Boots has always been on a grain free food. This is the food he loves! It has little pieces that say they’re “raw” but they aren’t really – maybe freeze dried while raw. They’re light colored where the other pieces are brown. He will dig out all the light pieces and eat those first but he does always go back and eat it all.
I think it was Thursday or Friday that I started feeding him half the recommended food in the morning and half in the evening. I called the vet in Texas and asked the vet tech. She talked to the vet and he said no more than 1 cup per day and preferably 3/4 cup but since he is used to having good available all the time, he suggested putting out 1/2 cup in the morning and checking to see if it was all gone, then giving him about the same amount in the evening and checking in the morning to see if that was gone since we have no idea how much he’s used to eating. The vet wants me to eventually get it down to 3/4 cup per day with more being put out in the evening than in the morning. I just need to get an idea for when he’s eating the most – if he’s gobbling it all down as soon as I give it to him or if he’s nibbling on it all day. I did build a little platform and put his bowl on that and fixed it where he couldn’t scoot the bowl off and make a mess.
I’m happy to report that he hasn’t thrown up once since I started not leaving food out all the time.
I’ll keep doing it this way til we do see the vet here but he isn’t scheduled for shots til May and, unless he’s sick, we’re not going to the vet before then. I like our vet here and I’ll see what she recommends as far as food type and amount.
Thanks for all your advice. Who knew keeping a cat was so different from keeping a dog?
Sara Fridley says
It’s good to hear that he is vomiting less already. We do what we can to keep those beloved pets happy and healthy.
Dianne says
Our vet is very concerned that there is a risk of heart disease from feeding solely grain-free food. But almost all of the higher quality foods seem to be grain-free. We’ve resorted to giving our cats non-grain-free treats here and there to get some grains into them.
Joyce says
I had a cat once that disliked one flavor in his three-flavor food. He would eat two of the flavors, so when you would look all that would be left is the one he didn’t like. He was an outdoor cat, so other critters took care of the “yuck” flavor. It still always made me laugh. Plus I thought it was interesting he would go to the trouble of going around the one he didn’t like. (No different than me picking peas out of things. LOL)
Edith says
I read that cats are obligate carnivores and get their nutrients and insulin/sugar by converting meat/protein rather than grains as humans do. I’m butchering this but I’m sure you can find more info on-line. I’m glad he’s not throwing. He feels bad and it is gross to clean up! Good luck to you and Boots!
Nelle Coursey says
We had a dog once that suffered from “megaesophagus”. He would throw up a lot. The vet told us to raise his bowl up to where his head is up and he didn’t have to look down to eat. For some reason when they look down to eat it causes a pocket in there and the food gets trapped in there. When there is no place for it to go, he threw it up. Since then all of our dogs have eaten with the bowl raised to where it is even with their body.