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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:I have read the thread and what I took away from it is "wet food is technically better but millions of cats have lived long healthy lives eating dry food". Abbeh posted:Some dry foods are 80-90% protein, so it just depends on what you look for.
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Apr 6, 2011 14:15
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I suppose not. After looking at what I fed the guys before it looks like 50% protein and about 20% fat, so that's still pretty drat good. I've also used a lot of premium wet foods and wondered why there are bits of carrot and whatnot in them.
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Apr 6, 2011 14:31
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Crooked Booty posted:I honestly have no idea how I came across that way to you when I said "canned food is better than dry food" in that thread about 100 times followed by zero "buts". I stand corrected.
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Apr 6, 2011 15:28
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So is this quote from the Pet Nutrition thread wrong then? Because I'm fairly confused right now.Crooked Booty posted:
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Apr 6, 2011 16:08
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Sorry to be confusing. Its really hard to explain this without either making generalizations or throwing a bunch numbers at you. If you think moisture is important (I do), then obviously 100% of canned foods are better than 100% of dry foods, but we aren't talking about that. (I am going to make up some percentages here...) If you think carbohydrates and protein are important (I do), then about 95% of canned foods are better than about 99% of dry foods. The 1% of dry foods that are high enough in protein and low enough in carbohydrates to be almost as good as 95% of canned foods are the 5 brands listed under "good dry foods". (These numbers are real...) Almost all canned foods contain less than 20% carbohydrates, including the lovely stuff that's full of corn and byproducts. "Premium" canned foods on the list mostly contain less than 10% carbohydrates, which more closely mirrors a cat's natural prey like mice, but plenty of canned foods with terrible ingredients contain less than 10% carbohydrates too. The very worst canned foods I've come across contain about 25% carbohydrates. The "Good" dry foods on the list are the only dry foods that contain less than 20% carbohydrates. So there are only 5 dry foods that are similar to canned foods in terms of carb content. The very lowest-carb dry food is EVO at 7%. There are approximately a million canned foods that contain less than 7% carbohydrates, covering the whole range of prices and ingredient quality. There are 5 dry foods that contain less than 20% carbohydrates. 5 foods is a very small number of foods. So in that quote, I'm saying those dry foods are low enough in carbs to be comparable to canned foods, and their ingredient quality is good enough to put them high on that list. The rankings are totally convoluted because comparing ingredient quality to nutrient makeup is like apples and oranges. If I made one big list and gave equal weight to both factors (and ignored moisture) it would look like this: 1. High quality canned foods like Wellness and Blue Buffalo (good ingredients, very low carb) 2. The 5 good dry foods (good ingredients, somewhat low carb) 3. A tie between lovely canned foods like Fancy Feast (bad ingredients, very low carb) and acceptable dry foods like Blue Buffalo and Wellness (high carb, good ingredients) 4. Bad dry foods like Friskies (bad ingredients, high carb). So that's if those factors had equal weight. Personally I think theres more scientific evidence to support the importance of nutrient makeup (i.e carbs are bad) than there is to support the importance of ingredient quality (i.e byproducts are bad), which supports the assertion that canned foods are better than dry foods. But that's just my opinion.
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Apr 6, 2011 19:10
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Crooked Booty posted:Sorry to be confusing. Its really hard to explain this without either making generalizations or throwing a bunch numbers at you. Alright that clears things up and I appreciate the explanation. I was under the assumption that those brands were just as good as quality canned food except for the moisture. I plan on using mostly canned food but having some dry stuff for backup seemed like a good idea and I wanted to make sure I was going to be giving my cat good stuff. I bought Wellness CORE which is one of those 5. On another note about food, my pet supply plus only sells individual cans which kind of bummed me out. Is there a recommended place to in bulk? I checked out amazon which seems to have a pretty decent selection.
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Apr 6, 2011 19:39
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Just remember, as with any food change, that if your kitties don't like wet as much as dry to be careful. I hate to be all  omg paranoid about hepatic lipidosis again, but this is the exact scenario I was in when my cat got it. She was a fatty and we switched our cats to wet food (at the same time as adding a young #3 to our mix who gobbled) so that she could lose weight. And yeah, she lost weight. A lot.  And we didn't know any better. So be careful, some cats will not eat wet. On that note, what CB says is totally correct. Poor old fatty liver survivor is 7 (or 8?) and has the worst health of all our 3. Urinary issues top the list.
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Apr 7, 2011 03:24
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RheaConfused posted:Just remember, as with any food change, that if your kitties don't like wet as much as dry to be careful. I hate to be all This is my big worry. Only one of my four cats will eat an appreciable amount of wet food. The other three will eat maybe 2 tablespoons. This is even if they haven't had any food since the evening before. They're just not that into it. Of course, it may turn out that they will eat more if they have no choice, but I completely admit that I am scared to try.
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Apr 8, 2011 05:46
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Fire In The Disco posted:This is my big worry. Only one of my four cats will eat an appreciable amount of wet food. The other three will eat maybe 2 tablespoons. This is even if they haven't had any food since the evening before. They're just not that into it. Of course, it may turn out that they will eat more if they have no choice, but I completely admit that I am scared to try. It is a hard decision to make. My Fatty has to have special urinary food (although we're probably going to have to change it since it hasn't been working, follow up appt Monday  ) and I feel so guilty because of the crappy quality. We have a water fountain and she will just sit in front of it and sluuuuurp really loudly for like five minutes, so that helps. My own experience was that if my cats were going to eat the wet food at all they would sit down and eat it immediately. If not, they just sort of licked it and wandered away. If they wouldn't eat it with your first try, they are probably just not interested. A lot of cats who come from shelters are that way, because they only get dry in shelters.
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Apr 8, 2011 15:27
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RheaConfused posted:My own experience was that if my cats were going to eat the wet food at all they would sit down and eat it immediately. If not, they just sort of licked it and wandered away. If they wouldn't eat it with your first try, they are probably just not interested. A lot of cats who come from shelters are that way, because they only get dry in shelters. That's exactly how it is here, too. The one cat who likes wet food a lot gets a field day many days, as the other three take a cursory lick or bite or two, and then wander off (sometimes to the dry food bowls and wait for me to fill them). Then the little one pigs out and eats all the wet food, and doesn't eat any dry until the evening. They also all drink very well from the water fountain.
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Apr 8, 2011 18:21
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Rupert (male, neutered, 2-3 years old, up to date on shots) is straining like he's peeing or pooping but not getting anything out. He's been taking longer in the litterbox recently and his urine has been super stinky, but I thought he was just taking a long time to poop  Tonight he jumped up on my bed and squatted as to pee, and just stayed in that position for several minutes. He let me flip him over and try to look at his junk, but I'm not a vet so I can't tell when a cat penis is irritated Since then (I moved him to near the litterbox) he has strained, spent a couple minutes licking, then back to the litterbox for several minutes, then into my room (in my backpack) squatting again. He hasn't managed to squeeze anything out as far as I know. I've called my vet's answering service but I don't know if he will get back to me because it is a) midnight and b) he's a devout Jew and it's the sabbath. He has been himself all day otherwise I'm going to call other vets and see if I can get some advice but I'd like some perspective from someone whose cat has actually had urinary problems...eta: Got a call back & was told to bring him straight to an emergency vet. Send good wishes please.
Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Apr 9, 2011 |
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Apr 9, 2011 05:13
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 I hope it's nothing serious.
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Apr 9, 2011 07:25
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Fire In The Disco posted:This is my big worry. Only one of my four cats will eat an appreciable amount of wet food. The other three will eat maybe 2 tablespoons. This is even if they haven't had any food since the evening before. They're just not that into it. Of course, it may turn out that they will eat more if they have no choice, but I completely admit that I am scared to try. Sometimes they're just weird about how it's presented, too - the cans I give mine are 2.75oz, a pretty small can. Angel will inhale a whole can before you can turn around, but Lestat & Spooky like to split one. If I divide the can between the two of them, they go right over and eat every bite. But my husband usually gives them each a whole can, and they pretty much just look at it like "WTF is this crap, I can't eat all this" and will barely sniff at it before wandering away. I can give them another can later so they wind up with the same amount of food in the end, but they don't want their own can at once, they want to share. 
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Apr 9, 2011 12:08
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Fire In The Disco posted:That's exactly how it is here, too. The one cat who likes wet food a lot gets a field day many days, as the other three take a cursory lick or bite or two, and then wander off (sometimes to the dry food bowls and wait for me to fill them). Then the little one pigs out and eats all the wet food, and doesn't eat any dry until the evening. They also all drink very well from the water fountain.
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Apr 9, 2011 12:44
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Rupert (male, neutered, 2-3 years old, up to date on shots) is straining like he's peeing or pooping but not getting anything out. He's been taking longer in the litterbox recently and his urine has been super stinky, but I thought he was just taking a long time to poop Quoting self for context. Turns out yes, his urethra was blocked, but his bladder wasn't horrendously full (apparently a lot of the time they are so full as to be distended), and he shows no signs of having a kidney problem due to it. His urinalysis still has to go through, but they think I should be able to bring him home *possibly* tonight but probably tomorrow. The only reason I was able to catch it so quickly and get him care is because I read PI all the time and I knew the signs: crouching, straining, trying to pee outside of the litterbox, junk licking. Thanks PI  eta: Oh yeah, and $1300 gone so far 
Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Apr 9, 2011 |
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Apr 9, 2011 15:33
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Quoting self for context. Turns out yes, his urethra was blocked, but his bladder wasn't horrendously full (apparently a lot of the time they are so full as to be distended), and he shows no signs of having a kidney problem due to it. His urinalysis still has to go through, but they think I should be able to bring him home *possibly* tonight but probably tomorrow. I'm glad reading PI has helped! It so lucky that his bladder wasn't very full. The important thing now is to just be very careful and watchful with him, because blockage can recur very quickly. It's great that he had urine for a send out sample, that way they'll be able to tell exactly what the problem is and if it is crystals what type. If it is crystals, make sure to take any food changes very seriously. Some kitties who end up with crystals have to be on a special food their whole lives. Mine has been on urinary food for a year, but she just had crystals recur so we'll be back to the drawing board trying a new kind of urinary food. Good luck! My other advice to you would be, if he is still at the e-vet for any reason on Monday, you should ask if you can transfer him to your regular vet. Hopefully he'll be home by then, but some people forget that in these situations and end up paying more.
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Apr 9, 2011 16:09
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Shadow is now in his new home and has spent the last 30 minutes rubbing against everything in my apartment with his purr button stuck in the "on" position
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Apr 9, 2011 17:01
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Quoting self for context. Turns out yes, his urethra was blocked, but his bladder wasn't horrendously full (apparently a lot of the time they are so full as to be distended), and he shows no signs of having a kidney problem due to it. His urinalysis still has to go through, but they think I should be able to bring him home *possibly* tonight but probably tomorrow. Holy poo poo on the bill, but I'm so glad you caught it. Can't wait to hear he is home and OK. *edited to clarify, I don't think the bill is unreasonable, it's just big ChairmanMeow fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Apr 9, 2011 |
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Apr 9, 2011 20:12
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RheaConfused posted:My other advice to you would be, if he is still at the e-vet for any reason on Monday, you should ask if you can transfer him to your regular vet. Hopefully he'll be home by then, but some people forget that in these situations and end up paying more. I'm aware of all the food things. I've already bought a fountain & wet food (till I can talk to my vet I can't put him on special food, not least because he's on a LID for stomatitis. He's a problem child.). He's not at the e-vet. Well, he is right now. It's complex. He has a catheter & a saline drip so he needs veterinary supervision, but a) my vet doesn't open till tomorrow, b) the e-vet is only open 8pm-7am, or on Sat & Sun 1pm-7am, & c) vet #3 was only open 8:30-12pm today and not at all tomorrow. So he's been shuttled back and forth a lot. 1am Saturday morning: called normal vet, on call person said to get to e-vet immediately and suggested some. 2am-7am: Rupert at e-vet. They close at 7 so you have to pick up your pet. 8am-12pm: Rupert being supervised at vet #3, which is about a block or two from the e-vet. 1pm-??: Rupert being supervised at e-vet. They're supposed to call me tonight. If he has to stay under supervision longer, I'll pick him up at 7 and take him to my own vet. I think the vet bill may be fairly standard for this sort of thing. He's getting repeated exams, antibiotics, monitoring, an IV, anesthesia, a catheter (which counts as surgery), overnight stays, and more, ahhhhh. Anyway, I can post the breakdown if anyone's interested.
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Apr 9, 2011 21:00
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 This cat is awesome. I'm going to find out how he ended up in a shelter because I don't understand why anyone would want to get rid of him. I'm going to work on my boss letting me take him to work. He talks about bringing his puppy when she gets old/trained enough. I'm going to feel pretty terrible leaving him Monday morning but I'll be getting him a cat tree in about a week. Hopefully that and all his toys will keep me occupied. So when is the honeymoon over? I'm kind of waiting for him to turn into the stereotypical cat but he's exactly the opposite.
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Apr 10, 2011 00:14
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I need some cat behavior answers I guess. About 2 months ago I had a stray quite literally follow me into my apartment. I have to cats already. He's been diagnosed with HIV but is a very chill and very awesome lap cat. My two resident cats have been attacked by him, claw wounds, no bite wounds. Now they are literally terrified whenever I open the door to the room we seperated him with. We've tried reintroducing twice now and nothing. However we have a recent development where my youngest resident cat (Luigi) has started not hiding ontop of the water heater and coming into the kitchen and mewl/chirping at new cat (Adobe) and then he will hop ontop of my kitchen counters and continue to do it. Adobe doesn't seem miffed by it, but Luigi won't stop and he is looking directly at him? What is Luigi trying to do? Provoke him into attacking? Entice him into playing? Any ideas. I'm really at a loss at what to do.
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Apr 10, 2011 00:18
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Eggplant Wizard posted:I'm aware of all the food things. I've already bought a fountain & wet food (till I can talk to my vet I can't put him on special food, not least because he's on a LID for stomatitis. He's a problem child.). That bill is definitely fairly standard. Good call on the fountain, it's been one of the best helps for my urinary cat, since she absolutely refuses to eat wet food.
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Apr 10, 2011 02:45
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HandsomeBen posted:So when is the honeymoon over? I'm kind of waiting for him to turn into the stereotypical cat but he's exactly the opposite. I got Charlie from a local shelter about 2 years ago and he's still just as spirited and affectionate as he's ever been, granted he has a great personality. He follows me around the house, rolls around his toys when he wants to play and is generally always snuggling with me somewhere when he isn't relaxing in a window. He is a huge mushball, even as far as cats go, at least compared to my other cats.
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Apr 10, 2011 03:25
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Tite-Dent posted:I went to the vet today with my new 6 months old kitty, 2 days after getting her from the local shelter, and she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. How worried should I be about it? One of my cats has had a murmur for 5 years now and he's doing just fine, he gets tired a little faster but beyond that is perfectly ok. Just keep an eye on the little guy if you're super worried but you shouldn't have any issues.
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Apr 10, 2011 08:31
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This is one of my parents' cats: I can't for the life of me describe her markings she looks like a tortie and a tabby were stitched together. She isn't the prettiest cat but I'll be damned if she isn't friendly.
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Apr 10, 2011 17:50
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Nostalgia4Infinity posted:I can't for the life of me describe her markings she looks like a tortie and a tabby were stitched together. She isn't the prettiest cat but I'll be damned if she isn't friendly.
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Apr 10, 2011 19:30
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Posting this here because I didn't get an answer in the questions thread. I went home two weeks ago and left Pip with a friend who also owns a cat. He was super happy to have a friend to play with and didn't seem to miss me. I came back and took him home and he went through the usual few days of resenting me before he got all his energy back again and now he's back to normal. Except, his breath. My God, his breath! It smells HORRIBLE. It never smelled before he stayed with those people, ever, ever. In fact, I used to brag to people that my cat's breath smelled great (it really did!) Now every time he opens his mouth near me I just want to vomit. What could've caused this, in just one week? I took him to the vet and she checked his teeth and said they looked great (though he was hyper at the time and I don't know if she checked them thoroughly). His diet is still the same (innova). He's goes to the bathroom consistently and doesn't appear to be sick. I thought maybe he was eating his own poop, but I've been watching him closely and he really hasn't. A cashier at the pet store told me he might be "developing his cat breath". Is this really a thing? Am I doomed for the next 13 years with a cat with horrible breath? It seriously smells FOUL. He's just 8 months old. 
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Apr 10, 2011 20:39
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Hobo Camp posted:Posting this here because I didn't get an answer in the questions thread. I went home two weeks ago and left Pip with a friend who also owns a cat. He was super happy to have a friend to play with and didn't seem to miss me. I came back and took him home and he went through the usual few days of resenting me before he got all his energy back again and now he's back to normal. Well, first, cats live a lot longer that 14 years! Did he eat the same food while at your friend's house? If he ate something different and is now switching back to his normal food that could be a factor.
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Apr 10, 2011 21:34
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Yes, definitely. She told me it was hard to keep them from eating each other's food. I left him with about 10 cans of Innova and I got about 5/6 back from her. I also left him with a bag of Taste of the Wild and it was all gone when I came back. Her cat is a monster (nearly 20 lbs) and apparently he ate most of it. She feeds her cat Iams and it's possible Pip ate a lot of it, too. I've never given him Iams before. So apparently while he was there he ate a lot of dry food (never the case at home -- here he only gets dry food for snacking). It's been 7 days, though. Would it really take that long? I really hope it's some digestive issue that will be resolved soon because he likes to sleep with his face pressed to mine and his breath is killing me.
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Apr 10, 2011 22:10
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Hobo Camp posted:Posting this here I want to reiterate that average life span of many indoor cats is 20 years. I saw your post in the other thread I just had absolutely no idea! I hope Rhea is right and it's the food and it clears up fast. Love the pic. ChairmanMeow fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Apr 11, 2011 |
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Apr 11, 2011 00:01
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ChairmanMeow posted:I want to reiterate that average life span of an indoor cat is 20 years. I saw your post in the other thread I just had absolutely no idea! I hope Rhea is right and it's the food and it clears up fast. Love the pic. Where'd this come from? Most sources I found put it at around 12-15, but I couldn't find recent peer-reviewed articles.
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Apr 11, 2011 00:39
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Does anyone have any experience cleverly keeping kitten free-feeding food from an adult cat at risk for getting chubby? The adult cat gets two meals per day. I was thinking about rigging up some kind of box with a door big enough for a kitten but not for a bigger cat. Maybe saw a little door in one of those clear rubbermaid-type clear containers, so it's not dark in there and you can see how much food is left? Any thoughts or suggestions? (I don't have the kitten for another three weeks, so I have some time to figure this out, btw)
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Apr 11, 2011 01:17
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Engineer Lenk posted:Where'd this come from? Most sources I found put it at around 12-15, but I couldn't find recent peer-reviewed articles. Changes it to "many indoor cats" as I don't have a peer reviewed article either.
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Apr 11, 2011 01:40
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I'm wondering if I'm doing enough for my cats oral health. I know its recommended to brush their teeth, but after struggling with them a few times for little success, I sort of abandoned that. I feed them Taste of the Wild dry food, and a can of wet food a day with Teddy's Pride Oral Care powder mixed in. I also give them Nutro MaxCat Tartar Control once a day. Is there a better treat i could be giving, or is the difference of these kind of treats negligible anyway? I guess I'm just wondering if you guys think these measures make a difference, or if I should give brushing another try. Oh, the cats all have regular check ups as well. Everyone's teeth are good so far, but i'm thinking of the future.
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Apr 11, 2011 23:37
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Is sudden excessive drooling normal with a cat's first time getting fresh catnip? Ford took to it just fine and ate the leaf, but Arthur started drooling a LOT as soon as he sniffed the leaf. As in big droplets of drool oozing out of his mouth.
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Apr 12, 2011 01:13
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My neighbor does not care for her two cats, and so we end up feeding them. Four days ago one of them gave birth to two kittens on my upstairs balcony. I'm concerned that they will fall off the balcony once they are old enough, it's one story up with concrete below, and precarious footing is required to get up there in the first place (there are no stairs down). Any ideas on how old they should be before I can move them, can I just leave them there? Also, has anyone acclimated two kittens and a mother, to two existing indoor cats? Any tips? I have indoor cats, and at some point I assume I will need to take these kittens in until I can find them and their mother a home. I have two older cats http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mYhLaybjWM , and am unsure how to get them acclimated to two kittens, and a mother. Obligatory kitten pics:  
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Apr 12, 2011 05:31
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I would move them inside, kittens are wobbly and if they're anywhere that can be described as precarious I can't see it ending well. If the mother is fine with you petting them and taking pictures I imagine she would be fine with you transferring everyone to a box and taking them in. Please correct me if I'm wrong, cat people. Just keep them in your bathroom or somewhere where they can have zero contact with your cats. You don't know if the mother has anything that can be transmitted to yours. Also feed the mama cat kitten food.
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Apr 12, 2011 11:49
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Our 14 month old is acting weird again. This is the same one I've mentioned before, who was chewing on wires and really likes chewing on non-food items. We also took him into the vet because he kept vomiting, but discovered that was partly because he kept eating garbage. Now he has a really watery diarrhea, but he is being weird about it. He's squirting it out on the towel we keep in front of the litter boxes to catch extra litter, then deliberately bunching up the towel to hide it. He's still been eating, and I'm going to call the vet about it, but I am really baffled by this one. (It seems like our other two cats are having liquid poops too, but still using the boxes, so I suspect some kind of parasite.)
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Apr 12, 2011 14:29
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I'm not sure if this has been mentioned (it wasn't in the OP) but if your cat pisses where it shouldn't then you should clean the spot with a mixture of ordinary biological washing powder and water. An experiment was done with dogs and how long they can still smell their own urine for (7 months on a log outside) and it was the only thing that killed the smell right away. I must have spent hundreds on all those pet odor killing sprays and cleaners only to find they are pretty much exactly that but watered down (I would assume for profit) so they don't really work.
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Apr 12, 2011 21:41
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I recently adopted a very friendly kitty and he is great. There is one problem though, he wakes me the gently caress up at 1 or 2 am. I've read the OP and it says to tire them out so they will sleep but I work all day so he gets the chance to get a solid ~8 hours in. I play with him when I get home as much as I can but apparently it's not enough. I'm going to try to get a cheap laser pointer today to see how he reacts to it. I've had to shut him out of my room the last two nights because he ends up head butting/rubbing against my face or kneading my face every 10 seconds while changing positions constantly. It's incredibly cute when I'm not trying to sleep and I feel pretty bad when I kick him out. I feel like I don't really have a choice though. And of course after I kick him out he pounds on the door which makes me feel even worse. Any ideas? I think I'm going to order a tree tomorrow and if he reacts well to the laser pointer, doesn't constantly look for it/freak out after I shut it off, I'll probably get one of those automated laser pointer thingies. It's honestly hard to get him to play for a reasonably long time since after about 10 seconds he'll notice me and go "Human!" and want to cuddle.
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Apr 12, 2011 21:53
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