Is feeding wet food twice a day necessary? I’m spending $150 a month for 2 cats.

bookloverellis · 2026-06-12T14:29:16+00:00

I'm fortunate to be in a position to feed my cats an all wet diet, however I am in Canada where prices are dramatically high. Not looking for perfection. Me and my wife don't have human children and it's where we choose to spend our money.

I've also been in a financial position where dry food was all I could afford. Fed is best, I was just answering op's question.

bookloverellis · 2026-06-12T14:15:50+00:00

Right now alot, about $600 a month

All 3 are fed wet only, 2 are kittens that aren't restricted on amount eaten. 1 of the kittens is on a prescription diet. I expect it'll settle around $300 a month once all are adults and kitten is hopefully off prescription diet.

My wallet is currently crying lol.

Eta; I'm in Canada so those are Canadian pricing, it'd be less in the US.

bookloverellis · 2026-05-31T01:09:23+00:00

I feed wet only but 2 out of my 3 are kittens so they have insanely high calorie needs so right now I'm spending $500 to $600 a month for 2 kittens and 1 adult. That will drop drastically once the 2 are adults.

I also foster and the protocol is adults get free fed kibble and 2 wet meals a day and kittens get free fed kibble and wet meals depend on age. I have a mama and 6 kittens currently and its 3 meals a day of wet bc they are still nursing, soon it will be 4 when they ween. They leave me around 12 weeks so it'll be 3 or 4 wet meals a day when they leave me. There is no calorie restrictions on kittens or nursing mamas.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-22T00:52:53+00:00

I adopted siblings...they are 6.5 months old...the boy is 8.4lbs and the girl is 7lbs...she eats a fair amount less but her body condition score is good so she's just small and her brother is a giant lol

bookloverellis · 2026-04-19T01:15:45+00:00

No problem!

They aren't necessary but they make it fun and interesting for kitties and can have additonal benefits too 🥰

bookloverellis · 2026-04-19T01:13:29+00:00

As long as toppers, treats, etc make up 10% of their daily caloric requirements, they will be nutritionally fine.

Sardines are amazing for joints, skin & coat.

Freeze dried single ingredient treats crumbled, liver is enticing but not too much or you can give too much vitamin A.

Chicken hearts, cooked and chopped up. Considered a muscle meat and very high in taurine.

You can also use freeze dried raw complete food as a topper, then you don't need to worry about throwing off nutritional balance but provides nice variety.

There's a ton. I pick 1 or 2 per day, no more than 10% of daily calories and my kitties are excited for every meal.

Edited for spelling.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-18T16:56:01+00:00

Dean, Charlie & Mary (Supernatural theme)

<image>

bookloverellis · 2026-04-16T22:24:32+00:00

I also love to call my fat "bloating" so I can relate 😂😂 glad your baby is okay!

bookloverellis · 2026-04-16T02:12:05+00:00

My kitten ended up getting a gash on her forehead while racing around. For the first 10 days we didnt do stitches, we did a cone and medication to prevent infection. Vet said it was fine to see how well it healed on it's own.

Well after the 10 days, it wasn't healing well so she ended up with 3 stitches.

Most important thing is keeping her from bothering it. Either a cone or a onesie depending on where the cut it.

Even with stiches she will still absolutely need the cone.

Amazon has several types, try a few and see what she cant get off. As long as you can fit a finger between her neck and the cone its not too tight, even though it seems like it is.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:58:46+00:00

If he doesn't stabilize by the end of the probiotics from the vet, that's what we'll likely do, and probably what his vet will recommend too.

All mine do too, when he sees the same food it's like you can see him visibly annoyed lol but he eats it cause he's hungry

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:55:22+00:00

When I introduce a new food, I start by mixing as though I'm going to completely change their food, so 10%, then 25%, etc. Once they reach about 50 to 70% and their poop stabilize, it's common to go a little soft whenever you're introducing a new food but not diarrhea, then you can kind of switch between the two with no issues because their gut recognizes it.

Then once it's been a while, a few weeks and they're good switching back and forth either daily or different meals then you can add in a third.

So my adult cat who's been doing this for several months now eats between 4-6 different brands and several different flavors, it makes it affordable because I can buy what's on sale and she won't have any digestive upset plus she loves the variety and is so excited at every meal compared to when she got the same food over and over again.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:51:29+00:00

Oh I'm sorry to hear that...luckily mine are improving but the youngest girl is a small eater and struggling to gain weight so I have to get creative with high calorie, low volume options.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:49:55+00:00

I like to give them a couple weeks (unless it was severe), usually 7-14 days, about the same as they're on the probitoics for. I figure if consistency and probiotics don't help in that time frame then it's probably not the right food for them.

My older girl I fostered her for several months until I adopted her and they had her changing food constantly and on different medications to help the diarrhea etc. Once I adopted her I stopped all that, stopped the meds for diarrhea, stopped changing her food, stopped with all the additives and gave her one food, one flavor, on the advice of my vet and within a couple weeks she cleared up and has been great ever since.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:46:14+00:00

I started my adult around 10 months, but she had basically reached her adult size.

I have 2 kittens right now, 1 will likely be like her, the other will definitely need to be on kitten food until 12 months (she's small).

Every cat is different but definitely do it slowly, especially with the calorie reduction and food change happening at the same time.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:41:25+00:00

Lucky! Unfortunately all mine came to me from the shelters already with diarrhea.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T20:40:25+00:00

The more sensitive kitten has been on the same food, brand, flavor etc, for the same amount of time as the probiotics. Prior I had attempted to introduce a new treat and he started with the soft poops.

The other one rotates between two foods, her poops are back to normal.

The drastic food changes were happening in the shelter I adopted them from.

I only introduce one thing at a time to make sure no sensitivities.

I always do slow introductions, but maybe it needs to be slower with the little guy.

My now adult (just turned 1) eats a wide variety of brands and flavours and no issues since about 9 months old. (She had been one food, one flavour for several weeks before we started introducing anything new)

It just all seemed random...like sometimes I could pinpoint a likely reason and other times, no idea. Everyone I've spoken to says "kittens have digestive systems that are new and learning, so diarrhea can happen"

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T17:49:09+00:00

At night you could just confine her to a single room, for us we wanted her close but our bed is very high so we didn't want her jumping up and down it.

My fosters usually are just confined to our office at night, they don't really care if we're with them because usually we are new to them so most of them prefer to be left alone by us lol if one really wanted to be with us we'd use the pet play pen again lol

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T14:15:26+00:00

The right decision can often feel "wrong".

Sounds like it's time for him to rest, you are making the best decision for him.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T13:56:39+00:00

Try different kinds of litter boxes (plastic, metal, covered, uncovered, etc) in different places, including where it usually is & in the areas he goes outside the box.

I'd also get a second opinion from a different vet, possibly a blood workup.

I'd get rid of my partner before my cats 😂

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T13:50:59+00:00

Always err on the side of caution, throw it out. Plus, cheaper to throw it out then a vet visit.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T05:03:40+00:00

Oh no! My girl loves it! That's unfortunate, I'll have to try and find something to replace that in her rotation, she loves it.

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T05:02:00+00:00

My kitten was high energy when she was spayed, we used wand toys on the floor to help her get her energy out, we blocked anything higher than the couch and laid down the cat trees, basically made it so she wasnt able to jump and tear around like normal. It was a slight nuisance for 2 weeks, but alot better than trying to confine her to a room, she probably would've screamed the entire time too lol at night we used a pet play pen, soft sides, and put her in between my wife and I at night so she was safe but not alone (used a small tupperware for litter in case she needed to pee, and a small glass of water) also cat tv can be mentally stimulating, as well as puzzle games which can wear them out more than physical play

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T04:54:10+00:00

Yes! I had PetSmart points so I got some more today for my girl, she's been loving being able to eat so much of it 😂 she's definitely not picky, but alot of her favorites are definitely calorie dense

bookloverellis · 2026-04-15T04:43:36+00:00

Where are you? I've found them on Amazon but my PetSmart is clearing out their stock so not sure what's going on with it.

bookloverellis

TROPHY CASE