New dog > than the cats (rant)

I love my sister and by no means want to back stab with this post but I am irritated to no end and just want to get it off my chest.

My sister has 2 cats, Ivy and Mousie, who are 8 years old. She has had them since they were kittens. She spoiled them rotten and left them do WHATEVER they want. From sitting on the table when she ate, to clawing furniture. She snuggled them every second she had...but there was one area that needed work. Their diet. Ivy is very overweight and can't even clean herself. The cats are free fed from a bag of Whiskas and get 2 meals of wet food (which they don't eat much of since they fill up on dry food). I politely suggested she maybe switch to even a slightly better brand, or just drop the dry for the most part and get a good quality wet food. She went off on a long rant about how she can't afford anything more than Friskies wet food. Anything more than 50 cents a can is too expensive, etc.

Fast forward 2 months. Her and BIL spontaneously get a puppy. She goes out and gets, of course, Wellness, the most expensive brand the store has to offer. Dry AND wet. The small bag of dry costs over 40 dollars and the cans at least 4dollars each. Mind you, I think it's wonderful she wants to feed her a good food but isn't it unfair that she couldn't afford even slightly better food for the cats but can get the most pricey for the puppy? As a full grown dog, the Wellness is going to cost a fortune.

And of course, since puppy requires the most attention, the cats get NO attention for her anymore. In fact, she never even mentions them. When I go over there, they are usually tucked away, all sad looking. I feel bad for them. They were her babies.
I fear Ivy is going to end up with major health problems from her weight and my sister actually thinks its funny. She LOVES that Ivy is so huge and refuses to try and get her weight under control.

Just frustrated by the situation. So yeah. endrant.

I completely understand where you're coming from, it's sad.

We have three dogs and Leiki, our cat. I will say, the dogs do tend to get more attention but it's because they're in our face for attention when they want it - the dachshunds, our pit just lays around, lol. That being said - we DO play with Leiki when she wants to, mostly at night when the dogs are all settled down.

Everyone is fed a good quality food - Leiki is on Nature's Variety Instinct, the dogs are currently on a mix of Taste Of The Wild and Nature's Variety Instinct.

Is there a higher quality food that is comparable in price? I know that around here, Taste of the Wild dog food is cheaper than Purina if you buy the bigger bags and you use less of it. Perhaps if there were a comparably priced higher quality food that she would consider feeding it? Or if you could take a look at some grocery store brands, if she is opposed to having to go to a pet store, and see if there are any decent ones that are better than the Whiskas. Maybe get them a feeding toy so that they have to work for the food a bit? Do you think she'd go for that?

I know it's not really fair to put that all on you, but it might make a difference.

There are a few brands that are only slightly more expensive and I did try to talk her into trying them but both of her cats need to switch brands slowly (even wet) and it seems like she just can't be bothered to put the effort into it. It's easier for her to get a box of Friskies and a bag of fry food at Walmart and throw it down for them. I spent hours trying to get her to consider it.

I just think if she can afford the most expensive food for the dog, she should find something just as healthy but cheaper and use the extra money to get the cats on a good brand too.

However, it seems that the cats have become just two other animals there. Not valued members of the family. I totally understand the dog needing more attention but even when she is in her crate for the night, the cats are still not even getting any loving. Like I said, I can see that they are craving attention when I go there. They both come running to me meowing like they haven't seen a human in weeks.

I look at Parker and I couldn't imagine replacing him with any pet. He is just that special to me. I thought her cats were too.