Meow Mix and my kitty's eating habits

taty caty · May 1, 2014

Hello,

I recently adopted a cute kitty. Not sure how old he is, because he was lost in the street and was put for adoption and I took him. Be he was clean and friendly, so must have been in a home before.

But the general estimate would be between 8-12 months old.

He weighs only 3 Kilograms.

He is wither domestic longhair or Persian.

This is my first time as a parent to a cat. So excuse my long post.

1) I started feeding him meowmix wet food, plus keeping some meowmix dry food in a bowel just in case he gets hungry while I'm out.

But then someone said it is cat's junk food. Not sure is that is true or not?? It does smell horrible. But please tell me, is it really low quality food? Because I bought a big supply of it.

So I switched to Fancy feast. I gave him one portion. He ate it, but then started doing something he did for the first time, he tried to bury the remainder of the food! (not realy burring, just pointing his paws as if he was trying to cover it with sand).

I associated that with the fancy feast thing, so I switched back to meowmix. Still, he tries to bury the food occasionally.

Tonight I tried Natural balance which he LOOOVED (but my budget did not

). But still tried to bury the remainder!

Why is he doing that? Is he not feeling safe or what?

2) He eats around 4-5 times a day, but small portions. Around half a can of meow mix each time (one can is 2.75 oz = 78 g)

Is that normal? The vet said that I should feed him 3 times a day.

But my kitty eats a little each meal, and meows later imploring for another meal. And I don't want to starve him, so I simply obey, and give him food.

Is that normal? or should I be cruel and force him to go for a 3 time meals regimen? That would be easier for me, but I want the best for my kitty also.

Thank you.

Willowy · May 1, 2014

Dry Meow Mix is very low quality

. One easy way to tell if a dry cat food is low-quality is how brightly it's colored

. There is no reason for cat food to have coloring in it, and eating food dye every day is unhealthy. You also want to see meat as the first ingredient, but Meow Mix doesn't have meat listed until the 3rd or 4th ingredient. If he likes it, I guess you could finish the bag off, but try to get something healthier next time. If you have unopened bags, the store should accept a return.

Wet Meow Mix isn't so bad, but all of their flavors have fish as the first ingredient. Which isn't bad sometimes, but some cats have problems if fed fish every day, so you probably should try to get some fish-free flavors in the line-up. Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblets doesn't have fish, and I know there are a few other flavors.

As for "burying" food, perfectly natural. He's just trying to save it for later

.

Cats like to have many small meals rather than a few large meals. If that schedule doesn't bother you, go ahead and keep it up. If you need to switch him to 3 meals a day because of your schedule, that won't be bad for him, he'll get used to it.

taty caty · May 2, 2014

Willowy said:
Dry Meow Mix is very low quality

. One easy way to tell if a dry cat food is low-quality is how brightly it's colored

. There is no reason for cat food to have coloring in it, and eating food dye every day is unhealthy. You also want to see meat as the first ingredient, but Meow Mix doesn't have meat listed until the 3rd or 4th ingredient. If he likes it, I guess you could finish the bag off, but try to get something healthier next time. If you have unopened bags, the store should accept a return.

Wet Meow Mix isn't so bad, but all of their flavors have fish as the first ingredient. Which isn't bad sometimes, but some cats have problems if fed fish every day, so you probably should try to get some fish-free flavors in the line-up. Fancy Feast Turkey and Giblets doesn't have fish, and I know there are a few other flavors.

As for "burying" food, perfectly natural. He's just trying to save it for later

.

Cats like to have many small meals rather than a few large meals. If that schedule doesn't bother you, go ahead and keep it up. If you need to switch him to 3 meals a day because of your schedule, that won't be bad for him, he'll get used to it.

Thank you Willowy.

OMG! I've just checked Meow Mix wet food, and Fish broth is the first ingredient in all flavours except one!

No wonder my kitty is shedding a lot of hair.

Any recommendations for another type of dry food. I don't feed him dry food as a meal, I just keep it when I got to work out to stop my conscience from pricking me if I'm late.

Just wondering, do cats in the wild really bury food? Interesting. I thought only dogs do that.

That was informative. Thank you again.

pinkdagger · May 2, 2014

If budget is an issue, I've found Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul is reasonable - it's not top quality, and it contains barley and rice, and potatoes lower down in the ingredients but it starts with three meat sources and our two cats are doing well on it. They transitioned from the junky old Whiskas to this food very well. Apparently Chicken Soup isn't supplemented with extra vitamin E, and I did notice our cats' fur felt a bit more wiry, but as we continued with wet meal feedings, it went back to silky soft.

Our older male cat always buries his food. He's very "neat" that way (it sometimes does favours for us, sometimes not so much). Our younger female doesn't do it at all, but I think the burying can be quite cute. It's like how they pick up after themselves in the litter by burying that too. I guess it kind of makes sense if cats are in the wild or outdoors, it's not very practical to carry around a hunk of meat you can't finish and chances are another animal would be chasing them if they did. If they want to be safe, they'll remember where it is, bury it, and come back for more later.

autumnrose74 · May 2, 2014

Taty Caty said:
Thank you Willowy.

OMG! I've just checked Meow Mix wet food, and Fish broth is the first ingredient in all flavours except one!

No wonder my kitty is shedding a lot of hair.

Any recommendations for another type of dry food. I don't feed him dry food as a meal, I just keep it when I got to work out to stop my conscience from pricking me if I'm late.

Just wondering, do cats in the wild really bury food? Interesting. I thought only dogs do that.

That was informative. Thank you again.

As a rule, you you don't want to be feeding any food with fish as a main ingredient on a regular basis.

I went to Meow Mix's website and glanced at their dry food. I thought Science Diet was bad - they at least name chicken as the first ingredient. MM names yellow corn as the first ingredient for the dry food I looked at, and has grains named as 4 out of the top 6.

There are FAR better foods out there than Meow Mix. That is scraping the bottom of the barrel. The Classics line of Fancy Feast is a much better food than Meow Mix. The Classics entrees have a named meat as the first ingredient, and they are low carb. I feed FF Classic along with the Wellness line - Wellness is a grain-free food.

Do NOT feed dry food. At all. Three reasons - #1 - it is moisture depleted: 10% on average moisture content vs. the 65-70% that is in a cat's natural prey. #2 - The protein comes more from plant sources rather than from animal meats. Cats are obligate carnivores - they do best on a fresh (as opposed to cooked/rendered) meat. #3 - Dry foods are also much higher in carbs than a cat's natural diet. Some dry foods are close to 50% carbs; a cat's natural diet is less than 10%. Cats do not require carbs in their diet, they are unable to metabolize them, and they end up being stored as fat.

In short - feeding dry foods opens the door to a number of serious, not to mention expensive to treat, health problems: obesity, diabetes, FLUTD, which is an umbrella term for a number of ailments affecting the urinary tract, CKD, IBD. Feeding a canned diet or raw/homemade will cut down drastically on the chances of a cat developing these issues.

Your cat is not going to starve just because he doesn't get a meal on time once in a while. Do you think wild cats manage to catch the same amount of prey at the same time each day? He may "yell" at you a little more emphatically when you get home (my Shelly does!), but as long as he is getting enough calories for his weight and energy level every day, the exact feeding time isn't going to matter.

I would suggest that you read the following websites. These are #1 on my list of cat sites that I use for reference.

catinfo.org - lots of good stuff on here about nutrition and its effect on feline health. This site was only the second one I read when I was doing my own studying up on what is involved in owning a cat. Dr. Lisa Pierson maintains this website.

littlebigcat.com - check the Articles and Nutrition sections - lots of reading about what and what not to feed, how to read a pet food label, etc. Dr. Jean Hofve and behaviorist Jackson Galaxy co-maintain this website. Since you are a first-time owner, this site will be a huge benefit for your questions about food, behavior, etc.

feline-nutrition.org - leans heavily towards feeding raw/homemade, but does have a lot of info on nutrition. Many of the articles are written by vets, and everything is sourced.

healthypets.mercola.com - article site. Dr. Karen Becker (holistic/integrative vet) writes most if not all of the articles on this site. The comments are as informative as the articles, because most of the people commenting are very, very much into providing their cats (and dogs) with proper food and vet care.

taty caty · May 3, 2014

pinkdagger said:
If budget is an issue, I've found Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul is reasonable - it's not top quality, and it contains barley and rice, and potatoes lower down in the ingredients but it starts with three meat sources and our two cats are doing well on it. They transitioned from the junky old Whiskas to this food very well. Apparently Chicken Soup isn't supplemented with extra vitamin E, and I did notice our cats' fur felt a bit more wiry, but as we continued with wet meal feedings, it went back to silky soft.

Our older male cat always buries his food. He's very "neat" that way (it sometimes does favours for us, sometimes not so much). Our younger female doesn't do it at all, but I think the burying can be quite cute. It's like how they pick up after themselves in the litter by burying that too. I guess it kind of makes sense if cats are in the wild or outdoors, it's not very practical to carry around a hunk of meat you can't finish and chances are another animal would be chasing them if they did. If they want to be safe, they'll remember where it is, bury it, and come back for more later.

Thank you.

Just bought a couple of cans of Chicken Soup. I hope my kitty likes it.

What do you mean by "wet meal feeding"? You mean home prepared food?

I associated the burying thing with Fancy Feast, because he did not like it (he ate a little of it only), so I though it is a sign of disapproval, or that he is not feeling secure and wants his Moew Mix back.

For more than 2 weeks since I adopted him, he never buried food, it was only when I introduced FF.

Now I think of it as a positive thing, he is telling me that he is not hungry any more, so I can lift the leftovers without worrying that he might still be hungry.

Thank you for your input.

taty caty · May 3, 2014

AutumnRose74 said:
As a rule, you you don't want to be feeding any food with fish as a main ingredient on a regular basis.

I went to Meow Mix's website and glanced at their dry food. I thought Science Diet was bad - they at least name chicken as the first ingredient. MM names yellow corn as the first ingredient for the dry food I looked at, and has grains named as 4 out of the top 6.

There are FAR better foods out there than Meow Mix. That is scraping the bottom of the barrel. The Classics line of Fancy Feast is a much better food than Meow Mix. The Classics entrees have a named meat as the first ingredient, and they are low carb. I feed FF Classic along with the Wellness line - Wellness is a grain-free food.

Do NOT feed dry food. At all. Three reasons - #1 - it is moisture depleted: 10% on average moisture content vs. the 65-70% that is in a cat's natural prey. #2 - The protein comes more from plant sources rather than from animal meats. Cats are obligate carnivores - they do best on a fresh (as opposed to cooked/rendered) meat. #3 - Dry foods are also much higher in carbs than a cat's natural diet. Some dry foods are close to 50% carbs; a cat's natural diet is less than 10%. Cats do not require carbs in their diet, they are unable to metabolize them, and they end up being stored as fat.

In short - feeding dry foods opens the door to a number of serious, not to mention expensive to treat, health problems: obesity, diabetes, FLUTD, which is an umbrella term for a number of ailments affecting the urinary tract, CKD, IBD. Feeding a canned diet or raw/homemade will cut down drastically on the chances of a cat developing these issues.

Your cat is not going to starve just because he doesn't get a meal on time once in a while. Do you think wild cats manage to catch the same amount of prey at the same time each day? He may "yell" at you a little more emphatically when you get home (my Shelly does!), but as long as he is getting enough calories for his weight and energy level every day, the exact feeding time isn't going to matter.

I would suggest that you read the following websites. These are #1 on my list of cat sites that I use for reference.

catinfo.org - lots of good stuff on here about nutrition and its effect on feline health. This site was only the second one I read when I was doing my own studying up on what is involved in owning a cat. Dr. Lisa Pierson maintains this website.

littlebigcat.com - check the Articles and Nutrition sections - lots of reading about what and what not to feed, how to read a pet food label, etc. Dr. Jean Hofve and behaviorist Jackson Galaxy co-maintain this website. Since you are a first-time owner, this site will be a huge benefit for your questions about food, behavior, etc.

feline-nutrition.org - leans heavily towards feeding raw/homemade, but does have a lot of info on nutrition. Many of the articles are written by vets, and everything is sourced.

healthypets.mercola.com - article site. Dr. Karen Becker (holistic/integrative vet) writes most if not all of the articles on this site. The comments are as informative as the articles, because most of the people commenting are very, very much into providing their cats (and dogs) with proper food and vet care.

Thank you. You convinced me. I was planning to change his dry food brand. but now, I'll just cut it out.

What I sometimes do is that I offer some wet food in a plastic bowel before I go out. This was if he evr feels hungry, he can help himself. But What I'm worried about is that the wet food might go spoiled.

How long can I keep wet food out, without jeopradizing my kitty's health. My room has an air-conditioner.

Thank you for the sites, I'll look at them.

Appreciate it.

pinkdagger · May 3, 2014

Taty Caty said:
What do you mean by "wet meal feeding"? You mean home prepared food?

We used to do dry free feeding - I just meant that by contrast, we're feeding all wet twice a day instead of leaving food out all day long.

taty caty · May 4, 2014

pinkdagger said:
We used to do dry free feeding - I just meant that by contrast, we're feeding all wet twice a day instead of leaving food out all day long.

Cool. Thanks.

Meow Mix and my kitty's eating habits

taty caty

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Willowy

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pinkdagger

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autumnrose74

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pinkdagger

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