Hi, just found this forum 15 minutes ago, and i'm hoping someone can help me.
My wife and I have taken in a stray male tabby. He has been with us for 1 week now, and is a very affectionate cat, and we love him to bits.

We have been feeding him a mixture of Whiskas pouches and dried biscuits for the last 4 days, since he started 'living' in our house. Before that he was getting tinned tuna in brine, tinned salmon in brine, fresh trout and the odd bit of cooked chicken and turkey served up on a plate on the door step. The thing is, he seems to prefer the tinned and fresh food to the pouches. Is there anything wrong with feeding him these foods on a regular basis?

We had him checked out at the vet today, but I forgot to ask about the food. Too busy worrying about them finding something wrong with him. She put him as being 9 or 10 years old, and found that he had an underactive thyroid, for which we were given medication. He also seems to be reluctant to jump down from a distance of more than about 18 inches, although she couldn't find anything wrong with him when she was manipulating his legs. I thought fresh fish might help if he had joint pain.

Any advice is much appreciated as we have never had a cat before.

Regards,
Alan

Thanks, that puts my mind at rest. I thought I might have been doing wrong in feeding him fresh food, but feel better about it now, and i'm sure the cat will be pleased!
Many thanks,
Alan

I was actually going to ask a similar question because I feed my cats a lot of fresh food after learning the facts about Whiskas and Felix (although they turn their nose up at Felix).
I often give them a can of tuna etc but I was concerned that too much may be a little rich for them but I guess they are natural carnivores and - I look at things like fish, rabbit and chicken that they love and it seems realistic that in the wild they could catch and eat these.
Sorry I'm rambling and haven't added anything constructive - but that's just me - lol

Welcome anyway.

Emily

Tuna doesn't provide the necessary level of vitamins, sodium or calcium to be fed as a complete meal or even as a primary ingredient in meals. Tuna is fine served as a treat but serving as a significant part of a cats diet is not good.

So an occasional treat is fine

I was looking for you AJ I just ordered Orijen - you converted me...LOL
I like to give my cats some wet food to supplement as I think just dry is a bit boring for them and although I give them fresh meat if it's available I like to have cans in the cupboard - I ordered Cosma because they had a better offer on it than applaws
It is 60% meat - wondered if you knew or had heard any more about it?

Emily

Just had a look and it's just meat with pectin, not sure why it needs the pectin really but still I think that's pretty good, why don't you just feed them fresh meat everyday? Glad to hear you've ordered some Orijen!