Post Your Pets

You get the same nonsense with pedigree cats. Lulu's mother is called 'Candy' by her owners, but her pedigree name is Glitterglam Golden Flame...

You're hardly one to talk are you Buffalo William Prince of Hardingham Castle Major, to give you your full name. And it's not like you're a pedigree either, is it?

Tried her on raw meat?

She was on Natures Menu sachets (essentially raw) before this prescribed stuff, and she's back on it now.

some of it's got fish in it though. She's had chicken thighs as treats before, and lapped them up. We'll see what happens with the meat based dry food, and after that...

back to RAW I s'pose.

FWIW, we feed our cats wild rabbit (costs around £4 for a whole rabbit), and we give them a little bit of heart to make up the taurine.

I'd have to ask Anna for the specifics, but amongst the sites she used to research our cats' diet is this one:

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/bybrawdiets.htm

Thanks for the link Bill.

Lots to digest

[intended pun]

The theory is that cats are adapted to eat small prey (birds & rodents), so if you are feeding raw meat from bigger animals like rabbits, you need to have some organ meat, some bones (must be raw, we used to pulverise them in a blender) and the rest raw meat (the raw food aficionados call this 'frankenprey'!). We also sometimes add powdered taurine, as taurine doesn't like being frozen, and we generally prepare several meals at once, and then freeze the rest.

It works out a little more expensive, but not much, than conventional pet food, and obviously it takes little bit longer to prepare, and you end up doing a lot of butchery (chopping up rabbit, heart, liver) but our cats seem good on it.

Don't take my word for it, read some of the literature (mostly on the web). Some of it is woo-woo, but some of it seems founded in good science.

my cats granpa was named Hunterdonhall Knobi of Animatrax and his dad was Animatrax Renaissance

its sucks watching a cat be sick. Its like sick children that you cant help.
raw food is the way to go. Before we put the cats on raw I tired Innova EVO which is the least processed cat food available in canada. the cat still had horrible shits and was sick. then we put them on this raw packaged food and within one day they were shitting properly. It was amazing. the food is mostly meat with some added greens and oils. I dont know where to get prepackaged raw food in the UK but Im sure there are places. It worked out to a $/day per cat, so not cheap but worth it. It sucks having to have someone at the house twice a day. I had friends with keys that lived nearby to feed them if necessary.
also once they started eating raw meat they stopped drinking water. which is normal.

EVO still made them sick

raw packaged foods

Thanks for all of this guys.

It's all been pretty crazy with the cat just spewing everywhere. I'll talk to the vet about going RAW when we pick up this venison stuff later on this week.

In the mean time, I'll be reading through all the stuff I can find online.

Thanks.

as above, AFAIK modern house cats have adapted only so far to processed foods etc, but they still need a bit of bird/vermin to eat. ours used to eat tinned food for weeks, then get a little sick, leave the house for a few days on a hunting mission, then come back right as reign again. She lived till the very ripe old age of 17/18! though it was digestive system that gave up on her in the end, never sure whether it was just age, or tinned cat foods that cause it.

The vet will almost certainly try to discourage you, because they get tons of literature from people like Hills & other pet food manufacturers, and many vets have point of purchase displays of pet food that dominate their surgery.

as above, AFAIK modern house cats have adapted only so far to processed foods etc, but they still need a bit of bird/vermin to eat. ours used to eat tinned food for weeks, then get a little sick, leave the house for a few days on a hunting mission, then come back right as reign again. She lived till the very ripe old age of 17/18! though it was digestive system that gave up on her in the end, never sure whether it was just age, or tinned cat foods that cause it.

Raw food adherents claim that cats should live to 20+ years, and that as you say, the only reason that they don't is because their internals give up due to poor diet. How true this is, I don't know.

our last cat had a few strokes at the a couple of months shy of 20. we had to put her down because she lost control of half her face and was chewing through her tongue. other things started failing at the same time. when they go they go really fast.

yeah, our cat doesn't go outside at all. she just mooches around the house all day and causes some havoc indoors. A bigger cat seems to have the run of the garden, so she 's reluctant to go out, she just doesn't even look out the window or anything. From what you guys are saying, the raw diet does have it's benefits.

I'm always aware of vets pushing food. She was pushing the Hills stuff early on, but that cat just didn't agree with it. This gentle food we're trying is supposed to be vet "certified" too, I can't remember the brand, but if it still doesn't work I think we'll have to try to create our own diets as you say.

My girlfriends previous cat lived until she was 18 or so, and lived off of whiskers her whole life. Whiskers made our cat run around in circles like a loon. All those e numbers drove her insane.

On the same theme my boxer had terrible, terrible stomach problems.. Went through all kinds of specialist vet procedures and cost a fucking fortune (thank heavens for insurance) and was put on a very specific (expensive) diet. Happened to take him to a random vet we were filming with one day.. he said.. Chappie.. Feed him Chappie (very cheap tripe dog food). Very next day everything changed.. Never a problem ever again..

I must also add that this vet was also a spiritual healer (hence filming him).. I'm as sceptical as anyone... All I know is that my dog was very sick... And then after this visit he was never sick again. Died from old age at 13.

Hi Guys

Anyone know a good canine behavioural person? We got a lovely Cocker Spaniel about 3 months ago when he was about 14 months old. He's great round the house but is so anxious of other dogs... will chase em barking his head off, very frustrating. Had those fairytale dreams of meeting all those other dog owners over the park etc.. At the moment I turn and walk in the other direction whenever we see another dog!
I'm in SE London.. any recommendations?

Cheers
Nic

have you tried asking your local vet?? Where SE are you?

Have you been in touch with Cesar?

I'm on the border of Blackheath/Lee/Lewisham, will try the vet. Was just wondering if anyone had any personal recommendations / success stories...

....Cesar? I haven't nope, should I?

Teigar -

She's very dubious of cameras as my brother leaves the flash on every time.

Lovely. I have got to get myself a new cat or two soon.

Jesus christ, I didn't realise that cat diet was so complex. I just feed Bangers half nice wet food, half science plan. Seems to be OK- though my housemate (the owner - currently travelling) used to supplement his diet with plates of venison blood and bits of small fowl.

My dog is so much simpler - has eaten the same food farm store Gilpa since she stopped being a puppy and still eats it like it's a new menu every day - she has the shiniest coat, most even temperament and is generally incredibly happy. Bloody cats on the other hand...

Our two get a 50/50 mix of (say) Encore and (say) Iams.

Seems to keep them happy- they come sprinting when they hear the food tub.

Has anyone had any issues with their cat throwing up a lot?

The vet's given us some "special" sensitive stomach food, but she's still puking. she's not loosing weight and is very healthy apart form this. she'll do it maybe once or twice every couple of weeks.

My cat excessively cleans so comes out with the occasional furball. But even when it wasn't a furball she'd puke, found out that cat's need food regularly or bile builds up. When the cat eats again it just bounces.

Atm she's eating Whiskers adult, only the fish though for some reason. We found that normal food gave her energy she didn't need and she ended up having the shits.

Right now I'm doing my best to stop her cleaning as she's given herself two bald patches while I was away for a week. The vets don't seemto understand what I mean by too much, they just say "oh thats to be expected, cats clean a lot" bullshit. Not this much

That sounds a little like stress- has something changed? New dominant cat in the area for example?

She stays inside. Could be random timetable and me being away for a few days. She dislikes my mother.

When she was 4yrs till 10yrs old she was at a friends farm and was bullied a lot. Here's what she looked like when we saved her - covered in scabs etc.

I could also be why food has to be rationed. If we fill her bowl then it'll all be eaten in 10min. Then most likely we'll see it again when she's running around playing