What happens if my cat only eats dog food? Can it cause health issues?

Dog food is not formulated for cats nutritional needs, so he really needs to be on cat food. First of all, I would get him seen by your vet to find out why he has lost so much weight and get him started on a treatment plan. Based on his medical condition, it may be necessary to feed him a special diet for whatever is causing his illness. If he doesn't require a special diet, it may be that he prefers wet food now and you may need to offer that primarily and leave dry out for nibbling during the day.

It might result in diarrhea or vomiting or you may not see anything. It depends on how sensitive Midnight is to food changes. If this seems severe, make sure to take him into the vets. Also make sure that Midnight primarily eats cat food (90% or more of total diet) as cat food contains special amino acids needed for heart health. I hope this helps! Please feel free to post any additional questions!

Hepatic lipidosis in cats typically develops secondary to long-standing inappetance, liver disease, or neoplasia (cancer). These cats are generally very ill and require medications to treat the primary cause in addition to trying to get them to take in enough nutrition for their body. To start from home, you can try syringing a canned food to Gimli; if needed you can mix a little water in with it in a blender to get to a consistency that is easy to push through the syringe. Unfortunately, many of these patients do not do well with syringe feeding and a feeding tube (esophagostomy tube) is needed to get enough nutrients to them. The bright yellow urine could be due to increased bilirubin content, which is common in cats with hepatic lipidosis. I would strongly recommend getting him to a primary care veterinarian to determine what the primary cause is for the inappetance. Thorough bloodwork (complete blood count, serum chemistry, FeLV/FIV test) should be performed to begin to look for an underlying cause. Abdominal x-rays or additional bloodwork may be recommended based on these findings. The liver is very good at recovering from an injury if it is caught early and treated appropriately and aggressively. I hope Gimli feels better soon.

Sweetiepie needs to eat cat food because it has certain amino acids needed for heart health that are not found in dog food. If she gets into it every once in a while, that's fine. Fancy Feast seems to offer a variety of flavors. It's not the best food but its not the worst and it's important she eats. Also, I recommend to have Sweetiepie examined by the veterinarian if you are noticing finicky eating. At her age, kidney disease and other health concerns become more common and finicky eating can be one of the first signs of a problem. I hope this helps.

Cat food can definitely be too high in protein and often too rich for dogs, causing the type of symptoms you are seeing. In some cases, it can even cause inflammation of the pancreas. This is typically verified with lab work and/or ultrasound. If she's been vomiting for three days, this is definitely significant enough to warrant veterinary attention. She may be clinically dehydrated at this point and require some fluid therapy and anti vomiting medication. In terms of preventing Bubba from eating the cat food, the only way you are going to be able to do that is by keeping it out of his reach, or by keeping him on a leash while in the presence of the food. There is the potential to train Bubba to leave certain foods alone, but this is not something that you will be able to accomplish overnight.

That's very interesting and should definitely be shared with the veterinarian who diagnosed the IBD. Without knowing anymore about the food and her case, I would question the diagnosis. However, there's no need to worry if she is not already having any problems. She would have had diarrhea or vomiting by now if it were going to be an issue. It's best to give her on the dog food when it arrives, because it will be more nutritionally balanced for a dog. You will want to slowly (over two weeks) transition her off of the cat food though, because it's possible that too quick of a change can cause GI upsets. I'm sure your vet will also have some good advice, so it's best to contact them when you can. I hope that helps and all is well with Juicey.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Pumpkin. An occasional meal of the dog pate should not harm her assuming she is free of any underlying medical conditions. However, she should not eat it longterm. Cat food has an amino acid known as taurine that is essential for cats. This is will be deficient in the dog food. I hope this information helps!