Am I doing something wrong via food?

[TheWinterOne]

My two have both wet and dry food (obviously in separate bowls). But a friend of mine says I'm doing them more harm than good - that they should only have either one and not both.

Male prefers his biscuits but does enjoy his meat at night. Girl prefers meat but has started moving towards biscuits too.

The same friend gives hers milk daily where I've always thought milk would do more harm apart from a very occasional treat.

[cozietoesie]

Ignore her. Nothing wrong with your feeding practices.

(She's giving hers cows' milk?)

[SummerRain]

She's an idiot, they both have advantages and disadvantages and a mixed diet is brilliant... they get the tooth benefits of dry and the moisture intake of wet, plus a bit of variety.

Most cats are lactose intolerant so she's the one more likely to be damaging her cats health through diet.

[TheWinterOne]

I think so Cozie because before I had my girl I went with her to get all the necessities and she was amazed they actually made cat milk.

Mine only have water. I have given them a treat of cat milk but I honestly can't remember the last time I did - that's how rare they're given milk. She does obviously give hers water but also daily milk.

I don't think she's too clued on cats. She thinks my male's an odd ball because he can't stand fish.

[cozietoesie]

Strewth. Seniorboy doesn't like fish either - so he's given neither that nor fish flavoured pouches.

And he gets water to drink. He was known to steal milk that was left unguardedly on the floor on the odd occasion (fair game for cats in this house) and luckily doesn't seem to be too lactose intolerant so didn't suffer from his sinful behaviour. But that doesn't mean it's good for him. I would never give cow's milk as a matter of course.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

The way you are feeding is perfectly fine. Milk is wonderful for baby cows terrible for cats.

[ZebraOwl]

You are doing just fine. She, on the other hand... really not so much. It is v frustrating when people assume that they know more/are right because they've been doing whatever it is longer. That's simply not always the case & isn't in this instance.

My two cats aren't specially keen on fish so to get more variety in their diet their wetfood selection includes some chicken+fish things. Oh & salmon&pumpkin, which they love because they think pumpkin is delicious, apparently

[cozietoesie]

Pumpkin is supposedly very good for them as well - tummy upsets and that sort of thing. I've read about it over the Pond.

I'll try and find some reading for people later in the morning.

[cozietoesie]

And when you think about it - why should cats like fish? Their natural diet in the wild would be nearly all meat. (Small mammals and birds etc.)

[TheWinterOne]

I might try pumpkin as a treat for my two :)

Male absolutely loathes fish. He literally shudders when he sees it and then looks at me disgusted as if to say 'You can't seriously expect me to eat that?' Girl loves it.

Completely rules out buying any sort of fish flavour pouches for male though. I tried him on the kitten one a few years back and then only last week I thought I'd try him on a bit of fish again as he's now older. But his taste hasn't changed.

[Sparklingbrook]

Sparkling Cat will only eat Felix as Good as it Looks in fish flavour.

It's a pain because the bulk buys are always mixed.

Never given her milk, but she probably wouldn't touch it. She has three meals a day of wet and had dried food out all the time, with water.

Any gifts she brings back are left untouched.

Sounds like you are doing fine Winter.

[TheWinterOne]

Sparkling, mine have the same - 3 times a day wet and a constant supply of dry and water. Although male doesn't always go for his middle day pouch but loves the night time one.

This thread make me feel so much better. :)

[cozietoesie]

Could you find a 'Jack Sprat' neighbour to go into food with, Sparkling ? I have to give away/donate to charity all Seniorboy's fish flavours from the big packs so going by this thread, I reckon a neighbour whose cat will only eat fish would be a most welcome purchasing partner.

[Sparklingbrook]

I must ask lovely neighbour cat lady cozie. She has 4 cats so I bet there would be some arrangement we could come to.

[GetStuffezd]

I know it's a bit unusual but mine like their dry food mixed in with their wet. Always have done. On very rare occasions I've given them a couple of mils of milk and when I cook with meat I always toss them a couple of bits. They're happy enough and healthy! You're doing fine!

[cozietoesie]

So many references to pumpkin feeding that it's hard to pick but \link{http://voices.yahoo.com/pumpkin-natural-remedy-constipation-diarrhea-2020746.html\here's} one. They're all .com ones because pumpkin feeding seems to be an American thing - have a google on cats eating pumpkin or something similar.

There don't seem to be any significant contra-indications although it's very clear from the references that you must not use pumpkin pie filling (because that has added ingredients) but only plain canned pumpkin.

Maybe one of the vets who contribute here could comment on whether they have problems with the notion?

[Sparklingbrook]

So we can't scoop the Halloween Pumpkin out and serve the slop to Sparkling Cat cozie? Makes me heave-the seeds.

[cozietoesie]

I simply don't know whether you can use it, Sparkling, but I imagine that there's some way of preparing it if you google.

[Sparklingbrook]

I can see her face cozie. The best moggie 'WTF' expression.

i will have a look though-sounds interesting.

[cozietoesie]

Had a look see. It seems that you can use cooked and mashed pumpkin without added salt - but you would then have to freeze it in individual portions. (Mind you, you'd have to freeze most of the contents of a tin similarly because you don't give them very much on a daily basis.)

[ZebraOwl]

Wow. That's really interesting, thanks for the link cozie!

I got the Almo chicken&pumpkin kittenfood when the cats were wee moglets because I was looking to provide variety in their diet (working on basis I wouldn't want to eat exactly the same thing every day so why should they + figuring a variety of things would generally be good). I was amazed when they made it clear that they didn't just like it they absolutely loved it, furiously licking up every last drop of the pumpkin juice from their bowls whilst purring madly!

It had never occurred to me to look into exactly what pumpkin could do for them, though - is nice to think that their tummies are being helped as well as their tastebuds being tickled

Very glad this thread has reassured you Winter - the Litter Tray is such a splendid place for support & advice, it is lovely. I am completely neurotic a leetle bit prone to worrying I might not be doing a good enough job of caring for my PFCs cats (although less so since the vet pronounced them "perfect" [or perhaps should be "purrfect"] when they went for their checkup in June) & have found this part of MN invaluable.

It does indeed make n sense to expect cats to like fish - I guess it's a socio-cultural conditioning that creates the expectation they will? Including in that all the people who insist all cats will do anything for some tuna...

Hope that you are able to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement with your neighbour, Sparkling