Eating the 'wrong' food - Page 3

Selk67U2 · #21 (**permalink**) 14-11-2008, 11:15 PM

Hi & Welcome to you Jan
You could try giving your cat some raw food, mine have Royal Canin, but they are getting more & more raw. They've always had meat as well as the RC, but normally Natures menu or Hi-Life. They love raw wild rabbit & will try to steal it before it's even defrosted

kozykatz · #22 (**permalink**) 14-11-2008, 11:27 PM

I used to feed dried food to my cats on a regular basis - i.e. I had a bowl of dry left out all the time and kept topped up

Over the past 2 years or so I'd been reading quite a bit on various groups/websites, saying that dried food was really a bad choice due to its high grain/carbohydrate content. Cats are carnivores and they need virtually zero carbohydrate in their diet - they need high quality meat-based protein only. I began to feel a bit concerned that I was feeding my cats the wrong food, but I didn't do anything about it. Then in August of this year I read a book that really opened my eyes to the risks of dried food "Your Cat - Simple New Secrets to a Longer Stronger Life" by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM (a feline specialist vet and very successful Ocicat breeder in the US). Reading that scared me enough to immediately stop offering any dried food to my cats other than as an occasional treat, and I made sure I only used high meat/no grain content food (of which there are very few - certainly not whiskas, RC, Hills, JWB, Burns etc)

I'd recommend anyone with cats to read this book - it is very well written. It's available from amazon.co.uk and is now in a paperback edition I think.
All About Cats Health and Wellness Center - Your Cat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jan Pitt

I have a cat, Roxy, who is now 14 months old. One week after I bought her, I took her to the vet for a check up and was informed that I should only feed her dry food as it was better for her digestion.

Up until two months ago, I did this mostly with Go Cat (which she loved) but every other day I would give her a little sachet of Whiskas wet food as a little change. However, two months ago while getting Roxy's annual booster jag my vet was horrified at how much weight she had put on since she was neutured at 6 months. To myself and my partner, her reaction was competely uncalled for as to us she looked an adequate size for a cat (you could feel her ribs but couldn't see them)- I was chastised for giving Roxy wet food in the first place, told that Go Cat is basically junk food for cats (which from this forum appears to be the case) and that by giving her this, I was slowly killing her.

Instead, I have been told that I have to feed her Royal Canin Stones & Weight dry food only at 50g a day to ensure weight loss and a healthy digestive system with the added bonus that the biscuits will help her teeth. However, after reading other websites and some of the threads of this forum, I am utterly confused. I would hate to think that I am in any way harming my cat - I love her to pieces. On a plus point, her coat has improved and her stools are a million times better but could I be harming her in the longe term?

Jan Pitt · #23 (**permalink**) 14-11-2008, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Selk67U2

Hi & Welcome to you Jan
You could try giving your cat some raw food, mine have Royal Canin, but they are getting more & more raw. They've always had meat as well as the RC, but normally Natures menu or Hi-Life. They love raw wild rabbit & will try to steal it before it's even defrosted

Hi and thanks for the welcome

I've tried Roxy on some raw mince and rabbit and on Hi Life - the raw she wouldn't touch and the Hi Life didn't quite agree with her if you know what I mean!

I've seen so many horrific stories online about cats with problems later on in life with only having dry food but my vet is adamant that as she is female dry is better than wet and wet is not an option. I'm seriously considering going to another vet for a 2nd opinion. Especially in terms of the so called weight issue as well!

Selk67U2 · #24 (**permalink**) 14-11-2008, 11:39 PM

Quote:

I'm seriously considering going to another vet for a 2nd opinion. Especially in terms of the so called weight issue as well!

Hmmm, yea I think you should to be honest. Why because she's female, never heard that one before

Selk67U2 · #25 (**permalink**) 14-11-2008, 11:40 PM

Quote:

I used to feed dried food to my cats on a regular basis - i.e. I had a bowl of dry left out all the time and kept topped up

Over the past 2 years or so I'd been reading quite a bit on various groups/websites, saying that dried food was really a bad choice due to its high grain/carbohydrate content. Cats are carnivores and they need virtually zero carbohydrate in their diet - they need high quality meat-based protein only. I began to feel a bit concerned that I was feeding my cats the wrong food, but I didn't do anything about it. Then in August of this year I read a book that really opened my eyes to the risks of dried food "Your Cat - Simple New Secrets to a Longer Stronger Life" by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM (a feline specialist vet and very successful Ocicat breeder in the US). Reading that scared me enough to immediately stop offering any dried food to my cats other than as an occasional treat, and I made sure I only used high meat/no grain content food (of which there are very few - certainly not whiskas, RC, Hills, JWB, Burns etc)

I'd recommend anyone with cats to read this book - it is very well written. It's available from amazon.co.uk and is now in a paperback edition I think.
All About Cats Health and Wellness Center - Your Cat

Thanks for that Naomi, i'm sure it will be of interest to quite a few on here

kozykatz · #26 (**permalink**) 15-11-2008, 11:27 AM

That's a new one on me as well - where do these vets get such peculiar ideas? is this really what they're taught at vast expense in their 6 years of training?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Selk67U2

Hmmm, yea I think you should to be honest. Why because she's female, never heard that one before

Selk67U2 · #27 (**permalink**) 15-11-2008, 11:42 AM

Quote:

That's a new one on me as well - where do these vets get such peculiar ideas? is this really what they're taught at vast expense in their 6 years of training?

Makes you wonder does'nt it

Biawhiska · #28 (**permalink**) 15-11-2008, 12:17 PM

Naomi, what dry food to you give as a treat? any suggestions on how i can get my 3 mogs who love dry to eat some wet pleasE?

shortbackandsides · #29 (**permalink**) 15-11-2008, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smurfstran

My vet recently told me that feeding my cat George Go-Cat was killing him! He refuses to eat any kind of wet food...I've tried only giving that to him and had to stop because he went a couple of days without eating the stubborn git. My other cat will eat both, he isn't fussy. But beware of dried food because even though George had plenty to drink aswell he has recently been diagnosed with bladder crystals and had to take a trip to the emergency vet last weekend because he was blocked which can be life threatening...the vet said he would have had about 36 hours to live if not seen to asap!! So now he has to be on an expensive special diet for the rest of his life...bless him!!!

thats because go cat is crap and not balanced,and does not contain all the nessasary nutrution.Better quality balanced dry diets wont cause this

Abooksigun · #30 (**permalink**) 15-11-2008, 12:30 PM

Just to say thank you for the tip KK I have ordered the book, just hope I'm not completely shocked!

But think it will definitely be a fascinating read!

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