Author Topic: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end  (Read 7236 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #15 on: January 21, 2012, 10:44:49 AM »
 dance1  YAY for you and your girl!!! 
Do you have any hair left, trying to figure it all out and get a working plan? 
No one can call YOU a slacker.   DrLisaPiersonWorthy
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2012, 11:19:30 AM »
I forgot to mention.  I've decided to not add water to her food any more. My water is very hard well water, the mineral content is high.  I've wondered all along if this is a problem for her.  Other times when I've tried these switches I was loading her up with added water too.

Now, this girl is a very poor drinker, even on the c/d kibble.  So..if she eats a canned diet, even without water added, she is still getting way more water than she ever had with the c/d. I stopped adding the water to her food three days ago.

After a couple weeks, if her strip tests remain consistent, I might try adding water again.  If the pH goes up I'll know she can't tolerate my hard well water.

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2012, 12:45:09 PM »

I did a dry matter number comparison on the BG canned beef and the Hills c/d kibble for the phosphorus and magnesium.  There is very little difference:

phosphorous: c/d kibble: 0.65 Before Grain canned beef: 0.8
magnesium: c/d kibble: 0.060 Before Grain canned beef: 0.044
potassium: c/d kibble: 0.86 Before Grain canned beef: 1.07

The sodium is actually higher in the canned food (1.12) compared to the c/d (0.36), which I am not thrilled with but I have not been able to find a decent food with lower sodium. High sodium does NOT make this girl drink.




When explaining this to someone elsewhere just now I discovered an error in my math.  The actual numbers are even better:

phosphorous: c/d kibble: 0.65 Before Grain canned beef: 0.79
magnesium: c/d kibble: 0.060 Before Grain canned beef: 0.043
potassium: c/d kibble: 0.86 Before Grain canned beef: 1.05

The sodium is actually higher in the canned food (1.09) compared to the c/d (0.36), which I am not thrilled with but I have not been able to find a decent food with lower sodium.

The high sodium really frustrates me.  But even though it is three times as high as the c/d, at least it's not corn sludge.

dance1  YAY for you and your girl!!! 
Do you have any hair left, trying to figure it all out and get a working plan? 
No one can call YOU a slacker.   DrLisaPiersonWorthy

Aw, thanks Lola!

 :-*


Offline Pookie

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 5441
  • Country: us
  • Proud member of the Wet Food Club
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #18 on: January 21, 2012, 03:37:51 PM »
I forgot to mention.  I've decided to not add water to her food any more. My water is very hard well water, the mineral content is high.  I've wondered all along if this is a problem for her.  Other times when I've tried these switches I was loading her up with added water too.

Would it be possible to buy a water filter for your faucet and add the filtered water to her food?  That might help with the mineral content.

Crossing all paws that this all works out for you!   grouphug
2-4-6-8  Please don't over-vaccinate!
"Pass on what you have learned."  -- Yoda, Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #19 on: January 21, 2012, 04:44:16 PM »
Thanks Pookie.  I have looked at water filters.  Seems they filter out just about everything....except the minerals. bangshead

As for buying water. even more:  bangshead  I have researched until I am blue in the face, as the saying goes. The information on what kind of water is the right kind is incredibly contradictory. I gave up, fearful of doing more harm than good.

She's getting more moisture with just the canned food, no water added, than she ever got on the c/d kibble, because she is a very poor drinker. So I am going to see how this goes. 

Offline Pookie

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jul 2011
  • Posts: 5441
  • Country: us
  • Proud member of the Wet Food Club
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2012, 04:47:32 PM »
Thanks Pookie.  I have looked at water filters.  Seems they filter out just about everything....except the minerals. bangshead

 :(  Bummer.  I was hoping that might be an option.

She's getting more moisture with just the canned food, no water added, than she ever got on the c/d kibble, because she is a very poor drinker. So I am going to see how this goes. 

You're doing a great job!   thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1
2-4-6-8  Please don't over-vaccinate!
"Pass on what you have learned."  -- Yoda, Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #21 on: February 05, 2012, 06:15:11 PM »
How about an update! bananamiddlechild bananamiddlechild

She's been completely canned food now for about 18 days. There has been only one regurgitation in the last 10 days, and that one was MY fault.  I pushed her to eat more than she wanted, and she paid me back by puking it back up.

Her pH varies from 6.0 to 6.75, I'm still working on what the pattern may be, if any. The pH numbers seem highest (6.75) if she has eaten any Before Grain canned foods, which are grain free, no fruits or veggies.  Lowest (6.5 or 6.25) after eating Castor&Pollux chicken and vegetable (which contains spinach, oat fiber and rice among other plant matter).  Introducing the By Nature foods seems to have made her more consistent with the 6.5, but I am still gathering info.

I have to remember that her body is used to eating one food and one food only, but now that she is on canned, she is getting a variety of brands and proteins, so it will take her body some time to adjust to it.

She had a spell of diarrhea from the turkey/turkey liver By Nature, which was shocking to her and me both, as she has never in her life had diarrhea before.  But with the help of ProViable DC she got back on track, and she will not have that particular By Nature again.  She does well on the By Nature Beef.

Some conclusions I have made

1-I truly think my water had a lot to do with her urine becoming too alkaline, thus making a breeding ground for struvite to form.

2-I also believe that going too long without food has become a problem for her.  More than 8 or 8 1/2 hours and she gets a build up of acid in her tummy, which in turn was causing her to feel sick, and bring her breakfast back up.

So before I go to bed, while they are having their last meal of the night,  I prepare a dish with a small amount of food in it, to be given to her when I first get up.  I sneak it to her after warming it up, just enough so she has something in her tummy, to hold her over until the real breakfast comes about 40 minutes after that.  I do the same thing, preparing the dish before I leave the house in the morning, then when I get home at night, I slip her the little snack, to hold her over until the real supper starts, which is about an hour after I get home.  (Little cat needs an hour of play time after I get home or she doesn't eat well)

So, while we are still experimenting with the food rotation, I am pretty happy with the way things are going.


Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #22 on: February 05, 2012, 06:31:10 PM »
Soooooo happy to hear!   thumbsup1 thumbsup1 tiggerbounce

Also, THANK YOU for sharing.  This kind of info is soooooo helpful!  Example:  When I changed our felines to 2 meals a day, a few started barfing...I remembered someone mentioning that 3 meals are often better.  Changed back to 3 meals...no barf.
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Amber

  • Charter Member
  • Chatter Bug
  • Join Date: Nov 2011
  • Posts: 417
  • Country: us
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #23 on: February 06, 2012, 10:31:01 PM »
If you are worried about her not getting enough fluids, you can take distilled water and cut spring water or your tap water with it half and half to dillute minerals and cut the PH. Do not, however, give pure distilled water because that likely wreak havoc itself.

Offline Middle Child

  • Charter Member
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 9556
  • Country: us
  • Just say No to declawing
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #24 on: February 07, 2012, 07:12:07 AM »

Soooooo happy to hear!   thumbsup1 thumbsup1 tiggerbounce

Also, THANK YOU for sharing.  This kind of info is soooooo helpful!  Example:  When I changed our felines to 2 meals a day, a few started barfing...I remembered someone mentioning that 3 meals are often better.  Changed back to 3 meals...no barf.

Yes I think three meals a day is optimal for feeding cats.  Though even those three meals are borken down into two or three servings spread over an hour.


If you are worried about her not getting enough fluids, you can take distilled water and cut spring water or your tap water with it half and half to dillute minerals and cut the PH. Do not, however, give pure distilled water because that likely wreak havoc itself.

Thanks Amber.  On all canned I do feel she is getting enough fluid, but I never thought of cutting the hard water with distilled. That's interesting......hmm.....

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #25 on: February 08, 2012, 07:13:48 PM »
Do not, however, give pure distilled water because that likely wreak havoc itself.

Wow, I didn't know that!   :o
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Offline Amber

  • Charter Member
  • Chatter Bug
  • Join Date: Nov 2011
  • Posts: 417
  • Country: us
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2012, 10:39:53 PM »
Distilled water contains virtually no minerals and trace elements, making it a hypotonic solution. It doesn't contain a lot of the minerals and things we get from water that we need, but more importantly, since it is a hypotonic solution, it wreaks havoc on your cells. Your body tries to maintain the same concentration of minerals inside and outside of the cells. When you put a hypotonic solution in your body, the liquid floods into your cells, causing them to swell. When you take in a hypertonic solution (salt water), the liquid rapidly leaves the cells, causing them to shrivel. If you would like a visual of this, take two baby carrots. Put one in a glass of distilled water and one in a glass of salt water and leave them in the fridge for a couple of hours. Then pull them from the water and examine the differences in those two versus a normal carrot. A little pure distilled water now and then is fine, but it shouldn't be your main source of fluid.

People who maintain Discus and other soft water fish often use distilled water in their aquariums, because Discus are sensitive and require soft, acidic water. However, they have to either cut the distilled water with some spring water or buy a solution to add the trace elements back to the water, or it will kill the fish that are in it.

Offline Lola

  • Global Moderator
  • Motor Mouth
  • Join Date: Jun 2011
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
  • Spay or Neuter
Re: It's over, the regurgitation has got to end
« Reply #27 on: February 10, 2012, 08:05:58 AM »
I knew people shouldn't drink distilled water as a main source, but could have SWORN it was recommended for cats.  Not that I was going to add distilled water to the feline's food...heck, I don't even use it in my iron!  Bumpurr1
Everything you NEED to know about caring for your feline. www.catinfo.org

Tags: