A few questions about cat food

furryfriends50 · Mar 17, 2009

1) the farm cats that hang out in the strawmow like to now have water added to their pate wet food, for a 13 oz can i add 6 oz of hot water, and mix it together so it's very soupy. they eat more wet food this way, instead of 1 can (w/o counting the added water) they will eat two (again without counting added water). my question is if it is okay to add water to wet food. is it to much moisture?

2) since i now have a good source for many differant brands of high quality dry food, would it be okay to keep switching the brands? 50% of their dry food is kirkland and its going to probably stay that way, but could i keep changing the other 50% about every month?

3) abby wouldn't eat any food tonight, and looked sick. i gave her 2 two oz shots sub-q (what i have to give to milo who has CRF) to try make up for all the liquids that she isn't having, but i did end up getting her to eat Wilderness (blue buffalo) if i soaked it in water and turned it into mush. if thats they only way that she will eat is it okay? it didn't soak for that long, and she ate it all within about 30 minutes of it starting soaking till she finished, though i had to help her finish the last little bit by giving it to with a baby spoon. i also gave her bene-bac. she's done this before, not eat for two days and then be completly fine afterwards.

carolina · Mar 17, 2009

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

1) the farm cats that hang out in the strawmow like to now have water added to their pate wet food, for a 13 oz can i add 6 oz of hot water, and mix it together so it's very soupy. they eat more wet food this way, instead of 1 can (w/o counting the added water) they will eat two (again without counting added water). my question is if it is okay to add water to wet food. is it to much moisture? I am no expert, but a lot of people here add water to their wet food, and it is ok - just make sure they get the proper amount (same amount of food with no water added), so that they have proper nutrition.

2) since i now have a good source for many differant brands of high quality dry food, would it be okay to keep switching the brands? 50% of their dry food is kirkland and its going to probably stay that way, but could i keep changing the other 50% about every month? It is a great thing to rotate food, this way you are making sure they get different sources of protein, and a more complete diet. Just make sure to switch it slowly - adding a little of the new food everyday, while removing the old food... Everyday you will serve a little more of the new, and less of the old, until you have done a full switch; otherwise they can have upset stomach, and diarrhea. It should take about 2 weeks to transition the food.

3) abby wouldn't eat any food tonight, and looked sick. i gave her 2 two oz shots sub-q (what i have to give to milo who has CRF) to try make up for all the liquids that she isn't having, but i did end up getting her to eat Wilderness (blue buffalo) if i soaked it in water and turned it into mush. if thats they only way that she will eat is it okay? Perfectly fine it didn't soak for that long, and she ate it all within about 30 minutes of it starting soaking till she finished, though i had to help her finish the last little bit by giving it to with a baby spoon. i also gave her bene-bac. she's done this before, not eat for two days and then be completly fine afterwards.

Vibes for Abby!!!

sharky · Mar 17, 2009

DO NOT soak DRY food ... it can cause a bacterial overgrowth ...

wet food is already 75-85% water or moisture on ave so unless you are doing it to get the cats to eat there is little reason to ... it is okay too but it brings down the overall nutritional value ... ie 12oz can + 6 of water = 18 of slurry ... the % on the can are for 12 oz not 18 ... so you could be bringing a 50% protein down to about 34% .. this is due to taking the oz and likely more mouth eating on them

carolina · Mar 17, 2009

Originally Posted by sharky

DO NOT soak DRY food ... it can cause a bacterial overgrowth ...

wet food is already 75-85% water or moisture on ave so unless you are doing it to get the cats to eat there is little reason to ... it is okay too but it brings down the overall nutritional value ... ie 12oz can + 6 of water = 18 of slurry ... the % on the can are for 12 oz not 18 ... so you could be bringing a 50% protein down to about 34% .. this is due to taking the oz and likely more mouth eating on them

Ops - sorry - I thought she had soaked the wet wellness...

yosemite · Mar 18, 2009

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

1) the farm cats that hang out in the strawmow like to now have water added to their pate wet food, for a 13 oz can i add 6 oz of hot water, and mix it together so it's very soupy. they eat more wet food this way, instead of 1 can (w/o counting the added water) they will eat two (again without counting added water). my question is if it is okay to add water to wet food. is it to much moisture?

Adding water to wet food isn't a problem, I add very hot water to leftover cat food that's been in the refrigerator to warm it up a bit. The extra water is actually good for them.

2) since i now have a good source for many differant brands of high quality dry food, would it be okay to keep switching the brands? 50% of their dry food is kirkland and its going to probably stay that way, but could i keep changing the other 50% about every month?

Do not keep switching the brands of dry food. You need to do a slow change to any dry food in order not to give the cat diarrhea (well in most cases, our cats can handle an overnight change but many cannot). If you have a good dry that you are currently feeding and they like it, stay with it. Changing wet food continually does not have the same problems as changing dry.

3) abby wouldn't eat any food tonight, and looked sick. i gave her 2 two oz shots sub-q (what i have to give to milo who has CRF) to try make up for all the liquids that she isn't having, but i did end up getting her to eat Wilderness (blue buffalo) if i soaked it in water and turned it into mush. if thats they only way that she will eat is it okay? it didn't soak for that long, and she ate it all within about 30 minutes of it starting soaking till she finished, though i had to help her finish the last little bit by giving it to with a baby spoon. i also gave her bene-bac. she's done this before, not eat for two days and then be completly fine afterwards.

It's not usually recommended to add water to dry food as it increases the risk of bacteria growing in it, but if she ate it all within 30 minutes and that's the only way you could get her to eat it, I don't see a problem. I wouldn't add water to it and just leave it there for hours though but you already seem to be aware of that.

furryfriends50 · Mar 18, 2009

Originally Posted by sharky

DO NOT soak DRY food ... it can cause a bacterial overgrowth ...

wet food is already 75-85% water or moisture on ave so unless you are doing it to get the cats to eat there is little reason to ... it is okay too but it brings down the overall nutritional value ... ie 12oz can + 6 of water = 18 of slurry ... the % on the can are for 12 oz not 18 ... so you could be bringing a 50% protein down to about 34% .. this is due to taking the oz and likely more mouth eating on them

there are 14 cats in the strawmow, and if i do not add water they only will all together eat one 13 oz can. if i add water they will eat 2 13 oz cans, not counting the added water. so if i count the water it is two cans of wet food and one can of water. so instead of 10 of them eating it there are now everyone, 14 of them, will eat the wet food.

how fast can the bacteria grow? i measured out the dry food, put it in a ziploc, and tried to smash most of the pieces so it would have less time in the water. so it had to soak for just a few minutes, and then she ate it right after that. i would NOT soak it overnight for the next day.

2) since i now have a good source for many differant brands of high quality dry food, would it be okay to keep switching the brands? 50% of their dry food is kirkland and its going to probably stay that way, but could i keep changing the other 50% about every month?

Do not keep switching the brands of dry food. You need to do a slow change to any dry food in order not to give the cat diarrhea (well in most cases, our cats can handle an overnight change but many cannot). If you have a good dry that you are currently feeding and they like it, stay with it. Changing wet food continually does not have the same problems as changing dry.

i would be slowly changing the food over, but wouldn't it be best to try switch protien sources every month? we wouldn't eat the same food day after day. they still will have to get 50% of their food as kirkland, so would it work to slowly switch the other 50%? over a month they would probably get it switched over for a week, then two weeks of that food mixed with kirkland, then another week switching over to the next food.

another quick question that i forgot to mention: my school is trying to get food and clothes for the homeless people that live in our town. a few of them have dogs, but a few of them also have cats. would it work if i were to buy cat food for both the dogs and the cats? is cat food okay for dogs to eat? i know you shouldn't give dog food to cats, but what about the other way around?

sharky · Mar 18, 2009

dogs eating cat food can be okay in a pinch for a short time( truth is for awhile my dog ate wet cat food and my vet was fine with it ... cat food is usually to high in fat for a dog ...

Bacteria double every 20 minutes , so Like Linda said if she eats it within a half hour of you putting the water on then likely you ll be okay ...

I misread the wet water , Now I understand you are not stretching it but just adding some extra

snake_lady · Mar 19, 2009

Originally Posted by furryfriends50

there are 14 cats in the strawmow, and if i do not add water they only will all together eat one 13 oz can. if i add water they will eat 2 13 oz cans, not counting the added water. so if i count the water it is two cans of wet food and one can of water. so instead of 10 of them eating it there are now everyone, 14 of them, will eat the wet food.

That's awesome......Maybe they just prefer the runnier consistancy

how fast can the bacteria grow? i measured out the dry food, put it in a ziploc, and tried to smash most of the pieces so it would have less time in the water. so it had to soak for just a few minutes, and then she ate it right after that. i would NOT soak it overnight for the next day.

If they are eating it up right away (within 30mins of wetting it) I wouldn't worry about it. I have to wet my dog's food before she eats it too, and it really doesn't take long from wetting it to her eating it.

i would be slowly changing the food over, but wouldn't it be best to try switch protien sources every month? we wouldn't eat the same food day after day. they still will have to get 50% of their food as kirkland, so would it work to slowly switch the other 50%? over a month they would probably get it switched over for a week, then two weeks of that food mixed with kirkland, then another week switching over to the next food.

May I ask why you want to continuously switch the foods? Just curious.
(Personally I feed 2 different brands, one a base food that I will always be feeding, the 2nd one mixed in with it helps financially as the base brand is expensive and the 2nd brand is a little bit cheaper, plus it has different nutritional content).

Personally, if you wanted to switch the 2nd food per bag or whatever, and are continuing with a base brand..... You could near the end of the month switch to Base brand 50%, +25% +25% for a few days, then the 50/50 again with the new brand.

I don't think you'll have alot of problems since 50% of the food is always staying the same. If you didn't want to mix all 3 foods to transition, I would take the easier route and increase the base to 75% with 25% new brand for a few days, then back to 50%.

Hope that makes sense.

another quick question that i forgot to mention: my school is trying to get food and clothes for the homeless people that live in our town. a few of them have dogs, but a few of them also have cats. would it work if i were to buy cat food for both the dogs and the cats? is cat food okay for dogs to eat? i know you shouldn't give dog food to cats, but what about the other way around?

I feed my dog, my cat's leftover wet food. (it's a treat to my dog) But dogs and cats have different nutritional requirements, and it would not be a good idea to feed the dog catfood on a regular basis. If you are willing to buy the cat food, I'd pick up a bag of dog food (you could divide it into ziplocs).

I am sure they would appreciate it very much. Thank you for caring

furryfriends50 · Mar 19, 2009

i want to switch their food every month because:

-we wouldn't live our whole lives eating the same exact food day after day. more likely you could get sick from that because it is missing certain nutrients. although all cat foods are nutritionally complete, even the ones with no meat in them can be called that. the same food means having the same exact protien source and all the same things in it. i wonder how good that can really be for a cat, because nothing ever changes.

-they LOVE new food! since they love getting new food so much it makes me think they are getting sick of the same exact thing all of the time.

-cats seem to know what is best for them. in the wild they wouldn't go eat some corn or fruit instead of eating a mouse. it doesn't provide the nutrition they need. if i were to give them junk food (such as food with no meat just meat flavoring) they would choose the high quality food such as natural balance. even though i would be feeding them high quality food if i switched food back and forth or if i didn't, i think they can tell that a certain food has a certain thing in it that the other is lacking.

I feed my dog, my cat's leftover wet food. (it's a treat to my dog) But dogs and cats have different nutritional requirements, and it would not be a good idea to feed the dog catfood on a regular basis. If you are willing to buy the cat food, I'd pick up a bag of dog food (you could divide it into ziplocs).

i have a whole ton of cat food samples because no one ever takes them from a farm store that is in the town i live in. they just give them to me except for a few of the samples, because i know some of the people that work there and else they get way to many of them. most of them are the same brand.

for dog food, what brands are considered good? i only know about cats lol.

sharky · Mar 19, 2009

Most of the "good" cat brands make good dog

furryfriends50 · Mar 19, 2009

thanks again! putting it in ziplocs would be a good idea anyway because it always rains here.

if anyone was wondering, abby was starving tonight! she ate the whole 5.5 ounce can of wellness that i got after school to try and tempt her to eat.

A few questions about cat food

furryfriends50

TCS Member

Thread starter

carolina

TCS Member

sharky

TCS Member

carolina

TCS Member

yosemite

TCS Member

furryfriends50

TCS Member

Thread starter

sharky

TCS Member

snake_lady

TCS Member

furryfriends50

TCS Member

Thread starter

sharky

TCS Member

furryfriends50

TCS Member

Thread starter

Latest Posts

Connect with us