Begging Kitties

[FireGoddess]

To reduce/eliminate furballs I brush the kitties and give them furball treats that have whatever goop the furball med tubes have inside them, instead of doing it in their food.

 

[chrono]

The goob in the tube (as FG puts it) seems to work very well. One 1" serving takes care of the furballs right away.

 

[Deelight]

I have seen the goop in the tube before might try that next time I see the vet. As for brushing I have tried but my poor cat HATES being being held let alone groomed (though after 8 years he is getting better at being held) he frets and squirts which stinks so I usually get him shaved every 3 or so months and he looks OMG cute *giggles*

I was at the shops today and had a quick squiz in the pet stores and nothing

but I definitely will keep a look out for the other stuff

 

[FireGoddess]

I got a new release book from the library a few weeks ago and finally sat down with it. It''s called, '' Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life'' by Elizabeth Hodgkins, DVM. It was interesting. Particularly the amount of time she spends talking about what to feed cats. She is a huge proponent of raw food or moist food ONLY, and claims to have cured her cat of diabetes by feeding strictly wet food. Also refers a webpage where the person claims to have cured her cat of irritable bowel disease by strictly feeding wet food.

I can see how high carb dry food diets would contribute to diabetes, and experienced firsthand how those diets can cause kidney stones and cystitis in cats. I offer my cats wet food at all times, but there is always dry food available for them as well, and they usually do not finish all the wet. As I type this, Holly behind me is eating the dry food, and the small can of wet stuff I left her last night was only 1/4 eaten.

I''m debating switching to saving the dry food only for when we''re on vacation, as my friends who feed the cats won''t be coming by twice a day in order to feed the wet, or maybe only offering a much smaller portion of kibble and forcing them to eat the wet on a regular basis. Since I work all day I don''t want them to be starving, so I''m reluctant to only put out the wet since I can''t promise the kitties I''ll be home at 6 pm to feed them! I don''t know. Food for thought I guess, pun intended.

 

[movie zombie]

FG, we made the transition to wet food only w/o a problem. i don''t fret about leaving wet food out for more than 12 hours.

re vacation: i wouldn''t get the cats onto wet food and then for the convenience of friends put them on dry food while on vacation. 1-their health is more important and 2-you''d just have to do the transition again. perhaps two different sets of friends; one for the a.m. feeding and another for the p.m.

movie zombie

 

[rainbowtrout]

MZ, I don't have a problem feeding mine dry for short periods while I am on vacation (2 weeks or less).

They go right back to eating the wet with no problems, and let's be honest, they aren't going to develop urinary tract infections, diabetes, or obesity issues from 2 weeks of EVO dry.


For this last vacation though I ended up just having my friend give them all their wet food at once, it seemed to work fine. They just ate most of it when she gave it, and the rest the next time they were hungry (way before it spoiled!)

I think people worry way too much about our cats "going hungry." Naturally they gorge and then sleep it off--there isn't really a problem with feeding them once in the morning and once at night, or if you are on vacation, once a day. I don't "get" the psychology of free feeding.

 

[amy_dub]

Date: 12/20/2007 4:26:29 AM
Author: bee*


Have to disagree with you on the prescription diets-I find them absolutely brilliant for some of our dogs. The SP J/D food for a lot of our clients has been a miracle worker. I wouldn''t bother putting a dog on the SP normal food, but the prescription diets really do work.
Also I''m in vet school in Ireland, and we have five hours of nutrition lectures a week. Not sure what it''s like in the US but we are taught so much about nutrition.

Unfortunately from what i''ve been told, vet schools here in my area (TN) do very little, if any, nutrition classes.

Why is it the UK is always so far ahead of the US in regards to healthcare, for both animals and humans?

 

[bee*]

Date: 1/1/2008 7:43:20 PM
Author: amy_dub

Date: 12/20/2007 4:26:29 AM

Author: bee*



Have to disagree with you on the prescription diets-I find them absolutely brilliant for some of our dogs. The SP J/D food for a lot of our clients has been a miracle worker. I wouldn't bother putting a dog on the SP normal food, but the prescription diets really do work.

Also I'm in vet school in Ireland, and we have five hours of nutrition lectures a week. Not sure what it's like in the US but we are taught so much about nutrition.

Unfortunately from what i've been told, vet schools here in my area (TN) do very little, if any, nutrition classes.


Why is it the UK is always so far ahead of the US in regards to healthcare, for both animals and humans?

Not to be nitpicky, but Ireland isn't in the UK (well the Republic anyway)

(sorry, just a bugbear of mine). In term of Ireland being ahead in healthcare, I'm not sure about our human health service but our veterinary course does seem to be very broad and they fit in a huge amount of subjects across the board. As a large part of our country is involved in agriculture and farming, a HUGE amount of nutrition is taught as part of our course, as if the animals aren't well looked after, then the industry isn't going to do as well. Following on from this, small animal nutrition is just picking up here in the past few years so we have to study a huge amount on this as well. I never looked up any veterinary courses in the US and I wanted to stay at home, so I'm not sure how they go about their teaching. Hopefully it will improve if they don't teach much nutrition.

 

[sap483]

When FI and I first got our kitty, we fed it some food on the "Ugly" list. His little tummy didn''t handle it well, so we switched him to Natural Balance which he did ok on. I had read about Natural Balance being pretty good and that''s the only brand that seemed better available in our nearby pet store. Well, after reading this thread I found a smaller pet store near us that sells Wellness and other better brands. I switched him over about a week ago and he loves it! He never used to eat food that had fish or shellfish in it, but now he gobbles up every type I give him. Thanks for all of the good info!

 

[FireGoddess]

Over Christmas I found out that Holly is WAY TOO smart a kitty for her own good.

But it was a hilarious way to find out.

I have been reducing the amount of dry food I give her so that she is forced to eat more of the wet. The wet can typically only gets 1/3 to 1/2 eaten, because she prefers the dry food that''s in a bowl next to it. So I''ve been giving her half of the dry food I normally give, and when that''s gone, the kitty''s gotta suck it up and eat the wet if she is still hungry.

The other day I saw her skulk past me carrying a FOOD POUCH in her mouth. I got some of the Wellness pouches to see if the kitties like them...she sniffed them out, climbed the bookshelf to get to them, grabbed one, and tried to make off with it. As if she was starving. Note that she doesn''t even really like them, she only likes the gravy. And she had a can of wet food out already. But I guess in her mind, beggars can''t be choosers. I laughed and caught up to her and got the pouch back. She was havin'' NONE of that.

About 10 minutes later, I heard a loud BANG and ran into the spare room to find that Holly had KNOCKED OVER the rubbermaid with Chloe''s dry food in it, sending kibble everywhere. Kibble that Holly started horking down. That cat is the cutest menace I have ever seen. I didn''t know whether to shower her with kisses or strangle her.

Little stinker.

 

[AmberGretchen]

OMG FG - ROFL...I LOVE that story!!! Seriously, I can totally picture Holly doing all of that. Thank you so much for sharing that story, I needed a good giggle

 

[misysu2]

Just an update-- my kitty had the same problem as the original poster.

I switched him to Wellness dry food before I left town for the holidays. When I came back last week (don''t worry, he was with FI!), he lost weight. Enough that I could SEE the difference! He no longer begs for food, and although I don''t think he''s crazy about the taste of the Wellness, he seems satisfied by it. He''s only been through one bag and there''s been such a change- it''s great!

Maybe I''ll check out the wet food options next time I go to the store and mix it with his dry.