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Old August 11th, 2009, 06:44 PM
adammo adammo is offline
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Questions on Cat Food

Hi all,

About a month ago we switched to wet cat food and so far the results have been great. Our vet thought it would be a good idea to give them dry food as well in order to help with their teeth. Right now we feed them twice a day: 8 AM and 5 PM. Here are my questions:

1 - How much wet food should I be giving them? One is 3 years old and the other is 7 months. Right now we give them about 1/4 can per meal. I'm just not sure if that is too little or too much as I think they'd eat the whole can if I left it for them .

2 - I tried finding Wellness is bulk but did not have any luck with any of the pet stores nearby. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any Canadian stores that may offer a discount when buying in large quantities?

3 - My oldest cat likes to eat from both bowls. When the younger one leaves, the older one will typically go to her dish and eat some of it. As far as I can tell the youngest still gets her fair share, but is there anyway to prevent the oldest cat from eating it all? I'm hoping that once she reaches her quota that she will give up.

Thanks!
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Old August 11th, 2009, 07:02 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Your cats shouldn't need any kibble what-so-ever, it doesn't help with their teeth. It would be like you eating crackers in the morning to brush your teeth, lol.

The best thing to keep your cat's teeth clean is for them to eat raw chicken backs with bone. .

Global here in Kingston will offer a slight discount on Wellness canned if you buy a case.

If your cats are a good, healthy weight then I would not increase their food, you don't want them to get overweight. I do have to feed Jasper, Puddles and Rose in seperate rooms because Sweet Pea eats all the food so maybe you can feed Clover in a separate room so she can get her fill before Pepper gets the rest?
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Old August 11th, 2009, 07:22 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Love4himies is right, and your vet is wrong - dry food doesn't clean teeth. In fact it's quite the opposite. Those crunchy nuggets of cereal tend to just shatter (if they aren't swallowed whole) and the bits get trapped between teeth and under the gum-line, where bacteria feeds on the sugar and plaque starts to build up. More info here:
http://home.ivillage.com/pets/cats/0,,p8ds,00.html
and here:
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.ph...dcleantheteeth

Quote:
Originally Posted by adammo View Post
1 - How much wet food should I be giving them? One is 3 years old and the other is 7 months. Right now we give them about 1/4 can per meal. I'm just not sure if that is too little or too much as I think they'd eat the whole can if I left it for them .
When you cut back the kibble, I would increase the canned to at least a 5.5oz can per cat per day and see how they do. Do you know how much your cats weigh? There's a rough guideline of about 20-30 calories per lb per day, more for cats under 8 months.
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Old August 11th, 2009, 08:16 PM
adammo adammo is offline
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Thank you for the help. I honestly can't remember the reasoning, but I think he was mainly concerned that my oldest cat still maintained crunchy food to prevent dental problems when she is older. I think I will confirm what he meant. He may have very well meant to keep them on it for a little while to transition. I'll call tomorrow .

Normally the young one eats until she is full or uninterested. That is when the older one sweeps in and has a nice chow . I think if I moved the dish that the oldest would still find it.

I guess i'm just wondering if they would eat more than what they need? It's hard to tell at work who is eating the food all day. Maybe I need to set up a kitty-cam
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Old August 11th, 2009, 08:19 PM
adammo adammo is offline
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As for weight, the oldest is about 9.5 lbs, and the youngest about 6.5 lbs.

So i'm guessing without dried food that both should get 1/2 can at each meal time (2 cans per day between them)?

Thanks again!
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  #6  
Old August 12th, 2009, 05:58 AM
adammo adammo is offline
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Ok so I have another issue. Up until we switched to Wellness a few days ago, both cats ate straight from the dish. The last couple of days our youngest wasn't eating at the regular time. She'd sniff it and walk away. So I tried different flavours, tried cold/warm and it didn't work. So I opened a new can and placed it in front of her. She ate right out of the can, and ate alot!

What does this mean? How can I get her to enjoy the dish??

I was reading that some animals don't like eating out of the dish, but I can't understand why she would all of a sudden stop. I also cleaned the dish yesterday but did not have much luck.

Last edited by adammo; August 12th, 2009 at 06:52 AM.
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Old August 12th, 2009, 07:44 AM
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Lots of good advice here. I don't have much to add, except I totally agree you should not bother with the kibble.

I feed mine Innova EVO. I recently switched them to the venison flavor and they all love it, even my finickiest one, Oksana. I buy a case of 12 of the 13.5 oz cans. I can feed my 5 with one can in the morning and one can in the evening. Each gets 2 tablespoons at each feeding. They'll eat, then wander off and come back throughout the day to munch. It's okay to leave it out a few hours.

What kind of dish are you feeding your kitty from? Maybe try to find a small stainless steel one. Perhaps she doesn't like the color of the dish or the depth
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Old August 11th, 2009, 08:17 PM
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kathryn kathryn is offline
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If you are already doing fine with the wetfood then I wouldn't even bother with dry. It wouldn't hurt to buy a really small bag to just leave a few crunchies to nibble on between meals. Otherwise there's not really any reason to get dry food.

Wellness has become too expensive in my opinion. It's not really much better then any other foods that are more cost efficient. Try to find Natura Pet in bulk.. Evo, Innova, Cal. Nat.. etc... couple different flavors to use.

If you can find it where you live, my cats really like Merrick canned food. It's not a pate' style which makes them happy as they get annoyed by too much mush.

I'm not the best at figuring out how much cats eat. I have soooo many cats that I kinda just judge by how fast they eat and if they are still bothering me later I might give them a bit more food. I would feel comfortable giving each cat a half of can at a meal. 1/4 doesn't seem like enough for me if you aren't using dry at all.

I go threw about 2-3 cups of dry food a day for my indoor cats. They get canned food for dinner that adds up to roughly 12 1/2 ounces of canned food for the whole group (1 cats usually the canned for dinner)... so a little over an ounce each...

Eh. Just go by what seems right. If they seem hungry, give them a little more. If they are turning into little piggies, give them less., Consult with your vet and just see what works Cats are one of animals I've heard have fast metabolisms so you want to be careful about under-feeding them as it can quickly make them uncomfortable..
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