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cameron_keys
01-30-2008, 11:25 AM
I had no idea pet food was a hot topic. It's great though, it's making me think about what I feed my kitties.

When I give them canned food (usually 5 times a week) I've been giving them this cat food that is basically all tuna. Just the crappy, parts that aren't good enough for people, basically. But just tuna. Do you think that is a good idea?

And my grandma used to give her kitties raw eggs sometimes? I wonder if that is okay.


If it isnt good enough for human consumption it isnt good for pets either. ANd tuna is actually one of the worst things you can give a cat because of the high mercury levels and fat.

raw eggs are not good either...salmonella...

kitty69
01-30-2008, 11:47 AM
When I got my cats they were 10 weeks old and the lady at the shelter advised me to feed them a small amount of wet food (they eat a can a day between them). They have dry food out all the time to snack on. They seem to prefer this alot of the time. I think it is also good for cleaning their teeth. I do know that cats need to eat grass every day this helps with their digestion, unlike dogs who will eat grass if they are sick.
If they have dry food they should always have drinking water available.
My tabby cat is so clever and hunts down birds and mice all the time. She then eats whatever she catches unless she brings it to me as a gift. This often gives her diahorrea (spelling?) and also there is a much greater risk of your cat getting worms from the animals they have ingested.

Mia M
01-30-2008, 12:10 PM
Okey dokey... after reading this website, I will never put my dogs on a raw meat/bone diet...



However, they reccomend homemad or supplemented diets of cooked meats...

"Advocates of a raw meat/bone diet make a giant leap from a low quality kibble to raw, skipping over a more common sense solution. A home-made diet with cooked meat. Any initial results they might see are a result of an "absence" of one or more ingredients of the kibble - NOT the "presence" of raw meat. I believe there is a balance between raw and kibble. I am very much in favor of home-made diets made with cooked meat and grains, raw veggies and fruits, as long as you have researched your dog's current health status and breeding history if possible."

VegasPrincess
01-30-2008, 12:52 PM
It's the brand of food that matters......Also, dry food is generally less salty and fatty.

In life in general, you should not let reading or hearing something from one source sway your opinion that much....also, I'm sure your vet is not uneducated. I have NEVER heard a vet breeder or trainer say dry food was worse

Katrine
01-30-2008, 12:56 PM
Dogs and cats live far longer and healthier in captivity than they do if feral, even discounting predators and weather conditions. I wish I could afford to give my animals homegrown, homeade food. But that isn't going to happen. They are going to eat their Iams, and have a can once in a while as a treat. That's life.

Mia M
01-30-2008, 03:39 PM
I wish I could afford to give my animals homegrown, homeade food. But that isn't going to happen. They are going to eat their Iams, and have a can once in a while as a treat. That's life.

Word... I love my pets and they're healthy, happy, and active on dry food. I have a client who feeds her yellow lab dry food for breakfast and a home cooked meal at night. Although I think that's awesome, it just ain't gonna happen in my house.

AlexxaHex
01-30-2008, 03:59 PM
I don't think it's so much of an issue about the food being "dry" as it is about the food containing by-products or harmful additives. I always feed my cats animal human grade holistic pet food. They get occasional fresh fish and meats but not too much fish because of the mercury.
Too much wet food gives them diarrhea and digestion problems.

Kaylinn
01-30-2008, 04:26 PM
For the hell of it, last night I was at the grocery store and I saw they added a refridgerated dog food case. I checked out the ingredients of the stuff. Not to bad. All fresh, real stuff. No by product or any additives. Made with only meat and veggies and stuff. I can't find a website for them, but it is called Fresh Pet Select. It was like, $4 for a 1 lb thing, so I bought it.
Fed it to Dash this morning for breakfast and he loves it.

However, there is 1 drawback....According to the feeding instrucions, a dog his size ( under 10lbs!) says he needs 1lb per day. That's 1 container each day, at $4. That's $120 a month in dog food!
Currently, I feed him and my cats Purina Pro plan naturals, which we love, and its a good product. A bag of that stuff is $17 and lasts a month. There is no way I could ever pay $120 on dog food a month. No chance. So I figured I would give this stuff a try, and suppliment it with dry food as well, to save my wallet a bit. Give him this stuff for breakfast each day, and then dry food for lunch and dinner. If I could stretch this stuff to last a week, then it would be doable.

So....yeah, this refridgerated dog food is better quality...but it don't last very long and is way to expensive to use on a regular basis for each meal.

Oh, and I just discovered that he is taking chunks of the food and hiding it in his kennel, lol.

oh..found the website:

Alaska
01-30-2008, 04:33 PM
Is it true that's it's not good to keep on switching up your cats diet? PPretty sure I've always read that and heard it from vets. Actually Cinco ran out of food while I was away, and my bf bought him a different brand, and he's thrown up 3 times now, and he's only thrown up ONCE in his life--3 years ago when I had to buy him an emergency can of wet food bc the other stores weren't open yet.

michele_b
01-30-2008, 04:34 PM
I feed my cat dry food. She gets wet food as a treat sometimes. I don't know if this has anything to do with this but my cat has NEVER been sick and the last time I gave her wet food she has thrown up a few times and it is starting to worry me. I am not going to feed her anymore of the stuff I bought. I am pretty sure it is the wet food that made her sick.

She is a really strange cat though. I cooked some chicken earlier and every time I make a plate of food she is all hovering over it like she wants some. I tore off a little piece of chicken for her to see if she would eat it and all she does is sniff it and lick it a few times, then she turns away from it. She does this all the time and I don't get it, lol.

Kaylinn
01-30-2008, 04:49 PM
Is it true that's it's not good to keep on switching up your cats diet? PPretty sure I've always read that and heard it from vets. Actually Cinco ran out of food while I was away, and my bf bought him a different brand, and he's thrown up 3 times now, and he's only thrown up ONCE in his life--3 years ago when I had to buy him an emergency can of wet food bc the other stores weren't open yet.

Yeah, it's not good, you should buy 1 thing and stick with it. If you do swich food, do it gradually. Like, mix in 75% old food with 25% new, and then 50-50, and then 75% new food, 25% old food, and keep scaling it back till it' all the new stuff...that usually gets them used to it easier and without upsetting them.

My cats...they have been on the same dry food since we got them, but they get canned wet food as a treat every once in awhile, and that doesn't upset them, but I suppose it's because they are on thesame diet, just with a little excitment mixed in.

austinatalie
01-30-2008, 04:53 PM
I've said it before, and I will say it again:

I am a big advocate of INNOVA's EVO Grain-Free, Human Grade Pet Food.
One of their slogans is even "EVO...What to feed when you can't feed raw."



It's what I've been feeding my cat, in addition to fresh chicken and salmon when I make it for myself, and she's never been healthier.

Sirona
01-30-2008, 05:04 PM
PETA is a propaganda factory. Sorry. Just my opinion.

Alaska
01-30-2008, 05:45 PM
PETA is a propaganda factory. Sorry. Just my opinion.

Think it's easy for them to do what they do? Think again.

Zinaida
01-30-2008, 06:21 PM
We're all victims of overprocessed, nutritionless food. Thank you Fancygirl for all the info. :)

Pamela
01-30-2008, 06:41 PM
Dogs and cats live far longer and healthier in captivity than they do if feral, even discounting predators and weather conditions. I wish I could afford to give my animals homegrown, homeade food. But that isn't going to happen. They are going to eat their Iams, and have a can once in a while as a treat. That's life.

14 years with my Pit/Chow. 9 years now (still going) with my Chow/Golden and a german Shepherd that was put down due to cancer at 12 not bad for Iams and a good can of Purina wet once in a while. Would not change a thing. Aint gonna happen. They never had ANY sort of hard bone bought or given from the table. They wanted to chew they would chew on the damn tree out back...pretty cool. They never had a skin problem either.

Dry food cleans the teeth. A can now and again wont hurt. Watch for bloat if they are large dogs eating dry foods fast. Other than that they are fine (dogs)

Katrine
01-30-2008, 10:15 PM
Currently, I feed him and my cats Purina Pro plan naturals, which we love, and its a good product. A bag of that stuff is $17 and lasts a month. There is no way I could ever pay $120 on dog food a month. No chance.]

Agreed Kaylinn. Hopefully one day I will have enough consistent discretionary income to do these things, but I have to save for my future.

$120/month savings, compounded annually with an average 7% rate of return becomes $20,642 after 10 years. $24,175 with a 10% rate of return.

How many additional years of health have these overpriced gimmick foods been studied to add?

Sirona
01-30-2008, 11:05 PM
Think it's easy for them to do what they do? Think again.

To be a propaganda factory?
No.
I'd assume it takes some amount of effort.

Alia_of_the_Knife
01-31-2008, 12:19 PM
Dogs and cats live far longer and healthier in captivity than they do if feral, even discounting predators and weather conditions. I wish I could afford to give my animals homegrown, homeade food. But that isn't going to happen. They are going to eat their Iams, and have a can once in a while as a treat. That's life.

Exactly.

I feel like these threads are kind of like breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding threads or Organic foods vs. Genetically mutated foods. Yeah, we can debate the benefits of some over the other but at the end of the day, we only have so many hours and so much time and energy to do something. My mom's dog was raised on kibbles and bits, probably the worst dog food in the world, his entire life and is 14 years old and looks and acts like a puppy. People and animals are all bigger, stronger, smarter, and live longer than we did in the past with everything being "natural."

My cats get high quality dry food with a can treat once in a blue moon and they are really healthy and don't throw up everywhere.

madmaxine
01-31-2008, 12:25 PM
I just want to know how to stop my dog from eating catshit and roadkill. He's healthier than me despite acting like a trash disposal with fur.

Zinaida is right, we are all victims of nutrition-depleted, shitty food.

kitty69
01-31-2008, 12:42 PM
[quote=Kaylinn;1382893]Yeah, it's not good, you should buy 1 thing and stick with it. If you do swich food, do it gradually. Like, mix in 75% old food with 25% new, and then 50-50, and then 75% new food, 25% old food, and keep scaling it back till it' all the new stuff...that usually gets them used to it easier and without upsetting them.

Thats what I was told as well.

Alaska
01-31-2008, 01:58 PM
To be a propaganda factory?
No.
I'd assume it takes some amount of effort.

I was keeding;D Speaking PETA speak!

fancygirl
01-31-2008, 06:26 PM
I just want to know how to stop my dog from eating catshit and roadkill. He's healthier than me despite acting like a trash disposal with fur.


*snort!*

Lysondra
01-31-2008, 06:52 PM
I just feed my cats raw. I get the butcher to cut me offcuts for like $11 a kilo. It lasts a week so I'm spending $44 a month to feed three cats. It's not seriously that expensive to feed an animal raw. My cats never have any problems nor any cats I've ever seen on raw do. It always gets me when people say 'Well MY dog/cat/canary eats ____ and nothing bad happened to it!'... so you're gonna wait for something bad to happen to it? Or if 99.9% of all animals died on it but yours didn't, it's okay? I don't mind if you chose your animal's food based on research and what you actually felt was best - but that $1 a pound kibble in the grocery store ain't cutting it.

Interestingly enough, my bird eats raw too. Healthiest baby ever. <3

AlexxaHex
01-31-2008, 07:05 PM
Exactly.

I feel like these threads are kind of like breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding threads or Organic foods vs. Genetically mutated foods. Yeah, we can debate the benefits of some over the other but at the end of the day, we only have so many hours and so much time and energy to do something. My mom's dog was raised on kibbles and bits, probably the worst dog food in the world, his entire life and is 14 years old and looks and acts like a puppy. People and animals are all bigger, stronger, smarter, and live longer than we did in the past with everything being "natural."

My cats get high quality dry food with a can treat once in a blue moon and they are really healthy and don't throw up everywhere.

So are you saying that chemicals and shitty food are better than or equal to organically grown natural food? I'm not sure if I understand why anyone would argue FOR bottle feeding, or mutated food since they are obviously inferior.

threlayer
01-31-2008, 08:59 PM
I've used Iams dry for my cat, occasionally with a few cat treats, and supplemented with a more common brand of dry. I will now supplement his food ocasionally with cooked chicken livers, which are pretty cheap and the neighborhood store, like a dollar a pound (cooked to avoid salmonella).

I'm happy that you are concerned about your pets' health; they are loving little creatures that deserve a good place in out hearts.

TBE
01-31-2008, 09:06 PM
I didn't read the whole thread but I think everyone should be more concerned about the quality of food and not the type!

Snappa
01-31-2008, 09:09 PM
I just want to know how to stop my dog from eating catshit and roadkill. He's healthier than me despite acting like a trash disposal with fur.



ROFL. I'm not sure it's possible. Road kill and cat turds seem to be a particular delicacy to the pallet of most pooches. My bulldog went through a phase where she'd bring her own old poops in as a chew toy after she went out to deposit a new one. Luckily she grew out of it.

Dogs, what are you going to do? No one loves dogs because of their natural wit and intellect, or table manners.

To get back on topic: my bulldog eats a diet of mostly high-end dry foods. I recently switched her from Hill's Science Diet to a brand specially designed for bulldogs and their digestive tract. It's still cheaper than low-grade wet food, and she gets enough fresh, cooked meat from being spoiled by daddy to supplement any deficiency in her diet. If it's good enough for some of the top bulldog breeders in the US, it's good enough for me and my little 'pet-quality' girl.

Katrine
01-31-2008, 09:27 PM
It always gets me when people say 'Well MY dog/cat/canary eats ____ and nothing bad happened to it!'... so you're gonna wait for something bad to happen to it? Or if 99.9% of all animals died on it but yours didn't, it's okay?

As far as I know, 100% of animals and people die from something they ate. Oh wait, that's just life. I know and have had animals that lived long lives on grocery store standard kibble, and ones that died young being fed the good stuff.

I don't want to argue a sensitive topic, but how does it make sense that 99% of animals that eat Purina chow die from it?

Although your raw diet would make sense for the cats. How smelly does the house, and their poop, get from that.

Oh, and for the record, my girl kitten is into my locally-made, organic hummous right now. None for her! :P

Lysondra
02-01-2008, 02:59 AM
As far as I know, 100% of animals and people die from something they ate. Oh wait, that's just life. I know and have had animals that lived long lives on grocery store standard kibble, and ones that died young being fed the good stuff.

I don't want to argue a sensitive topic, but how does it make sense that 99% of animals that eat Purina chow die from it?

Although your raw diet would make sense for the cats. How smelly does the house, and their poop, get from that.

Oh, and for the record, my girl kitten is into my locally-made, organic hummous right now. None for her! :P

You comments made no sense as I wasn't referring to any particular brand at all. I was just making a generalization of how people say well if it happens like this for ME, it's true LALALALALA. And when you switch ANY animal's diet, they're going to have smelly poo. It's how it works. Once they get used to it, they're fine. My cats faeces and my house smell no worse than anyone else's.