Sunday, December 5, 2010

So...hell has frozen over today

in the sense that I did what I told myself I wouldn't do. Get dry kitty food from Wal-Mart.
I'm not going to go into why I'm so anal about pet food. I figure it as I wouldn't eat food from McDonalds every day, and since I work at an organic food cooperative, I have 'standards' I set for my cats as well as for myself.
Bella Mae hasn't shown much interest in eating, she'll eat a little, but not a lot. She seems as tho she's getting thinner and thinner...she's an older cat, but by god. Seriously.
I've been told several times by those who are enthusiasts on cats (not professional or anything, but merely those who have owned cats and may or may not feed what I would want to feed my kitties) that perhaps the issue is that Bella simply isn't used to what I feed.
Books and books galore I own would state a cat could get used to it. I was never able to transition Bella to anything better because I had no knowledge of what she ate previously. She ended up getting really sick because I gave her food she was so completely not used to eating.
She's had so many stomach and dietary issues from ibd to vomiting and god knows what else. Then to see her hardly eating anything to sustain herself on...and I hate taking her to the vet only to be given things that really do her no good at all!
So I sat...I'm in a mood today anyways. I figured 'now would be a good time to see how the roads are' and it is daylight. See if I'd be able to get back in my 'wanna be' driveway. So I went to Wal-Mart because I knew they had some 'sample' sizes of cat food. I bought the 'better' end of junk food -Goodlife Recipe both regular and indoor varieties. Some moist food to.
I gave Bella Mae a tiny bit of food to try, and I took a video of it....she simply snarfed it down like it was her last meal. She ate like she did when I first found her. I'll give her another little bit in a half-hour or so if she keeps this down. Some with some digestive enzyme on it.
Lately Bella has been more and more insistent on wanting people food...different aromas intrigue her, and obviously her food isn't 'good enough' I guess.
Bella is my baby...and by god...if I have to stoop down and give into the fact that I need to re-introduce 'quality' food to her...so be it. Let her eat what she will eat for now and I can introduce better food gradually.

I was sad that Wal-Mart was so busy. I literally was almost overcome by anxiety when standing in line. Express lane was going to take just as long as using a regular one...so I stood behind someone and waiting for my turn...stomach felt queasy and I just 'sucked it up'
I hope it's worth it...I hope this food helps Bella Mae feel better...I hope I didn't make a giant mistake.

2 comments:

  1. The best food in the world won't do the cat any good if she (or he) won't eat it.

    I've spent a small fortune -- not kidding -- over the past several years buying premium food after premium food, canned and dry, with most of it being wasted. Fussy, fussy cats. Now they get a mix of good to mediocre, mostly canned, very little kibble. Grain-free except for the kitty treats, but unfortunately not by-product-free. A couple of flavours of Wellness (two will eat that), some Almo as a treat (it's just meat and water for processing, no vitamins/minerals so not for every day...and two will eat that), one Natural Balance flavour (two will eat that, sometimes), ProPlan chicken and liver (two will eat that, sometimes all three), and Fancy Feast (2 flavours that are wheat, corn and soy free).

    Plus the boys get about 1/4 cup of dry (corn, soy, wheat free) daily too. Derry is the kibblhead, hard to get him to eat any canned except ProPlan.

    They were eating some Performatrin grain-free too, but maybe the company changed the formula, because they're not interested in it anymore. As soon as I stocked up, they stopped eating it. LOL.

    So good luck with Bella Mae...feed her what she'll eat, within reason. Better for her to have calories going in than to worry about every ingredient.

    Just my $0.02!

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  2. Your .02 cents are exactly what I've been working with and am trying to practice better. :) The kitties, for canned, get whatever they will eat...9 lives, Fancy Feast, Whiskas. I try to get grain-free as possible...add in flavors of 'high end' brands and such...but nothing is more frustrating than if you end up tossing a can of food that cost about 2 dollars.
    It's more or less finding food that Bella will accept. She shunned wet food for so long, and then had a hard time keeping foods down. Now I'm more or less pulling my hair to figure out how I can feed both kitty kids but not have the youngest get into Bella's food. She instantly knows Bella has something she doesn't and therefor wants it. (head/desk)

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