changed diet and now she is gaining weight and has new behavior

[Rorysmom]

Hello,
I’ve had my cat since April and during this time I’ve continued feeding her the same dry food. I did some research and decided to feed her wet food and discontinue the dry. I began feeding her the wellness complete pate and she seems to like it enough but will not eat all of the serving at once. I have to give it to her three times a day. It’s been 7 days and her stool is soft and absolutely smelly, this concerns me. She now wakes me up in the middle of the night meowing but I don’t know what she wants. Last night, she knocked over a small trash can that had the empty can of food. This morning I fed her and she only had a little bit and she won't eat anymore. When I fed her the dry food she would come back to it when she was hungry but I can’t do that with the wet. She has now gained weight but I can’t tell how much because she hates to be picked up and will scratch. I have also recently moved last month and she used to run around a lot and now she isn’t. Should I go back to dry? I want her to be healthy and happy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Lilycat]

Hello

I have just signed up to this forum partly to ask about about food changes. I am afraid I don't have anything definitive to say about your problem, but would it be worth trying to ween her off the dry food rather than have an abrupt switch? I suspect any sudden change in food will affect what happens when they go to the loo, as it does with humans. (If you read the intro to detox diets you will see warnings about this affect.)
Is she eating enough, do you think? Might she be waking you up because she is hungry?
So hard to work out what's going on with cats on the basis of their behaviour...!

I am currently trying to switch from Felix (aka Cat Crack, or as several vets have called it, the McDonalds of cat food) to 'sensitive' and grain-free foods. (My cats get both wet and dry.) to see if it helps with one of my cat's very smelly flatulence and blood in her poo. Her poos have gone paler and are very sloppy and she keeps treading in them (and then on furniture, beds, me...)

I was going to ask if this might be the cat food, but in answering your post wondering if i am answering my own query. I have done to abrupt a switch.
Sorry for all the poo talk!

Given the vets' comments about ordinary cat food being like McDonald's this might account for the weight gain of yours?

I can't pick one of my cats (the farty girl) up either.

[Mollycat]

Food is one of those forever debate issues without a single answer, but yes it's generally recommended to transition gradually rather than overnight switch. That certainly makes sense for big changes like going from dry to wet, maybe less so from one brand to another of the same kind of food though a lot depends on the cat. I've never transitioned anything gradually for any of mine over the years and never had any related issues. But many cats are more sensitive, and as we've never got to the bottom of any poop-related problems, there's nothing to say my way is any more right than any other.

As for gaining weight, that can be adjusting to a new food and its different calorie content. Dry foods are more often associated with overweight cats, just because they don't have the moisture to bulk up and make the cat feel full, in spite of the cheap fillers used to try and achieve the same effect. But I remember switching my girl 24 years ago from canned to renal formula dry and she put on a pound in a week, the equivalent of me gaining a stone and a half in that time, because she loved it and was adjusting. Her weight stabilised and she stayed perfectly slim, just a pound heavier than she had been before.

You say you have to feed 3 small meals - that might be your problem. Some cats do well on set timed and portioned meals, others do not. Meal times can create terrible food anxiety in some cats, maybe yours is one of those? My cats have always been free fed and managed their own weight beautifully, until I met Molly. My current girl was incredibly food anxious (she has issues anyway) and if I tried to restrict meals in any way she would become very distressed, deprive my other cat of his food, become aggressive, and still put on loads of weight. Cutting her down meant starving him and making her bully him, so it was not acceptable. Individual microchip feeders sorted it out in the end, and restricted calorie food got her slimmed down. Now she is on Felix (not the best but at least it's high protein and I supplement it with real fresh meat) and regulates her own food intake very well. But in the meantime she was treated for hyperthyroidism, so once you get the food sorted out a vet check might be a smart move - weight check and general bloods just to make sure there isn't something else going on.

[Lilycat]

I bought some of those microchip feeders and couldn't get them to work (Have had this issue with a microchip controlled cat flap too. Must be seomething odd about their chips as they are in the correct location.) This was to enable the cat feeder to put hyperthyroid cat's meds in the food when we went on holiday. (The cats hide when the cat sitters come round so hard to medicate.)

In the end, Basil had a double thyroidectomy. Now he is on meds for not enough thryoid hormone... (But tablets are much easier to give. We were very upset/annoyed though initially.)

Ironically, the (very expensive ) microchip feeders, which are in the front room waiting to be sold/given away/put in the attic, occasionally open and shut on their own scaring the life out of us

Sorry this was a bit off the point of the thread...

[Mollycat]

I bought some of those microchip feeders and couldn't get them to work (Have had this issue with a microchip controlled cat flap too. Must be seomething odd about their chips as they are in the correct location.) This was to enable the cat feeder to put hyperthyroid cat's meds in the food when we went on holiday. (The cats hide when the cat sitters come round so hard to medicate.)

In the end, Basil had a double thyroidectomy. Now he is on meds for not enough thryoid hormone... (But tablets are much easier to give. We were very upset/annoyed though initially.)

Ironically, the (very expensive ) microchip feeders, which are in the front room waiting to be sold/given away/put in the attic, occasionally open and shut on their own scaring the life out of us

Sorry this was a bit off the point of the thread...

If they don't work properly they ought to go back for a refund. I know the price has come down a bit since I bought mine but that's still a lot of money to throw away! In the meantime, you could always take out the batteries.

Sorry about Basil. We had the radioiodine, luckily she was suitable as there wasn't a viable alternative for her.