Feeding furbabies
05-21-2011, 01:45 PM
#22
Power Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: NY
Posts: 10,590
I have also done a lot of research on pet foods and cat food. I went the home-made raw diet for a while. The cats were not crazy about it and it was a royal PITA to prepare and freeze in small batches and I still had to mix it with commercial food in order to get them to eat it. Now I just go for premium quality dry made with human grade ingredients. I currently have my crew on grain free chicken PureVita by Nutri source. When that isn't available I feed Holistic Select by Wellness. They get canned as a special treat and that brand is also Holistic Select. I don't worry that they don't get enough water, all my guys drink lots of water. An elevated water dish encourages them to drink and if my experience is any indication that is true. My avatar Maine Coon likes to drink out of the faucet. I have to ration food because the MC is a glutton and is already way overweight. So they get rationed portions in the am and pm.
05-21-2011, 05:15 PM
#25
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Northeast NE
Posts: 520
I have two indoor cats and I have dry food available all the time and I split a small can of wet food at 5pm. All they need to hear is the pop of the canand they are sitting there waiting on me to get it in the bowls. I have one that is 16 years old and one that is 2 and I've never had a fat cat by doing this. My other baby was 11 years old when I had to put her to sleep due to failing kidneys.
05-22-2011, 03:56 AM
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Woodstock, GA USA
Posts: 1,250
My cats are exclusively inside. I feed dry Science Diet 24/7 and wet Royal Canin baby cat food mixed with Blue Buffalo wet once a day (would do it more often but the silly Bear is old and is eating less). Bear has irritable bowel so that is why the SD Sensitive Stomach is put down for both (both Bear and Socrates eat from each other's bowls when the other isn't looking) and he's eating so little and losing weight that I've added the canned and add baby food to up the calories. And I switch around the flavors on the Blue Buffalo to keep him interested too.
And yes, you are supposed to feel GUILTY!! You're their human ;-)
And yes, you are supposed to feel GUILTY!! You're their human ;-)
05-22-2011, 03:59 AM
#27
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Fleming Island, FL
Posts: 135
Originally Posted by eastermarie
Dry food and then the two of them split a wet Fancy Feast Appetizer once a day, usually at breakfast.
05-22-2011, 04:18 AM
#28
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Tn
Posts: 350
We have accumulated 6 cats! 2 strays (one was pregnant) and we didn't have the heart to give them away. We allow 2 to come in and visit but the rest are outdoor cats. We feed twice a day. Usually dry food but a couple of times a week, we give them canned mixed in. We live in the country where rabbits and squirels abound. They are great hunters.
05-22-2011, 04:19 AM
#29
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Woodstock, GA USA
Posts: 1,250
Originally Posted by jeaninmaine
Right now my cats (16,11 and 10yrs) are strictly indoor cats. When we move out of the city I intend to let them outside. I leave dry food down for the cats all the time in one of those feeders that drops it down into the tray as they use it. They help themselves.
Our dog is a different story! She hates everything I put down for her and I've tried most of them. Right now she's getting half a package of Pedigree moist food (which one of my cats eats most of) and a handful of dry food which she won't eat til she's sure nothing else will come her way. She loves people food, spaghetti sauce, chicken, any vegetable, even pineapple and bananas, if we're eating it - she wants some and if it's not high calorie (she's a 5 lb dog) she'll occasionally get some from the guy with the "S" (for sucker) on his forehead who eats with me.
Our dog is a different story! She hates everything I put down for her and I've tried most of them. Right now she's getting half a package of Pedigree moist food (which one of my cats eats most of) and a handful of dry food which she won't eat til she's sure nothing else will come her way. She loves people food, spaghetti sauce, chicken, any vegetable, even pineapple and bananas, if we're eating it - she wants some and if it's not high calorie (she's a 5 lb dog) she'll occasionally get some from the guy with the "S" (for sucker) on his forehead who eats with me.
05-22-2011, 04:47 AM
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Midland, Michigan
Posts: 1,951
When we got our first Maine Coon, she was on a raw food diet. Our second Maine Coon came from the same breeder, so that's what he eats. Our older Dom. Long hair, eats a high quality dry- mainly because he doesn't like change and we almost lost him trying to get him to eat raw. I had to feed him with an syringe for 2 wks before he would eat again, so DH said feed him whatever he'll eat! He is now a healthy 11lbs. Our MCs are 14 lbs. For the female and the male was 22.5lbs. I had to cut back some on his food and the vet told me to put a bit of canned pumpkin in with it, cuz it would help fill him up. He pretty much eats anything that can't get away! LOLhe's down to 20lbs. Now. We get our raw meat from a company that specializes in meat for pets. It comes frozen and I thaw, mix in other nutrients and refreeze in ind. Portions. Our cats are indoor cats.
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