Hello,
Here's my story with my cat Zuccho. (I've just joined the forums and my introduction thread is here- http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=234125)
Zuccho will be 3 in September this year and he is a healthy indoor-outdoor Tom (he roams the neighbourhood in the night and sleeps till around noon in the morning. He then gets petted by most family members and once his meals are given he's out on the prowl again!). His diet problems started last year where he got a severe case of indigestion and diarrhea coupled with high fever. The vet advised us not to give milk as it can cause diarrhea in some cats (my cat drank quite alot when offered milk in the morning!). So after August last year, I refrained from giving him milk. Instead he got two raw, cleaned fish in the morning and evening and some boiled rice and meat/fish in-between (so he ate two raw fish in the morning, rice at noon, raw fish at around 5.00pm and rice in the night if he wanted). The fish I give him is a small sardine-type fish commonly found in the Indian Ocean. I should also add that I'm in Sri Lanka and our staple food is rice & curry so Zuccho usually gets a small portion of what we have, minus the vegetables. Our family cook loves him and feeds him all sorts of human food scraps when Zuccho's in the kitchen, so I'm sure this is where his diet problems began!
He was doing alright till last month when I noticed his appetite had grown bigger. I gave him worm tablets as I thought he was having worms, but he still kept eating more and more. Then last week he had a loose bowel motion and I knew he was having diarrhea so I took him to the vet. The vet treated him and recommended not to feed him rice as this can cause indigestion. He also recommended two fish given once a day or one fish given twice a day. I did not agree with this as Zuccho is a large Tom
Instead, I decided to give him four a day. I tried twice-a-day feeding, but Zuccho isn't happy with that arrangement so now I give him three meals at roughly 8 hour intervals. He's still not happy, but he'll have to deal with it!
I read about raw feeding cats on the internet and decided to stick with it because I can't find premium wet cat food here. I will also introduce some raw chicken once I'm sure he has recovered from his indigestion. The current diet is one & half fish in the morning, one & half in the afternoon and one & half in the night at 7-8 hour intervals. This brings the total to four & half fish a day. The average weight of a fish is about 17g (uncleaned), but I'm guessing it will be around 14g once the innards are removed. I still don't know my cat's exact weight, but I estimated it at around 3.5kg.
My question is-how much food does an average cat require for a day as a percentage of its body weight? Why do you think my cat gets indigestion frequently? Should I give anything else in between his fish meals? Should I give him the whole fish or should I at least remove the gut? (keeping the other parts intact).
Thanks in advance and sorry for this lengthy post!
Regards,
Jay.
Here's my story with my cat Zuccho. (I've just joined the forums and my introduction thread is here- http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=234125)
Zuccho will be 3 in September this year and he is a healthy indoor-outdoor Tom (he roams the neighbourhood in the night and sleeps till around noon in the morning. He then gets petted by most family members and once his meals are given he's out on the prowl again!). His diet problems started last year where he got a severe case of indigestion and diarrhea coupled with high fever. The vet advised us not to give milk as it can cause diarrhea in some cats (my cat drank quite alot when offered milk in the morning!). So after August last year, I refrained from giving him milk. Instead he got two raw, cleaned fish in the morning and evening and some boiled rice and meat/fish in-between (so he ate two raw fish in the morning, rice at noon, raw fish at around 5.00pm and rice in the night if he wanted). The fish I give him is a small sardine-type fish commonly found in the Indian Ocean. I should also add that I'm in Sri Lanka and our staple food is rice & curry so Zuccho usually gets a small portion of what we have, minus the vegetables. Our family cook loves him and feeds him all sorts of human food scraps when Zuccho's in the kitchen, so I'm sure this is where his diet problems began!
He was doing alright till last month when I noticed his appetite had grown bigger. I gave him worm tablets as I thought he was having worms, but he still kept eating more and more. Then last week he had a loose bowel motion and I knew he was having diarrhea so I took him to the vet. The vet treated him and recommended not to feed him rice as this can cause indigestion. He also recommended two fish given once a day or one fish given twice a day. I did not agree with this as Zuccho is a large Tom
I read about raw feeding cats on the internet and decided to stick with it because I can't find premium wet cat food here. I will also introduce some raw chicken once I'm sure he has recovered from his indigestion. The current diet is one & half fish in the morning, one & half in the afternoon and one & half in the night at 7-8 hour intervals. This brings the total to four & half fish a day. The average weight of a fish is about 17g (uncleaned), but I'm guessing it will be around 14g once the innards are removed. I still don't know my cat's exact weight, but I estimated it at around 3.5kg.
My question is-how much food does an average cat require for a day as a percentage of its body weight? Why do you think my cat gets indigestion frequently? Should I give anything else in between his fish meals? Should I give him the whole fish or should I at least remove the gut? (keeping the other parts intact).
Thanks in advance and sorry for this lengthy post!
Regards,
Jay.