Cat feeding advice sought.

KiKi

If I followed the feeding advice on supermarket cat food brands, mine would be the size of houses. Actually, they wouldn't - I'd be throwing away dishfuls of food a day.

I feed mine dry food in the morning - Applaws chicken or chicken and salmon. 80% meat, minimal carbs.

In the evening they eat LESS than one 70g tin between them! Again, Applaws, chicken or a tuna variety. They have a running water fountain all day. Having said that I've recently discovered that they prefer the jelly versions of Applaws, so I will buy those from now on and that way I know they will eat a bit more (with food that's really good).

I give them Whiskas treats, though - they go crazy for them!

OP, I'd give what you're happy to, and what works for the cat. As long as you're happy to do it for her (you could try not giving in, but if you're anything like me, you won't be able to!), then go for it. If she starts to put on too much weight, or doesn't gain weight, you can change her regime. I'd make sure one of the foods is a 'complete' food, though.

meritaten

or she may just be used to 'human' food right now! she might have had to 'scavenge' for a while! could you give her 'scraps' plus whatever you want to feed her?
my last cat nicki absolutely loved Chow Mien and Curry and Chips from the Chinese takeaway - but only if they were served in the foil trays! put them in his dish and he didn't want to know!

KiKi

meritaten wrote: »

but only if they were served in the foil trays! put them in his dish and he didn't want to know!

That's the cat mantra, though, surely? Water in a bowl is not to be drunk; water in the slave's glass is delicious. Paper sitting casually on the floor is not interesting; paper which the slave needs is the the cat's new seating area. A cat bed is never to be touched; the slave's favourite jumper is the place to sleep.

If it officially belongs to the cat, the cat doesn't want it; if it officially belongs to the slave, then the cat wants it.

ERICS_MUM

My Eric, who turned 16 last week, still munches his way through at least 3 pouches a day plus maybe a tablespoon of dried food. He also loves a small tin of tuna fish in spring water once a week and a small pack of "value" prawns every few days. There is wet food in his bowl most of the day, I just top it up as he asks me.

He goes through "phases" with his food - he will love the large tins of Whiskas for a few weeks then turn his nose up. Then he will eat nothing but expensive mini-tins. Next week he will scoff the really cheap stuff from value supermarkets. etc etc I have to buy a wide range of stuff to keep his maj happy and purring.

Here he is:

[URL="[URL=http://s329.photobucket.com/user/ERICSMUM/media/ERIC/EricSept122.jpg.html][IMG]http://i329.photobucket.com/albums/l378/ERICSMUM/ERIC/EricSept122.jpg[/IMG][/URL]"][/url]

tea_lover

Eric is a beaut!

Our cat eats at least 2 pouches a day, sometimes 3. He has dry food down throughout the day and usually gets through a small bowl of that most days.

He's definitely awkward though (typical cat!) Will love something one week then shun it completely the next.

thehappybutterfly

I had my two boys at the vet last week for their annual check up and innoculations and got a bit of a telling off (again) for overfeeding them. Rest assured, they're far from fat but you certainly can't easily feel their ribs and spine and they both have a bit of an, ahem, low-slung belly

Mine have dry kibble type food available 24/7 plus they each get half a pouch of wet in the morning and another at tea time. Sometimes if they're particularly whingey, they'll get some in the middle of the night too. Sigh.

My vet is dead against a dry-food-only diet and is concerned that many cats these days get a dry complete food available to them at all times, as well as a complete wet food. And snacks. He says one or the other but preferably wet, and NO snacks. He suggests two pouches of a good quality food per day is sufficient. His concern about dry food is that it's very filling and has ingredients that encourage cats to overeat. Much like our McD's I suppose?

They're standard size moggies btw.

It's a shame I just bought a 5kg bag of dry a couple of days before their appointment but it's not going to waste. I'll carry on doing what I'm doing until the bag's finished then shift over to the wet only and see how it goes.

thehappybutterfly

meritaten wrote: »

or she may just be used to 'human' food right now! she might have had to 'scavenge' for a while! could you give her 'scraps' plus whatever you want to feed her?
my last cat nicki absolutely loved Chow Mien and Curry and Chips from the Chinese takeaway - but only if they were served in the foil trays! put them in his dish and he didn't want to know!

My little one loves Chinese food! And pie crust. But he likes to steal it off plates then runs through to his bowl with it and drops it in! That way it's his. No questions asked.

GlynD

meritaten wrote: »

Its just a thought but as she is a stray, perhaps she is used to er, less expensive food such as kit e kat, or even supermarket own brand tinned food?

meritaten wrote: »

or she may just be used to 'human' food right now! she might have had to 'scavenge' for a while! could you give her 'scraps' plus whatever you want to feed her?
my last cat nicki absolutely loved Chow Mien and Curry and Chips from the Chinese takeaway - but only if they were served in the foil trays! put them in his dish and he didn't want to know!

We did think of that but we're no going to go down the road of feeding her unhealthy stuff. Chinese stuff especially is packed with MSG and other salt. Not good for the wee thing. She seems to enjoy her wet dinner so much and does eat at least some Purina. These wee Gourmet and Sheba tins seem to be the answer. I've gone through this discussion with the memsahib and we're both more content now to feed her more wet dinners.

She does leave behind what she doesn't want in some cases so we know she's not gorging herself, and she's very active so we're hoping she won't put on excess weight. That was our primary concern as she seems to be quite rotund!

Thanks for stepping in with your comments.

Better_Days

KiKi wrote: »

That's the cat mantra, though, surely? Water in a bowl is not to be drunk; water in the slave's glass is delicious. Paper sitting casually on the floor is not interesting; paper which the slave needs is the the cat's new seating area. A cat bed is never to be touched; the slave's favourite jumper is the place to sleep.

If it officially belongs to the cat, the cat doesn't want it; if it officially belongs to the slave, then the cat wants it.

Reminds me of this cartoon:

GlynD

Better_Days wrote: »

Reminds me of this cartoon:

Fantastic - never saw anything more accurate. :rotfl: