advice needed from cat owners / lovers

tanith

My cats only ever went to the vet for neutering and if they were ill or the odd small accident or keeping teeth in order no inoculations for this or that... they have all lived healthy long lives the last one I lost lived to 20 and I also have an old lady of 18, I have recently read some articles that have implied that all these inoculations are not good for the cat..... but each to his own....

sleepymy

Yes they need taurine, I think the veggie foods put synthetic taurine in or you can get it separately to add to their food. I know people who've managed this successfully but am unsure if I could do it correctly. Personally I feel that there hasn't been enough research done on the long term effects so I feed mine a complete dry food which contains meat.

You can read more here http://www.vegancats.com/pages/1007/FAQ.htm#1070
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/catfood.html

It's still possible to get meat based pet food that hasn't been produced by experimenting on animals.

Eels100

wageslave wrote: »

Cat protection usually offer free neutering in the form of vouchers to cat owners, contact them and ask.
I honestly dont know how 1 cat can cost 6 quid a week to feed. I feed my moggy morrisons gourmet when I feel lazy or tins of really cheap tuna. Mostly I buy salmon scrap ends from the supermarkets, microwave them and refrigerate. I think its costs me about 4 quid tops.

Eek, don't feed a cat on just tuna - cats have very special dietary needs because there are some amino acids which are vital for life which they cannot make, so must obtain from diet. PLEASE feed food made for cats - it doesn't matter if it's cheap or expensive, as long as the cat has access to proper cat food! Tuna makes a great treat and there's nothing wrong with that but the basic diet must be a complete food in order to avoid potentially life-threatening illness.

And can I edit to add that there are still questions over the suitability of dry food, because it's now recognised that many cats do not drink adequate amounts when fed dry food. The resultant lower urine throughput can lead to formation of uroliths (bladder stones) and cystitis. There is a direct correlation between overweight, male neutered housecats, dry food and feline lower urinary tract disease which is not disputed. And for goodness sake, it's hardly ethical to feed cats vegetable-based diets, supplemented or not. If you don't like to feed meat then I don't think an obligate carnivore is the right pet for you!

Can I suggest that for matters as important as correct nutrition of pets you seek the advice of someone qualified to comment on the matter, rather than the internet. Most vet practices will be happy to advise on this subject over the phone, and some have veterinary nurses with nutritional training who can help you decide what's best. It really irks me to see how many people rely on out of date advice from well-meaning but unqualified people online rather than going to more trustworthy sources. For what you pay for a vaccination and health check, you can rightly expect to get advice on nutrition and care at the same time - so ask!

sleepymy

Eels100 wrote: »

And for goodness sake, it's hardly ethical to feed cats vegetable-based diets, supplemented or not. If you don't like to feed meat then I don't think an obligate carnivore is the right pet for you!

Who has recommended a vegetable diet for cats?

Eels100

sleepymy wrote: »

Who has recommended a vegetable diet for cats?

Nobody directly, I just thought I'd get it in while I was on my soapbox ... :whistle:

I'm currently being distracted by my cat who is making a strong argument that cats should have free acess to Danone Activia yoghurt (strawberry flavoured) ... he seems unconvinced by my counter that it's far too high in lactose for him and cats really don't need fruit ...

milkydrink

Eels100 wrote: »

And can I edit to add that there are still questions over the suitability of dry food, because it's now recognised that many cats do not drink adequate amounts when fed dry food. The resultant lower urine throughput can lead to formation of uroliths (bladder stones) and cystitis. There is a direct correlation between overweight, male neutered housecats, dry food and feline lower urinary tract disease which is not disputed. And for goodness sake, it's hardly ethical to feed cats vegetable-based diets, supplemented or not. If you don't like to feed meat then I don't think an obligate carnivore is the right pet for you!!

The cheap stuff yes, but if you look at the good stuff you will see these are formulated to encourage the cat to drink more & have ingrediants to prevent unrnary trait problems. You are confusing the likes of go-cat & whiskers with Hills & Royal Canine.

Eels100 wrote: »

Can I suggest that for matters as important as correct nutrition of pets you seek the advice of someone qualified to comment on the matter, rather than the internet. Most vet practices will be happy to advise on this subject over the phone, and some have veterinary nurses with nutritional training who can help you decide what's best. It really irks me to see how many people rely on out of date advice from well-meaning but unqualified people online rather than going to more trustworthy sources. For what you pay for a vaccination and health check, you can rightly expect to get advice on nutrition and care at the same time - so ask!

Which is why nearly all vets will suggest a QUALITY dried diet, most sell Hills. A trainee vet told me that Royal Canine is the most expensive because it has the higest "quality" meat % of all the animal foods. They has just doneb the animal nutrition part of their degree.

Eels100, you don't approve of complete dried diets for cats & you don't approve of the Tuna & salmon one. You said to feed cat food??
What do you suggest, Tins??
I do agree 100% that they should not be fed a veggi diet!!!

daphne_descends

Cats can be encouraged to drink more if you put bowls of water in more than one room - and of course it must be changed frequently.

Eels you're absolutely right about seeking advice from vets, but I've found (admittedly limited experience) that nutrition isn't top of the list of priorities with vets - some I've seen almost seem scared to give general advice. My ideal would be a fresh diet supplemented with vitamins but that's not very MSE. But a cat owner is responsible for their pets wellbeing, health and happiness and it should be taken seriously.

MrsTinks

A mix of dry and "wet" food is definitely better for your cat. The dry food will help keep the teeth nice and clean and the wetfood will help prevent cystitis. My moggies are like chalk and cheese. One will eat ANYTHING and the other is a right skinny fusspot... So I occasionally have to chop and change diets to suit her madamship. At the moment we're doing fine on a mixed Tesco's own diet. Morning meal is dried food for both and the evening meal is usually tinned Tesco's own. I don't give them tinned during the day because of flies and the heat of summer coming up (yuck yuck yuck) so once they have cleared their bowls at night they are stuck in the sink and washed or in the dishwasher. Both cats seem very healthy on this it has to be said They both have gorgeous coats and are very healthy according to my mate who's also their vet :rotfl: They do occasionally get a few prawns as treats, a bit of spare cooked chicken or some cat milk and very rarely some tinned tuna, but only the spring water sort

Eels100

kimevans wrote: »

You are confusing the likes of go-cat & whiskers with Hills & Royal Canine.

No I'm not - even premium dried food does not contain enough moisture. Well respected feline medicine specialists from UK faculties of veterinary medicine agree on this - which is good enough for me.

kimevans wrote: »

Which is why nearly all vets will suggest a QUALITY dried diet, most sell Hills. A trainee vet told me that Royal Canine is the most expensive because it has the higest "quality" meat % of all the animal foods. They has just doneb the animal nutrition part of their degree.

The veterinary medicine degree courses contains barely a whiff of nutrition, and RCW who make the Royal Canin brand of food sponsor the lectures in most vet schools ... :rolleyes:

kimevans wrote: »

Eels100, you don't approve of complete dried diets for cats & you don't approve of the Tuna & salmon one.
What do you suggest, Tins??

Yes! Dried food makes little difference to dental health anyway - plenty cats develop gingivitis despite lifelong dry food diets. If you want your cat to have healthy teeth then I'd recommend feeding ready meals, in the form of mice! All that crunching of bones is why dental health isn't a problem for cats in the wild ...

For the record my cat enjoys James Wellbeloved kibble every day (although what difference the cranberry extracts make to his urinary health I wouldn't like to say!) but he also has a variety of wet food and fountain water available freely, as well as whatever he chooses to catch.

Anu

I spend ages researching the cats diets because we have 2 gorgeous indoor cats and the both have a mixed diet, Dried food in the mornings (James Wellbeloved), Wet (Natures Menu) in the evenings and chucks of good quality RAW meat, generally a bit of whatever we're having for dinner.

In my opinion i'd stay well away from cheaper brands of cat food with poor meat contents and even what is in there is poor quality meat....and this includes Whiskas & Felix, even their apparently better quality branded stuff.

The best thing for a cats teeth is actually 1/2- 1 inch of raw chicken neck, let them chew and chomp on that for a while and it's better than any dried food or toothbrush! And before everyone starts to panic about raw chicken and salmonella, it's perfectly safe as cats have a much shorter digestive tract that us so can manage it perfectly fine without contracting anything. After all how many cats do you see in the garden carefully barbequeing their recently caught mouse, bird or frog!

I honestly believe that raw meat, bone and sinew is the best for them and when i finally find enough time my girls are going onto a raw food diet!

Litter wise, we have been through pretty much every brand and if the cats will go for it (not all cat's will as it can be sharp on their paws) then definitely go for Litter crystals ( we use Bob Martin) because they are great, 1 bag will usually last 3-4 weeks per cat and you only scoop poo out. Smell wise this is the BEST we've found. With indoor cats you're a lot more aware of the smells, especially in summer and this neautralises them completely! We've really noticed the difference against "normal" clay based litters...

My one other peice of advice for indoor cats is to invest in a really good high scratch post, one they can really stretch up on because it will save your sofa's....I bought ours from here....

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/scratching_posts

It's worth getting a decent sized cat tree i think because our girls use it every day and it encourages them to do a bit of climbing which they miss out on being inside....

These are our 2 girls,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clubberholic/sets/72157594478592216/
they're really healthy happy indoor cats and we love them to peices, if you need any more advice then just PM and I'll be happy to help!