From 4 to 5....and now from 5 to 6 cats..

gettingready

Teddy and Chloe - relaxing on my I mean THEIR bed:



Fred - notice he has got a spot on his chin, looks like a beard/goeatie LOL





Fiona - her Royal Princess...

gettingready

Isnt THIS cute?




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw4KVoEVcr0&feature=player_embedded#at=46

gettingready

Got a bit of a problem....

George, my ginger boy likes to go out in the garden (we have a large communal garden where I take him to, noone bothers him there, he runs around catching flies, climb the trees and has a nice time till I go downstairs and bring him back home), he never goes outside of the garden walls, he is quite happy to stay just in the garden.

There is a black cat (has a collar) that seems to come over and bully George, beats George up, starts fights - I assume that cat is not neutered and that is why he is so agressive towards my little George.

Thsi mornign I took Zara out and on the way took George to the communal garden only to get a phone call 30 min later that the black cat attacked george yet again and George was screaming .. run back home, picked George up and took him home, no obvious damage to him but still...

What on earth can I do about that black cat?

It does nto live in our block, no idea where is he coming from - if I knew, I would be on the owners doorstep NOW telling them that if they do not castrate him I will castrate THEM with my bare hands.......


I do not like my little cat to be constantly bullied by that ther cat - any ideas what to do?




Took Teddy in the garden yesterday, he sat on the wall and then jumped on the other side.. had to run round the block and bring him back home.... Need to get a harness for this one I think.....

Did not take Chloe out again as last time took me 5 hours to catch HER....

The rest of the cats (Fred, Fiona, Phoebe) are tottaly not bothered about going out.....

ON my walk with zara met a friend with his dog, Lisha is 16 (!!!!) yo boxer....

Some new photos from the last 2 days

gettingready

Ok - some ideas needed to reduce the cat/dog food/litter to as low as possible....

I am going back to work BUT my salary will be less than half of what it used to be so still need to cut down - a lot....

Will be swapping from Animonda to Classic but even with Classic and only 2 tinns per day between the 6 of them - it is already £30 per month.

Can anyone suggest decent but cheaper dry cat food?

The litter I recently bought is excellent,



14 kg for £11.55 from Zooplus - it is very economical, with 6 cats that ONLY poo/pee indoors this one lasts me nearly 2 weeks. I know there are cheaper litters but any cat owner will know those are false economy as they do nto last for long and one ends up spending more on the cheaper ones.

Unless someone can recommend a cheaper clumping litter, one that actually clumps (tried tesco and asda ones and they are total rubbish, sorry), one that comes in big bags and that I can order to be delivered with free delivery? Taking into accoutn that I have 6 cats?

Dog food - Zara is on Orijen now, that works out about £36 per month on her food. She has sensitive stomach and Orijen agrees with her and is the ONLY dry food (and I have previusly tried a few) that she actually eats BUT if someone can recommend food that will work out cheaper and is decent... Zara is 40kg but should be 35 kg so I need to feed her as if she was 35kg. I know some foods are cheaper than Orijen but one has to feed more of those so need to work out something that will be cheaper to feed, not cheaper to buy if this makes sense?

Her Seraquin I am going to swap for Tesco Glucosamine as somone has already suggested to me before (Paddypwas I think, thanks a lot).

The sad reality is that I have to go BR and I will nto be allowed very high pet related expenses on my SOA - my dog care will be £200 per month and there is absolutely no way round it - my dog walker already agreed to charge me half of she normally would (Zara will be with her for half a day, picked up and dropped off too, instead of just 1 hour walk as before - this is to keep Zara from barking the place down when I leave and keeping neighbours sane.. and a roof over mu head).

Sigh......

I know lovely people here will help me to sort the finances out... Thanks a million.

hostertlady

£30 a month?? are you sure?? i have 6 and it costs me a lot more:eek:

i was on sachets which was horrendously more expensive as there's !!!!!! all in them....... i only open 2 tins a day now between them as i found a lot was being wasted...... but they have a handful of biscuits with their meals and also have biscuits 'for bedtime routine'

ps the area around where you take your dog is stunning......
pps your ginger cat is just like my ginger cat...
ppps the amount of times i have chased tomcats out of my area for fighting with my cats is multiple.... usually in my nightie too....:eek: but toms/or someone else's cat will always come around especially after my 'girlie cats' as they are beautiful......
and any that fight with my 'boys' get me chasing after them!!!!

gettingready

£30 per month just for wet food (3x24 tins of Classic from Pets at Home at around £10 for a pack of 24) - then dry and litter is separate...

Can we pls have a photo of you in your nightie chasting the tom cats?

rita-rabbit

Dried: - Burns & Arden Grange

wet: - more offal, ox heart - buy some & dice & put into freezer bags in batches. Also large tins of human grade pilchards - am trying this with mine - v cheap & good for them. Lastly Smilla - am still trialling this with mine - they generally wolfing whatever wet I give them - but maybe that's because they know that the other choice is nothing - I feed wet in the mornings & dried in the evenings.

cheaper clumping: - Aldi or Liddles (mix it with other stuff tho) - I think this is the more challenging regarding cost thb & still experiment & mix with my 2 - depending on how finances are/what's on offer at the time. I still chuck in wood pellets due to nice fragrance ocassionally.

Glad you are asking for more tips on cutting costs - will be watching this with great interest.

gettingready

Thanks - yes, the litter is a very big expense....

I will stick to Classic as wet, works out the cheapest really and is quite decent..

Sigh...

rising_from_the_ashes

Glad the litter's turned out well (previous thread where I was looking to change) - still have 1 bag of wood left but will then be giving this a try.

Can't help re the black cat I'm afraid. I've got one that comes into my garden (thankfully only at night) and drives mine nuts as they can't get out to chase it away - dread the day when they're out and it comes round:(.

Re Zara's food - is she allergic/intolerant to anything?

Mr B's not able to have wheat so very hard to find things to suit - the two I've found work the best are:

• Wainwright's - available from PAH - £33.49 for 15kg (they sometimes do B1G1 1/2 price)

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/dog/dog-food-treats/dry-dog-food/?ref1=1|Brand-|Wainwrights

• Skinner's duck & rice - I get this from my local pet store for £23 for 15kg but you can get online too

http://www.skinnerspetfoods.co.uk/products/field---trial-products/duck---rice/

Both do Mr B around 6 weeks and he's 38kg so a good comparison to Zara - he does get some veg mixed in (cabbage etc - batch cook & freeze - very economical).


It does annoy me that they do big tins of dog food but don't seem to do the same with cat food!!!!!

gettingready

Raising from the Ashes - thanks a lot for that.

Need to work out price per month for Zara on teh food you recommend as very often a gab is cheaper as such but one has to feed more so the overall cost does not change - sigh..... Will calculate as looked at Skinners already before but do nto remember what it worked out as?

I feed 275 g Orijen per day, I believe Skinners recommendation was 450g per day (so nearly double the amount) - need to work this out price wise...

I am not awar of Zara being allergic as such but she does have a very sensitive tummy - which is not fun with a long haired GS with a lot of long hair on her butt if her stomach plays up - as I am sure yu can imagine...

Thanks a lot