Maine Coon 11 months old - Fussy eater

[Lovemykitten]

I have a Maine Coon kitten who at present is only eating Royal Canin Gastrointestinal dry biscuit/kibble. He has been eating this from 7 months old as he developed an upset tummy, which the vet put down to an excessive of bacterial in his tummy. As such, we had to stop giving him any wet food and just stick to dry. He stayed on this biscuit for a short time, then we were allowed to change it to Royal Canin, Digestive. The vet informed us that if it flares up again, then revert back to the Gastro again for a short time until it settles.

The problem I have is he has completely gone off the Gastrointestinal and will only eat the Digestive. Recently, he has had a bit of a loose stall. As you can appreciate trying to clean his bum is not too much of a problem as he is a real baby but it goes all over his galoshes as he is semi long haired. We use baby wipes to clean that area as he hates water, which for this breed is unusual as they are known for their love of water.

Therefore, I am asking, can anyone suggest any dry food that may be just as suitable, as he gets bored easily.
We are also worried that he may not be getting enough protein to help him develop, even though he is just over 7 kilos in weight, he has certainly slowed down since just going on dry. I think we worry more so when we have compared this to other Maine coon kittens of the same age and they always seem to be more.

Can any other Maine Coon owners help a desperate new Maine Coon owner? Over to you.

I can't help I'm afraid but you appear to have forgotten a photo of said Maine Coon.

I would get a second opinion from another vet because I don't think his advice is necessarily good.

I have studied cat food for a long time and there is a lot of information on the Internet and in books about a raw food diet being effective in helping to resolve gastrointestinal issues such as IBD. I am not saying your cat has IBD. It is just an example.

When I read your post, my immediate thought was a good quality raw food diet may help.

Fortunately, in England now, we have a manufacturer that makes this food whereas for a long time there was nobody.

I am not promoting it to make any money. I just want help. It is called KatKin.

Have you tried something like that or even a very high quality commercially prepared wet cat food to see what happens?

I don't think it's a good idea anyway to feed a cat dry cat food all the time for the rest of their life.

I think a second opinion would be really useful if you can steel yourself take your cat to another veterinarian.

I am not a veterinarian so you don't have to take my suggestion as a good one.

Another point worth making is that these prescription type dry cat food diets are often not that effective anyway.

They just change the formula slightly and I think it is better to go back to basics and provide your cat with a food which is absolutely like the food that they would eat normally in the wild which is a mouse.

If you try and replicate that as a starting point and go from there it may help.

Also, I'd ask a vet the reason behind the excess of bacteria in the stomach. What is the cause and can it be removed? Has that been researched?

Finally, what about probiotics? Did the vet discuss giving your cat probiotics?

Persistent diarrhoea is a serious matter by the way. Your cat will become dehydrated. Especially as he is on dry cat food anyway which also dehydrates cats. I think the problem has become a little more serious and a veterinarian needs to comment on the diarrhoea and how to stop it. You can get treatment for that by the way but it needs to be stopped asap.

At 11 months his growth/weight will slow down. He will likely carry on until he is 2 so has plenty of time to gain another couple of kilos.

My Maine coon is fussy with wet food too and gets upset tummy. I tried raw and she hated it. Switched to Cool Cat club, she eats one flavour of the wet food but any of the dry. She's 9 months and I worry she doesn't eat enough but she's growing and is hyperactive! The food is delivered free monthly and has a high meat content with no grain or unnecessary ingredients. So far she's ok on it (it's been three months). It's also very well priced.

MC mama here

At 11 months you could try a small pack Royal Canin Maine Coon kitten to see how she gets on. Mine absolutely love that
One of mine had the squirts for a few days after licking my bowl of ice cream. I took her for a check up after the second day as I got worried thinking she would get dehydrated

I use mainly royal canin but mine love wet too and 2 pouches will be shared amongst the 3 of them twice a day ( so 2 pouches per daybetween the 3) only a small spoon needed each to satisfy them for that ‘meaty feeling as they waste a lot anyways by just licking a lot of the gravy/jelly….

I also discovered frozed chicken breast (ready cooked) take a few pieces out every few days leave to defrost overnight
cats get so bored with the same diet and its trial and error. Wet pouches i use are usually felix as good as it gets/ purina/ and recently they love teeny tins (cant remember name but its like a pate) (sheba?)

they would also kill for a lick e lick!

Trial and error but a teeny bit of wet, a water fountain is a MUSt and you can even try soaking dry and mixing a little wet food.
variety is the spice of life

sorry for any typos - tired eyes, big thumbs and teeny phone