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Struggling to feed cat! Advice?

post #1 of 15
6/23/11 at 3:52am
Thread Starter 
Ok i have a 6 month old boy called rogue and his same age sister skunk.

Skunk will happily eat go cat dry and vita cat wet.

Rogue wont touch dry plus they make him puke and will only eat vita cat wet.

Im not happy with him just eating the wet food. So would it be ok for me to give him 2 meals of canned a day. Morning and night and 2 meals of ground meat a day?

Im thinking of taurine as well. Im worried he wont get enough?
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post #2 of 15
6/23/11 at 4:48am
You should be happy with him eating only wet food, because it's better for them than dry. So many people struggle to wean their dry food addicts onto wet food with little or no success. So you should really thank your lucky stars!

Canned food (provided it says "complete food for cats" on the label) is properly balanced.

Ground meat is not properly balanced nutritionally, with or without taurine added.

It's OK to feed 10-20% (by weight) of unbalanced food as long as the remaining 80-90% is balanced food.

So feeding two meals of canned and two meals of ground meat is not good because that means 50% of balanced and 50% of unbalanced food. If your cat eats canned food only he will get all nutrients that he needs. If you feed him more than 20% unbalanced food he will be at risk of developing a nutritional deficiency.
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post #3 of 15
6/23/11 at 5:17am
Thread Starter 
Ok how about i feed him 4 wet meals a day with a teaspoon of raw added to each one?

The tinned is only 4% meat so i just want to bulk up the meat content a bit.

Would that be ok?
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post #4 of 15
6/23/11 at 5:28am
Yes, I think that would be OK. Btw the label often states "minimum 4% flavour meat", which means that if you bought duck flavored cat food for example there will be at least 4% of duck meat in it, but it will contain other types of meat as well, so I think there's more than just 4% of meat in the food.
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post #5 of 15
6/23/11 at 7:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Howldaloom View Post
Ok how about i feed him 4 wet meals a day with a teaspoon of raw added to each one?

The tinned is only 4% meat so i just want to bulk up the meat content a bit.

Would that be ok?
Is the brand you are talking about PureVita? Or Vita Cat?
Either way, 4% meat is very low, so yes, supplementing with other meat would be great.
Quote:
Originally Posted by def kitty View Post
Yes, I think that would be OK. Btw the label often states "minimum 4% flavour meat", which means that if you bought duck flavored cat food for example there will be at least 4% of duck meat in it, but it will contain other types of meat as well, so I think there's more than just 4% of meat in the food.
No, if the canned says it is 4% flavour meat, then that means 4% of it only needs to Taste like duck; not that it IS duck. I would stay away from foods that say this, but that's just me..
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post #6 of 15
6/23/11 at 9:54pm
I can't imagine a tinned food with only 4% meat. . .even the cheapest, nastiest canned food in the U.S. has way more meat than that. Are you sure? What are the ingredients?

Just meat isn't a balanced diet. Maybe you could find a better canned food he'd eat?
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post #7 of 15
6/23/11 at 10:15pm
The OP wanted to add meat to the food and IMO if it's truly a 4% food then supplementing meat should be a great idea.
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post #8 of 15
6/23/11 at 10:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Howldaloom View Post
Ok how about i feed him 4 wet meals a day with a teaspoon of raw added to each one?

The tinned is only 4% meat so i just want to bulk up the meat content a bit.

Would that be ok?
What canned foods are you currently feeding?

AC
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post #9 of 15
6/24/11 at 2:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minka View Post
No, if the canned says it is 4% flavour meat, then that means 4% of it only needs to Taste like duck; not that it IS duck. I would stay away from foods that say this, but that's just me..
Wow I didn't know that, you sure? So the 4% could be any meat with additives that make it taste like duck? That's some pretty odd regulation if it's true!

Either way, the 4% thing on the label is pretty useless, what I do is calculate the carb percentage in the food and if the percentage is low enough AND there is no plant derived protein in the ingredient list I deem the food OK (not very good, but edible and probably better than dry).
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post #10 of 15
6/24/11 at 2:53am
Thread Starter 
Like i said before i am on a VERY low income and can only afford £20 a month about $32 dollars on cat food for both of them.

Even my own diet is suffering. I didnt really want the cats. I didnt go out and get them, i took them in because my pregnant friend lost her house and i took them in to prevent them from going to a shelter.

The average cat food in the uk is only 4% meat. All the brands on the shelves tend to be only 4%.

I was thinking of buying smilla. A cat food online that has 80% meat in it with added taurine. Unfortunatly i cannot afford to feed this in large amounts.

So what i want to do is feed smilla (a good quality food) twice a day (around 100g-150G each)

And then feed vita cat 4% cat food the other 2 meals a day. PLUS supplementing with frozen ground foods. Adding a tsp per meal.

This is all i can afford. I could also buy them a chicken wing each per week and maby a chopped up chick.

What are your opinions on this idea?
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post #11 of 15
6/24/11 at 3:18am
It's a good idea, I think it's the best option that will fit your budget. But trust me, there is a lot more meat than 4% in the canned food you buy for them, it's just that they have a (useless) obligation to state the minimal percentage of their flavor meat, which is legally required to be at least 4%. Just disregard the 4% thing altogether and look at the ingredients. If "meat and animal derivatives" is the first ingredient listed that means the food contains it in largest quantities, if "cereals" are the second ingredient that means there is less cereals than meat etc. It would be good if you could post the ingredient list here, as well as the analysis (% of protein, fat, ash, fiber and moisture)
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post #12 of 15
6/24/11 at 3:31am
Thread Starter 
http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-healt...food-cats.html

You might find this post interesting
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post #13 of 15
6/24/11 at 10:05am
Generally-speaking, a primarily canned diet, supplemented with a little bit of raw meat here and there, should be fine.

Kudos to you for feeding four times a day!! That's great and so much better for the cats!

Best regards.

AC
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post #14 of 15
6/24/11 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Howldaloom View Post
http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-healt...food-cats.html

You might find this post interesting
Ah, so it isn't only 4% meat. It's at least 4% of the flavor of meat listed on the can, and the rest of the meat could be something else. That makes more sense. I didn't think a canned food could possibly be only 4% meat! A dry food maybe, but not canned.

Yes, your plan sounds good. It's nice you can feed your kitties 4 times a day! I'll bet they're glad about that.
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post #15 of 15
6/24/11 at 2:53pm
Could you post what it says on the back of the can? It usually says Guaranteed Analysis and then also the ingredients. You don't have to list them all, maybe only the first 10 ingredients.
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