So my vets recommended a dry food only diet and im a bad kitty owner and have just realised I have only enough dry for their bedtime feed! What do people think of a one off breakfast of wet food? Will they start to refuse the dry later on in the day?
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Newbie food advice....
- Thread starter joanneh
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Is the dry food prescription? I am just wondering why the vet is recommending a dry food only diet. The dry food/wet food discussion on here can be heated, but regardless of that, you have to feed them something. Depending on where you live, available transportation, etc., with the holiday, you may nor may not have access to someplace to get more food tonight. If it is a financial thing, I personally would feed them what you have rather than not feed them in the morning. If you get their food at the vets, then I see the predicament, since most vets close at 6 p.m. If you have fed wet before and the vet recommended dry food only recently, I would not think one wet meal in the morning (if you have something that is well tolerated) would be an issue.
Petsmart/Petco are likely still open if you have the funds and are close enough to get something there. If I had to decide between a dry food that was totally different than what my cats were tolerating and one can of Fancy Feast or some other canned at the grocery store (due to location, my own exhaustion, etc.), I would rather give them one can of wet food that is not their norm. Others here may weigh in on the situation. I think this depends on the reason the vet is recommending only dry food. If it is due to a dietary restriction (diabetes, IBD, allergy), then that is important to consider. Hopefully, others will respond.
I know how sensitive cats can be to sudden dietary change, so the question is valid.
Petsmart/Petco are likely still open if you have the funds and are close enough to get something there. If I had to decide between a dry food that was totally different than what my cats were tolerating and one can of Fancy Feast or some other canned at the grocery store (due to location, my own exhaustion, etc.), I would rather give them one can of wet food that is not their norm. Others here may weigh in on the situation. I think this depends on the reason the vet is recommending only dry food. If it is due to a dietary restriction (diabetes, IBD, allergy), then that is important to consider. Hopefully, others will respond.
I know how sensitive cats can be to sudden dietary change, so the question is valid.
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By the way, you are not a bad kitty owner. My guess is you are just a busy one! I have had my DH out buying food late at night because it slipped my mind.
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The vets recommended dry as they said that a dry only diet is better for them, they have Royal Canin Neutered Male and the vets is the only place that sells it where I live in the UK. The vets isn't open yet and was closed when I realised I had only enough for their bed time feed. I have some Royal Canin wet food from when one of the kitties went off his food when teething, I took him to the vets and they said I shouldn't have fed wet as they would go off the dry? Vets said that dry food is better as wet can cause a build up of something that can cause blockages in the wee tracts and is better for kidneys or something along those lines. There was something about the sugars in wet and that dry food makes them drink more water which is better for them, cant really remember the exact details now though xx
I disagree with your vets.
This may be helpful to you
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Feeding Your Cat - 4 pages 11-13.pdf
Stay away from that vet. At best they are ignorant and at worst they are lying to you in order to sell the `prescription` food. Why are so many vets like used car salesmen these days - not a shred of integrity. Absolutely disgusting what is taking place. Of course once your cat gets sick they will downplay the food and tell you nothing is proven all whilst emptying your bank account for tests and drugs.
Royal Canin is just a notch above Hills which isn`t saying a lot. Take a look at the ingredients on the bag. I will wager that corn meal is one of the top ingredients. You really should devote a bit of time to understanding what a feline diet should be. A little bit of knowledge now will go a long way to keeping your cat healthy and happy for many years.
Good luck.
Royal Canin is just a notch above Hills which isn`t saying a lot. Take a look at the ingredients on the bag. I will wager that corn meal is one of the top ingredients. You really should devote a bit of time to understanding what a feline diet should be. A little bit of knowledge now will go a long way to keeping your cat healthy and happy for many years.
Good luck.
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- #8
Ah man! Thank you for your replies. Thought I was giving them the best, the vets have been fab with my rabbits (I have two indoor buns) and while I know a lot about rabbit care my cat care isn't up to scratch as I thought. So what food do people feed their cats daily? Perhaps I need to re think their whole diet
Some feed feed raw. See the raw thread. If you can't do that there's grain free wet which is what I do.
I feed brands like Natures Variety, Natural Choice, Weruva, Merrick. There are many brands to choose from. Lots of threads on this forum discussing the grain free brands members prefer. You live in the UK so I'm not sure what is available to you but look for grain free wet. I know we have members here from the UK so perhaps others can chime in.
Here's a recent thread on canned foods available in the UK: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/287640/uk-cat-owners-what-do-you-feed
Hi JoannaeH,
I'm also in the UK and I would really recommend Nature's Menu wet food. It's - in my opinion - one of the better cat food brands available over here. There's also Lily's Kitchen, which can be ordered from the website, or picked up in larger branches of Tesco. Hi life wet cat food is good, too (and most supermarkets stock it), and so is Thrive, if you can get a hold of it. These are some of my cats favourites, but any wet food is better than dry in my opinion. Hope that helps
I'm also in the UK and I would really recommend Nature's Menu wet food. It's - in my opinion - one of the better cat food brands available over here. There's also Lily's Kitchen, which can be ordered from the website, or picked up in larger branches of Tesco. Hi life wet cat food is good, too (and most supermarkets stock it), and so is Thrive, if you can get a hold of it. These are some of my cats favourites, but any wet food is better than dry in my opinion. Hope that helps
TCS has some useful articles about cat food:
Choosing The Right Food for Your Cat
Grain-Free Cat Food – What Does It Mean?
What Makes the Best Canned Cat Food?
This post gives a good summary of some of the quality canned foods available in the EU. Are you familiar with zooplus.co.uk? They have the brands Irina mentions.
Choosing The Right Food for Your Cat
Grain-Free Cat Food – What Does It Mean?
What Makes the Best Canned Cat Food?
This post gives a good summary of some of the quality canned foods available in the EU. Are you familiar with zooplus.co.uk? They have the brands Irina mentions.
Hi JoanneH. The cat food your vet recommended would probably be better suited for your rabbits with all the grains in it.
It is fabulous that you asked the questions though. Many new cat owners don`t bother investigating or are lead astray by people who are ignorant and brainwashed by advertisements.
Rabbits are strict herbivores while cats are strict carnivores. BTW, how is your cat getting along with the bunnies? Aren`t they a bit nervous with a cat staring at them?
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JoanneH--I just wanted to say that I somehow knew you would get some great replies. I just wanted to say I had an indoor bunny for 8 years, and he was great--thought he was a dog, and the two small dogs we had were clueless that he was not one of them when he was loose in the house supervised. He actually ate Rabbit Chow that we got at a local feed store. Back then, my vets would actually see my rabbit and were sort of fascinated by him, since they did not seem any indoor bunnies as pets. There is a small animal vet about 20 minutes away that does rabbits and other small animals now, and my vets stick with cats and dogs. I will say that my love for that bunny is one reason it is hard for me to ever feed my cats any rabbit. I would be interested to hear how your cats get along with a rabbit in the house. Maybe you are able to segregate them.
My son used to have gerbils, and we had to watch the dogs really closely. Sometimes they would slip into his room when I was putting up laundry, and I would catch them staring at the cages.
I am glad someone from the UK was able to give you some good brands there as well.
My son used to have gerbils, and we had to watch the dogs really closely. Sometimes they would slip into his room when I was putting up laundry, and I would catch them staring at the cages.
I am glad someone from the UK was able to give you some good brands there as well.
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- #15
Thank you for the replies they have been great. I was looking at Lilys Kitchen and think I am going to order that for them. I found some tinned cat food in the meantime after studying what is grain free and meat contents and sugar levels and sodium levels Quite an experience luckily my cats seem to eat anything, even the bunnies hay! I was nervous getting cats as I have rabbits but surprisingly my cats are quite nervous of my one bun as he chases them, he seems to be the boss of all. The other bun isn't that interested in them, he will go up and have a sniff then ignore them. I have my buns penned off and I put the cats upstairs for the buns to have a run around I wouldn't let the two interact without me to supervise but when I have put them together my cats lie fully down and its the buns that go up to them then the cats look scared and run off. Its quite odd as my bun will not go into the kitchen due to the tiled floor but chased the cat in there the other night. My one cat Jacob has started jumping in the pen, I have a little TV table with carpet on the top for the buns to jump on and off and he likes to lie down on that and the buns just go about their bunny business. Rabbits are very territorial and you have to go through a process of bonding them to other rabbits so im trying to bond them with the cats the same as if they were other buns.
Lol zoneout the rabbits would eat the cat dry food they are pigs, people on a rabbit site im on have worried if their bun has eaten some of the cats dry food. I can tell them now that it prob wont harm them as the chances are its more cereals than anything else
Quite an experience luckily my cats seem to eat anything, even the bunnies hay! I was nervous getting cats as I have rabbits but surprisingly my cats are quite nervous of my one bun as he chases them, he seems to be the boss of all. The other bun isn't that interested in them, he will go up and have a sniff then ignore them. I have my buns penned off and I put the cats upstairs for the buns to have a run around I wouldn't let the two interact without me to supervise but when I have put them together my cats lie fully down and its the buns that go up to them then the cats look scared and run off. Its quite odd as my bun will not go into the kitchen due to the tiled floor but chased the cat in there the other night. My one cat Jacob has started jumping in the pen, I have a little TV table with carpet on the top for the buns to jump on and off and he likes to lie down on that and the buns just go about their bunny business. Rabbits are very territorial and you have to go through a process of bonding them to other rabbits so im trying to bond them with the cats the same as if they were other buns.Lol zoneout the rabbits would eat the cat dry food they are pigs, people on a rabbit site im on have worried if their bun has eaten some of the cats dry food. I can tell them now that it prob wont harm them as the chances are its more cereals than anything else
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