.. Tired of my mother pawning her animals off on me, but thats another thread.

). Anyways, they are used to me just filling their bowl with dry food a few times a day...
Easy peasy for me.
Feeding them wet is turning into a biiig hassle. I feed them morning and night. I have to get all the bowls down..or paper plates if the bowls arent clean from the morning feeding. then open like a zillion cans to feed 6 yowling cats at my feet. Acting like i am a cruel mommy for starving them ALL day long!
Then i put the food down amist all the ruckus. (only lost one finger so far...

..)
Then i have ONE cat that will NOT eat the wet. Its been a couple days now and she will only take like one or 2 bits. So i finally caved in today and put some dry kibbles on top of HER plate of food. (because princess Calli will NOT eat with the boys...

..) So i finally got her to eat a little bit more this morning...
BUT then when the other cats see me give Calli the dry on HER food, they all run over to her bowl and eat her food.

So i'm bouncing back and forth placing cats back at their bowls and while shoving some others away with my foot. (cause my hands are full of cats)...
By that time shes disgusted and wont eat.

I'm getting worried about her.
Tonight i am putting her in the bathroom alone at feeding time with her wet AND dry.... hopefully i can get her to eat.

Second question, what do you all feed your cats? Right now i am using half fancy feast and half Special kitty.(i know..both are kinda crap foods, espically special kitty) But if i used just fancy feast it would litertally cost me an arm and a leg... like $42 a WEEK! .50 a can x 12 cans a day(because the cans are 3oz cans, and i am feeding them 3oz 2x a day)
So.. we decided to split the food with a cheaper special kitty wet food. Which i didnt want to do..but... whatever.
Is there another type of canned food out there thats a decent quality and wont kill me to feed 6 cats 2 x a day...?
I want to keep feeding them wet because every vet t hat i have been to says that cats need wet food. Just looking to see what others do and how much they feed their cats..
Thanks!

 

[twistedwire]

Part of the vomiting problem could be because of the cheap special kitty.

Do you have access to Chicken Soup for the Soul? I'm not a huge fan of it, but it's supposed to be a higher quality food without the high quality price tag.

I have a kitty with cancerous gums and I give him a half can (not the itty bitty little cans-can't think of how many oz off the top of my head) twice a day mooshed up with warm water.

How much your cat eats depends on what he/she should weigh. I just bought some Taste of the Wild cans, the itty bitty ones, and the directions on the label say to feed 2 cans per 8 pounds of cat per day.

First of all, though, I'd address why they're vomiting. What does the vet say?

 

[redhen]

Hi!
I wasnt feeding them the cheap special kitty before i started the wet food.
They were on "Purina Indoor cat" dry food. (still not a great food either though)


The vomiting as almost stopped since i have put them on the wet food. They were vomiting up piles of undigested dry cat food before....

ETA: the vet has said they will stop vomiting when i put them on wet food. That its the dry food thats causing them to vomit. and so far the wet has helped a LOT for the vomiting... but its only been a few days...

 

[twistedwire]

Were they eating really fast after you fed them? Sometimes that can make them throw up food. :X

 

[NewOldMotherHen]

I have only one inside cat and she also was vomiting undigested dry food. I am now offering her both canned and dry. She eats some of both. I give her Fancy Feast canned twice a day and she has access to Purina One Special Blend dry cat food anytime but she doesn't eat much of it. She does not vomit very often now. The wet food has definitely helped.

 

[Imp]

Red,
Mine get just a little bit of dry food, about 1/4c and
1/4th of a can of friskies wet food on top. (the 5.5 oz can) Every morning and night.

6 oz seems like a lot, but the friskies can says 1oz per pound of body weight per day. OMG, I would have 200 lb cats at that rate.
I do give the outside cats more in the winter.

I do not leave food out all the time because Blimp will eat everything in sight. He does understand one thing- "No Blimp, that's not your food" He gives me the pitiful me look, than lumbers off to wait till I'm distracted.

Imp

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Red- after dealing with kitty UTIs I too am ramping up my wet food consumption. I still leave out Purina One in the bowls, but then put out wet food every evening at bedtime. Two of the boys get to eat off one plate in the front of the house. The third boy gets a special bowl in the bathroom so I know he is getting some. He tends to want to fight with the others.

On the advice of a cat rescue operator, I tried a variety of brands for my finicky boy. He turned his little kitty nose up at the variety of $1.50/can flavors. Seriously. He would have nothing to do with any of them and they were all organic/real meat/ uber granola expensive. On the other hand, he will gobble up the Fancy Feast. He'll also gobble up the Publix store brand. Go figure.

I think part of the equation if seperating cat from cat. Or at least seperating them into compatible groups. Dodger and Fagin are brothers and they get along great. They will happily eat side by side with no squabbling. Max prefers to eat alone and sleep alone. He tolerated Moon Pie when she was still with us, but that was about it. Now I lock the boys apart at night and that gives Max time to eat and have a little one on one with me. That seems to keep him happy.

Max will on occasion yack up food. My vet indicated that cats just do this sometimes, especially those with siamese in them. As long as he is maintaining weight and is still healthy she seems to think it's not that big a deal.

 

[SallyF]

Yeah, after two with urinary blockages (unfortunately both now deceased) I'm feeding more wet food now also. I have three cats; one will barely eat the wet food, so I still leave dry out for them to eat at will. I'm using Hill's Prescription C/D for the dry. For the wet, I feed Friskies canned, any of the shreds or prime filets with gravy. After I divvy up the can between the three of them, I fill it about one third full of water and swish it around to rinse the gravy out of the can, then pour it into the bowls on top of the wet food. Ironically, they won't all eat the wet food, but they will drink the gravy water, so I figure it's increasing their water intake, anyway.

 

[debilorrah]

Ok. I know you are gonna think I grew three horns or something with this response. Science Diet. You will see the price and flip. However!!!! The amount of food you need to feed them is FAR less than the cheap brands, and FAR better for them. Even the dry food, though they do make a wet food. Where you may go through 5 bags of the cheap stuff, you will go through one of the Science Diet.

The cats DO protest at first, but when they are hungry they will eat it. And then they realize "HEY! That filled me up!". No more puking, no more runny poos. They poop out marbles and it doesn't smell.

 

[markschicks]

Hi red,
I'm new to the BYC forum but not new to cats. I am a receptionist at a vets office & have 5 indoor cats & 2 feral outdoor cats.
I'm not an expert but have some experience. It is recommended to feed some canned food along with the dry. I feed Friskies to my ferals. It's a good quality less expensive canned food. I feed our "fat cats" seperately from the "nibblers." I feed 1/2 can of wet to outdoor cats twice a day but only a Tablespoon to 1/4 can to the inside cats with a 1/4 cup of dry. As far as dry food and quality goes - anything from Iams to Purina One is good. Anything less is just fillers & very little nutrition. Another thing that can help with vomitting is hairball laxative. I actually give my indoor cats a daily dose. Indoor cats don't get a "normal" cat diet of fresh kill that their bodies are made to digest. Some cats can get bored & overgroom leading to increased hairballs. Bored cats are also predisposed to urinary tract issues - stress manifests itself in weird ways sometimes. Always follow your vet's advice.

Some cats are very picky. See if Cali would like some tuna or salmon mixed in the canned food. Sometimes the smellier the better. Try warming the canned food slightly to get her started (don't want to make the routine too difficult). Cats are big on smell.

Good luck! I understand; it's hard juggling a group of them!