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Thread: What are you feeding your cat?

  1. #1
    Peanut_Butter
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    Default What are you feeding your cat?

    My cat is on constant steriods, which make her excessivly hungry, which puts her at risk for obesity. this is bad because obesity puts her at higher risk for diabetes. Being on constant steriods puts her at very high risk for diabetes. So although she isn't quite overweight yet, the vet has put her on a diet, because her weight is constantly increasing, and we want to stop it before it gets too high.

    So my belief was always that dry food is best, wet food is for a treat. I thought that wet food was less nutritionally complete and higher in fa, so therefore less healthy for a cat.

    But my vet informed mme of something very interesting, which changed my thinking, and I wanted to pass it along to all the other cat owners here.

    Cats are carnivores. they need a lot of protien. dry food isn't as high in protien as wet food. This is because dry food neeeds somethign to bind it, like a flour. Which is carbs. Wet food, on the other hand, doesn't need as much of this, so it contains more protien, which is what cats need.
    My vet recommended I begin feeding my cat only canned food from now on, as this will give her more protien that she needs, thus staving off her constant hunger better, which will in turn help control her weight.

    The vet also said that since canned food only can be very expensive and might not be an option, that if I need to giev her dry food, that it should only be kitten formula, as that is higher in protien. She recommended 1/4 c. dry food in the AM, 1/2 can in the afternoon, and then another 1/2 can at night, ideally. But I could also go to 1/4 c. dry food twice a day and 1/2 can food at night, as long as it is the kitten formula s she still is getting her protien requirments.

    She also told me that "special forumla" dry food such as indoor care, hairball forluma, stuff like that is even higher in carbs and less in protien than regular formula, so that should be avoided completly.

    So this was all brand new information to me, and I thought I'd pass it along....

  2. #2
    AudreyLeigh
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    I will put this out there and I dont care what others think. Im lazy. Yes. I leave the dry food out in one of those large thingies that you can fill up like once a week. The cats eat what they want when they want.

    If I had to feed my kitties at certain times of the day they would starve because Im absent minded...

    She recommended 1/4 c. dry food in the AM, 1/2 can in the afternoon, and then another 1/2 can at night, ideally.
    Whoa. I was thinking morning and night. If I had to feed them 3 times a day I KNOW theyd go hungry.

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    Veteran Member josie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Quote Originally Posted by AudreyLeigh View Post
    I will put this out there and I dont care what others think. Im lazy. Yes. I leave the dry food out in one of those large thingies that you can fill up like once a week. The cats eat what they want when they want.

    If I had to feed my kitties at certain times of the day they would starve because Im absent minded...



    Whoa. I was thinking morning and night. If I had to feed them 3 times a day I KNOW theyd go hungry.
    I do this too. I give my two cats a can of wet food in the morning, which they split. They are free to munch on the dry food for the rest of the day. They don't over eat.


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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    I feed dry with wet as an occasional treat..only for my male..my female wont eat it.

    Know that with wet food,you will have to do dentals on them more often as it builds up plaque on their teeth and if it gets bad, can get into their blood and cause heart problems.

    Wet food is often higher in ash too,so have them checked(esp a male) often for UTI's and blockages. keep an eye on the litter box habits to see if there is any problem.

    Quote Originally Posted by lexilou View Post
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    my kitties get dry food left down all day, and at night i put down 1 can of wet food for them to split. they usually dont eat the whole can but i put it down anyway. my vet told me its best to give them some wet so they drink more water.

    both my cats are slender. not like too thin lol, but theyre at an average weight. no fat cats here!

  6. #6
    Veteran Member Julie, Julie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    I bought my kitty, who is 12, Nature's Choice Complete Care for Seniors, he, he, old guy.

    I used to feed him wet and dry food, but then I SWORE I heard that wet is unnecessary. But it was probably from my old aunt that thinks she knows everything b/c she had some cats... and a Mountain Lion.

    But what you said, PB, makes complete sense, and I think I'm going to start incorporating more wet food in his diet. He also suffers from bad hair balls.
    Anyone have any home remedies for that? I think I heard olive oil????

    Also, what kind of wet food did the vet recommend to be the most nutritionally complete? There are so many kinds... I could spend an hour in the cat food aisle twirling in circles, overwhelmed by all the brands!

    Thanks for sharing!
    j

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    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?



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    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    I recommend Royal Cannin or Wellness brands as well. No filler, just good stuff.


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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    My cats get unbearably greedy when I feed them wet food. And they're super picky about their dry food. So now they eat Science Diet Indoor Mature Adult dry food and some extra poultry or fish that I prepare for myself (still safe for them because it's plain).

    When I try healthier stuff with them, they whine and whine and whine.

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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    this is strange to me.. i was feeding my cats purina dry food for a while. then i switched to eukanuba, and i swear they dont eat as much. i dont know if its because its better so they dont NEED as much, or they dont like it.. my mom suggested mixing it with something else to see what they do, she mixes science diet and something else together to feed her cat.

    but then again they also used to eat all the wet food i put down and now they really dont. maybe i just have super picky cats.

  11. #11
    Peanut_Butter
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lysondra View Post

    You'll love this article.
    That's very interesting. Although the article did say:
    We did find that cats on canned or wet food diets have less of a tendency towards obesity than cats on dry food diets."
    but the rest is very intersting....

    But another thing is that carbs aren't as filling as protien. For a cat that is always hungry, as in my case, due to the steriods, the wet food will keep her tumym full longer, thus causing her to not be hungry so much.

    I used to have the auto feeder down all the time for them to nibble as they wanted, but since she over eatsand I have to watch that, I stopped doing that. I was feeing her twice a day, btu the vet said that a cat's stomach emptys in abotu a half hour or so...and so she will be hungry sooner...poor Peanut is starving all the time. She begs for food constantly and annoys the hell out of me. So the vet suggested 3 times a day feedings might keep her feelign fuller longer.....it's Peanut's comfort, plus watching her weight...cause it can't be fun for her to feel hungry all the time, even thoguh she really isn't..it;'s just the steriods.
    Peanut is on DepoMedrol(spelling?) which the vet describes as a steriod bomb. Also, she doesn't have any teeth anymore....

    So anyway...I thought it was interesting information..but for our situation, it's worth a try to see if she feels satisfied longer, while still keeping her weight down. Her being on the constant steriods is just like..a matter f time before she gets diabetes, so we need to prevent it or stave it off as long as possible, because once she gets diabetes, we will need to switch to either transplant rejection meds or chemo meds, both of which are expensive and have many other drawbacks. ( she needs constant immune supression drugs, as she has an autoimmune disorder)


    But thanks for that artilce, Lys...I am printing it to take to the vet for her input/opinion on it.

  12. #12
    Peanut_Butter
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Lysondra View Post
    I recommend Royal Cannin or Wellness brands as well. No filler, just good stuff.
    Or Natural Balance.

    those 3 seem to be the best....

  13. #13
    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Agreed. Cats will eat less normally because it has less filler. But if a cat is always hungry, at least they're getting all their nutrients in smaller amounts.

    Like the difference between a human eating dollar store white bread and the nice whole-grain stuff. One is simply healthier and fills you up more while having less crap.


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    Veteran Member Julie, Julie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Ok, Nature's Balance, I haven't heard of the other 2. Is that only in pet stores?

    Uch, and the hair balls... anyone know anything?
    j

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    Veteran Member Julie, Julie's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Quote Originally Posted by britt244 View Post
    this is strange to me.. i was feeding my cats purina dry food for a while. then i switched to eukanuba, and i swear they dont eat as much. i dont know if its because its better so they dont NEED as much, or they dont like it.
    Being cats, they could totally be protesting, especially if you had them on the purina for a long time. But having had many cats, myself, IME they should get used to it and mixing doesn't hurt.

    Oh god, and they can be worse than dogs if you start giving them table food! Mine thinks he can climb up to my dish and help himself, little jerk. And I wonder why the fluffy fat-ass always has a full bowl.

    oooooo, I love him!!!

    sorry, never make a thread about cats or I'm gonna barge in and get all mushy and annoying.
    j

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    Veteran Member Laylas's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    I got the same info from my vet as you did, PB. He recommended a few different brands, one of which my cats took to - Avoderm. It's less processed then other wet foots (more of a chunky food that actually resembles what it is made of - shrimp, tuna, etc. - then the ground chunk/pate that most lower end foods seem to resemble).

    Both of my cats have much healthier appearances and more energy then when they were on dry food alone. I now feed then 2 times a day, about half a mini can each per feeding, and a "snack" of about 1/4 cup of dry food at bedtime. An all wet food diet can be really harmful for cats' teeth and lead to plaque buildup & decay, as well as constipation, so I'm hoping that this will counteract some of those downfalls.

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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Julie, Julie View Post
    Being cats, they could totally be protesting, especially if you had them on the purina for a long time. But having had many cats, myself, IME they should get used to it and mixing doesn't hurt.
    theyre only a year and a year and 6ish months. so they werent on the purina toooo long. and i mixed it to switch them over, and theyve been on this for a while now.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lysondra View Post
    Agreed. Cats will eat less normally because it has less filler. But if a cat is always hungry, at least they're getting all their nutrients in smaller amounts.

    Like the difference between a human eating dollar store white bread and the nice whole-grain stuff. One is simply healthier and fills you up more while having less crap.
    that makes sense to me. so that could be why mine eat less?

  18. #18
    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Quote Originally Posted by britt244 View Post
    theyre only a year and a year and 6ish months. so they werent on the purina toooo long. and i mixed it to switch them over, and theyve been on this for a while now.



    that makes sense to me. so that could be why mine eat less?

    Very likely. If a cat is being a picky eater he simply won't eat rather than just eat little bits to survive. It's pretty known that cats are one of the critters who won't eat food just because they're hungry. Some household pets have starved themselves to death from pickiness with food next to them. So I highly doubt eating less has to do with the cats being upset - or they wouldn't be eating at all.


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  19. #19
    AudreyLeigh
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    My cats eat this



    is there a different food they should have? I just though the more expensive the better... but as i look at the ingredient list the top 5 are Chicken meal, brewer's rice, chicken, corn gluten meal, corn. that bad?

  20. #20
    God/dess Lysondra's Avatar
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    Default Re: What are you feeding your cat?

    Audrey, that is a very good food you're giving them. One of the best. Congratulations.


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