Feeding the Cats

LittleMissAspie

A 7kg bag of Orijen lasts my cat 6 months. At £40 per bag I make that about 22p per day. That makes your calculation of Hills expensive compared to Orijen.

Not sure why you are getting so het up Chameleon? I can't see that Firefox has posted anything horrible.

~Chameleon~

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

A 7kg bag of Orijen lasts my cat 6 months. At £40 per bag I make that about 22p per day. That makes your calculation of Hills expensive compared to Orijen.

Not sure why you are getting so het up Chameleon? I can't see that Firefox has posted anything horrible.

I'm not getting het up at all, quite the reverse. The day I ever get "het up" by something posted on a forum, I'll quit lol ... I also never suggested Firefox had posted anything horrible

I was merely clarifying my points to clear up any confusion. Far too many pedants on this board :rotfl:


Btw, my calculation of Hill's was based on 'recommended daily food allowance' ... a 2kg bag would actually feed both of my cats for near enough a month

And if we want to carry on with the pedantry a 15kg sack costing £70 would last more than a year for a single cat, costing just 18p per day

In fact there's not a great deal of variation cost wise amongs the premium brands. I feed my cats Royal Canin and the cost is around the same as Hill's, Orijen etc. I feed it because it suits my cats' needs than because it's cheaper than alternatives.

timmmers

I learned a new little trick this week trying to wean one of my 3 onto meat from his fave Felix with jelly. I mixed the new food in small quantities into the old food...and in the tin to make him think it's same old routine. He fell for it. I'm up to 3/4 new raw mised in now...and he's no wiser.

They are like us a little, they like routines. I think the tin is the main thing for my old boy not the food.

Wouldn't it be nice to have cats that ate anything without fuss? My 3 cost more than I do to feed :rotfl:

t

timmmers

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

A 7kg bag of Orijen lasts my cat 6 months. At £40 per bag I make that about 22p per day. That makes your calculation of Hills expensive compared to Orijen.

Not sure why you are getting so het up Chameleon? I can't see that Firefox has posted anything horrible.

Orijen is similar to cat biscuits in texture ? Mine all like biccies..I may try that.
I'm not keen on them having too much go-cat as it makes one of them sick sometimes.

t

paddypaws101

'Trouble is have never cooked thinks like kidneys and hearts, does anyone know the best way to cook them. Or should it be minced raw?'

My cats seem to like them raw, but on day 2 or 3 when not so fresh I have simply boiled chicken hearts, kidney and liver in a little water for a minute or 2. Then add plain gelatine following instructions on pack. Chill
Bingo...offal in jelly! Yum...well they seem to think so

Caution. too much liver is toxic for cats...and of course the above mix is not 'complete' but can be given a couple of times a week i should think as part of a healthy balance

lostinrates

henbane, please excuse any cattiness! (pun intended). It all gets a bit heated, because everyone cares a lot. Which is a good thing.

My thoughts, fwiw. Correct animal nutrition is really important to me, but eating at all comes before eating perfectly, when things are tight.

To get your cats to eat other foods will be the first issue. Cats can develop very limited tastes...its noted, and why breeders will often give a varied diet of biscuits and wet, to make ownership easier, even if they might prefer their own cats had what they felt was the same consistant diet.

Personally, I'd be seeing if when pushed and a little hungry your guys might be less particular. Perhaps mixing their favourit food with another to make it go further at first.

When introducing my cats I use the lef over dust from their (exensive) treats as theyll eat anything with that on.

I found mine weren't so interested in raw at first, so we tied a chicken wing on string and turned it into a game, after a while and a few catches f the dead wing, they chomped on it a few times and eventually got he idea. Reduced meat can be frozen.

Cooked oxtails, or the broth off cooked oxtails (I like the meat!) sends ALL my carnivourous animals crazy in the way nothing else does.

Keep an eye out for whoopsied food, there often is some.

FWIW, I have returned to label reading, inspried by fire fox and have found her reporting of labelling/costs to be spot on. Cost to amount fed/quality is more MSE in the long run.

Also, is there any chance your cats are carrying a little extra weight? If so the stress of being picky need not be quite so bad, as it will benefit them, and feeding less will be cheaper too.

Again,I reiterate, I think it is importnat as animal owners we feed our animals as well as we can, but I think it most vital they are fed at all, and safely. If pushed we could make cut backs on the animals food that I would do, but would reverse when we could afford it.

Good luck!

spike7451

When I got Daisy in Sept,I bought a tin of each brand type food for her.I now know she wont eat anything in gravy or supermeat !!!!.
She will eat Kit-E-Kat,Co-Op own & P@Home & thats it.

GettingHitched

wow, things get a bit heated over here dont they...nowt quite like a good punch up :beer:

fwiw, I feed my two boys (7mos and 8mos) a mixed diet. They mainly have raw ( as do my 3 mutts ) that costs next to nothing, get most of what I need free from the butcher ( lambs ribs, chick wings/backs/carcasses, muscle meat ) basically anything that they are going to chuck because its slightly past being ok for humans (cats and dogs dont care tho!) all I add to the diet ie pay for is; liver (chicken, lamb, ox or pig, kidneys, hearts, fish (usually fresh, but sometimes tinned) pots of value natural yog and the odd box of reduced price eggs.
They do have a box of PAH purely in the cupboard which I give them a small bowl of before I go to work. At their 6mo check up, vets were very impressed with how healthy they are, shiny coats and steady growth.

If you have any butchers near you (or have a look in your yellow pages for chicken processing ) go and ask what they do with their leftovers, explain what its for (I buy my meat from the same butcher...so im not just nicking the freebies ) and keep your eye out for the reduced bits in shops and your away.

My dogs and cats cost my about £3-£4 per week to feed in this manner.

timmmers

On the subject of fussy eating cats..

I got my HUGE insulated box of cat food from a site mentioned here already, I decided to get a few Kg of chicken wings as the 3 of them like chicken enough to steal a raw full one.

After filling the freezer under scrutiny by all 3 of the boys I defrosted some chicken wings as a treat, they looked at it..not interested. :eek: and I have 12 bags of them left.

A light boil to make them look more like chicken but not make the bones brittle, I tried again ...still no interest. Gutted I gave up and left it. five minutes ago i find each cat has snuck away and stolen one of the other's wings and they are all happily eating it now it's stolen :rotfl:

The big old lazy boy being fastest eater has now discovered what a remarkably comfy bed the insulated box it came in makes and is fast asleep in it.

Don't give up if your tiggers play hard to get, remember what greedy !!!!!!s they are by nature

t

cyberbob

I'll try and ignore the cattiness in this thread. These are just my opinions from years of working with Pedigree and rescue cats.

Raw Food - A Raww food diet can be difficult. It can be difficult to get the right mixture of vitamins and Minerals that a cat needs. You need a lot of time to preprepare meals. Those who feed there cats raw diets are almost evangelical in there beliefs. Do your own research if your going down this route there is a lot of information out there both pro and con.

A lot of people say that a dry diet is best only for your cat. Personally I have found that cats fed just on a dry diet are normally desperate for something else and more likely to scavenge and steal food from places. Also just think a cat is basically a wild animal when did they open a pack of biscuits?

I feed my cats (6 of them a 4 pedigrees 2 moggies) on a mixture of wet and dry. Royal canin dry and Pets at home wet.
Shop around you can get really good bargains online be prepared to buy in bulk and you can get prices down. Just remember not to chop and change your cats diet too much as they get up set tummies easily and its not nice having to clean up cat puke