does anyone else have cats that will not go on mse diet?

dND

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

Dry food only diet! was that recommended by the vet. Vets have this 'thing' with dry food as they tend to put you on a 'special' plan for your cat that costs a bomb and can only be purchased from the vet. Dry food actually expands (try dropping one biscuit in a little bit of water) so as soon as the cat eats it and it enters there stomach it expands and makes them bloated. Not good for cat and in the long run not good for owner either as its lots of vet bill in there old age. Cats are carnivores they eat meat, keep them on a meat diet with biscuits substituted (as you have).

Having read that I raced off to the kitchen to drop the dried food into some water :rotfl:The Hills and the Purina Cat chow( the latter might be France only) do swell a little but not really noticeable. I've used dry food for more then 7 years and the cats are reasonably happy with it with the occasional mouse supplement. I love it because there are no flies, no smelly tins etc.

I tried my cats on the Tesco's own back in the beginning but after a year I did notice that the cats weren't looking quite as healthy and they had lost weight despite eating more and more. I switched back and they returned to a healthy weight and lovely fur to boot.

Cat milk. I believe that it's better for the cats because of the reduced lactose content so I used to buy the UHT (human) reduced lactose milk, much cheaper. Not as creamy as the real cat milk but they got used to it. I do wonder about the need though. I remember my aunts farm cats, they all seemed to live to over 20 and had full cream milk more or less straight from the cow, every day.

I remember being told many years ago that Whiskers had something in it that made it addictive for cats and that was why once the cats had it they wouldn't eat anything else - I wonder if that was ever true or just an urban myth.:D

Jacks_xxx

itsgototstop wrote: »

I would do the same, mse or what (not!) they give so much pleasure and all they want is affection, food and warmth...for the sake of a bit extra every month why not!

Ps I am a mse with regards to me, but my cats are yet to buy in to the concept

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

My cat does like it when Martin's on't telly though (Cos I settle down on the sofa and he gets a bit of fuss!)

He used to run to the sofa when he heard the Neighbours theme tune too cos when he was a kitten that music meant I'd be heading for the sofa with a cuppa and guaranteed cuddles would ensue.

(Blimey. I confess ALL of my embarassing sins on 'ere!)

Love Jacks xxx

itsgototstop

Most people here with cats tend to cut their own food rather than the cats first;)

We are all slighty under the paw I reckon:D

dND

itsgototstop wrote: »

Most people here with cats tend to cut their own food rather than the cats first;)

We are all slightly under the paw I reckon:D

As they say, Dogs have owners, Cats have staff

DKLS

I am lucky, my cat has been renamed Pig, he will eat anything I put in front of him, including a very spicy chicken Jalfrazi I left out last night :eek: that has all gone not even a trace of sauce, he also loves red wine, when he gets the chance.

To save a few quid, Makro is quite good when they have offers, otherwise, if you have any friends that have dogs or cats, club together and go to a Petfood wholesaler, they are easily found on google and there is no shortage of them, they usually have a minimum spend of £75 to keep out joe public, but you can easily spend that if a few of you are stocking up.

eg The 25kg sack of dog food that I used to buy was £32.50 in the shops was £13 at the wholesalers. Plus you can get extra large sacks of kit lit, so its so much more economical.

I used to combine a trip to the Pet food wholesaler, with a trip to the Asian Food wholesalers.

moneydesperate_x

Hi
Just been reading through this thread and having a good old laugh!

I have two cats, a home cat (Pickle) and a stable cat (Dillon) that lives at my stable yard. They are both fussy, Dillon will only eat Aldi pouches (I think they are 1.89 for 12 which is the same as Asda i think?) and Pickle will only eat Hills dried!

I know Waitrose (I dont pay for the food shopping!) has Breakies dried biscuits (Complete) for 49p per box, I have been buying these for Dillon for a good three months now and he loves them.

I would go without food long before any of my pets would!

dubsey

Jacks I love that you called your cat Mulder we called DD Dana! As for the cats, apart from Molly they all got called after cars because we're a car mad family. Molly had two litters and we kept one kitten from each litter, which is how we ended up with three cats even though I am incredibly allergic to them! Not only do they cost a fortune to feed, but I have to take two spoons of Piriton syrup everyday .

Molly has gone this afternoon on Tesco food and I've not had any incidents anywhere - yet, so hopefully there won't be any presents outside the bedroom door or on the stairs overnight! I think I'm winning :j

sarahlsmith22

itsgototstop wrote: »

Not sure if this is true but my local cat rescue told me that cats learn what behaviour gets them rewarded....ie if having a hissy fit brings back nice food he will do it:rotfl:

I see what you mean, I just don't know how to deal with the biting and scratching while I am trying to get him onto the new food, it bleeds when he does this and it flipping hurts, what should I do do you think - put him outside when he is naughty?

I just though I need supernanny for the cat, to whip him into shape with a naughty step and a convincing star chart working towards cheaper dinners and not opening the spare room and sleeping on the bed!

KiKi

Sarah

Cats absolutely learn behaviour - exactly the same way children do. They learn to manipulate very early on - exactly like children do!

However, cats don't learn through punishment like being put outside; they tend to react with fear when that happens (happened to my little one) - they're not able to relate punishment to bad behaviour like dogs are in the same way.

Cats learn much better through being ignored, and being rewarded. So when he eats the new food, reward him with strokes and tickles and sit by the bowl with him as he eats.

If he scratches you, don't shout, don't put him outside...just ignore it and show no affection, and don't feed him anything else if you're really insistent that you want to move him onto new food.

Also, cats are creatures of habit - and they get confused and upset very easily if their environment changes. They can't help it, it's just how they're hard-wired. So it's much, much better to mix old and new food and changeover over a period of about 5 days. Same if you want to change litter types.

HTH,
SuperCatNanny (aka KiKi)

sarahlsmith22

KiKi wrote: »

Sarah

Cats learn much better through being ignored, and being rewarded. So when he eats the new food, reward him with strokes and tickles and sit by the bowl with him as he eats.

If he scratches you, don't shout, don't put him outside...just ignore it and show no affection, and don't feed him anything else if you're really insistent that you want to move him onto new food.

Also, cats are creatures of habit - and they get confused and upset very easily if their environment changes. They can't help it, it's just how they're hard-wired. So it's much, much better to mix old and new food and changeover over a period of about 5 days. Same if you want to change litter types.

HTH,
SuperCatNanny (aka KiKi)

Haha supercatnanny, thanks for the info, if there is no way to do it without getting scratched and bitten then I am just going to give up, not very MSE but neither is bulk buying antiseptic cream! The biting and scratching is not just me but anyone who is in the house at the time and happens when he is being ingnored or not (i.e. will jump on someone's lap but not settle and then bite their arm or hand then run away and stand next to his bowl).

I have also tried the new food mixed with the old a couple of times, and also tried the new food topped up with a bit of proper gravy from our roast dinner so it probably would have tasted better than whiskers had his highness dared to try it. Lucky I don't have kids eh, if I don't have the heart to be harsh with a cat :rotfl: