Any cat experts that could help me with nutrition/care? ?

Question

INFO.

Name: Lucy

Age: 9 weeks old

Gender: Female

Updates: Dewormed/checkup before she came home. Will be spayed and given shots this Saturday.

INTRO.

Let me start by saying that I have nothing against cats. I've never liked cats, I have no knowledge for them, and I take to dogs more. Recently my sister brought home a wild kitten without my knowledge. Note: when I say wild I mean born outdoors with the lack of human interaction. A woman was rescuing kittens nearby her home and took them to the pound. Unfortunately, the manager said that there was just an overabundance of them. If she were to give them up they would have to be humanely euthanaized immediately. However she decided to try and convince customers in Pet Value if they wanted to adopt them. It just so happens my sister was walking by at the time. At first I was completely against the cat, firmly saying "It's not my cat it's yours. Do whatever you want." My sister ( 21 ) desperately wanted it and as long as she took full responsibility I felt content. I am an animal lover after all and if it meant saving a life then sure, why not?

With no surprise my sister's "Responsibility" slowly diminished. I believe she's fed the cat twice her entire life and enjoys buying the accessories more than actually having ownership. PLEASE don't be offended by my sister she's one of those artificial, materialistic, divas. She reminds me of Paris Hilton, mind it's not easy putting up with it. And it disgusts me when people desire baby animals and in a day grow bored of them or find them to be chores. Please don't say anything mean about my sister she does mean well. Now as said before I dislike cats but I'm not that cruel. Despite my sister's lack of ownership and the fact that I couldn't just give it to the pound I've decided to care for her. I feed Lucy 1/2 cup 3 times a day no later than 6:00pm ( I plan to ask the vet as of how much and how many times I should really feed her ). I play with her constantly (at least a minimum of 4 hours a day), clean the liter box everyday, and change the liter once a week every Sunday. Overtime my dislike for cats have grown to a fondness. I honestly can say that I have developed an emotional attachment with Lucy.

Breakdown Mode

( Nutrition )

The vet that my sister took Lucy recommended dry food. My sister even purchased a book from Petco, Kitten Guide for the best start in life by Science Diet, that recommended the same thing ( Go figure....). However, I'm a research freak and decided to surf the web for more additional information. Eventually, I've stumbled onto Lia A. Pierson's site: http://www.catinfo.org/ I prefer gathering my information from books considering they're a lot more accurate about facts. Information on the web, especially google searched engines, are more of opinions than facts. When I've read Lia's articles she made a lot of obvious reasons why dry food had poor quality. I even made the poor choice of going to Walmart and purchasing the Goodlife Recipe: Chicken and brown rice. At the time I suppose my sister and I were thinking more of a human's diet than a cat's diet. I was very upset when I have found out what I'm really doing to my cat. Possibly giving her kidney stones, urinary tract infections, diabetes, and even obesity. Not too mention really bad gas due to the horrible cat food.

These were just some of the ingredients I've found from the Goodlife Recipe: "GROUND CORN, CHICKEN BY-PRODUCT meal, CORN gluten meal, Animal Fat, Chicken, WHOLE GRAIN, BROWN RICE, Natural Poultry flavor, DRIED PEAS, RICE, WHEAT FLOUR, BREWERS DRIED YEAST" - (My jaw dropped)

Immediately I took the initiative today to correct this problem. I've exchanged an unopened bag of the cat food she's been eating to get wet food instead. However, I didn't have a recite so I couldn't make a trip to Petco. Instead I was given store credit and this way I had plenty of time to read the labels. This is where my breakdown began. With the little knowledge I knew about cats I made an effort to try and find the best food ( if possible ) other than Goodlife. I ran into a lot of ingredients that consists of corn and rice. If one had corn or such vegetation listed as the first three ingredients I immediately put it down. One by one each food had such poor quality. I was extremely upset and I even started to cry a little. I was just so frustrated about being such a bad cat owner and slowly killing Lucy with poor nutrition. Not too mention the questionable glances people gave me seeing an 18 year old girl cry as she read the back of cat foods. It was humiliating now that I think of it but at the time I was really concerned and unsure if I was making the right choices.

I literally took 2 hours comparing and contrasting wet foods when it finally came down to Friskies or Iams. Iams sounded good until I felt there was more quantity of meat by-products than of muscle meats. One of the ingredients was also rice brewer and that

Answer 1

You're funny.  But you're well-spoken, have the right intentions, and are well on your way to giving your kitty the best care possible!

The website you found is one of my faves, and was key to starting me down the path of learning about proper nutrition for cats.  You may have seen reference on that site to the fact that many vets are undereducated in this area, and I have found that to be true.  That's why I now travel 30 minutes to the vet instead of 5 - I found one (holistic) that knows what she's talking about.

So anyway, you want to find a good food for your kitty.  There are many brands out there.  Petco sells two - Natural Balance and Wellness.  I believe Wellness just started being sold there so you may or may not find it.

I'm going to supply you with a list of excellent foods and a link to my blog where I discuss how to identify them.  You already know about what I call the Dread Three - corn, wheat and soy.  And you know about byproducts and whatnot.  So you're off to a good start!

I started my girls on canned food 2 years ago in October.  I started with Natural Balance venison & green pea, then switched to Nature's Variety Instincts (venison).  One cat indicated a desire for something different, and she now eats Wellness turkey.  The other is still eating the Instincts but only about twice a week - she's now eating raw meat (chicken, rabbit or turkey).

One last thing - there are a few very good books out there about cat nutrition:

Raising Cats Naturally: How to care for your cat the way nature intended :: Michelle T. Bernard

Whole Health for Happy Cats, by Sandy Arora http://www.holisticat.com/

The New Natural Cat A Complete Guide for Finicky Owners

by Anitra Frazier

Answer 2

Heather you are in good hands with Ken- he knows the scoop- if his info doesn't already mention it- I always refer people to Janet and Binkie's Food Charts- do a search and you will come to a site for diabetic cat owners- from there you will find the food charts that contain carb values- from the best to the worst or I guess I should say the lowest carbs to the highest - good luck-  

Answer 3

Hi

Good for you for researching. canned is mucvh better for cats

Alot if what you already know is going to be repeated here in a copy and paste post but inside this post is what you are looking for

If you feed a no grain canned food like wellness, that is ultimate and your cat will eat less. Thanks for caring



Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 4

Stay away from super markets, pretty much anything you can get from your grocery store isn't gonna be good quality.

Since you mentioned Petco I'd go there for food. They have some good quality stuff that isn't full of fillers and animal by-products. Wellness and Natural Balance are both great cat foods that are available at Petco. They should have kitten formulas for both brands but if they don't look for Science Diet kitten. It's not as good but it's much better than the alternative, and alittle cheaper. you'll want to keep your kitten on kitten food until its about 1 year old, because kittens need the extra fat to develop properly.

Answer 5

I am impressed by not only your research, excellent diction, but also your need to make sure this little girl is being watched over.  BRAVO!!!

She is very lucky to have you.

I think you're right on.  I have fed my two girls (spayed) Iams, and they are happier and healthier.  Neither want to eat wet food, and are 24\7 nibblers.  It took me a while, since they were both use to the cheapest food there is (rescues).  But I have noticed a tremendous change in their coats.  I also change their water 2-3 times a day and visit the vet on a regular basis to ensure their health is taken care of.

I really hope others read your question and can take notes to see how to take care of a cat and do it well.

My hat goes off to you.  Once you're touched by a cat, you will never be the same.  They did not choose to be born, but it's our job to be their voices and guardians.  Good luck with Lucy.