# Tricks for eating leftover canned food?



## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

My cats will scarf down canned food when it is fresh out of the can, but once it is refrigerated, they want nothing to do with it. I've tried reheating it in the microwave, reheating it with warm water, leaving it refrigerated in the can, refrigerating it in a tupperware container -- they just don't like leftovers! Anyone have tips/tricks to feeding leftovers? I hate wasting food like this.


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Ahhh...I was under the impression that leaving out food was bad. 

(Start b*tch session...) You know, you try to do the best for your cats by researching on foods, etc., only to find that it is contradicting...I'm about to give up and start feeding them whatever they want to eat. One cat has an allergy to chicken, so it's hard enough to find something that he can eat, let alone WILL eat.

Thanks for the info, Meowmie -- I will try leaving it out covered and see what happens. I do notice that if the cold food/watered down food sits out long enough, they will nibble at it. :roll:


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

This is one topic where Meowmie and I have disagreed before, and I still do 8) -- I don't think it's a good idea to leave canned food out. And some canned cat food does say "Refrigerate after opening" on the label, so the manufacturer agrees. And everything I know about canning and processing tells me not to leave it out.  

But she does bring up some excellent points about smell, taste and texture. And since I can't really offer an alternative solution, I guess I'm not much help, because I have the same problem of leftover cat food. Sometimes mixing in yesterday's food with today's freshly opened food works -- if you're using more than a can a day. And if one of your cats eats anything, like Rocket, you can save the leftovers for that cat and give the finicky cats the fresh food. And my cats do like the "gravy" that I make by adding warm water. But all these tricks still don't solve the initial problem of a finicky cat that only eats food fresh out of the can.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I just know there's bacteria growing in there when it sits out. The only way bacteria wouldn't grow in there is if there were enough preservatives to choke a cat.

Deb, do you know if there has been anything published about whether or not that bacterial growth is harmless to cats? I suppose it could be ... I just don't know. I'm not discounting your own experience; I do find it intriguing that you've never had any problem, which flies in the face of generally accepted practice. Still, one person's experience is just anecdotal. And there may be something unique about your situation. If there's anything out there in the literature supporting you, I'm certainly open to investigating it.  

Deb is the forum researcher. If anybody can find out, she can. :wink:


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

I just leave it out. When I have to save the food, I freeze the food instead of refrigerate it. Freezing changes the smell and texture of the food less than refrigerating for some reason.

One of the cats I used to have used to only eat FROZEN canned food in the summer, like a cat popsicle or something.....it was most interesting.


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Sheng-Mei, that's hilarious about the cat food popsicle -- you should market that as your own idea. :wink: 

Also, thanks for your input, Tim -- I try to keep one can going at a time, and I do have a little piggy of a cat (Mom) when it comes to dry food, but wet food is a whole other ball game. My cats are very picky about their wet food -- they will only eat certain flavors and consistencies. They just "know" when I mix the old with the new, so that really doesn't help.

Leaving out the food doesn't seem that bad to me -- I leave stuff out all the time and eat it when it's a couple hours old (I love leftovers!). If it is bad, well, there can't be that much more vomiting than there already is in this house.

Another question for you, Meowmie -- have you ever had experience with a cat that will not eat a particular food after he has vomited it up? 

Since Nico has gotten sick, any dry food that he has vomited up he will no longer eat. I think we've managed to get his vomiting under control now that we know the cause, but it has become harder and harder to find a food that doesn't have chicken and he hasn't eaten it and vomited back up. Do you think it is a lost cause to try to get him to eat these foods again or do you have any suggestions?


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## fuzzywuzzy (Dec 10, 2005)

Meowmie said:


> Even with two cats with IBD


Hi Meowmie,

I was just wondering, what do you think is causing your cats to have Inflammatory Bowel Disease ?


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

Meowmie said:


> I can recommend Prairie brand canned food if you have to avoid chicken. This brand makes it easy to do that. I have never checked out the Prairie dry version, so I can only say, find out what kind of protein sources they are using. Maybe they have something without chicken.


The Prairie brand also has a dry lamb and brown rice diet which is VERY tasty.

About the cat food dilemma......how about you just get more cats? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: . When I got my three little ones my fiance was really worried my cat food bill would skyrocket. It turns out about the same because a 13 ounce can costs about as much as a 5.5 ounce can.

I know people who feed canned exclusively who buy 3 ounce cans 8O 8O 8O . Those 3 ounce cans can cost as much as my 13 ounce cans!!! Sometimes I think I got the cats "FIVE for the price of ONE"


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

He will eat the foods without chicken -- such as Solid Gold and Prairie Lamb and Brown Rice -- but something will make him vomit one time, and then he will get turned off of that food.

He did well on the Solid Gold and didn't vomit for a solid week, but I'm dumb and gave him a tuna flavored treat (had chicken in it), and he threw up and wouldn't touch the Solid Gold after that. The Prairie lamb is a mystery -- I got some samples at the pet food store, and he did well on them, so I bought a bag, and he threw up within two days and hasn't eaten any dry food since then. 

I'm just getting frustrated by the whole thing...we've gone to the vet twice, but they haven't found anything wrong with him.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Re: canned food: OK, Deb, I can't dispute results. :wink:


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Is Reglan an anti-inflammatory medicine? We've done two rounds of that plus amoxicillan in the last month. The next step we are going with the vet is xrays, and then after that, they will keep him for a day or so and monitor his digestion (?) using barium. 

Chicken is really the only ingredient that he's had trouble with, which is why I'm insisting it is just a food allergy and crossing my fingers that its not IBD.


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## fuzzywuzzy (Dec 10, 2005)

Meowmie said:


> PS for Fuzzywuzzy
> 
> Oh, and something else that's very, very important:
> 
> http://www.holisticat.com/vaccinations.html


Meowmie,

Thanks for the link. It is funny you should post this for me. I have had special concerns about this subject with my new cats.

Kind of scary you posted this 8O 

But I do appreciate it.

I will go and read it more carefully now.

Thanks again


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## fuzzywuzzy (Dec 10, 2005)

Meowmie said:


> My holistic vet would tell you to stop feeding dry food altogether and stick with canned food you know your kitty can tolerate. Preferably without any grain. Prairie or some other grain-free single-protein foods would be ideal.
> 
> .


Don't mean to hijack this thread but this is exactly why my vet told me to try a raw diet for my cats. One of my cats got an intestinal infection. I was feeding them IAMS dry and canned food and then I switched to fancy feast and Meow Mix  for a few days and he got sick. He didn't have the runs though. Just bloating and constipation.

To make this short, he has been a lot better for the last 3 months and the only time he has had a similiar problem is when I stopped feeding him the raw food for a couple of days. 

I am sure he probably would be fine with a good canned food like the Prairie brand you and shengmei have suggested. I think I will try it one of these days for a change. I am not so into the raw food that I think they can't have canned food sometimes. I am just a little wary to experiment since he had been doing so good.

I am not sure if his problem could be an indication he has IBD, but I will certainly be more aware of the possibility now. Now if he has anymore problems, I will know what kind of diagnostic work to ask my vet to do. 

Thanks again......
:wink:


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Fuzzy, was your cat vomiting?


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## fuzzywuzzy (Dec 10, 2005)

Hippyhart said:


> Fuzzy, was your cat vomiting?


Hippyhart,

No, he wasn't. He has only vomited a couple of times since I have had him.

I feel very thankful that I haven't had to go through what you are gong through.

Sorry about your kitty.  

I hope there is a simple and easy remedy for your cat's health issue..


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## roseeden (May 18, 2005)

Is it true that pate style food gets cooked more so the proteins can be denatured more? Because if all the protein is denatured, it would definitely reduce the allergy problem.


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Thank you, Fuzzy -- he hasn't vomited from wet food yet, just dry food. I would be interested in seeing your raw recipe in case it comes to this with Nico. I'm not against switching to an all raw diet, but I travel for work for weeks at a time, and the cats' eating regimen has to be simple enough for the boyfriend to handle. :lol:


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## TAsunder (Apr 6, 2004)

My vet just recently discussed food allergies with me. One of my cats has excessive wax in her ears. He mentioned that this can occasionally be a food allergy. Other symptoms include excessive rubbing of one or both sides of the face against objects, to scratch it.

He mentioned that there are some prescription diets that contain alternative meats and little other potential allergens. He said that venison and lamb in particular were good for testing. The way he described it, one would get the venison food and feed only that, nothing else, for a month. If the condition got better, you would then introduce some of the old food again to make sure it was the culprit.

Nature's Variety Prairie has canned and frozen raw venison and lamb. The venison canned is actually quite expensive here, over $2/can for the 5.5 oz.


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Thanks TAsunder -- I am going to the pet store today to find out what they actually carry under the Prairie brand name (sans Chicken). 

I think it's funny to see the Lamb & Rice formulas like Iams that have Lamb and Brewers Rice as the first two ingredients, then the rest of the ingredients are corn, wheat, and all the other garbage that created the original problems.


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

Good trick, skizzor -- that's what the kitties are chowing down on now.  

Well, I've given up on dry food, as the Prairie Beef and Barley received a turned up nose (thank goodness for samples!). Nico will just have to suffer through an all wet diet from now on.

Thanks again for your tips, everyone...


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