Hey Pet Parents & Pet Lovers,
Since my last weight update, Beau has gained quite a bit… which is starting to become a problem. As you may already know Beau is a very special kitty who needs a lot of dietary attention.
He is prone to UTIs…
Since Beau isn’t a heavy, heavy drinker he is prone to UTIs. So far Beau has gotten two UTIs, which have been some of the worst experiences for me. Although it has only happened twice this is something that should never happen to a kitty. We’ve tried multiple brands of wet food to try to supplement water, but Beau isn’t too fond of it. For a few weeks, Beau would eat La Isla Bonita made by Weruva, but he went back to his regular pickiness soon after. Every so often I get to slip him some wet food, but he never seems to want more than a few bites. (Feel free to comment some ideas of foods I should try with him if you’ve got a picky cat! Beau tends to like Salmon the most or anything fishy.) We’ve also supplemented water by mixing kibble in a small bowl to try to get him his daily intake. This works really well, but it depends if he has the attention span to finish it.
Beau has an undetermined allergy…
Beau recently was on the Science Diet C/D for his UTI and he would have the runs every few days. Even when his #2s were “more solid” the insides were still wet, which leads us to believe that he had an allergy to something from the food. We already knew that Chicken is a meat that his stomach is not so fond of so we had to avoid that all together. The C/D we chose for him was “Whitefish” but was actually made out of Pork… which seems to be the ingredient his stomach also doesn’t like. When we asked the vet which food we should switch him to they stated: We can put him on Purina, but that’s the best we can do… just keep him on C/D. Not necessarily the answer I was hoping for, especially as the Purina they were trying to sell me had way too many fillers and Beau had already gained 2lbs from the new Science Diet food.
Beau gets constipated easily…
If Beau isn’t fed proper food he can’t poop at all. Going back to the Science Diet… Beau would poop every other day to every 3 days. Definitely not something we want. Recently to solve all of his problems we added pumpkin into his diet, switched him back to a more pH balanced food (Blue Buffalo Salmon & Brown Rice since that seems to be the food he has the least problems with) and we have mixed water with kibble. The pumpkin seems to be the best addition to his diet. It’s made him a lot more regular when using the litter box and his pee clumps are much bigger!
Beau has Pica…
If Beau is bored, fed once a day, stressed, left alone for too long, underfed, or a variety of other things… he will eat things like tissue papers, plastic (both hard and soft), rubber, cardboard… basically anything he can find around the house. In hopes of reducing this, we actually had to find a food that was higher in fat, change his feeding schedule, be extra careful about leaving things out and around the house, and we make sure not to be out too long during the day. But now… unfortunately it means he has gained a lot of weight and it’s time for him to lose the weight.
Beau used to be about 8lbs when we first got him. Since then his “housecat weight” sat around 9-10lbs. Now, Beau is pushing almost 13lbs. It’s shocking to see how much bigger he’s gotten since the past two food switches (Performatrin Ultra Lamb & Bronw Rice, Performatrin Ultra Healthy Weight and of course the Science Diet C/D.) All three of them really got Beau to gain weight and we’ve been doing our best to make him lose it. We’ve been throwing him half of his meal so he can exercise while eating and we’ve picked up a number of new toys for him such as the GoCat Da Bird Pull Apart Rod which he’s already enjoying a lot (we knew he’d probably love it since he loves feather toys.) We’re thinking of reducing his feeding again (He’s currently at 1/2 a cup and 1 tablespoon of pumpkin) but we’re so worried he’s going to start chewing on our bedsheets again. Oh why, oh why does feeding have to be so tricky pet parents?
So tell me, what do you do for your little ones when they gain weight? Do you have any advice for me?
beau; if de vet recommended purina; tell dad ta chex out beyond; therz NOE grainz in de kibble or de canned N they all sew make purina ONE in turkey N beef thatz grain free in cans. eye swithced over two both a few bak N eye think eye eat less coz therz noe fillerz…. for a wee bit oh exercise; short oh bringin walker bak ta chase ya everee wear; haz dad ever thinked about harness walking? ♥♥
We can’t use da harness anymore because we live in a no-pet apartment right now. Otherwise 100% we’d be outside trecking around! As for the purina ONE, we were looking at them. We’re doing more reading to make sure it would sit well with my tummy! We’ll see… I’m super picky 🙁 – Beau
Oh! Beau and our Chucky have very similar issues. He had UTIs, he had constipation, he’s ingested strings that almost required surgery to remove. We tried bran, stool softeners, canned pumpkin. We took him off of kibble entirely. In the end, switching him to a novel protein canned food made a big difference. Before, he’d had turkey, chicken, beef. When I discovered Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Venison and Green Pea, Chuck seemed to make a turnaround. He was on that for years, until the company had a stoppage in supply, and we found a few other canned foods that he’s doing mostly okay on. Chuck is on four medicines for his wonky heart, plus Zoloft for stress, and budesonide for his Irritable Bowel Syndrome, even though we’ve never 100% proven that he has it. If the cat eats one piece of kibble, he’s #2 the next day is hard as a rock! To switch the cats from a kibble only diet to canned food, I sprinkled grated parmesan cheese on the canned food; the smell is similar to kibble. Hope something here helps you! Beau is a cutie!
Thank you so much for the recommendations. We’re actually going to try N.B. L.I. as the store next to us is FINALLY supplying it. Fingers crossed Beau likes it!!
Oh good grief. Poor kitty.
I know 🙁 I’m sad he has so many random tummy issues. But hey! He’s my little guy and he’ll make it through!
Good Luck Beau losing that weight. You can do it.
He will! I know he will 🙂
Poor Beau – that is a lot of tummy issues. When our angel Bagheera was diagnosed with renal failure at 16 – we were able to use Hills K/D diet with no issues. Baggy lived to be 19. Hope you find a solution soon!
Oh no! But glad to hear that Bagheera had a long life even with the renal failure! 🙂 <3 I hope so too. We're not going to stop till we find something good!
I do have some advice re: the UTIs, you don’t want to feed him ANY dry food and especially not anything Blue Buffalo. Our friend, a vet tech, says that almost every cat who they see with urinary crystals eats Blue. I don’t drink water so to supplement my fluids, I’m giving Soulistic Island Illusion (tuna, and salmon in pumpkin soup) or Weruva Pumpkin Jack Splash (tuna in pumpkin soup). Both are actually made by Weruva. The soup also helps with constipation. I’ve always been very active so I’ve never had a weight problem. so again, my only advice would be no kibble and treats. If he eats food with grains, he could be allergic to them, rather than the proteins.
As much as we want Beau on wet food we haven’t found one he will eat constantly. We try a new can every few days to see if he’ll eat it, but a lot of it goes wasted at the moment. Good to know about the Blue. Weird enough the only times the UTIs showed up were when we weren’t feeding him Blue.
My vet has told me that the fish/seafood foods can cause urinary tract problems. I know a lot of blogger have commented on adding a spoonful of water to the serving of wet foods. Maybe try some gravy flavors.
We’ve tried a couple gravy ones. So far no luck (other than Fancy Feast, which we tried just to see if he’d eat it.) But obviously, that’s not a brand that would help as it commonly causes UTIs and diabetes. I’m not 100% about the seafood thing yet though, as two of my vets have told me the opposite. I’ve been doing a lot of research in it too to make sure that we’re not feeding him something that will make him worse 🙁
We’re sorry to hear Beau has all these things going on. Can’t be fun! But for weight management? Don’t make us laugh! That chub Izzy must weigh 15 lbs if he weighs an ounce, while Elliott is as skinny as a rail.
Ahaha! It’s funny how much cats can vary in weight. (Especially when they live in the same house!)
I am sorry Beau has so many health issues, poor guy. Maybe he needs so e interactive play time with a wand toy like da bird. 🙂
He’s been LOOOOVING da bird! I’m so, so happy he does! It was definitely worth the investment. We’ve been playing at least 45 minutes a day with him and he can’t sit still!!
I wish I had some advice. Annie has too much weight on her. She used to love playing but she’s now 11 and just has just a mild interest in it. I think it’s great that Beau is enjoying his toys. Keeping a kitty’s weight down can be quite a challenge.
Have you tried Royal Canin SO food? It’s a prescription food. I know you said Beau doesn’t really like canned. Their dry food is yummy (according to Annie) and caused her to drink more. She doesn’t have to be on it any more but just wanted to suggest that for Beau’s urinary issues. I wonder also if you have to continue the c/d. I would think the vet would want to help with Beau’s stomach problem too. I think you’re doing great for him by the way!
Unfortunately, Beau wasn’t a fan of the Royal Canin SO either (we tried that for his first UTI.) Walker absolutely LOOOVED it though. Our new vet said as long as he’s peeing again (which he has A LOT) we can return him to a pH balanced food. We’re looking into some (we found a couple brands), but we’re slowly going to progress him into them. Basically, make him stable again so we can cross out all of the things that could be wrong. Thank you so much for the reassurance, Annie. <3 I hope he feels the same way too.
It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. Beau’s allergy really does throw a wrench into the equation, but you are obviously good and loving pet parents who are trying to figure it out. We have one kitty that needs to gain weight, and one that needs to lose weight … it’s never easy, but we love them so. 🙂
Thanks! Yeah, it definitely does throw the wrench in the track. Pet allergies are so crazy to think about! Especially coming from someone who is lucky enough to not be allergic to anything… except yoghurt… that stuff doesn’t sit well with me at all ={
Nothing much ti add t the mix here…Minko ate Purina Beyond. That was the only food I could easily find that did not cause issues of skin allergy, or runny stools…to the point of bloody diarrhea. He would not let me feed other ‘better’ brands. Go figure…and since I had to hand feed him it was good to find one that was ok for him. The vet did not have anything different to suggest either.
Pipo seems to get very runny stools for any kind of wet food, so I specially order a grain free food for him. He used to weigh about 12 – 13 pounds, bu with the grain free he now gets he’s about 10. We play ‘red dot’, and other wand toys a lot too.
Now that he is an only kitty, playtime and other activity is good to help with weight control. When the kids here were small, I had a kitty who became about 20 or 21 pounds…and he got severe diabetes.
I will not let that happen again if I have any say in the matter.
Oh no to all of the problems! I’m glad you got a bunch of them solved though and I’m glad you’re taking much better care of your little ones. Yeah, our biggest worry is trying to prevent heart failure in general. We would never want Beau to have a heart attack or diabetes. In regards to the little red dot… Walker LOVES lasers, but Beau doesn’t seem to see them. It’s really odd. Glad he’s loving Da Bird though!