Expert: mpmaltese@gmail.com ( Marie, Cat foods and Recipes ) e-mail me or write here - 5/12/2009

Question
Hi,

I adopted a male ragdoll cat who is 5 years old, back in February. He is wonderful! He is around 20lbs, so the rescue charity where we got him, recommended a food to feed him, and that I assume they had been feeding him for some time.

The food was Royal Canine dry kibbles, weight loss formula, for indoor cats. This brand of food was getting too expensive $27 per bag. He is a big kitty, so he goes through the bags pretty fast! So, I decided to switch brands last weekend, to see if he would start eating another kind. I bought a more affordable brand, Iams Natural, weight loss formula, dry kibble. Still a good brand of cat food!

He has been eating it fine, but I noticed this morning he had diarrhea in his litter box. Is his stomach just getting used to the new food? Should the diarrhea go away after his body is used to it? Is this normal? How long does it usually take for the cat's body to get used to new food?

He had also thrown up in his food bowl yesterday after eating the new food, but I think he was eating too fast, and just got carried away.

I would just like to hear your thoughts. I didn't know if I should take him to the vet? He seems fine otherwise. Thank you so much for your help!

Callie

Answer
Hi - sorry to tell you this but You can't switch over so quick.  A cat needs to make a change over slowly doing a 50:50 mix of the old food and the NEW brand for 2-3 weeks.  After the mixing and some time, then you can go to the new food.
You made your cat sick.  I know you did not mean to do this.
Just go and get the old food and start mixing...after about 3 weeks, then try to go and do a complete change over.

Best wishes...

Marie Peppers




A good cat vitamin***
NuVET Feline powder... 1/2 teaspoon per day
http://www.nuvet.com/81098