I've got 5 cats & I feed them all the same dry food. I buy breeder bags of Royal Canin - works out much cheaper than the small bags. I use the skin & hair (something like that!!) - it's for sensitive stomachs too. I buy mine from North West Pets who are based in Blackpool, but they deliver free to virtually the whole country - North West Pet Foods, pet supplies, pet food for dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs and more!. They're very friendly & helpful - you can order online or by phone & they sell all the premium brands. They also visit cat shows & do special prices at those.

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Mum to Saffy, Tilly, Sox, Mia and Munch

This is something I struggle with too.

I have eight cats - the eldest three are 15, 14, 14, and are all overweight. My vet has said not to worry too much about getting them to diet as they are very healthy for their ages, but I obviously don't want them putting any more on.

I then have two other cats who are just over two who are both slightly underweight and three who are 14 months who are just right.

At one point I was trying to feed senior food, adult food and kitten food - but gave up! My cats all go outside, I work quite long hours but do pop home a couple of times most days, so they get food down throughout the day. If the two who are underweight are in I will put them in another room and feed them but they spend more time scratching at the door to get out than they do eating!

Some eat dry, some eat wet and some will eat both. I feed raw occasionally and the youngest three will eat it but not the older ones.

My eldest three are quite lazy and sleep on my bed a lot so I am trying to encourage them to exercise more as they will still play if I dangle a toy mouse in front of them. I think increasing their exercise is easier than trying to get them to eat just 'light' food.

Good luck with your fur babies.

Phew, some of you have a lot of cats! If my husband was reading this, he would be getting quite worried and tell me not to get any ideas!

Luckily, mine aren't overweight, so that's one sort of food I don't have to incorporate! The 2 older ones have been out a lot during the summer and they do seem to have lost weight though, so I need to keep an eye on that.

I've fed them all this morning with a wet pouch each and have put some dry food down for now. All is quiet on the western front! They are all asleep at the moment, either out in the sun or on my bed. The clamouring for food will start this afternoon, I think I'm going to have to ignore them and see if they get the message that we are having set mealtimes from now on and only dry food inbetween. I always have two bowls of fresh water down inside and a big bowl of water outside anyway.

Fingers crossed this is going to get easier.

Thanks for the link to North West Pet Foods, I'm having a look at it right now.

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wilchil64

"Only when the last tree is felled, the last animal killed and the last fish hauled from the sea will we realise we can't eat money!"

I would want to take the other one too! You can get some fairly cheap pet insurance now, but the vaccinations do add up.

Has anyone read what the man who founded Burns pet Food says about vaccinations? - he thinks that boosters aren't necessary and may potentially cause a build up of toxins in the body (I think that's right, it's a while since I read the info he sent me). He is a vet, so knows what he's talking about, I guess.

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wilchil64

"Only when the last tree is felled, the last animal killed and the last fish hauled from the sea will we realise we can't eat money!"

Hi
My cousin is a vet and has always said that animals do not need boosters. She advised me to get the vaccinations done initially and not to worry with the annual boosters as it just a way of vets drawing guaranteed income. It makes me mad to think that vets will put animals lives at risk just to make money. I must admit that we never gave our cats, ceifer and Josh the annual boosters because of what she said but then when they died at the ripe old age of 15 and got new kittens we reconsidered with Ted and Dusty as our own vet voiced his opinion when we had their first jabs done. I thought maybe my cousins opinion was her own. Unfortunately they didn't live until the booster age so never went down that road anyway. Now we are getting two new kittens I am still in two minds with what to do about boosters, but we have a year to think about it. I read so much stuff about vaccinations anyway and worry about it, especially after the post from the lady who's kitten died a couple of days ago after it's vaccination.

Sharon
x

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RIP Ted and Dusty. Miss you!!

That is interesting. I didn't know someone's kitten had died after their vaccs.

When we got Max the siamese kitten, we were told he had been vaccinated but they had no papers, because of this when we took him to our vet they recommended waiting 3 weeks and then vaccinating in case he hadn't been vaccinated. After that when he went to be neutered and had a pre op blood test, he had raised liver enzymes. Now I'm wondering if it is possible that he had been vaccinated twice and the liver was fighting with a raised level of toxins because of double vaccination. If so, it would mean all the tests, the operation for the biopsy, the cost (although luckily he is insured) could have been avoided, if the vet had thought to test somehow first?

Ah well, that's just theory. However, I admit none of my others have had boosters for years. I'm not sure what to do with Max when it comes to time for his booster, my gut instinct tells me not to, if two vets are saying it's not necessary and possible harmful. But no cattery will take him without seeing his vaccination papers! I doubt if we'll put him in a cattery often, as usually friends look after our cats here, but if we needed to we couldn't!

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wilchil64

"Only when the last tree is felled, the last animal killed and the last fish hauled from the sea will we realise we can't eat money!"