What is wrong with people who express their hatred for cats?

Well there's three of them, two kittens and an adult. Dry packaged commercially produced cat food is the optimal food for these predators? Is that really true? Is it not like, sparrow or something? Mouse? Not something like that no?

(not that I'm going to go out and catch mice and sparrows for them or anything, I quite like sparrows and mice.)

Cold War Kid wrote: »

Gah, hate those mixed messages. I guess a decent make of tinned/pouch food, like the auld reliable Whiskas, should be ok.
It's like bloody crack to them though - something that makes them go that ape-sh1t can't be good. :pac:

Oh it really is, we hadn't given him a pouch in a few years and you should have seen his face when we took one out of the box, all dilated pupils and miaowing like a nutter, it really is like crack to them. I'm afraid he's going to knife me in my sleep if we run out.

OneOfThem wrote: »

Well there's three of them, two kittens and an adult. Dry packaged commercially produced cat food is the optimal food for these predators? Is that really true? Is it not like, sparrow or something? Mouse? Not something like that no?

(not that I'm going to go out and catch mice and sparrows for them or anything, I quite like sparrows and mice.)

Ah yeah, well prey is the best for them of course, but they are well able to catch that themselves, though it could be quite funny for your neighbours to see you running around the garden trying to catch a sparrow :pac: Oh please take some pictures btw, love kittens

Medusa22 wrote: »

My vet in Dublin told me the same a few years ago, that it's basically like feeding them Mcdonalds, so we moved my cat onto dry food, although I did have concern about his kidneys at the time. We moved back to Cork though and now we have a new vet and she comes highly recommended and she only specialises in cats and she told me that ideally he should be eating pouches so now we're giving him a mix because I'm confused.

That is confusing
Did she recommend a particular type of pouch? Was it increase your cat's water intake?

thegreatgonzo wrote: »

That is confusing
Did she recommend a particular type of pouch? Was it increase your cat's water intake?

She recommended felix or whiskas, and then I was even more confused because the vet in Dublin told us not to feed him whiskas so we were feeding him Hill's Science Plan dry food which he recommended. So now we're giving him 1 pouch of felix and dry food every day. He drinks quite a lot when he is eating the dry food but the vet who recommends the pouches did say that it is better for them to get their water needs from their food, as they get it from their prey in the wild.

Medusa22 wrote: »

She recommended felix or whiskas, and then I was even more confused because the vet in Dublin told us not to feed him whiskas so we were feeding him Hill's Science Plan dry food which he recommended. So now we're giving him 1 pouch of felix and dry food every day. He drinks quite a lot when he is eating the dry food but the vet who recommends the pouches did say that it is better for them to get their water needs from their food, as they get it from their prey in the wild.

Vets or nurses rarely recommend things like felix or whiskas so it is surprising. The high water content means you end up having to feed large amounts of the stuff to them for one thing and the nutritional quality is debatable too. Also it is very important that the minerals are balanced for the cat's long term health and I wouldn't rely on the supermarket brands for that. I would like to hear your vet's side of it out of interest though.

thegreatgonzo wrote: »

Vets or nurses rarely recommend things like felix or whiskas so it is surprising. The high water content means you end up having to feed large amounts of the stuff to them for one thing and the nutritional quality is debatable too. Also it is very important that the minerals are balanced for the cat's long term health and I wouldn't rely on the supermarket brands for that. I would like to hear your vet's side of it out of interest though.

I tried to quiz her on it but I felt like she was getting a bit defensive and she said that different vets have different ideas about these things. She did say that the dry food is very calorie dense too, and that the wet food is better to keep hydrated and that nutritionally it's ok. I chose her though because I volunteer for an animal shelter and the guy that runs the shelter seems to know his stuff and I asked him to recommend a vet and he said she is the best, in fact she doesn't treat any other animals, her practice is for cats only.

conorh91 wrote: »

I knew that wet catfood was considered the feline equivalent of deep fried chips, but milk? really?

I always thought milk is to cats as chew-toys are to dogs: they go hand in hand, and should be accessed regularly. I'm surprised that isn't more widely publicised.

I used to feed a frying pans of milk to some feral cats nearby... they often had this putrid green diarrhea. Hope the two weren't related

Possibly were. When I found out about the lactose-intolerant thing, I tried giving them tap-water but they wouldn't touch it, so I reckoned I had no option but to continue giving them milk. I'd add a bit of water to it all right though.
Then one day, I saw one of them outside absolutely guzzling rainwater from a plastic box or something sitting outside. Sorted. Definitely collect the aul' rainwater.

Medusa22 wrote: »

Oh please take some pictures btw, love kittens

Here was tonight's raiding party.

Medusa22 wrote: »

I tried to quiz her on it but I felt like she was getting a bit defensive and she said that different vets have different ideas about these things. She did say that the dry food is very calorie dense too, and that the wet food is better to keep hydrated and that nutritionally it's ok. I chose her though because I volunteer for an animal shelter and the guy that runs the shelter seems to know his stuff and I asked him to recommend a vet and he said she is the best, in fact she doesn't treat any other animals, her practice is for cats only.

It sounds like she is going by her experience of what has worked best for her patients which is what most vets do. Did your cat have any particular health problems?

OneOfThem wrote: »

Here was tonight's raiding party.

Thanks for the photo, they are so cute!! They seem fairly tame for feral cats.

thegreatgonzo wrote: »

It sounds like she is going by her experience of what has worked best for her patients which is what most vets do. Did your cat have any particular health problems?

He doesn't have any particular health problems, though we originally put him onto the dry food because he was having a bit of trouble with his bowels, and that cleared up once he went on the dry food. We're giving him one pouch a day and some dry food at the moment to see how he tolerates it.