Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: chrisgixer on 09 July 2014, 23:44:51
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Some time ago we put our cats on dry food. Biscuits of varying sorts. Iams, Royal canin, Pet smart(?) to name a couple.
A few years later one died, and we nearly lost the other our Female Masey just before Xmas . Over weight, although not massively so, high blood pressure causing all manor of symptoms being the main concern, along with arthritis and loosing a few teeth. She has minor partial vision loss as a result.
Vet prescribed drugs to bring down the Bp, and pain killers for the arthritis and teeth pain. She recovered but was never really back to her former self. Bit disinterested and lethargic.
Until we stopped the dry good and put her back on wet food after some research, which have a clear message, cats eat meat, and that all. Dry food, treats, and certainly chocolate are a no no obviously.
Since the change she's back to normal. Nice shiny coat, more lively and playfull, looks for attention and fuss and has lost weight. She is asking for food instead of grazing on the biscuits as and when, then showing disinterest at feed times.
We have our little monkey back. :)
I know there are a few cat owners on here, so thought I'd share.... cats eat meat. Leave the biscuits in the shop. :)
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Some time ago we put our cats on dry food. Biscuits of varying sorts. Iams, Royal canin, Pet smart(?) to name a couple.
A few years later one died, and we nearly lost the other our Female Masey just before Xmas . Over weight, although not massively so, high blood pressure causing all manor of symptoms being the main concern, along with arthritis and loosing a few teeth. She has minor partial vision loss as a result.
Vet prescribed drugs to bring down the Bp, and pain killers for the arthritis and teeth pain. She recovered but was never really back to her former self. Bit disinterested and lethargic.
Until we stopped the dry good and put her back on wet food after some research, which have a clear message, cats eat meat, and that all. Dry food, treats, and certainly chocolate are a no no obviously.
Since the change she's back to normal. Nice shiny coat, more lively and playfull, looks for attention and fuss and has lost weight. She is asking for food instead of grazing on the biscuits as and when, then showing disinterest at feed times.
We have our little monkey back. :)
I know there are a few cat owners on here, so thought I'd share.... cats eat meat. Leave the biscuits in the shop. :)
Common sense really - so do dogs - dry food diet not to be recommended ;)
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Vegetables seem to be a fashion mixed into cat and dog food lately. :(
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Both our dog, 13 years old and cat 14 years old have always been on dry food, and only ever been physically poorly after arguments with cars or other animals, and the cat gets his own meat when he wants it, but leaves most of it for us under the dining table......... ::) ;) :y
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I only found out earlier today that cats need taurine in there diet to maintain a healthy life.
http://www.eukanuba.com/cat-articles/cat-health/taurine-in-cat-food
Like they say you learn something new every day :y
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Our Spanish vet recommends dry food for the dog and the cat. One reason is something to bite into so good for the teeth.
We give the cat a mix of biscuits and cat food pouches. Tins are no good - they go off in the heat once opened. I am not sure there is much meat in the pouches or tins. In fact some have what looks suspiciously like peas and carrot! An expat we know says that the pouches contain an addictive substance. Wouldn't surprise me. :o
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Some time ago we put our cats on dry food. Biscuits of varying sorts. Iams, Royal canin, Pet smart(?) to name a couple.
A few years later one died, and we nearly lost the other our Female Masey just before Xmas . Over weight, although not massively so, high blood pressure causing all manor of symptoms being the main concern, along with arthritis and loosing a few teeth. She has minor partial vision loss as a result.
Vet prescribed drugs to bring down the Bp, and pain killers for the arthritis and teeth pain. She recovered but was never really back to her former self. Bit disinterested and lethargic.
Until we stopped the dry good and put her back on wet food after some research, which have a clear message, cats eat meat, and that all. Dry food, treats, and certainly chocolate are a no no obviously.
Since the change she's back to normal. Nice shiny coat, more lively and playfull, looks for attention and fuss and has lost weight. She is asking for food instead of grazing on the biscuits as and when, then showing disinterest at feed times.
We have our little monkey back. :)
I know there are a few cat owners on here, so thought I'd share.... cats eat meat. Leave the biscuits in the shop. :)
One of the main problems is finding cat food (wet or dry) with any real quantity of meat in it! A mix is good - bit like our own diet, all of 1 thing is not good.
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thanks for the info Chris :) :y
as we have high number of cats its nearly impossible to feed them on whole dry food or whole meat :-\
instead they eat a mixture from our food (whatever cooked that day) some dry food, and some meat .. if I try to put them on meat alone our little monsters will deplete our budget within a short time.. ;D
but I also discovered that those dry foods cause kidney stones.. :(
ps: we also give them eggs, cheese, macaroni cooked with small meat, vegetable soups .. it seems like they like different tastes..
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Vegetables seem to be a fashion mixed into cat and dog food lately. :(
Yep....and it's total crap. A marketing play on the 'five a day' we HUMANS should eat.
When a lion pulls down a gazelle it doesn't eat it with a side salad. :y
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Used to be normal for the cats / dogs to have the days scraps, it still is in Ukraine. My dog has dry food plus scraps. Dry food is better for their teeth. Both wet and dry pet foods have dubious ingredients. Dry food is often bulked out with ash and wet food has meat not fit for human consumption, very often because it is cancerous. ??? We have all been brain washed by the major food manufacturers advertising to give our pets (highly profitable for them) pet food.
Human food is not much better, where we have eaten wheat for 1000's of years with very few problems, but in the early 1960's wheat completely changed where farmers changed to shorter growing, higher yielding, higher protein and higher gluten newly developed varieties. The food industry prefers it as the higher protein means it rises much faster for bread production etc. This modern wheat causes much higher blood sugar peaks and far more people to have gluten tolerance problems. Plastic packaging can give off a whole range of undesirable chemicals. :( Western civilizations are having an increasing number of diet related issues including a rising tide of type 2 diabetes.
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It's possible to get some really nice cat foods (albeit the chicken is still raised in Thailand, predominantly) but the price is truly eye watering..
At one point we were paying £25 for 48 pouches of "Natures Menu" - at 4-6 pouches a day that gets expensive.
There's another that is just comprised of boiled chicken & rice (which we made ourselves for the cats numerous times) at a similar price with UK-raised chickens. They do love the food but it's marketed as "complimentary" as it isn't stuffed full of all the additives the vets tell us animals should have to be healthy... go figure!
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I don't buy the dry food good for teeth theory anymore, as half of Hers are now missing.
Which brings me on to age, and life expectancy. In my yoof, we always had cats and dogs at one time or another. My memory is, rightly or wrongly, that cats lived to between 18 and 20odd if they didn't encounter any obvious illness.
But during the problems we had with our two last year, it was mentioned by a few vets that 12-14 was considered old, and the implication was that that was a good innings. Well frankly I didn't believe a word of it.
But why say that? Trying to appease grieving owners maybe? Or hiding the lack of diagnosis? Or some other conspiracy going on (;D) or are they right?
I don't expect a cat to die if old age until 20years old. Is that reasonable? :-\
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I don't buy the dry food good for teeth theory anymore, as half of Hers are now missing.
Which brings me on to age, and life expectancy. In my yoof, we always had cats and dogs at one time or another. My memory is, rightly or wrongly, that cats lived to between 18 and 20odd if they didn't encounter any obvious illness.
But during the problems we had with our two last year, it was mentioned by a few vets that 12-14 was considered old, and the implication was that that was a good innings. Well frankly I didn't believe a word of it.
But why say that? Trying to appease grieving owners maybe? Or hiding the lack of diagnosis? Or some other conspiracy going on (;D) or are they right?
I don't expect a cat to die if old age until 20years old. Is that reasonable? :-\
Surely there is no hard and fast rule. They die when their time comes just like us. :'(
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The same applies to dog food..they all state that theirs has not got this and that in it and is not tested on other animals,but it is i.m.o. just hype to sell their goodies.......I found the same by changing her from the high end market stuff because her coat become dull and she went off her food so i changed her to wet food and she has changed for the better and is a happy dog again.. :y
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I eat virtually everything, wet & dry & cooked, and I'm only 6. :y
(http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/Lagondanet/4b7694d0-f9eb-48e3-88a1-1b6820bd3d51_zpsfc4fc5aa.jpg) (http://s108.photobucket.com/user/Lagondanet/media/4b7694d0-f9eb-48e3-88a1-1b6820bd3d51_zpsfc4fc5aa.jpg.html)
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2 cats .. one 6 one 2 , one eats meat and nibbles biscuits
one eats biscuits and nibbles meat
Both very healthy with good thick coats :)
They only eat Felix meaty variety ::)
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My memory plays tricks on me (it is an age thing) but I am fairly certain that I knew a bloke when I was in my early twenties who was a taster at Pedigree Petfoods near Melton Mowbray and that the food then was perfectly fit for human consumption.
I suspect nowadays the pouches and the tins are combination of soya, tasty gravy and various addictive additives.
Just had a look at the contents of Spanish Felix(Purina parent company) Beef pouch food.
82% water
8.5% Proteins
4.5% oil and fats
2.5% ash
0.5% fibre
Omega6 0.06%
2.0% approx not accounted for. Could that be the beef!!!! ;D ;D ;D
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My memory plays tricks on me (it is an age thing) but I am fairly certain that I knew a bloke when I was in my early twenties who was a taster at Pedigree Petfoods near Melton Mowbray and that the food then was perfectly fit for human consumption.
I suspect nowadays the pouches and the tins are combination of soya, tasty gravy and various addictive additives.
Just had a look at the contents of Spanish Felix(Purina parent company) Beef pouch food.
82% water
8.5% Proteins
4.5% oil and fats
2.5% ash
0.5% fibre
Omega6 0.06%
2.0% approx not accounted for. Could that be the beef!!!! ;D ;D ;D
Yummy! No, I think horse surely? ;)
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My mother always used to buy frozen turkey mince, cook it and add rice for one of her dogs and it lived happy, healthy and very lively to a ripe old age :y
Plus frozen turkey mince is cheap and mostly meat with other bits of turkey in it but, nothing a wild animal would not consume anyway. :y
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HD, apart from when she was a puppy, has always had dry food.....she's 13 now and slowing down a bit now.....but thats not a bad age for a lab.....tho she does get cod liver oil on her food in the evenings....to help with her joints :y
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I looked after my mates Lab last year and she had dry food, but when it went in the dish she'd give me a look that said "Is that it you bastard!" :( ::)
So I felt sorry for her one evening and gave her a dish of chicken scraps with gravy, which got wolfed down with relish and gave her the shits for 2 days!!! :o ;D
Needless to say I didn't tell my mate! ::)
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I don't buy the dry food good for teeth theory anymore, as half of Hers are now missing.
Which brings me on to age, and life expectancy. In my yoof, we always had cats and dogs at one time or another. My memory is, rightly or wrongly, that cats lived to between 18 and 20odd if they didn't encounter any obvious illness.
But during the problems we had with our two last year, it was mentioned by a few vets that 12-14 was considered old, and the implication was that that was a good innings. Well frankly I didn't believe a word of it.
But why say that? Trying to appease grieving owners maybe? Or hiding the lack of diagnosis? Or some other conspiracy going on ( ;D ) or are they right?
I don't expect a cat to die if old age until 20years old. Is that reasonable? :-\
18-20 is normal for a healthy well looked cat.. this year we have lost a one from cancer 11 years old.. and for numerous reasons at several ages.. :( :-\ :-\
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we allways feed ozzy wet food with a few bickies on the side plus cat treats and at 9yrs old is still like a kitten :y :y :y
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Mrs TB's pussy usually eats proper meat ::)
Joking aside, she's over 21, although now starting to show signs of her age. When we got her, she was the runt of the litter, and showed signs of mistreatment >:(. Those that have seen her knows she's always been petit, and never looked like a big, healthy moggie, with oddities like twisted paws/wrists.
She mostly liked on tinned catfood for a few years, before moving onto pouches when they became more available. Up until fatbloyslim died 7yrs ago, I'm not sure she ate much, as he was a pig, would gobble his side of the cat bowl, then paw the bowl over so her side was by him. Pickle would then just look confused (as said, she's not the brightest spark in the fire), and go off and lay down.
Now she mostly has chicken that Mrs TB slow cooks for her, and those bland food pouches from the vet, occasionally with mainstream pouches.
Since she lost most of her teeth when she was only a few years old, vet said due to wet food, she hasn't had too many dried food meals, although she often has just a few in a bowl. Without many teeth, we think she mostly swallows them whole, and if she has too many, chunders them back up 20 mins later.
Obviously we're doing something right, fatboy lived to nearly 20, Pickle is over 21.
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Ah yes that's a good point I'd forgotten. Both ours where continually throwing up on biscuits. As said, I'm quite certain they swell up in the stomach and there's nowhere for it to go but up and out. The biscuits swell up to twice their size with water.
She is asking for food a lot more now she's off biscuits. He never ate his kitten biscuits I'm told. ::)
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I bought a cat drinking fountain for our cat , basically it a reservoir 3 liter with a small pump that circulates the water around and around it apparently keeps it fresher and cooler , the cat actually is drinking a lot more than she used to ( about half a liter a day ) she also appears to have lost weight since she has been drinking more
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you go to any vet and they will say dry food is best..BUT...cats and dogs have ate meat from a can for many years and tbh every cat my family have owned have all lived to a ripe old age 21-24
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I bought a cat drinking fountain for our cat , basically it a reservoir 3 liter with a small pump that circulates the water around and around it apparently keeps it fresher and cooler , the cat actually is drinking a lot more than she used to ( about half a liter a day ) she also appears to have lost weight since she has been drinking more
??? ??? phew.. any piccies ? :y
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How come you put her/them on a dry food only diet in the first place, Chris? To lower the BP?
Our first cat, Mogs, lived to 17. Properly fast, active cat. He ate anything 'n' everything..... curry, Bombay duck, jam sandwiches lol He then was off his food for a few days and died pretty suddenly.
Alf also lived to 17. He was the exact opposite of Mogs.... long haired fat barsteward ;D but ironically didn't eat much above what he got for dinner. And didn't like anything other than cat food (apart from ham slices).
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I bought a cat drinking fountain for our cat , basically it a reservoir 3 liter with a small pump that circulates the water around and around it apparently keeps it fresher and cooler ,
I have one of those for the same reason - about the same size but it takes our two about a week or so to get it down to "low"; then again they're only small cats with relatively small appetites for everything.
Ours is this one: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_bowls_feeders/cat_fountains/catit/277485
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How come you put her/them on a dry food only diet in the first place, Chris? To lower the BP?
Our first cat, Mogs, lived to 17. Properly fast, active cat. He ate anything 'n' everything..... curry, Bombay duck, jam sandwiches lol He then was off his food for a few days and died pretty suddenly.
Alf also lived to 17. He was the exact opposite of Mogs.... long haired fat barsteward ;D but ironically didn't eat much above what he got for dinner. And didn't like anything other than cat food (apart from ham slices).
Originally through ignorance tbh. Wet food stinks, and costs more. So dry food fixed both those plus the alleged benefit of keeping plaq off their teeth.
Buyer beware as they say. As a lot of the dry food is full of sugar. Good for teeth aye?::)
There was an element of addiction to the sugar as well, ESP in IAms.
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Cat Mate Pet Fountain
http://amazon.co.uk/dp/B001NYGB8W