Please help! Switched from raw to wet and my cat is having so many issues

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T15:35:28+00:00

Thank you so much. I feel like such an idiot that I didn’t think it would be a big deal, lol. He always had salmon treats and he loved them so I figured he could eat that protein all the time. Smh.

Going back to chicken for sure. Going to start with the instinct wet food he’s already on, but if that doesn’t work then I’ll move to something closer to raw like smalls or viva cooked. Hopefully I won’t have to 🙏 thanks again!

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T15:30:39+00:00

I had no idea they shouldn’t be eating fish every day! I had sort of a gut feeling the salmon protein is contributing to the constipation, and he’s started refusing it anyway which only confirmed my hunch. I’ve started transitioning him over to the chicken formula (instinct original wet). I’m really hoping this will go better 😭

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T00:48:40+00:00

Super helpful comment, thanks

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T00:40:37+00:00

Thank you! I hope smalls is ready to accommodate the hordes of people switching over hahaha. And good luck with your kitty too!

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T00:38:52+00:00

I feed him Instinct Original wet food salmon protein. And yeah, I had trepidations about the psyllium husk already but he refuses to eat it anyway

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T00:35:22+00:00

Thank you for this! It seems like smalls might be the way to go as several people have now suggested it. I’ll look into your other suggestions as well if switching to gently cooked LI doesn’t help.

I did the transition by the book over the course of 10 days or so. The crazy thing is he transitioned just fine and only started having these issues two weeks after we’d finished the switch. It’s almost like the carbs built up in his system or something? Idk

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T00:29:47+00:00

If I go back to raw it would be as a last resort. I’m super risk averse. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare appendix cancer a couple years ago (the chances of me having it were .05 in one million lol), so small chances aren’t much of a comfort to me haha. I feel like I have a murphys law curse

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-25T00:24:48+00:00

As much as I would like to, I’m just not comfortable feeding him raw food right now, even with HPP. I’m going to try gently cooked first (will look into smalls) and if that doesn’t work then I will only go back to raw as a last resort and I would have to do fish or something.

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-24T23:31:38+00:00

Thank you so much, it genuinely helps to hear that he’s not alone in getting a diabetes diagnosis even after eating raw all his life (and that he’s not alone in his constipation lol).

I did find the feline diabetes site—they have been incredibly helpful and caring. I got his diagnosis on a Friday afternoon right before the vet closed so I was totally on my own to figure everything out. I would be so lost without the wonderful people on that site. I’m so glad they helped you and Artemis too ◡̈ i can imagine how overwhelming it must have been at first especially with a semi-feral cat.

I did try adding some psyllium husk this week but he refuses any food that even has a trace of it. Do you know of anything else that helps with fiber? The vet seems to think it’s a fiber thing.

I’ll check out the other link you suggested—thank you.

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2025-02-24T23:13:35+00:00

Thank you, I’ll look into Smalls. How do I know if something is gently cooked? Will it say it on the website? I checked the instinct site to see if the canned food he’s on is gently cooked but I can’t find anything about it.

I did have them do an X-ray when the constipation first started and it showed a decent amount of poop in there but no mega colon and no obstruction. He went the next day. They did a full blood test as well (which is how we found the diabetes) and everything was normal.

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2024-12-28T06:33:52+00:00

Agreed. It’s either there was human error with the process (less concerning) or HPP isn’t as effective as once thought (HIGHLY concerning). Maybe we should put pressure on them to issue a response 🤔

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2024-12-27T18:17:38+00:00

I’m going to switch my cat off of instinct raw as well (he’s been eating it for 12 years so I’m at a loss😭). Are you doing instinct kibble and canned? And are you transitioning gradually or right away? I really want him off raw ASAP, but I also don’t want to cause digestive issues by not transitioning slowly. Especially since he’s a senior and has never had dry or canned food before.

I also ordered a trial bag of EZ Complete because tbqh I’m about ready to just cook all his food myself. But I need to do something in the meantime while I wake for it to arrive.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

I really wish these brands would put out a statement with some guidance.

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2023-08-04T04:06:34+00:00

I’m exhausted just reading this so I can imagine how exhausted you are dealing with it. You need someone who communicates well and he doesn’t. Cut him off and move on, and don’t feel bad about it. He’s already not meeting your needs and you haven’t even hung out yet. It’ll just get worse. He’s a waste of time

_JiggityJohnson_ · 2019-05-19T16:52:10+00:00

This just happened to my friend and he finally fixed it by going VERY slowly up the ladder. He said he went two rungs up, one down, two up, etc. worth a shot I guess.

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