What do you think about this menu for new cat?

[ChallengingFigureANDUnrulyFlaps]

Hello

I adopted a 12 year old female rescue 2 weeks ago. 6kg. Fairly sedentary so far. She's quite fussy on food. Doesn't like wet at all so far!

This is the daily menu we've sort of fallen into, what do you think? Too much/too little? Is the balance off?

Thanks

2 slices of ham
Small tin of tuna
Handful of dry food
A few dreamies

Did the rescue give you any information on what she was eating when they had her? I'd worry that she might not be getting all of the required vitamins,

The rescue said say she mainly ate dry food. Which I'm not keen on. She was also kept indoors which again I'm not keen on!

I've actually booked for a vet home visit (lowest stress option!) for tomorrow so I'm going to talk through everything with them.

She's a wee bit of a tricky cat. Very hard to pick up, only likes a certain amount of gentle strokes and, as I say, fussy with food!

Slices of ham and cans of tuna will be far too salty; cats are highly susceptible to kidney disease and really should stick to properly formulated cat food rather than human food.

(Also if she’s used to it at 12 years old, what about dry food means you don’t like it? The cat clearly does!)

I'd replace the tuna and ham with wet cat food and only have them as occasional treats. I open a can of tuna and spread it over 3/4 days.

If you get your cat weighed the packets of wet and dry food and will tell you how many pouches/gram of kibbles to give per day based on your kitty's weight

Just get her some pouches of Felix or Whiskas and leave the ham and tuna as occasional treat.
Beautiful cat.

Oh sorry just seen you said 6kg. So I think that's approx 70g dry and 2-3 pouches?

You shouldn't be giving tinned tuna as the "main meal" every day, especially if it's in brine or oil. It's not recommended as the base of their diet as nutritionally it doesn't contain everything they need and has too much unsaturated fat, no more than 10% of their daily calories should be from Tuna, if it's fed at all. And only ever unseasoned tuna packed in spring water. But you're making a rod for your own back feeding it every day, they get addicted to it and will become even more picky!

Ham is also not ideal, very high in salt. Two slices a day is way too much. A few little pieces as a treat, sure.

She really needs a complete food for her age bracket. A complete dry food formulated for her will genuinely be better for her than tinned tuna and ham if she won't eat wet food. I'm sure the vet will be able to advise on some good options.

She's a lovely little thing!

My last cat died of kidney disease even though she ate all high quality wet food. So I'm not uber keen on this cat eating so much dry food esp as she gets older.

Good point about the salt content of tuna and ham.

Hmm. Maybe I will just have to have a battle of wills where I leave only wet food out. If she gets hungry enough she will eat it! She's hardly fading away at 6kg!

You will need to take out a mortgage to pay for a vet;'s home visit!!

You don't have to "be keen" on her having dry food. It got her to 12 yrs old so keep doing what she's used to.

A nutritionally complete dry food will be fine.
Introduce pouches if you want to, but at 12 she knows what she likes.

Oh no, I haven't found that. I was having a vet visit every 2-4 weeks when my previous cat was dying of kidney disease earlier this year. Same price as a normal vet visit as they don't have the overheads. It was the price of the actual Solensia injection (£85) and the Thyronorm etc that racked up the costs eventually.

And, as I say, to keep MY blood pressure down, never mind the cat having to go in the box and into the car is WELL worth it!

I might be missing something...what's the issue with mainly dry food diet. Our cats have only ever eaten purina one, with the occasional dreamie. Wet cat food stinks to high heaven, I'd be grateful she only likes dry!

Wet food is supposedly better for cats' kidneys. A lot of cats get kidney disease as they get older. And cats are notoriously bad for not drinking enough water.

It's also though dry food can be too calorific and cats (especially if mine does stay mostly indoors and sedentary) can get too fat.

I never knew this. Interesting. My mainly outdoor cat prefers pouches with the occasional bit of whiskas dried. She will turn her nose up at anything cheap though. If she doesn't like what I've proferred she goes and catches her own!!!

This.

I would give some dry and then try tuna cat food rather than tuna for people. And ditch the ham as its too salty

Thrive is a complete wet food that might work if she likes tinned tuna. If you want to feed mostly wet you need to ensure it's a complete food (which ham and tuna and dreamies definitely aren't) as she's missing out on vital nutrition at the moment.

But all my cats (going back decades!) have had mostly or completely dry food and have lived long healthy lives.

My 7kg rescue is picky
I want him to eat wet food for his kidneys/avoid blockage, he doesn't

We have settled on
50g James well beloved dry light
1 pouch of Sheba fine flakes
1 treat sticks/a few dreamies as a reward when he comes in (I shout him, he gets the treats as he comes in!)

He has the wet food first in the morning when he's most hungry as he's also sick if he has dry first

This might work, they do a chicken shred one too and sell individual ones in pets at home so you wouldn't waste it
It's not a complete food but fine if you're feeding it alongside dry

amzn.eu/d/04c67tzs

Try her with fresh moist (steam it, boil it, braise it, use the juices) chicken and brown rice. Unsalted. Chicken broth, again unsalted, add garden peas and broccoli too. Both safe to feed to cats.

You might be surprised.

Thanks all!

God the things we do eh!!

My Grandma's cat had boiled whiting in his willow pattern bowl.

Yes, my Grannie would boil white fish in milk for her cat. The cat would have the fish and milk once it had cooled down. She would also share my Grannie's dinner if she was having meat. Her favourite was mince (even with onions cooked in it). She lived to be a right old age as did my Grannie.