Getting my lads on a better eating plan

[Tiggy's Mum]

Just on the Dreamies front... I've known all along that Dreamies and the like aren't made of prime fillet steak but my two absolutely love them in the same way that I really enjoy a chinese takeaway or McDonalds - I know they're full of fat and unhealthy but I enjoy them ocasionally in 'a little bit of what you fancy does you good' type way.

As cats only activities/pleasures in life are eating/sleeping/cuddles/playing then it makes food, and the fact that they enjoy it, even more important. So even though I know, and have known all along that Dreamies aren't a 'healthy' food, I wouldn't want to deprive my two of their treats. Plus it's a very handy tool to get them to come in when I'm on my way out or it's getting dark 

That said I can completely see why your lads have had to go 'cold turkey', as Garf refusing to eat anything but Dreamies was obviously unhealthy in the extreme so banning him from Dreamies is for his own good 

Good luck with the switchover and hope you can get them both onto raw without too many hiccups along the way 

[Rosella moggy]

I'm a moderation gal meself which means one small amount of high quality meat content dry food each evening to supplement the usual wet.  Water bowls everywhere. 

I think we probably feed wet food too frequently (3 times a day but only 1/2 pouch each time) but then there's the small amount of cooked chicken in addition    All adds up I suppose but can't face feeding raw I'm afraid even though would probably save a lot of dosh and worry on the dental front.

Dreamies/temptations/tuna are very much an occasional treat (maybe once a month if they are lucky) now that I have relocated from floor based to wall based cupboard as Groucho was able to access stash in previous location  on which subject .......... Groucho has a bit of milk and an extra 1/2 pouch with his special mum time coz I luv him too much 

It's been some years since I stopped free feeding.  All that stopped when Noni arrived in May 2008 as she sadly does not understand the concept of "feeling full" and her hips are legendary 

We have 8 cats.  Noni, Dinah & Millie are a bit tubby it has to be said but not huge and the other 5 are just fine so I am not overly concerned 

[Tan]

Yup we'll agree to disagree lol x

but just wanted people to be aware and just have a look / check it out for themselves and their cats at all the vast amount of info about dry cat food and its link to kidney disease out there

After all our cats can only eat what we give them so its good to be aware if what we are giving to them. No different to wanting to know what we are giving kids


X

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

We will have to agree to disagree 

[Tan]

Mine wont touch raw and now Lupins and Sasas normal food has been discontinued by the makers , Sasa virtually eats only biscuits and its hard to get Lupin to eat at all.

Dont believe all you hear about all this,,,,,,,,,,,its bad for cats!

Its necessary for cats to eat as a number one priority and often trying to make them change thier diet for what you believe is good causes all kinds of problems.

All my cats have always free fed and Misa is very very unhappy if he cant nibble when he wants.

Although food is down all the time they eat when they are hungry just as they would in the wild, except they dont have to go catch their food.

I think trying to force human habits on cats is not good.

Lol check it our for yourself hun, there are tons of info out there to learn what a cats natural food should be and not what the big companies who make tons of money from putting in the lowest crap in the foods say is cat food! It's why so many cats are picky eaters. lol

It's certainly not forcing human habits on cats to learn what their natural species eat , actually it's more forcing human habit with convenient dry food that is manmade for human convenience that's not good! lol

yes agree no cat should never go more than 24 hours without eating so it's important to very slowly change their diet.

[Tan]

Cats can get addicted to Dreamies (made by Mars) cause of the ingredients in them and what they spray on them use to make cats love the smell.   Vegetable protein extract, cereals,oils , fats, animal derivatives (crap), inorganic matter (what's that!) ,crude fibres and tons of additives.
All stuff a cat can't digest properly.

• Derivatives of vegetable origin - sounds unpleasant, is unpleasant! Another loose term used to disguise all manner of hidden ingredients such as vegetable residues and even charcoal!

• EC permitted additives - this term hides a list of over 4000 chemicals, many of which have been banned from human foods due to health concerns.

• Low quality proteins - cheap protein sources such as soya are used instead of meat in many pet foods. They are hard to digest and much less suitable than real meat proteins.

Garf started to refuse to eat anything except dreamies, his coat underneath started to feel bad so I have had to take him off them totally and out of the house as he could smell them in the cupboard.   

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Mine wont touch raw and now Lupins and Sasas normal food has been discontinued by the makers , Sasa virtually eats only biscuits and its hard to get Lupin to eat at all.

Dont believe all you hear about all this,,,,,,,,,,,its bad for cats!

Its necessary for cats to eat as a number one priority and often trying to make them change thier diet for what you believe is good causes all kinds of problems.

All my cats have always free fed and Misa is very very unhappy if he cant nibble when he wants.

Although food is down all the time they eat when they are hungry just as they would in the wild, except they dont have to go catch their food.

I think trying to force human habits on cats is not good.

[souffle]

We have always fed a bit of raw to ours but it does make Monty rather crazy and wild! He growls like crazy at anyone who goes near him with his 'kill' then does a crazy run round the house knocking everything over! They have no issues eating anything at all though so we must be lucky!

[Dawn F]

in honesty getting them all eat the same is my priority!

[jezebel]

What's wrong with Dreamies?

[Tan]

It's shocked me a bit to be honest to learn all the bad things that we are told is best for our cats to eat. I was always told Hills dry was a great diet by CP and vets and so many cat foods in the supermarket than are easy to pick up in the "cat Food" isle saying how good this food is for your cat.   Well what a load of tosh! 

I have been reading up on best feline nutrition for the species of animal our cats are for a natural diet and have to change Garf & Marl's diet with the shocking things i have learnt.

Free feeding!  gosh i have done that for years with all my cats - ie leave Hills dry down 24/7  and feed wet 2 times a day.  Never realised the dangers of leaving food down  24/7  and what that does to a cats digestive system making it work 24/7 as the cats are continuously smelling food so their stomachs are always working producing acid for  digestion!
Stopped that straight away!

Dreamies - Garf was getting so addicted to these which are so so bad for cats. He started not to eat his wet meals as he could smell the dreamies in the house even sealed in cupboard. so have chucked all these out they have to be completely out of the house so the cats don't smell them at all! 

Now slowly changing their diets over to hopefully feed only raw in time. Garf is the worst as he loves his dry food and was the dreamie addict so 1st steps are taking off Hills dry slowly and increasing wet food.

Is anyone else doing this? Great to hear other peeps experiences