Cat food?

[Sheenar]

Marzipan eats Authority canned food in the morning (1/2 can) and about 1/4 cup of Taste of the Wild kibble at night. I know that switching out the food every so often helps cats be less picky, but Marzi needs to stay on the Weight Management formula of the Authority canned food --I've found that she becomes a chunker very easily. Really have to watch the amounts fed and the # of treats given (I give small treats during training or for teeth cleaning --I just found these all-natural organic ones that have wheat grass in them--they break up real small and look great for clicker training.)

I'm trying to balance out the need for the moisture content and high protein content of wet food and trying to keep tartar off her teeth --Feline Greenies don't work and Marzipan would rip me a new face if I tried to brush her teeth (I tried once and didn't want to push my luck --she was mad.) Taste of the Wild is a good food and available cheap at Tractor Supply.

[Amber]

Our cats eat junk, whatever my mom buys that is cheapest.  Mainly because they are barn cats and live outdoors.  The occasionally get a bird/small animal as a special treat, but they have to work for those! :-)

[Nianhel]

My cat is a vegetarian

[Sheenar]

My cat is a vegetarian

How? Cats need the nutrients (and taurine) from meat to function. I've heard of cats going blind and having horrible problems on a vegetarian diet.

[Nianhel]

I never said she was on a vegetarian diet. That would be just asking for trouble. She eats her kibble, but that's the closest she gets. She refuses to touch meat, in any form. If I were to give her wet cat food, she would starve. If I try to give her lunchmeat, chicken, tuna, etc she'll lick it once and spit it out.

But she goes nuts for things like PB&J sandwiches, cheese, anything doughy like doughnuts or biscuits, cereal, dairy products, etc. But nope, will NOT eat any form of meat for any reason.

[Sheenar]

Ah. I understand now. Thanks for clarifying.

I had a cat that LOVED apples once. Marzipan loves cheese, though won't eat any veggies.

[Spectrum]

One of the clinic cats at work LOVES anything that's bread-like or starch. This morning he tried to steal a bag of McDonald's hashbrowns.

[Nianhel]

mmmmmm....hashbrowns....::commence drooling::

[Magesteff]

Hobbes refuses to eat anything that is beef or beef flavored. A few times she did eat red meat (bits of steak) she throws them back up so I try to stick to poultry or fish things for her. Never hada kibble issue though she will eat just about any kind of kibble. She is a bit picky with the canned stuff, she dislikes the Hills canned foods (gave her the fiber one for her hairballs and the K/D canned - she tried it a couple times then refuses to eat any more of them). I do try to rotate flavors to keep her from becoming a one flavor only cat. Spike will eat just about anything (except the KD canned for some reason).

If I need to add fiber to their diets I either grow some cat grass or use some diabetic safe psyllium that I sprinkle just a little on the canned foods. They also get a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement due to arthritis - Spike pulls his fur out of his sides and around his tail area if he is in pain - and the arthritis supplement is helping a lot, he now has all his fur grown back in.

[Spectrum]

i've never met a dog or cat yet that won't eat fortiflora but I won't use it myself because it contains unspecified animal  products (animal digest).

[kaika_dragon]

I will use it, but only because it literally only takes a pinch.

[Sheenar]

i've never met a dog or cat yet that won't eat fortiflora but I won't use it myself because it contains unspecified animal  products (animal digest).

Isn't "animal digest" the stomach contents of an animal (partially digested food.) Like if someone collected the rumen fluid from a cow? Just curious.

[Roxie]

Animal digest is the entrails - guts - intestines - stomach of an animal. Problems are it is made from rendered animals that includes road kill, diseased and decayed animals, euthanised animals - and the euthanasia chemicals are not able to be removed during rendering and remain in the tissue that is then made into dog food and eatten by our dogs if we choose food that contains unspecified animal digest. Those chemicals are toxic and cause cancer and other ills in pets.

It is usually not a specified sole animal as it is a conglomerate of bunches of types of animals rendered into a slurry that dog food manufacturers buy in huge vats or by the tanker.

Roxie