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Old May 1st, 2010, 12:07 PM
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Is 12 hours between feedings too long?

We have been feeding our cats 1/2 can of wet food in the morning when we wake up, 1/2 can when we get home from work around 5:30, and 1/2 a can before we go to bed around 10:30. So each cat gets 1.5 cans total per day. That was with Friskies (I personally don't like it, and I think my poor cats just ate it because it was all they got, but I won't be buying it again---bought a 32 pack...) and now we got Science Diet optimal nutrition food, and I was wondering: should we just feed them 1 can daily instead of 1.5 (since science diet has high fiber and better nutrients/ingredients)? So we would feed them before we leave for work at 7:30am, and then we figured we would feed them again late in the evening, around 7:30 or 8pm. Is going a whole day (7:30am-7:30pm) OK to do? We could maybe feed them some treats when we get home around 5...any help would be appreciated. Thanks~

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Old May 1st, 2010, 12:50 PM
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Since it is going to be such a long stretch between feedings during the day could you up the amount you feed in the morning? You can always cut back a bit on the late night snack feeding to make up for it.
IMO there are so many more healthy canned foods than SD out there. Here is a great site to read. www.catinfo.org. In particular this section........
http://www.catinfo.org/commercialcannedfoods.htm .
This one has information on calorie count, protein, fats, carbs, etc. which may be helpful.
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html
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Old May 1st, 2010, 12:58 PM
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I know there are more healthier food brands out there for them, but we can't afford to buy a more expensive brand than SD. SD is actually also too expensive for us, but we are just doing what we can to have healthy kitties I guess, and SD is the least expensive higher end brand of cat food that we can afford.
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Old May 1st, 2010, 03:10 PM
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Have you tried Fancy Feast? There are some that aren't too bad and they aren't too expensive.

I feed mine about a tablespoon each when I wake up, around 6:00 am. Before I leave I give each another tablespoon which is still cold from the fridge so it stays a little fresher during the day. When I get home around 5:00 I feed them again another tablespoon each. I like to break their meals so that they get the same amount, but more often so they don't feel hungry throughout the day.
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Old May 1st, 2010, 03:47 PM
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Max and Mylo,IMO I do not think you give them enough food,but maybe I read it wrong.
What size cans are you talking about??
Even if you feed them a lot in the morning,they still need a good meal at night,cats are not like dogs,they are usually nibblers,unlike most dogs,who will gulp it all down in one shot
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Old May 1st, 2010, 03:58 PM
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[QUOTE=chico2;913996]Max and Mylo,IMO I do not think you give them enough food,but maybe I read it wrong.
What size cans are you talking about??


It is the 5.5oz cans. And half the time, they don't even finish it by the time I get home at 5. Maybe I'll mix a little dry food in there in the morning, and again, a little dry food in it at night so that they are getting enough food, but we aren't going through 3 expensive (in my budget) cans a day.
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Old May 1st, 2010, 04:11 PM
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So if you feed them 2 cans/day,they get 5,5oz each/day..maybe it's enough,my 3 cats eat more,though..
Good quality cat-food is expensive and if you can't afford it,you can't afford it.
I would stay away from the dry though,just give them some good treats later at night.
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Old May 1st, 2010, 05:35 PM
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I have been doing a LOT of research this afternoon, after buying a case of 24 Science diet optimum health canned food, and I've found that science diet ranks SUPER low on the 'good for your cat' list.....is this true? Do any of you know how bad SD is for my cats? Or is it OK??
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Old May 1st, 2010, 07:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by max&mylo View Post
I have been doing a LOT of research this afternoon, after buying a case of 24 Science diet optimum health canned food, and I've found that science diet ranks SUPER low on the 'good for your cat' list.....is this true? Do any of you know how bad SD is for my cats? Or is it OK??
In certain situations SD is good for your cat. As in when the cat is fighting off an illness and needs all the extra that they put in their food. But in normal situations it is so full of "fillers" like grains, corn, etc that it really is not that great of a food. As AG said, even Fancy Feast has some not bad quality kinds if you know what to look for. You want to stay away from the gravy types as they normally contain wheat gluten, the major cause of the last pet food recall, and look for the pate types. So yes, SD is not a great food to feed. If you have been reading the site given to you then you are well on your way to feeding your cats the best food you can afford to feed.
Notice on that site there is also a place for preparing raw food and recipes for your cats. That is the ultimate diet and is very budget conscious.
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Old May 1st, 2010, 10:46 PM
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Have you tried Fancy Feast? There are some that aren't too bad and they aren't too expensive.

I feed mine about a tablespoon each when I wake up, around 6:00 am. Before I leave I give each another tablespoon which is still cold from the fridge so it stays a little fresher during the day. When I get home around 5:00 I feed them again another tablespoon each. I like to break their meals so that they get the same amount, but more often so they don't feel hungry throughout the day.
You only feed your cat a tablespoon at a time? That doesn't seem no where near enough for me.
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Old May 2nd, 2010, 12:43 PM
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You only feed your cat a tablespoon at a time? That doesn't seem no where near enough for me.
I used to give them 2tbsp at a time, and they would leave so much of it, and I'd wind up throwing it away. So I started just giving them the one right when I wake up. It's rare for them to eat all of their morning food. Then, when I leave, I wash their plates and I take the rest of their food out of the fridge and give them each another tablespoon. It's not an exact tablespoon. I use it to get the same amount for each of them, so it's always slightly over.

When I get home, I give them another tablespoon around 5ish, take a shower eat something and around 7 or 8 I give them another tablespoon. Plus, I give them treats in between.

They've always got something to eat, as they often go and snack on their plates a bit then go on about their business.

The girls, will always eat slightly less, so the boys will come and eat a bit more. But, they have all maintained a healthy weight.
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Old May 3rd, 2010, 05:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by max&mylo View Post
We have been feeding our cats 1/2 can of wet food in the morning when we wake up, 1/2 can when we get home from work around 5:30, and 1/2 a can before we go to bed around 10:30. So each cat gets 1.5 cans total per day.
That's great that you feed your kitties wet food! Much better than kibble.

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Originally Posted by max&mylo View Post
and now we got Science Diet optimal nutrition food, and I was wondering: should we just feed them 1 can daily instead of 1.5 (since science diet has high fiber and better nutrients/ingredients)?
As you might be starting to realize, Science Diet does not actually have better ingredients, especially for the price you pay. For instance, here are the ingredients for the SD Optimal Care Liver and Chicken flavour:
INGREDIENTS
Water, Liver, Meat by-products, Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Wheat Flour, Corn Starch, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken Liver Flavor, Rice Flour, Calcium Sulfate, Guar Gum, Brewers Yeast, Locust Bean Gum, Caramel Color, ....
You don't want an organ meat, especially when it doesn't indicate what species it's from, as the first ingredient. Same problem with "meat by-products", which could be from road-kill or euthanized pets for all we know. These are not quality protein sources. Then there's the riduculous amount of plant-matter in the form of high carbohydrate corn and wheat. "Powdered cellulose"? That's basically sawdust. The king of all fillers, adding an excessive amount of insoluble fibre which cats don't need (and can actually cause harm by irritating their digestive tract). Brewers yeast is a common allergen, and caramel colour is only there to make the mushy grey slop more appealing to humans.

Lots of reasons not to feed this food, even if it really was cheap.

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Originally Posted by max&mylo View Post
So we would feed them before we leave for work at 7:30am, and then we figured we would feed them again late in the evening, around 7:30 or 8pm. Is going a whole day (7:30am-7:30pm) OK to do?
Depends on your kitties. Some do fine with long stretches between meals, but I personally think cats should eat smaller, more frequent meals. Their metabolism doesn't slow down in the absence of food, and because they've evolved eating many snacks of mice, insects, lizards, birds, throughout the day, I think if you can do at least 3 meals, that's preferable. They may also be less likely to wake you up in the middle of the night if they get a snack before bedtime (or maybe that's just my cat!).

Quote:
Originally Posted by max&mylo View Post
Do any of you know how bad SD is for my cats?
See above. Some better choices, for those on a budget, would be Precise (the big 12 oz cans are a good bargain), some of the Pro Plan or Fancy Feast flavours (but read the ingredients first!), Max Cat or Nutro (again, not all of them are good, but most are still better than SD). Buying large cans by the case of a great food like Wellness can often end up costing less per ounce than many of the cheap foods that are only sold in those wee little 3oz cans. Remember, too, that paying more for a quality food is likely to result in fewer vet bills over the long run.

Hope that helps.
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Old May 3rd, 2010, 06:00 PM
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Thank you so much for all of your information! But I had already opened it and fed a can or two to them before I realized this....so now its probably too late to take back to Fleet Farm. My only problem with buying different cat food is lack of variety of places to get it. We have the normal Wal-mart, target, shopko...but they don't sell specialized food. Fleet Farm only carries science diet. They carry another brand too, but it's like, twice as expensive. I found a country store in town though, that lists on their website that they sell different kinds of cat food. Here is their website: http://www.cwco-op.com/09/countrystore/animals.asp

So, looking at that website, under the cats & dogs section, what foods would you recommend?

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Old May 3rd, 2010, 06:16 PM
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Eagle Pack Holistic, Wellness, Natural Balance, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Evo any that are grain, corn, rice free with as few by products as possible. While it is true they are more expensive they are also much better for your cats. You may find they are eating a little less because the quality is better and therefore they are feeling full faster. If you buy the larger cans you may find you are actually spending a little less in a week for food than you would have been with the three small cans a day of SD. One large can between the two of them should be sufficient.
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Old May 4th, 2010, 07:27 AM
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max&mylo,I've been feeding my 3 cats Wellness canned for quiet a while,only lately I've also been buying Eagle Pack Holistic for variety
The Eagle Pack is a little cheaper than Wellness but is really liquidy..
I assume you are in the US?
When we were in South Carolina,we checked out Wellness there and it was more expensive than here in Canada.

It costs me about $75 for 2 weeks of food for 3 cats,but since I stopped buying dry food,it's not bad.
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Old May 4th, 2010, 08:04 AM
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I feed my cats Wellness and, with 6 cats, it's around $115-140 a week, depending on whether I buy the big cheaper cans (12.5 ounces) or their favorite flavors (5.5 ounce cans). Apparently my cats have expensive tastes - their favorite flavors aren't available in the larger cheaper cans! Maybe I'll take a look at some other brands - I've been feeling like mine are in a rut and maybe they'd like some variety.

By the way, my cats get fed every 12 hours (approximately) but they don't eat it all at feeding time so they usually have food throughout most of the day and night.
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Old May 4th, 2010, 08:08 AM
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I feed my cats Wellness and, with 6 cats, it's around $115-140 a week, depending on whether I buy the big cheaper cans (12.5 ounces) or their favorite flavors (5.5 ounce cans). Apparently my cats have expensive tastes - their favorite flavors aren't available in the larger cheaper cans! Maybe I'll take a look at some other brands - I've been feeling like mine are in a rut and maybe they'd like some variety.

By the way, my cats get fed every 12 hours (approximately) but they don't eat it all at feeding time so they usually have food throughout most of the day and night.
I feel your pain. I'm considering changing up my gang too, they're tired of EVO. I'm going to look into the Eagle Pack (which Chico is feeding) and see if mine like it.

Sorrty, didn't mean to threadjack.
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Old May 4th, 2010, 01:22 PM
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AG,I am still feeding them Wellness most of the time,but they do love the Eagle Pack too,here it's about 20 cents cheaper per can than Wellness,not much of a difference.
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Old May 4th, 2010, 01:26 PM
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AG,I am still feeding them Wellness most of the time,but they do love the Eagle Pack too,here it's about 20 cents cheaper per can than Wellness,not much of a difference.
If I can alternate between something equally as good but a little cheaper, that would be good. I don't want the quality of their food to suffer so I"m trying to find alternates that might help save a bit of money.
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Old May 4th, 2010, 04:03 PM
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A-G,I think variety is important,gets their tummies used to different foods
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Old May 4th, 2010, 04:22 PM
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I feed my cats Wellness and, with 6 cats, it's around $115-140 a week, depending on whether I buy the big cheaper cans (12.5 ounces) or their favorite flavors (5.5 ounce cans). Apparently my cats have expensive tastes - their favorite flavors aren't available in the larger cheaper cans! Maybe I'll take a look at some other brands - I've been feeling like mine are in a rut and maybe they'd like some variety.

By the way, my cats get fed every 12 hours (approximately) but they don't eat it all at feeding time so they usually have food throughout most of the day and night.
SERIOUSLY!!!

Holy Cow - I am sooo glad I don't have a cat!!

It doesn't cost that much to feed my 90 pound dog for a month!
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Old May 4th, 2010, 04:26 PM
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$$$$ a week ????.... holy cow.

Time to revise my , "I wanna come back as..."
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Old May 5th, 2010, 09:51 AM
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$$$$ a week ????.... holy cow.

Time to revise my , "I wanna come back as..."
It's because there's anywhere between six and eight cats eating. I just finished at PetCo this weekend and I spent about $115 for two weeks worth of food. I buy 14 of the cheaper Wellness cans (the 12oz large ones) - they run about $2.55 per can. The flavors my cats prefer only come in the more expensive smaller cans (5.5 ounces) and run about $1.75 per can - I buy 42 of the smaller cans. This allows me to give the cats a large can in the evening and three small cans in the morning. It's a total of 14 days worth of food.

The food is way cheaper if I buy it by the case online, but then I pay shipping which eliminates any savings. I'm seriously thinking of the Eagle Pack as well. I'm also considering throwing some homemade into the mix - my grocery store has chicken legs on sale for 45 cents per pound which is waaay cheaper than cat food!
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Old May 5th, 2010, 10:10 AM
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I have a place that special orders EVO Venison for me at about $34.00 for a case of 13.5 oz cans. I usually get a case a week, and will order two cases about every two weeks, so I always have cans on hand. And after I spend about $200 I get a $10 coupon to use.

But I've only got 5, and the boys wind up eating a little more than the girls, so it works out well.
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Old May 5th, 2010, 12:18 PM
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So I was once told that feeding my cats ANY wet food over dry is good. Do I have to buy the expensive ones? Or can I just feed them something like 9 lives or friskies? I know that they aren't obviously as healthy as the more expensive brands, but isn't ANY wet food more healthy than dry?
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Old May 5th, 2010, 03:35 PM
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I certainly agree with the any-wet-food-over-dry theory.

If you can afford it, Fancy Feast is a good cheaper option - especially if you stick with the pate style ones (instead of the "in gravy" and "grill" types), most of them are lower on the wheat and gluten additives. Around here they run about fifty cents a can. They only have itty bitty 3 ounce cans and an average cat would eat 1-2 cans per day (although different cats vary a lot on how much they eat).
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Old May 5th, 2010, 04:13 PM
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Awww com'mon guys! What are you complaining about with prices.
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Old May 5th, 2010, 04:13 PM
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So I was once told that feeding my cats ANY wet food over dry is good. Do I have to buy the expensive ones? Or can I just feed them something like 9 lives or friskies? I know that they aren't obviously as healthy as the more expensive brands, but isn't ANY wet food more healthy than dry?
Yes, any wet food is better than dry. However, the quality of the protein source in a more expensive food is going to be higher (it's more digestable, has fewer potential toxins), which will be better for the cats in the long-run. You get more real muscle meat from an identified source (eg. "chicken", or "beef", or "turkey", etc) rather than mostly by-products from an unidentified source (ie "meat by-products" or "poultry by-products").

Now if money really is a big issue and it's not that you don't want to spend it on your cats, but that you truly can't, then there are some things you can do. Buy Friskies or 9Lives, but really scrutinize the ingredients and stay away from anything that says "In Gravy" or "Sauce". Try to find flavours with at least some muscle meat. For instance, I know Friskies Classic Pate Poultry Platter at least has turkey as the first ingredient.

It also doesn't have to be an all or nothing situation. Maybe feed half Friskies, and half Wellness (or even 2/3 to 1/3, if necessary). Augment your cat's food with actual fresh meat like chicken breast or slices of steak (preferably raw, but lightly cooked with no sauces/spices is also good). Give them some scrambled eggs with butter every so often. Just as long as the extra meat doesn't make up more than 15-20% of their diet, which would cause a nutritional imbalance.

You might give some serious thought to making your own raw cat food as well. Once you get over the learning curve of how to do it, this is often the most economical and healthiest way to feed our furry friends.
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Old May 5th, 2010, 05:17 PM
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We simply cannot afford to feed them high end food. I would buy them the best food in the world if we could. But if we were to consistently feed our cats brands like EVO and Wellness, we would have to cancel some other bill that we are paying, whether it be our phone or internet or something else. Living paycheck to paycheck is hard-I just got a full time job FINALLY after graduating college with my bachelors last May, so hopefully things will start to turn around, but for now, and for awhile, we [I]have[I] to stick with the cheaper brands I'll just make sure that a protein is the first or near first ingredient.
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  #30  
Old May 6th, 2010, 07:40 AM
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chico2 chico2 is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Oakville Ontario
Posts: 26,591
max&mylo,you do the best you can,I think we've all been there at one time or the other,I don't doubt you love your cats very much.
My cats were fed Fancy Feast for a long time and cats I had a loooong time ago it was something called Pussn'Boots
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3 kitties,Rocky(r.i.p my boy),Chico,Vinnie
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