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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / February 2004feeding 2 spoiled cats
My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about their weights. I have 2 himmies and they tend to gain weight over time. My problem is that I am used to feeding some canned cat food at night for them both. I go to Petsmart and purchase about 21 cans of cat food for them for the month. I get Iams, Nutro and Whiskas. That is what they always liked. They used to fight over the food but now..... don't want the canned food. They don't eat the canned anymore other than a couple bites. I continue to put it out each night as they are into the routine of being fed and beg for it if I don't give them the canned food. They don't eat it however. I throw it all in the garbage disposal the next morning. I feel badly if I don't give the canned food to them but again, I just throw it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food and is that okay? They are 9 years old and brothers. > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. > and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > and is that okay? >My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. >and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food >and is that okay? I have a dozen very healthy cats that are given one can for all of them once or twice a week as a treat. They eat Special Kitty dry food from Walmart and love it. Two are obese, but were that way when I got them. One that I got as a kitten is chubby. Two are skinny - they were skinny when I got them, but the vet says they are healthy. I must add that some of them partially feed themselves with what they catch, but they are no healthier then the others. If you feed only dry food, you need to make sure they are getting enough water, and you need to watch out for problems due to specific formulas and for things like urinary problems that need special formulas. If they are overweight and not eating something, it could be because they are overfed. T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body) > >My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. > >and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > > T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body) I do take them to the vets each year for a check up and the vet says they are healthy. I am worried because they are males and I guess I read sometime back that males can develop some kind of urinary tract problem related to diet and now for the life of me I can't remember what that was. I am concerned because they have stopped eating the canned food. That was their favorite. >>> My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 > lbs. [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > I am concerned because they have stopped eating the canned food. That was > their favorite. It's true that males can develop problems (not will, but it's a lot more possible). Cut back on the amount of dry available and keep tempting them with canned. Karen > If they are overweight and not eating something, it could be because > they are overfed. You know, this is a thought. Do your cats go outside? If so, I wonder if they are getting food from someone else as well. They could be begging for food at night because that ritual is part of their nightly habit. But then when they get it, they're not hungry enough to eat it. Well, that's my theory, which of course is worth nothing if they're indoor-only cats! Joyce > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. > and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > and is that okay? I suspect you'll get a lot of strong opinions on this, as I did when I asked a similar question. My cats aren't quite as large as yours, but they are definitely healthy. Skeeter never has been very interested in canned food, although she'll occasionally take a few bites. Lindy was eager for it, although picky, and she changed her preferences periodically. Then I ran into a similar problem. She would beg me to feed her, then turn up her nose at the food. I finally settled it by continuing to buy her favorite flavors. I have plastic lids that fit on the cans, and I divide 1/4 can between two dishes every evening. Sometimes Lindy cleans out both dishes. Sometimes she empties one and ignores the other. Skeeter still takes the occasional bite or two. I'm throwing out a lot less food, but still satisfying their desire to be given the canned food. Joy > > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs > 18 lbs. [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > > Joy Thanks for replies. I have the plastic lid containers and have recently started to give both cats only a quarter of the canned food and they still don't eat it. They only lick up the gravy and then want dry food. They are a creature of habit and beg and claw at my legs for the canned food and then turn their noses up. Happens every single night. They do have fresh water and drink a lot more of it since this has been happening over time. I guess as they mature, they have changed eating habits as well. I dunno. Stumped. > Thanks for replies. I have the plastic lid containers and have recently > started to give both cats only a quarter of the canned food and they still [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > I guess as they mature, they have changed eating habits as well. I dunno. > Stumped. Maya did the same thing. She would lick the gravy and leave the rest. I stopped feeding it to her. She wasn't eating it so the simple truth was the nutritional value didn't matter because, like I said she wasn't eating it. I started off figuring if I would feed it every other day maybe she would start eating it again. So over the next few weeks I just kept lengthening the interval and then I stopped. Every 3 or 4 days I treat them with some tuna. I was feeding her the canned food and leaving out dry food so when I stopped the canned food I went to a quality dry food. The cost of the canned food offset the new cost of the quality dry food nicely and she loved the new food. So everyone was happy about it. >> I suspect you'll get a lot of strong opinions on this, as I did when I >> asked a similar question. My cats aren't quite as large as yours, but [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] >I guess as they mature, they have changed eating habits as well. I dunno. >Stumped. From my own experience, their favorite food of all time can become disgusting garbage not worth sniffing overnight. When that happens I push it to the back of the cupboard. A couple weeks later it becomes their favorite again. Not that they're spoiled or anything - heaven forbid. There is one thing in your post, though, that my bunch does like your's seem to be doing now. If I feed them the type in gravy they'll lick the gravy, then move fill up on the half cup of dry that I leave out for snacks during the day. By the time they go back for more, the canned food is dried out from sitting out with no gravy and ends up being thrown away. When I feed them ground up type of canned, they eat that first leave the dried for later snacks, which is what I prefer anyway.  SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html "LynC" <ii493@xxyy#ww.com> had some very interesting things to say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: >Thanks for replies. I have the plastic lid containers and have recently >started to give both cats only a quarter of the canned food and they still >don't eat it. They only lick up the gravy and then want dry food. They are >a creature of habit and beg and claw at my legs for the canned food and then >turn their noses up. Happens every single night. Maybe try the type that's more mush, not chunks in gravy. Felix did the exact same thing to the "chunks in gravy" type but eats mush-type quite enthusiastically. [Are you sure there aren't maybe dental problems in play?] Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. > and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > and is that okay? Cats fed exclusively dry are apt to put on weight. The canned is more efficient and provides water as well. Mine prefer dry, but I have gone to set amounts of dry available, and set feeding times with wet. It took a long time but I found some canned they like. If you go with completely dry, make sure you have lots of water available around to remind them to drink. It does work to put bowls in different areas at different heights. Karen Have you observed any unusual litterbox happenings with the two tomcats? Straining to urinate or cries of pain while doing so? A trip to vet ASAP if you have (urethra blockage can quickly kill in males) or possibly bad teeth causing them feeding pain. Vet expense will answer any health concerns or confirm mere eating pickyness on their parts. : > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. : > and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] : : Karen > Have you observed any unusual litterbox happenings with the two tomcats? > Straining to urinate or cries of pain while doing so? A trip to vet ASAP if > you have (urethra blockage can quickly kill in males) or possibly bad teeth > causing them feeding pain. Vet expense will answer any health concerns or > confirm mere eating pickyness on their parts. No, I haven't. They are vet checked regularly and I was just concerned about their change of eating habits. What they craved before is no longer their favorite and now they don't eat it at all. Thanks for the reply. My girls are sisters, 8 1/2. They have always policed themselves quite well. I leave a can of food out each day and a small bowl of dry food. They just nibble little bit several times a day. Takes them about 3 days to finish the small bowl of dry food. I feed them Hill's Science Diet, Oral care and Hairball formula. A 3 1/2 lb bag of each lasts them two months. I would be leary of just feeding them just dry food. Maybe too much ash for them. Maybe different brand of cat food. Serena (Sis) and Sonscere' always ate Whiskas, wouldn't touch 9 lives now it is just the opposite, they let Whiskas sit there and rot and love 9 lives, go figure. They eat what they want when they want and maintain there weight very well. Sis always is about 9.8 lbs and Sonscere' always 9.2 lbs. Just my 2¢. Brian My photo albums http://public.fotki.com/Sonscere/ "IIt's not love that causes the pain Whenever a heart has been shattered, It's the losing of love that's to blame." VG > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > and is that okay? Wet food is better than dry food, but they will survive on a dry diet. However, you might want to try different foods, some cats get bored with a particular flavor or texture. Our cats go bonkers for the new Proplan cans, particularly the "and rice" flavors. Available at Petsmart. SignatureVictor Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com > Our cats go bonkers for the new Proplan > cans, particularly the "and rice" flavors. Ours also. They love the ProPlan "Salmon and Rice" and Chicken and Rice".They don't care too much for the ones with liver. They eat about half of it and pester me until I give them the Salmon or Chicken. I wish it came in larger cans. Those little cans get expensive. >> Our cats go bonkers for the new Proplan >> cans, particularly the "and rice" flavors. > Ours also. They love the ProPlan "Salmon and Rice" and Chicken and > Rice".They don't care too much for the ones with liver. They eat about > half of it and pester me until I give them the Salmon or Chicken. I > wish it came in larger cans. Those little cans get expensive. Hmm... I've always avoided buying the "...and rice" flavors because I figure that if the actual *name* of the flavor has a grain in it, it's going to have even more grain than flavors that are just called "beef" "chicken" or some other meat. And I've always thought that too much non-meat food in a cat's diet wasn't nourishing enough for them. Am I wrong about this? I'd like to try some new flavors on them so it would be nice if the ones with rice added are actually OK to give them. Joyce > Am I wrong about this? I'd like to try some new flavors on them so > it would be nice if the ones with rice added are actually OK to give > them. The key is to look at the first 5 ingredients listed in the label. If most of those are meat (excluding of course the liquid that is the #1 or 2 ingredient in all canned foods), then I'm ok with it. For Proplan chicken and rice they list: water, chicken, wheat gluten, liver, meat by-products. Normally, I avoid by-products and any food with grains in the top 3 ingredients, but they love it, so I gave in. We do feed them a large can of Innova light (less phosphorous and about the same protein % as the regular one) first and wait until they finish that before we serve the "yummy" food. Kinda like with kids, who first have to eat their veggies and after that they get dessert. :) Also for dry food they get a mix of Innova, Felidae, and Science diet oral health (large kibble that's supposed to be good for tartar control), so we know they're getting a good nutrition. SignatureVictor Martinez Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM) Send your spam here: uce@ftc.gov Email me here: pistorLITTER@BOXaustin.rr.com Victor Martinez <me@nospam.com> had some very interesting things to say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: >Wet food is better than dry food, but they will survive on a dry diet. >However, you might want to try different foods, some cats get bored with >a particular flavor or texture. Our cats go bonkers for the new Proplan >cans, particularly the "and rice" flavors. Available at Petsmart. OTOH, some cats throw fits about trying to change their dry food. We tried switching Felix to a different type of the same brand, and the little stinker went on a hunger strike! When his worried slaves caved and bought him his usual dry diet, he was trying to climb into the bag as soon as it was opened and gobbling it down as soon as he could reach some. Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > Victor Martinez <me@nospam.com> had some very interesting things to > say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > as soon as it was opened and gobbling it down as soon as he could > reach some. I was really afraid of that with Maya, I had all kinds of visions of Maya not only refusing to eat and telling me how dare I serve her this slop. Not all of that was fantasy either. I tried a lot of different canned food and she could go toe to toe with some of the later French Monarchs when it comes to haughtiness. I had no idea that cats would actually stick their noses up in the air and sigh in disdain. I bought Hill's Science Diet Nature's Best and she attacked the bag when I brought it in trying to paw her way into it. That stuff must taste great to cats. Matthew, Bruiser's little friend stops by to eat all the time and Paul his person told me he works in a store and brings home shrimp, chicken, fish and other things for him. The cat eats better than I do. I did suggest to him that maybe he should have some dry food for him because maybe he was missing some vitamins from that tasty diet. I've answered this once but then I remembered a funny thing when my son first started work. He told me he really LOVED peanut butter sandwiches so I plied him with them day after day! untill one day he said, " Mum I know I said I loved Peanut butter but I didn't mean day, after day ,after day," and I thought I was doing him a favour LOL well we all make mistakes! Jean.P. > Victor Martinez <me@nospam.com> had some very interesting things to > say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. > :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > > and is that okay? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > a particular flavor or texture. Our cats go bonkers for the new Proplan > cans, particularly the "and rice" flavors. Available at Petsmart. Shmogg goes in cycles. For about 6 months, he'll eat Whiskas canned food quite happily for breakfast & dinner (he can free-feed on kibble at any time). And then goes of it. He meows like I'm starving him until I get the can out, but turns his nose up when i actually serve the tinned food. Eventually this poor shtoopid hoomin "gets it" and goes out to buy Dine canned food instead, and all is fine. For about 6 months. Then we go through the same thing and eventually I"ll wake up to the fact we have to change back to Whiskas. No, I don't know why, I just put it down to one of those strange b*st*rd c*t things. Yowie (Oh, and Shmogg must have loaf style food *only*. None of this "mince" or "in gravy" for him, no siree) "Yowie" <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> had some very interesting things to say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: >(Oh, and Shmogg must have loaf style food *only*. None of this "mince" or >"in gravy" for him, no siree) By "loaf style", do you mean the mushy type? That's the only type Felix will touch. If it has chunks in it, he'll lick everything off said chunks and leave them in the bowl. Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > "Yowie" <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> had some very interesting > things to say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Felix will touch. If it has chunks in it, he'll lick everything off > said chunks and leave them in the bowl. Hmm, describing he texture of catfood.... By "loaf" I mean it can come out of the can whole if thats what you wanted it to do - it holds its shape. The other two varieties we have here are "in gravy" which has approximately 1cm cubed chunky bits in lot sauce, and "mince" style which is smaller chunks with not so much sauce between the chunks, but it still it won't hold its shape. Shmogg licks of the sauce so fast, he barfs, and then won't touch up the remaining chunks, but still meows because he's got an empty tummy. "Loaf" style is the only sort that stays down and/or doesn't get fed to the dog. (Fluffy just looooves cat food, whether its ben pre-digested by Shmogg or not, *sigh*) Yowie >> "Yowie" <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> had some very interesting >> things to say about Re: feeding 2 spoiled cats: [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > >Yowie Guess all mine are loaf eaters than. They love the gravy in the others, but after they lick it all off they fill up on dry. There was a time when Rocky acted as the garbage disposal, but the girls have now convinced him that that just isn't how a proper cat should eat. ;-) SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html >>(Oh, and Shmogg must have loaf style food *only*. None of this "mince" >or [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >Felix will touch. If it has chunks in it, he'll lick everything off >said chunks and leave them in the bowl. In the US minced=ground, Spicey doesn't like ground, no tuna, no beef, and loves chicken & salmon. Suz Macmoosette Thank Heavens There's Only One =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things. Maybe they are just sick of Nutro, Iams and Whiskas? You could try some other brands and a variety of flavours to see if you could tempt them. -- Britta Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. > and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > and is that okay? "LynC" <ii493@xxyy#ww.com> had some very interesting things to say about feeding 2 spoiled cats: >I feel badly if I don't give the canned food to them but again, I just throw >it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food >and is that okay? For quite a few years, Felix didn't get canned [I was under the mistaken impression he didn't like it] and stayed quite healthy, except for one instance of FUS about a year after we got him [I switched his dry food and he's been fine since]. Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL My cat Wilson has never eaten much tinned food, I threw it out every day, but I still kept putting it down, different varieties, because there are things like viamins and minerals put into tinned food that cats need, or so I have been given to understand, now he'll eat quite a bit of it ,he also has dry food, and nightly gets different kinds of fresh meat, which he loves, and a little dry food he wont drink milk, and only drinks his water out of a beaker placed in the bath, although he has water bowls placed through the the apartment he seems healthy enough. after all we wouldn't eat something we didn't want, orthat we were fed up of eating. best of British Jean. P. > My 2 cats have been with me since they were kittens.. one now weighs 18 lbs. > and the other 15 lbs. The vet said they were healthy and not to worry about [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > it out the next morning. Is it possible to completely give up canned food > and is that okay? |
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