5 pets, out of work - need to save SOMEWHERE

gettingready

Thanks for that Gunsandbanjos....

They were on Royal Canine for about 10 days, sensitive - no help so it does not look like food allergy as if they had runny (and yes - very smelly) poo on that food.... sigh....

Buttonmoons

It's probably not help but one of my cats (he is now 2, or something.....) had really sloppy poo's as a kitten, kinda just look like cow pats, but he grew out of it, sometimes now I see kinda flat poo's that probably came out sloppy (feeling queasy discussing this lol) but have hardened in the litter - and that's usually cause he's eaten something he shouldn't of - hair/milk/clothes/balloon/apple juice - he is a serial scoffer.

If their poo samples come back as okay it's maybe just thier digestive systems aren't 100% yet?

No idea, but hope they get better soon and they are soooooooooo cute!

gettingready

Buttonmoons - thanks, this is what I was thinking too...

But the vets refuse to vaccinate them while they have that runny poo, if not vaccinated - can not neuter, catch 22..grrrrr

The girls had their first lot of vaccinations last week, will take them for the second next week and will be able to neuter them end of Jan-ish.

I guess the good part in that is that it is both boys with the problem so at least having the girls neutered will prevent my littly family expanding... would have been worse if it was one boy and one girl... Just trying to see the bright side in all this..hmmm

Spoke to the vet today, they want to put them on some probiotic now as 2 different antibiotics did not help. So back to the vets with the boys tomorrow for 5pm....

Beckyy

With regards to the frontline thing, it's normal for a cat to foam at the mouth/salivate if it licks the frontline after. One of mine done it after she had it on and I was getting a little worried, but read on the frontline website that it's a side effect if they lick it.

Do they eat dry food? You could try feeding them from treat balls so that they eat slower... not sure if it would work totally as they might end up eating each others, but it could be an idea. Our t got a terat ball each in a Whiskas stocking from my Mum for xmas, they might bereduced in shops at the mo

gettingready

Beckyy- thanks for posting.

The one with the worst runny poo(Fred, tabby boy) is the MOST fussy eater ever, he will not touch dry food at all and moist food only chicken flavour, nothing else. And when people say "if hungry will eat anything " - this does not apply to Fred...

he is also absolutely mad for any raw meat, I mean.. he was trying to nick a bone from the dog today... really trying to fight the dog for it.... 2kg cat against 38kg dog.. brave one, huh?

The other one eats dry and moist not fussy.

The girls are no probs with the food at all.

purplelil

hi, it is really nice to see that you care for your pets so much when you are having these problems. I am reading with interest as am thinking of gettign another cat and want to cut down food costs without feeding complete rubiish! Many people seem to recommend Lidl dry food. Someone recommeded to me to mix good quality dry food with cheap one to save money - may be an idea! I find Asda is cheapest supermarket for cat food 12 pouches of whiskas wet for £3 which is at least 50p cheaper than anywhere else,sadly she won't eat tinned, too fussy. I give my cat Tesco odour control litter which is about £3 a bag- one bag lasts me about month, i completely change it once a week and during week just scoop out. The really cheap litter just stinks. Also the litter liners work well as the litter doesn't stick to the tray so doesn't have to be cleaned out so much, you can get these from 99p shop. A good quality air freshner such as Oust helps with the smells, Also an idea - could you train them to poo outside - would save you money!good luck with the jobsearch!:)

gettingready

Well, at the moment, due to my panic which resulted in massive spending spree to "hoard" whatever I could I have 5 bags of Orijen for Zara (15kg bags) that should last about 7 months, cat litter that should last about 4 months and cat food that should last about 4 months too.

Cat food I have is pets at home own brand in tinns, whishas kitten sachets, Go Cat dry kitten food. I mix all those for the kittens. 3 of them eat dry no problem but Fred.... sigh Fred is all another story. Not only he will not touch dry food (any dry food and I have tried a few) but also he will only eat chicken flavour moist food. I have a lot of Asda's Tiget chicken pouches and was feeding him that but now, the whiskas ones are mixture of flavours so have to make sure I leave the chicken ones for Fred....

Seriously, had a few cats in my life but never seen anything like that - he goes absolutely mad smelling any raw food and had 2 chicken drumsticks all by himself few days ago.....ate them to the absolute bone, there was NOTHING left (Zara nicked the bones later when he left it as he was GROWLING at her LOL)

I have given up on the vets for Fred and George. Yes, they do have a runny poo but not so bad any more and frankly they eat like mad, thay are de-wormed (end of December, drontal from animed direct), their poo results came clean, they have beutiful shiney coats, play like mad - I do not believe there is nothing wrong with thme and after pauing over £400 in vet fees for those 2 now I just simply can not afford to keep on taking them - it will sort out by itself. If I see any other signs apart from runny poo- they will go back but to a diffferent vet as can not afford Goddards prices any more.

The girls had their first vaccine , due for the second on the 11th-ish but this has been paid for already so will take them back. The boys will go for their vaccinations to Celia Hammond for £20 each instead of £65 each as I paid for the boys at Goddards.

Neutering will be done in Celia Hammond too as again it is about 1/3 of the Goddard's price and now I "qualify" for that kind of help as finally had my paperwork (JSA) sorted.

Can someone possibly help me out with this though?

1) Need some really deep litter trays that do not cost a fortune. Found them on Zooplus but can not pay that much really. They were 21cm and 27 cm deep and cost £16 and £22, way off my budget Between the 4 of them, the little furry monsters managed to scoop out most of the catsan out of their current litter boxes..... sigh.......

2) Had a look at various food threads for cats but can not really work it out - what would be the cheapest way to feed 4 cats (they are 5 months old now) ensuring the quality is there? As I have mentioned before, the 3 of them I could easily have on dry only as they are happy with it but because of Fred (I have seen him eat NOTHING for 3 days when I stopped moist food) I need to have some moist too. Obviously tinns are cheaper than sachets, I only got sachets (kitten) as they were on special offer at Asda (3 for 2) but if they can have a whole raw drumstick each (2 in Fred's case LOL) then their teeth are fine with normal size chunks and they do not need baby size chunks....

Taking that into account, what would be the best food to keep 4 of them happy? How much should I aim per day for? £1 per day for 4 of them? Too much? Too little? Completely lost here and really need to budget for when the current food finishes.... sigh....


On a different note though... LOL

With my heating being off.... 4 cats and a long haired dog on my bed - what a blissssssssssssssssssssssss

Thanks a lot everyone for posting here, I really appreciate all the input from fellow dog owners and cat slaves... LOts of people have been telling me to rehome my animals when I am out of work - they have no idea....how much those fury creatures mean to me

gettingready

Just looked at Orijen Feeding Guide again:

http://www.orijenpetfoods.co.uk/acatalog/orijen_feeding_guide.pdf

BIt confused about cat feeding there t be honest - keep on going down with age from 110g for a kitten to 30g for an adult...

Still, according to this, as my kitties are around 2kg now (just over) and 5 months of age, they should be getting 60g each per day if fed dry Orijen only. So it is 240g per day for 4 of them, taking a month to be 31 days we have around 7.5 kg per month.

Trying to work out the cost now....

7kg bag of Orijen Cat is £39.99 and 7kg bag of Orijen Cat (fish) is £43.99

So lets say £40 per month for the cats in Orijen with some moist food every day which could be cheaper food, just for the taste - they still get their raw meat as they like it so much... Vet told me NOT to give cats or dog raw food - yeah rite like they know anything :P

Zara eats 320g per day Orijen and I buy original and fish and mix it, for 2 bags 13.5kg of each Original and fish (just checked, thought they were 15kg bags, they are not) I pay £121 and it comes to about £45 per month to feed her Orijen only with ocassional raw meat scraps...

So between 5 of them on Orijen thaty would eat for say £85 per month. Adding some tinns from pets at home (£10 for 24 tins) and some chicken wings (raw) it is about a £100.

Sigh........

Kinski

No idea about feeding your cats as I've not had a cat for a long long time,for your toilet tray why not see if you can get a large washing up bowl they have much higher sides and might do you for a while.

paddypaws101

I bought a recycling box from Sainsbury's to use as a litter tray....it is silver, cost £7 and is about the size of a washing up bowl, with deep sides but a 'u' shape cut out that they can step through. I line it with newspaper to help cleaning and also saves on litter.;)
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/home_and_garden/storage_and_shelving/plasticstorage/107832819_strata_recycling_crates.html?hnav=4294940365
That one is similar, but I bought a single one in store.
Food wise, Zooplus do a grain free dry food which is half the price of Orijen
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/taste_of_the_wild/178009
I also recommend Bozita tins ( not tetra packs ) and Animonda Carny from Zooplus.
In shops....Butchers classic food is very cheap but actually not bad quality at all and grain free. Sainsbury's sell it.
If Fred likes raw meat, then that is cheap and easy, but remember to feed a balanced mix including offal as well as drumsticks etc It should sort out his poop as well!