bad food?

Yesterday i asked my mom, on her trip to the store with my sister, to pick me up some moist cat food for the girls. Instead she buys ol'roy canned dogfood. So thinking not to waist it, i gave it to Dixie this afternoon. She ate a good portion and now has the diareah (sp) and of course the girls ate a little of what she left and now they dont act good either they seamed unusally tired and generally not themselves, Callie seams a little better now. But all Boo wants to do is sleep. Cupid, miss picky butt who refuses to eat anything except her dry cat food and seams to be normal. I dont know if maybe there was something wrong with it or possibly just the change in food didnt agree with them? Any ideas?

Well, here at school (vet tech school) we giggle and snicker when we hear of people feeding Ol' Roy to their dogs. But that's the dry stuff. The canned is better, but definately not for cats. Cats need something called Taurine in their food, which dog food does not contain, because dogs can make their own Taurine.

And of course the cats aren't going to feel good, espeically the one who ate a lot. Their stomachs aren't accoustomed to the new food, and their stomach bacteria don't know how to break it down correctly yet, so most of the food they ate is simply going into the litter box.

That's why vets always reccommend weaning animals onto a new food slowly, so their body can get used to it on it's own time.

I agree with the above

Cept Many premium dog foods now add taurine as the latest studies showed they dont make enough ... Most are adding what would be a minimum and I aim for higher for kitty ...

You can tried PLAIN canned pumpkin to help bulk up the stools ... if that does not work you may need a quick vet trip for a RX..

Never feed dog food to a cat or vice versa - dog food is too low in protein for cats to be eating.

And yes, the sudden change in food and the poor quality would cause the kittys to be sick.

Get good quality cat food - if you want healthy cats!

Originally Posted by sharky

I
You can tried PLAIN canned pumpkin to help bulk up the stools ... if that does not work you may need a quick vet trip for a RX..

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Or, just stop feeding them the dog food and get real, good cat food, and wean them onto it.

well feeding the cats dog food wasnt my intent. That was an accident, but when you run out of something around here you have to drive 45 miles to town, so we often pool our trips and if someone needs something you ask whoever is going. This is how i ended up with the ol'roy in the first place. Now i do use ol' roy dry for my outside dogs but thats the only thing i can get them to eat. I tried switching them to something else this summer and they quit eating until i went back to the ol roy. Someone else told me not to feed dogs catfood and cats dogfood so i seperated their areas alltogether. I put up baby gates so the dog isnt allowed near the cat bowls, and i only feed dixie when the cats are asleep or in their room.

While it doesn't hurt the dog or the cat to eat a bite or two, it WILL hurt both with a steady diet.

Most dog owners will say the Ol'Roy is junk food. Have you tried Diamond maintenance or Costco Kirkland? Both are much better foods. We get Diamond at our feed store - 50 lbs for less then $20. Costco's is 40 lbs for about $15.

yea i bought diamond this summer, and none of them would touch it, Chewy, my bf's dog actually hiked his leg and peed in the bowl! i tried weening them into it slowly, but that didnt work either, they would pick at the pieces they liked and leave the rest. i have never seen the costco brand, where do you find it?

Originally Posted by blondrebel76

Now i do use ol' roy dry for my outside dogs but thats the only thing i can get them to eat. I tried switching them to something else this summer and they quit eating until i went back to the ol roy.

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No offense, but usually when people say that, it's because they are being too soft. Would you let your child eat nothing but candy and drink soda, because they refused to eat anything else?

The dogs won't starve themselves to death, unlike birds. -_- My birds are stubborn like that; poop in the food they don't want to eat, so I had to wean REALLY slowly, really coax them into eating it.

I'd really recommend getting the dogs (and especially the cats. ) off that bad food. Like I said, we scoff at it, because it's really at the bottom of the food list. It's one of the worst grocery brands you can buy, and generally, grocery-store pet food are really bad, anyway.

Really sucks that the stores are so far away, though...No chance of having food delivered, instead?

Originally Posted by blondrebel76

i have never seen the costco brand, where do you find it?

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As far as I know, there are none here. Not really a surprise though, is it?

So to those suggesting stores or store bands, you're really going to confuse people who have never heard of or even seen these stores.

Since this state is very agricultural, we have a lot of farm supply stores. Brands that are more often to be carried at those stores will be easy to find. Such as ChickenSoup.
Maybe sharky can suggest good dog food brands these stores may carry?
Other then that it's walmart, grocery stores, or trips to larger cities (OKC and Tulsa) just to find a petsmart.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

As far as I know, there are none here. Not really a surprise though, is it?

So to those suggesting stores or store bands, you're really going to confuse people who have never heard of or even seen these stores.

Since this state is very agricultural, we have a lot of farm supply stores. Brands that are more often to be carried at those stores will be easy to find. Such as ChickenSoup.

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Lol, you should send some Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul my way! The only place I know I can find it is in a realllllly far, organic supermarket, and I live in Denver, basically! =P I went looking for it for my friends' cats, whom I am watching for a couple more weeks, and couldn't find any at any of the nearby petstores.

all the good cat food s make good dog foods ...

do you have a feed store near?? often they have great prices and good foods ...

with my dog the best luck was with nutro natural choice and wellness core ... but all dogs are different

Many find diamond reasonable, here it is the same price as nutro max so not a huge bargin since they are comparable

what makes a good dog food good? from what i read earlier diamon was poor quality? i am so confused.

Originally Posted by blondrebel76

what makes a good dog food good? from what i read earlier diamon was poor quality? i am so confused.

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lol.. you will get as many opnions on dog as you do cat ... I look for digestabilty in a dog food ... meaning the grains I dont mind white rice ( the most digestable) oatmeal ( thou this is starting to show allergys ) wheat ( yup high allergen but second in digestabilty....

I like one meat to no more than two grains ... moderate to high protein ( I fed Gigi puppy till moving her to a no grain) .... I prefer all stage as the proteins are higher and they are likely not to high in fat

Things to avoid
too many grains ... Ie chicken with rice, brown rice, millet ,lamb ,oatmeal ,barley ,amaranth = 2 meats and 5 grains

I avoid lamb since it can cause inflammation , corn and corn gluten since most are in formulas that are not as digestable

good fatty acid s omega 6 at least 3

no soy , chem preservatives , artificial colors or flavors
FYI
wild cat ave diet 50-60 protein , 30 -40 % fat and leftover carb

wild dog or wolf 40 protein 30-40 fat 20-30 carb

Costco's brand (Kirkland) is from the Costco warehouse stores (like Sam's Club).