Adopting two cats (requirements v. just one cat)

paddypaws101

Try and get them both on to a majority wet diet....410g tins will always work out a lot cheaper than single pouches or foil trays. Bozita tins from Zooplus are a pretty good food for the price, no fillers or grains just meat.
If they will eat bones, then chomping on a RAW chicken wing a couple of times a week will do wonders to keep their teeth clean and in good condition. Cheap cuts of meat such as stewing steak, pig kidney/heart etc can also be fed a couple of times a week as a boost to the diet.

lisajane8482

paddypaws101 wrote: »

If they will eat bones, then chomping on a RAW chicken wing a couple of times a week will do wonders to keep their teeth clean and in good condition.

Do you just give them the whole chicken wing? probably a stupid question but I was thinking our kitten would probably eat them as he loooves chicken.

paddypaws101 wrote: »

Cheap cuts of meat such as stewing steak, pig kidney/heart etc can also be fed a couple of times a week as a boost to the diet.

Do you raw feed these? Just trying to get ideas for Gizmo as he won't eat treats such as dreamies etc so he hardly gets anything treat wise except the occasional bit of cooked chicken. Salem on the other hand won't eat meat (cooked or raw).

springer211

The plan is to feed them a mixture of smilla/animonda wet and applaws/almo nature dry food, depending on what they like to eat.
I will try and feed them raw meat as well, my previous cat refused to eat anything raw/home cooked (probably not enough additives, poor thing).

Buttonmoons

You people are so lucky, I have 3 cats and 3 trays - 1 is a massive hooded one and 2 regular sized ones. The youngest male cat is such a pest and will go pizz on the carpet in a corner if it's not "clean enough" and thus I need the 3 as they all seem to have their favourites - although youngest doesnt mind state of litter box when he hears me going to clean it and will squeeze something out on purpose, grrr.

GracieMay

Hello

My gorgeous old boy cat died suddenly in July last year. We said we would never have another one as he was irreplaceable. We lasted 3 weeks - the house was too empty. I was informed about a shelter that had difficulty finding homes for black kittens (seemingly they are less desireable) so we went for "just a visit" and came home with a new family! I'd only ever had single cats before, but two is so much fun. They entertain each other, clearly love each to bits and watching them clean each other is so loving. We bought so much stuff for them but most was a waste of money. They shared a litter tray, have one bowl each plus a shared bowl for biscuits and a shared bowl for water. They refused to use the expensive bed we bought, preferring to sleep on our bed. But loved the mouse on a stick toy and balls. (they now prefer real mice, baby rabbits and leaves). They are just about a year old now and are the best decision we ever made. They have such different personalities (which you don't really notice when you have a single cat). Good luck and have great fun.

paddypaws101

lisajane8482 wrote: »

Do you just give them the whole chicken wing? probably a stupid question but I was thinking our kitten would probably eat them as he loooves chicken.

Do you raw feed these? Just trying to get ideas for Gizmo as he won't eat treats such as dreamies etc so he hardly gets anything treat wise except the occasional bit of cooked chicken. .

Some cats can and do handle the whole wing, others need a bit of help which you can do by cutting through the skin to expose the flesh, or along the two bones of the mid section of wing. I have even resorted to putting the wing in a plastic bag and pulverising it with a lump hammer to encourage a finicky cat.:D
The stewing steak etc can also be fed raw, and bigger chewier pieces are better for the teeth if you can work up to them. Mine all love pig kidneys and heart but be careful not to feed more than a couple of chunks at a time as they can cause a bit of a runny bum.

paulineb_2

I feed my cats on dry food, they have had tinned food in the past but I dont give them it anymore and I dont feed them raw meat. Its cheaper and also Im not comfortable giving them tinned food which is basically just parts of an animal from the slaughterhouse thats no use anywhere else.

Plus Ive seen a few ads recently that suggest that cats, dogs and other domestic pets can also end up in cat and dog food. When some animals are cremated, if the owner doesnt pay to have the ashes back, they can end up in the food chain.

Everyone has different views but my cats havent had tinned food for over a year now and have had no problems with it. Ive 5 boy cats and a girl cat.

Also, tinned cat food is shockingly expensive, about 75p a tin in some shops.

Leaporlepor

lisajane8482 wrote: »

Just trying to get ideas for GizmoQUOTE]

I have a Gizmo also. :T

I feed mine on a mix on tinned and dry. Him and the little 'un get on well. They have never used a cat bed. I've noticed that some of the cats that i've had can be funny with drinking/eating out of bowels made from certain materials. Mine will only eat food from a plastic bowel but will only drink from ceramic.

springer211

paulineb wrote: »

I feed my cats on dry food, they have had tinned food in the past but I dont give them it anymore and I dont feed them raw meat. Its cheaper and also Im not comfortable giving them tinned food which is basically just parts of an animal from the slaughterhouse thats no use anywhere else.

Plus Ive seen a few ads recently that suggest that cats, dogs and other domestic pets can also end up in cat and dog food. When some animals are cremated, if the owner doesnt pay to have the ashes back, they can end up in the food chain.

Everyone has different views but my cats havent had tinned food for over a year now and have had no problems with it. Ive 5 boy cats and a girl cat.

Also, tinned cat food is shockingly expensive, about 75p a tin in some shops.

I'm not questioning your choice of giving them dry food, but I would have though that dry food uses the same animal parts that you dislike in wet food (in very tiny percentages as the bulk would be grain based I think).
Unless you are talking about better quality dry food with high meat content, in which case I misunderstood your post.

personally I found that feeding good quality wet food like smilla, or dry food like almo nature/applaws is not much more expensive.
I did some costing, and the cost per day to feed a cat would approx be:
WET (1 tin approx.)
Smilla 77p
Wiskas 83p
Tescos 42p

DRY
almo nature 23p
applaws 28p
whiskas 14p

(I used mainly zoo plus and my supermarket, bulk buying prices and followed manufacturers feeding guidelines, didn't include food from places like home bargains and lidl)
Someone who doesn't want to feed just dry food but finds high meat content wet food too expensive could do half and half, still much much better than feeding rubbish wet food from supermarkets.