Cat food

Foweva Awone · 18-12-2018 11:27am

Graces7 wrote: »

Please never worry. I am safe.

I do not eat chicken! Occasionally soup made with bones, well boiled. ( was not me re the fillets but I would have done the same !)

What germs? The chicken they eat is what I would buy for me.

NB my cats have free run inside and out. Never a worry.

Right my point was, there is a risk when handling any raw chicken, that it may carry germs or viruses. The vast majority of these germs are destroyed during the cooking process. But these germs are the reason we are always told to be so careful when handling raw poultry, use separate knives and chopping boards, wash our hands well, etc, to prevent us inadvertently spreading the germs over surfaces where we might end up ingesting them and getting sick.

Can you see that, in your case, with the cats putting their faces and paws into the raw chicken and then having free run of your home, there is a high chance you are putting yourself at risk of food poisoning. Which is really very unpleasant.

It's just something you should be aware of. Of course it's your decision if you're willing to take those risks, just don't be ignorant to the dangers you're exposing yourself to.

Lady Haywire · 18-12-2018 11:50am

I've only recently moved fully to Zooplus but with postal orders delayed recently I ran out of food before the box came so had to get a box of the Centra/supervalu chunks in jelly. I got it around 6pm Sunday evening & between two cats they ate nine sachets since then, with ad lib dry :eek:
They're particularly fond of the small 190g Bonzita cartons (easy to wash, recyclable cartons, yay!) which vary from 91-93% meat and they won't go through half the amount of food as the filler-stuffed supermarket stuff. Now they thrived on it for years but with wastage & the amount they got through, it doesn't work out as cheap as the parcel delivered straight to the door.
Now I do get felix for them as well because they adore it but it's definitely saving me money to get a meat heavy food into them along with the 'junk' one!

StillThinking · 18-12-2018 12:05pm

The only thing my cat is guaranteed to eat is go cat dry chicken and duck, I have tried him on every cat food going, wet and dry, I have tried him on raw meat, cooked meat and every thing going in-between. He's 7 now, has a beautiful coat and is as healthy as any cat I've ever had. I've given up feeling guilty for feeding him a cheaper food, he's happy, my vet is happy so I'm happy!

Sheepdish1 · 18-12-2018 12:19pm

I fed mine Royle Canine, Vet Pro but was working out expensive per month, mine was gastro food so was working out e28 for a bag. I found I always ran out when vets was closed too

I found she loved the food but was being given bigger portions by people so it was going even quicker than it should:D

I tried a couple of dry very cheap supermarket foods over the years and found my animals seemed quiet hungry on them. I also don't like the packaging waste element of using the wet food that are sold in pouches, tins etc from an environmental point of view so rather not use them. I have always thought the wet food is quite watery too.

The one I have settled on in Purina Go Cat, its very affordable and can be bought in supermarkets which is handy for me

I also use chicken/ ham as a rewards to treat her when training her,(I have my cat trained to come to certain noises and crate trained which probably sounds daft but it works for us

)

spr1nt3r · 31-12-2018 11:16am

Anyone wants Applaws food, seen some on Adverts for free:
https://www.adverts.ie/cat-accessories/15kg-applaws-chicken-applaws-chicken-lamb/16785965

Alun · 31-12-2018 11:20am

spr1nt3r wrote: »

Anyone wants Applaws food, seen some on Adverts for free:
https://www.adverts.ie/cat-accessories/15kg-applaws-chicken-applaws-chicken-lamb/16785965

Who buys huge 7.5kg bags of new untested food for a cat? Rookie mistake!

spr1nt3r · 31-12-2018 11:23am

Alun wrote: »

Who buys huge 7.5kg bags of new untested food for a cat? Rookie mistake!

True that. Strange thing is how come it's still not gone

Foweva Awone · 02-01-2019 7:52am

spr1nt3r wrote: »

True that. Strange thing is how come it's still not gone

It is now!

Thanks so much for the link!

metaoblivia · 02-01-2019 9:46pm

I haven't gone raw with my cats yet, but I feed them what I my research tells me is quality dry and wet food. They were on Blue Buffalo for both until a few months ago. One of my cats (I have 2) has a sensitive stomach and also tends to eat too quickly, which led to her dry food coming back up. It started happening more frequently, so I switched to Orijen dry food. They don't seem to like it as much as the Blue Buffalo, but the stomach problems stopped immediately.

They still eat the Blue Buffalo canned food which they absolutely love and inhale down almost as soon as it touches their plate. I'm considering moving them exclusively to wet food, especially if I see stomach issues starting up again (only the dry food comes back up, never the wet). However, my other cat loves his dry food and cries if his bowl is ever empty of it.

acequion · 03-01-2019 1:34pm

Any opinions on Miamor?

My little one has been diagnosed with alopecia so it's time to get her on to something better quality to boost her coat. But she's picky and Miamor seems similar to Felix while being better quality. But I need to research it.

acequion · 03-01-2019 1:42pm

Or would Royal Canin be better?

Sorry for the consecutive posts. I only took her to the vet yesterday as her normally bushy tail is much depleted :eek: so trying here to decide what to order.

donkeykong5 · 03-01-2019 1:48pm

My cat is suffering from a bladder complaint. Only way I can disguise her medication in her food is by using the felix cat food sachets. Thank heavens for felix cat food.

lubie76 · 10-01-2019 5:54pm

My 2 cats absolutely love supermarket brands, its like crack cocaine for them but they don't get it as I have a Vet who is very much a fan of healthy eating in cats.

Now they get a tablespoon of high quality grain free dry food such as Grau or Animonda in the morning, thawed raw food at lunch time such as chicken or rabbit legs and in the evening they get a bowl of Bozita/ Smilia. It is not the cheapest diet but I generally buy from the UK Zooplus site as they have a wider range of bulk buys.

She also suggested fasting them for 24 hours at least once a week but i just couldn't listen to the constant begging. They are getting older now so have just recently switched them to a lower protein wet food which they are not massive fans of but seemingly most cats over 10 are prone to kidney issues and their markers were high in their last blood test.

tedpan · 10-01-2019 6:03pm

acequion wrote:

Any opinions on Miamor?

Great food, my cats love it

lubie76 wrote:

My 2 cats absolutely love supermarket brands, its like crack cocaine for them but they don't get it as I have a Vet who is very much a fan of healthy eating in cats.

That's the sugar...

New Home · 18-01-2019 11:25pm

Quick question - my cat is on a strict renal food-only diet. I found he loves this way more than the wet food, from which he just licks the gelly off while leaving the rest. I ordered some from Amazon, but I was wondering, does anyone know of any place in Ireland that stocks it, or any other website I could order it from? Zooplus and the likes of it, for instance, don't seem to have it.

Mollyb60 · 22-01-2019 9:21pm

Guys how does anyone even get their cat to change their food? Our cat will turn her nose up if there's even a SNIFF of a strange food in her dish. We've wasted so much food this way trying to get her onto higher quality stuff. I've put as little as half a teaspoon of new food in her dish with her old food and she will rather starve than eat it. :rolleyes:

New Home · 22-01-2019 9:53pm

Yep, same thing happened with mine, until I found that brand. And let me tell you, renal food isn't cheap at all!!

Graces7 · 23-01-2019 8:15am

Mollyb60 wrote: »

Guys how does anyone even get their cat to change their food? Our cat will turn her nose up if there's even a SNIFF of a strange food in her dish. We've wasted so much food this way trying to get her onto higher quality stuff. I've put as little as half a teaspoon of new food in her dish with her old food and she will rather starve than eat it. :rolleyes:

Take a deep breath and wait it out! Although if she is happy and healthy on her current food, why change it?

I have been having this with one of my rescue newbies. She refuses cat food, period, and as they were all skinny i caved in to her.
Tried more expensive food to no avail...

She is obviously part oriental and has the most pathetic cry you ever heard :eek:

Then one day saw her tucking in to... cat food.. She prefers the raw chicken they all get every day but will eat cat food when really hungry.

loveisdivine · 23-01-2019 10:31am

New Home wrote: »

Quick question - my cat is on a strict renal food-only diet. I found he loves this way more than the wet food, from which he just licks the gelly off while leaving the rest. I ordered some from Amazon, but I was wondering, does anyone know of any place in Ireland that stocks it, or any other website I could order it from? Zooplus and the likes of it, for instance, don't seem to have it.

Just be careful feeding dry food a cat with kidney issues. Dehydration will be worse with dry food unless the cat is drinking a lot extra to make up for it.

New Home · 23-01-2019 11:04am

loveisdivine wrote: »

Just be careful feeding dry food a cat with kidney issues. Dehydration will be worse with dry food unless the cat is drinking a lot extra to make up for it.

The vets told me that as long as it was proper renal food it was ok (in fact they fed him that the week he was in with them), but then he's always drank a lot. He most definitely cannot go near any of the "normal" cat food, and since he lost a huge amount of weight very very quickly when he was sick, the vet was afraid he might develop FHL, so finding a brand that he'd actually eat was a huge relief.

Thanks for the heads up, though:)

Foweva Awone · 23-01-2019 11:05am

Mollyb60 wrote: »

Guys how does anyone even get their cat to change their food? Our cat will turn her nose up if there's even a SNIFF of a strange food in her dish. We've wasted so much food this way trying to get her onto higher quality stuff. I've put as little as half a teaspoon of new food in her dish with her old food and she will rather starve than eat it. :rolleyes:

Hunger is the best sauce ... an animal is unlikely to ACTUALLY let themselves starve when there is food readily available. Best thing might be not to make a fuss, put it in the bowl just before you head out somewhere for a few hours, so you're not paying attention to whether the cat is eating it or not. And even if they haven't touched it on your return - persevere! It would go against everything in their nature to go hungry, they might be narky with you for a day or two but they'll get over it when they realise there's no other menu option available.

Graces7 · 23-01-2019 1:11pm

loveisdivine wrote: »

Just be careful feeding dry food a cat with kidney issues. Dehydration will be worse with dry food unless the cat is drinking a lot extra to make up for it.

I never ever feed dry food. Lost a cat to kidney failure and never used it again.

Graces7 · 23-01-2019 1:13pm

Foweva Awone wrote: »

Hunger is the best sauce ... an animal is unlikely to ACTUALLY let themselves starve when there is food readily available. Best thing might be not to make a fuss, put it in the bowl just before you head out somewhere for a few hours, so you're not paying attention to whether the cat is eating it or not. And even if they haven't touched it on your return - persevere! It would go against everything in their nature to go hungry, they might be narky with you for a day or two but they'll get over it when they realise there's no other menu option available.

agree totally. This tiny one was crying etc but was putting on much needed weight and eating the raw chicken they all get. It was just the tinned food and it was the same brand they had been getting

But OH MY! Those huge hungry eyes and those wails!

New Home · 23-01-2019 3:03pm

Graces7 wrote: »

I never ever feed dry food. Lost a cat to kidney failure and never used it again.

What brand was it, and did you bring the cat to the vet? I know a few years back there was a big issue where melamine (a type of plastic) traces were found in pet food (both wet and dry) as well as infant formula.

Graces7 · 25-01-2019 1:29pm

New Home wrote: »

What brand was it, and did you bring the cat to the vet? I know a few years back there was a big issue where melamine (a type of plastic) traces were found in pet food (both wet and dry) as well as infant formula.

The vet could do nothing; cannot remember what brand as it was years ago. It is the fact that cats get most of their liquid from their food and drinking enough to compensate for dry concentrated food is ??? I had a try a few months ago as it is easier to carry etc, but again it was the gap between food and water

When dry food first came out I was showing at Olympia and the trade stands were inundated with folk who had lost cats.

Mine now live mostly on raw chicken with a small meal of tinned food and that is fine.

And yes, it IS personal choice only. Always we choose what we choose for various reasons.. we care!

Alun · 25-01-2019 1:35pm

The dry vs. wet food thing depends massively on the cats themselves. Some cats seem to drink enough water to compensate, some don't. If your cat drinks enough water, dry food is fine, we had a cat that lived to nearly 19 on dry food exclusively. On the other hand our current cat barely drank water at all as a kitten, and so was fed exclusively on wet food. She still developed CKD though at the age of 16 despite that.

Mollyb60 · 25-01-2019 1:56pm

My sister's 2 kittens refuse to drink any water at all, they have to mix water in with their wet food to make sure they're getting enough.

My cat isn't really bothered with dry food, she'll nibble at it if she's desperate. But she does drink a lot of water anyway so we're not worried. The vet told us though that the dry food was good for her teeth? What the other option for a cat if they don't eat dry food?

Alun · 25-01-2019 2:01pm

Mollyb60 wrote: »

The vet told us though that the dry food was good for her teeth? What the other option for a cat if they don't eat dry food?

Kibble does help with keeping plaque under control, certainly.

The alternative to dry food, is, well, wet food

The problem is that if your cat is a grazer it's difficult as you can't really leave wet food lying around in their bowls all day, especially in summer with flies and whatnot. Luckily ours is a guzzler, so that's not a problem.

Mollyb60 · 25-01-2019 2:56pm

Yeah not a problem for us either. She eats the food we give her as long as it's not got anything different in it. :rolleyes:

Graces7 · 26-01-2019 6:52pm

Mollyb60 wrote: »

My sister's 2 kittens refuse to drink any water at all, they have to mix water in with their wet food to make sure they're getting enough.

My cat isn't really bothered with dry food, she'll nibble at it if she's desperate. But she does drink a lot of water anyway so we're not worried. The vet told us though that the dry food was good for her teeth? What the other option for a cat if they don't eat dry food?

raw food. I give the cats raw chicken, bones and all, every day, a wing, or leg etc. Keeps their teeth in excellent condition and they love it.

Graces7 · 26-01-2019 6:54pm

Alun wrote: »

The dry vs. wet food thing depends massively on the cats themselves. Some cats seem to drink enough water to compensate, some don't. If your cat drinks enough water, dry food is fine, we had a cat that lived to nearly 19 on dry food exclusively. On the other hand our current cat barely drank water at all as a kitten, and so was fed exclusively on wet food. She still developed CKD though at the age of 16 despite that.

16 is a wonderful age for a cat! It really is..

boomerang · 27-01-2019 9:58am

New Home wrote: »

Quick question - my cat is on a strict renal food-only diet. I found he loves this way more than the wet food, from which he just licks the gelly off while leaving the rest. I ordered some from Amazon, but I was wondering, does anyone know of any place in Ireland that stocks it, or any other website I could order it from? Zooplus and the likes of it, for instance, don't seem to have it.

Try mashing the food so he can’t just lick the jelly off?

New Home · 27-01-2019 10:02am

Tried that, he leaves the lot, and hunger isn't a factor at all.

lubie76 · 31-01-2019 12:50am

Graces7 wrote: »

[/B]

raw food. I give the cats raw chicken, bones and all, every day, a wing, or leg etc. Keeps their teeth in excellent condition and they love it.

Mine too, they love it! Vet reckons it’s best thing for them although skinned rabbit would be better for them :-[

acequion · 31-01-2019 1:49am

Might I ask those of you that give raw food to your cats if you're not worried about the bacteria on raw food? I'd really be afraid of food poisoning there but am I exaggerating?

I'm having lots of problems with my little one at the moment as she has to take a capsule every day for six weeks [over 4 already gone] for hair growth as she has alopecia in the tail area. It wasn't so bad the first few weeks but now the poor things is heartily sick of the oil in her food. So I need creative thinking here! As well as the alopecia she suffers from FIB [feline inflammatory bowel] but a tiny dose of steroids every 2 days sorts that problem. However her sensitive gut would be another reason I'd be wary of anything raw. I've switched now to Royal Canine products. The dry food is a hit but not the wet. After paying a fortune! :eek:

Any advice?

Graces7 · 31-01-2019 10:36am

[QUOTE=acequion;109290874]Might I ask those of you that give raw food to your cats if you're not worried about the bacteria on raw food? I'd really be afraid of food poisoning there but am I exaggerating?

I'm having lots of problems with my little one at the moment as she has to take a capsule every day for six weeks [over 4 already gone] for hair growth as she has alopecia in the tail area. It wasn't so bad the first few weeks but now the poor things is heartily sick of the oil in her food. So I need creative thinking here! As well as the alopecia she suffers from FIB [feline inflammatory bowel] but a tiny dose of steroids every 2 days sorts that problem. However her sensitive gut would be another reason I'd be wary of anything raw. I've switched now to Royal Canine products. The dry food is a hit but not the wet. After paying a fortune! :eek:

Any advice?[/QUOTE]

In a word, never a worry

See

https://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/spooked-by-salmonella-raw-food

for reassu rance.

Given that cats will catch and eat mice, rats wild birds etc...

I have been feeding raw decades and never an issue. I feed fresh raw chicken every day here, and share with them ( cooking mine!)
They thrive. And so enjoy it!

acequion · 31-01-2019 9:23pm

Graces7 wrote: »

In a word, never a worry

See

https://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/spooked-by-salmonella-raw-food

for reassu rance.

Given that cats will catch and eat mice, rats wild birds etc...

I have been feeding raw decades and never an issue. I feed fresh raw chicken every day here, and share with them ( cooking mine!)
They thrive. And so enjoy it!

Thank you Graces.

Maybe I'm just being overprotective. I will try out some chicken sections from my local butcher and see how that goes.

Graces7 · 01-02-2019 7:46am

acequion wrote: »

Thank you Graces.

Maybe I'm just being overprotective. I will try out some chicken sections from my local butcher and see how that goes.

I know. we all are.. try a pack of wings from eg tesco. They love them. and helps their teeth

I was incredulous when I was advised re this when one of my cats way back had cancer. By someoine far far wiser and more experienced than I will ever be. I gave him a leg and he ate every scrap, bones and all.

Now we get through four whole chickens a week; they come in by ferry with my groceries from supervalu. ( I am housebound now) They are grand and what I would eat myself .... they are solid natural nutrition..

Cat food

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