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Old January 7th, 2013, 10:48 PM
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MissPurryJess MissPurryJess is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Bethesda, MD
Posts: 116
Quote:
Dr. Pierson's value is for just the regular NV Instinct Duck, not the Limited Ingredient version. I so can't wait until these new formulas are available here! They'd be great for Aztec and his renal insufficiency. I also noticed a few other new products on the NW website, like pork and salmon. Very cool.
Eeep I'm trying the quote thing - I don't think I've quite figured out how to get your name in there, though. For the phosphorous values he gave me the LI foods as well as the regular Instinct duck - that's where I saw the discrepancy. The LI duck is listed as 139 and the regular Instinct duck as 142. But in any case they're way below 250, which was my goal. And I was surprised at how quickly he responded! That definitely gave them points in my book.

Quote:
Not unless they have super sensitive digestive tracts that need a slower transition. I switch wet food with all my kitties at the drop of a hat. In fact, they never get the same food twice in a row. Most cats are able to handle changes like that.... blame pet food companies for trying to "force" brand loyalty in their customers by spreading the myth that cats and dogs must always eat the same food. Now some cats do indeed need a more gradual changeover, or perhaps some probiotics to help equalize the gut flora. A little bit of soft stool for a week or 2 isn't a big deal though.
So I gave the kids some of the Instinct duck this afternoon and they gobbled it up. BUT - they do that with any new food. It's like toddlers getting a hold of a new toy - they play with it for a few minutes but when you show it to them later they're like, "Meh. Old news." I gave it to them again tonight and they ate some of it. Then I broke out the Merrick Thanksgiving day dinner and they gobbled that up, too. So I guess I'll just find a few they like and continue feeding it to them - we may get into a cycle of "I love it!" "I hate it!" with them for a while until we find a good fit. They've never been very good at rotating foods - I'd like to give them more variety, but they've always been attached to one particular food at a time. I guess we'll see tomorrow whether or not Fitzy's tummy is handling the food okay!

So now my NEW game plan is:

1. continue switching them over from the venison to one of the canned foods that's based on a protein that originally had feathers (duck, turkey, etc.)
2. pick up Daisy's lab results at the last vet, drop off her insurance paperwork
3. take Fitzy back to the OLD vet, give them Daisy's latest results, and have a cystocentesis/urinalysis for Fitzy
4. get some pH strips

I'm not sure if the saran wrap will work - they don't like other litters (I tried switching it once when Fitzy's plasma cell pododermatitis was acting up) - they'll just hold it in indefinitely until I cave. The problem is that Daisy will EAT the saran wrap - she LOOOOOVES plastic.

Maybe some day I'll actually address the pica issue.

But what will keep me up tonight is the question of what to do if their urine pH doesn't become normal after implementing this new diet. Now that we're fairly sure that Daisy doesn't have crystals, I still need to address their high pH and concentrated urine. If their diet doesn't fix that, then what? I haven't gotten that far with the vet yet.

I'm going to go take my kittens to bed! DH and I frequently quote Top Gun around here - he does it in Fitzy or Daisy's voice:

"Take me to bed or lose me forever."

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