My eight year Ragdoll Louie, whose face you see at the top of this page, has been eating Science Diet “Ocean Savory” soft cat food ever since he was a kitten. Lo and behold this food was part of the Menu Foods recall so we stopped feeding him it immediately. Louie has always been a very well-behaved cat, aside from the occasional bout of scratching on my computer chair he’s never been destructive or had problems using the litter box.
Since changing Louie’s food I’ve been having a number of problems with the little guy. Louie and his sister Fiity now eat Fancy Feast “Elegant Medleys” cat food which was not affected by the Menu Foods recall. Both cats love the yellow fin tuna flavor and Louie in particular scarfs his food down as fast as possible. Ever since Louie was a kitten he has a problem throwing up when he eats his food too fast. Salmon flavored foods seem to exacerbate the problem; however, Louie has a clean bill of health form the Vet. The Vet said he just has a problem when he eats too fast.
Since changing Louie’s food he’s started having problems with the litter box. The problems started with him taking a poo in the corner of my office. This happened two or three times and I was able to stop it by covering the area he had been going with aluminum foil until he got it out of his head to go there. Louie’s litter box is located in the laundry room and he will now occasionally seek out a laundry basket full of clothes to poo in the basket. He doesn’t have a problem urinating in the box; Louie just seems to enjoy going on dirty clothes. I think he’s doing this because of the change in his diet; unfortunately, there was no way around this sudden change thanks to Menu Foods.
If you’re a Ragdoll cat owner experiencing problems with your Ragdoll due to the sudden change in your cat’s food, feel free to share your stories here.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
My ragdoll Missy, urinates on my carpet, floor rugs/bath towels and sometimes against the wall. Sometimes she really goes and other times she just spots. My vet said to use ‘feliway’ to calm her down but it hasn’t helped. She has a litter available.
I adopted her from a family moving interstate 2 years ago. Shel lives with my other cat Ben. He’s just a moggy who can be moody. Missy enjoys being outside but doesn’t show normal toileting behaviour outside either. She doesn’t ever dig just squats! Anywhere!!! Do you have any information for me?
If you’re still having issues, I would suggest feeding your cats food that you cannot buy at the grocery store. Science Diet is not a healthy food, but Fancy Feast is even worse, akin to feeding your child McDonalds every day. I would highly recommend going to a pet store to purchase a super premium food that does not contain corn, wheat, or by-products. It many cost more, but you don’t need to feed as much and in the end you’ll be visiting the vet a lot less.
I switched my Rags from Iams to EVO when my vet said they both needed to lose weight. Most commercial dry cat foods are high in carbs (read the ingredient lists – most have a grain source as the first ingredient), but EVO is 50% protein and no grains. This mimics the natural diet of a feline predator (you don’t see wild felines grazing, do you?). I was worried that my finicky one, Sparrow, would reject the new food but he snarfed it down as fast as I could dish it out. The food switch was successful, but they haven’t lost weight. Still, this is a higher quality food and better for them. Check with your vet or speciality pet shop/kennel. You can also order it online (both wet and dry), I think. Don’t know if it will affect defecation issues, but it might help manage the digestion better.
My Ragdoll Nick, has always had issues with his litter box. I adopted him from a friend who also adopted him from another friend. I was never told about this issue, he’ll poop anywhere but his litter box, even if its spotless. Its getting really frustrating. If i cant control this issue soon, i fear he will have to get another new home.
what can i do?
My Ragdoll has recently developed a undesirable behavior of defecating on my dining room rug. I also took him to the vets and the only thing he found was coilitis and I am currently administering an antibiotic. Is this a behavior problem, outside of company at Christmas nothing has changed in the household. He has never had any behavior problems before and I certainly will try a change of diet.
I feed my 2 rags canned fancy feast and Nature’s Best by Science Diet but it sounds like I should look to something else–thank you for the input.
I had the same problem with my cat- he puked every time he ate, because he was scarfing the kibble too fast. I took him to the holistic vet, who recommended a mix of canned WELLNESS and Raw meats. Within a week not only was the puking gone, but he had lost enough weight to be sleek and healthy again, and his coat was shining and smooth.
My other cat had Chronic CRF (kidney failure) and within 2 months on the wet food she is totally healed!! The old vet couldn’t believe it!
see http://www.catinfo.org for a vet’s advice on the subject.
It saved my cats life, and save me over $2500 in surgery they wanted to do!
A few weeks ago I switched my ragdoll from some supermarket own-brand dry food to wet food. Almost immediately he began to eliminate outside of his litter tray and poo in the corner of the living room.
I took some advice from a friend who owns cats (all deceased now, sadly) and waited for him to begin this behavior. I then proceeded to beat the cat. I punched him in the nose and then grabbed his tail and begun to swing him around the room, bouncing him off the walls and furniture. Finally I released him and he flew out of the window of my fourth story flat.
He’s never done it again!
I feed grain free, Natural Balance LID Salmon and Pea. Diva, 3 years old, loves it. I started her on Wellness, but she had diarrhea on it and didn’t like it much, but took to the Duck and pea, until I brought home a bag of the Natural Balance Fish and Sweet potato for the dogs, and then she wanted to eat the dog food, but Natural Balance soon came out with the Salmon and pea. She is toilet trained, and only when she feels she has been wronged does she poop beside the toilet, which is rare.
She has a beautiful coat, lovely full tail, and she is as smart as a cat can be. She is also quite affectionate.
Trish, try Bach flower remedies. Go see an animal behaviourist to get some to try. With cats, they either work or they don’t, so it’s worth a try. I treat my cat like a dog, as I am a dog trainer, and she insists on the same treatment as the dogs.
Clicker training her to use the litter box might also help.