Cat Food

[iris lilies]

For decades I fed our cats dry food, free feeding at the cat buffet.

But my little Princess cat was eating a new kind of food when she came here and I did not want to change that.

It is this: a dehydrated food, “Honest Kitchen dehydrated Grain Free Chicken”

You mix water with it. She loves it. My other cat eats it, too. I still keep dry food out for them. I think they get about half of their nutrition from each.

The lady from persian cat rescue said they have done a cost study on food, and they find this dehydrated food to be the best bang for the buck because you can mix up exactly how much you need, whereas with canned food, some of it goes to waste if the cats end up not liking that or tire of it.


I’m sharing it with you all because I had never heard of dehydrated food.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BK9JQHX?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---have anya you kids tried canned green beans topped with vegetable oil? Trust me---it works with cats AND doggs. Yup.

[iris lilies]

Okay---have anya you kids tried canned green beans topped with vegetable oil? Trust me---it works with cats AND doggs. Yup.
I only used canned green beans decades ago when I had a chunky bulldog who needed to drop many pounds.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---well, I tellya what---after all, my creds are as HBCC Club Dietician-----nother thing you could do is buy canned tuna, on sale if poissible, and feed it to your catts. Along with the green beans & veg oil. Also, ground beef(hambooger) But yeah---they really go for it. I mean--you can also feed SOME cat-specific food, for the taurine and stuff. Because, as you prolly know---Cat-specific food is getting super expensive. Yup. Hope thatt helps you some. Catts also like mac-n-cheese, too.

[Klunick]

That dehydrated food sounds interesting but alas my two little divas would never eat the same food every day. They must eat a different flavor of food for each meal totaling 14 different flavors per week. >8)

[iris lilies]

That dehydrated food sounds interesting but alas my two little divas would never eat the same food every day. They must eat a different flavor of food for each meal totaling 14 different flavors per week. >8)
I wonder how we let ourselves get so twisted around cat tastes? Yours are brats!!! Haha.

Fortunately, maine are chowhounds and like to eat their 2x daily wet food from dehydrated stuff.

[sweetana3]

My one little diva was headed for total starvation at the shelter because she refused to eat their food. She could be prissy but much much later we found out she had a broken tooth so maybe that had something to do with it. But she dropped from 7 to 5 pounds while she was there and is now a healthy 9 pounds. And she changes what she likes day by day. Right now the four of them get 4 different foods a day. 3 different wet and one dry.

[Klunick]

]I wonder how we let ourselves get so twisted around cat tastes? Yours are brats!!! Haha.[/B]

Fortunately, maine are chowhounds and like to eat their 2x daily wet food from dehydrated stuff.

I am 100% responsible for them being brats. It is from severe guilt over my prior cats. I fed them nothing but dry food which lead to so many health problems. I had no idea that cats don't drink enough water to stay hydrated and since there is zero hydration in dry food, it led to urinary problems and kidney failure. I vowed to never let that happen again. I found a brand of wet food (Weruva) that my cats loved and they have a ton of flavors so in order to keep them eating wet food and not a lot of dry food, I do what I feel is necessary (probably more so for me than them).

[iris lilies]

I’d like to think that with a stainless steel cat fountain, my cats are attracted to drinking, and they drink enough. I don’t know really.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---I tell you what--I opened a can o' beans, and poured the juice they was packed in inta their food bowl, and ate it right yup. Hey---can you kids go "all natural" with your cats, and go down to the sleazy pet shop, and buy live mice to hand-feed your cats?Ha. Oh--while I'm on the subject of cats, Brown T showed up on one a my surveillance cams out back.

[Klunick]

I’d like to think that with a stainless steel cat fountain, my cats are attracted to drinking, and they drink enough. I don’t know really.

Yep, I thought so too until I did a deep dive into the research. Cats gets their "moisture" from their prey. Hence the reason why they aren't attracted to standing water when thirsty. That is also why feeding strictly dry food can be detrimental in the long run. Even the worst wet food is still better than the best dry food. I talked to countless people on the subject because the internet just wasn't helpful. My husband thought I was nuts for asking so many questions about this subject. :laff:

[Klunick]

Okay---I tell you what--I opened a can o' beans, and poured the juice they was packed in inta their food bowl, and ate it right yup. Hey---can you kids go "all natural" with your cats, and go down to the sleazy pet shop, and buy live mice to hand-feed your cats?Ha. Oh--while I'm on the subject of cats, Brown T showed up on one a my surveillance cams out back.

Love my cats but not that much! Can't do live feedings. I feel too bad for the prey. I do always smile a little when I hear stories of prey fighting back and actually biting the thing that is trying to eat them.

[Klunick]

Just did a price comparison between Petco and Chewy for Weruva 5oz cans (pack of 8). Holy carp! Chewy charges $17.76 while Petco charges $12.15! And both are "auto ship/repeat delivery" prices. :0! No wonder I was spending so much on cat food!!

[mschrisgo2]

We have ongoing shortages of cat food here in my part of California, I don’t have cats but my best friend and my next door neighbor both have multiple cats, 12 cats between the 2 homes, so I always check for cat food when I’m out shopping. Interestingly enough, I’ve started buying all of the dog and cat food at Tractor Supply, always in stock and fresh dates. And I’ve been able to cut my dog food cost down to a third of what it had crept up to, I’m really pleased with the prices and the quality.

[iris lilies]

We have ongoing shortages of cat food here in my part of California, I don’t have cats but my best friend and my next door neighbor both have multiple cats, 12 cats between the 2 homes, so I always check for cat food when I’m out shopping. Interestingly enough, I’ve started buying all of the dog and cat food at Tractor Supply, always in stock and fresh dates. And I’ve been able to cut my dog food cost down to a third of what it had crept up to, I’m really pleased with the prices and the quality.
our farm store here just changed to Tractor Supply. We hope it will be fine.

[iris lilies]

Based on this thread, I am more mindful about getting liquid into my tiny cat. So I leave bowls of tuna water, chicken water, milk on the counter, and she laps it up.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---I almost caused a riot on one a my f-book f-book friendses' post about catt food. She has many catts that she's taken in & had dumped on her place, on a dead-end road in the country. She is partially disabled, and her DH is an OTR trucker. So anyway---she occasionally asks for donations, more frequently since the supply-chain prollems we've seen lately. Well---the operative premise with littlebittymee---and I don't have that many petts as I used to, is this----(it's controversial)FEED THEM PEOPLE FOOD. See? Well, why not? By this I mean: buy the largest sized bag o' dry pett food, and stop shopping at the pet boutiques or vets' office for food. Then--adulterate the dry food with the kind of inexpensive human food that petts like. Yup. But guess what---just like every other consumer product---animal people, many of them are kind to animals but nott too bright---are Tee-Vee and other media-educated. But yeah---when you have a vetternaryan writing a column or hosting an advice show on Tee-vee or wherever, guess what? You are listening to a vested interest. Yup. Popular myth: Veterinarinians become Vets because they LOVE animals. Yeah, right. Just like the guy at the "Custom Processor" loves animals, too. So anyway---the official line is that you can't feed your cat(or dog)littyle or no people food; it's not GOOD for them! YTeah---you gotta go to the pet boutique and buy those $3.00 a 5 oz can kitty num nums, or they'll STARVE. To be con'td.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---just filled the catt dish with dry crunchies, and cut up several big hot dogs, to put on top. Don't worry--I replenished the water bowl, too.

[iris lilies]

This morning we had a nail clipping session. Front claws clipped. Back claws will be done later.

[Portuguese John Here]

I lost count of how many cats I've had around me in my yet short years of life, I'd say more than fifty for sure.

They've all been fed standard dried food, because I can't pay for more, since they are quite a good number.

They live, not sure if they like it. They don't just eat that, though, anything from the guts of animals I'm preparing meat, they eat and ask for it.

When they're born, some are weaker than the others, the weaker ones I give raw meat, they get back in shape in no time, this was one of them.

5353

He's strong right now, climbing trees and whatnot.

[happystuff]

Aw... such a cutie!!!

[littlebittybobby]

Okay--cute cat, PJ. So anyway, I was having green beans for supper, and opened a can and drained the water and summa the beans into the cat dish, and they ate it all up. The dry food bowl outside got rained on, and later on, a possumum came by and finished up the soggy dry food. Walmart has green beans on sale for 50 cents a can, so I may go by again and pick up a case. The huskees like 'em, too. Especially with vegetable oil on them.

[ToomuchStuff]

Based on this thread, I am more mindful about getting liquid into tiny cat. So I leave bowls of tuna water, chicken water, milk on the counter, and she laps it up.

Mine has been stealing my water out of my glass on the headboard, as well as yesterday (the first time I have had cereal in a long time) pulled down on the bowl in my hands wanting the milk.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---I may be getting ahead o' myself, but yeah---walmart carries Taurine gel caps in the supplements & vitamins section o' the store. So anyway---I bought some, but I'll hafta do more research on the subject.

[iris lilies]

Okay---I may be getting ahead o' myself, but yeah---walmart carries Taurine gel caps in the supplements & vitamins section o' the store. So anyway---I bought some, but I'll hafta do more research on the subject.
There used to be an *ss here, a total jerk, who was going to feed his kitten a vegetarian diet because he wanted to.
I do not remember any talk about Taurine capsules then. Is this what vegetarian *ssholes who insist their cats be veggitarian do now?

[pinkytoe]

One of my Siamese cats is a fiend for whole wheat bread. I tear off little bits and he gobbles them up as if it were tuna.

[iris lilies]

One of my Siamese cats is a fiend for whole wheat bread. I tear off little bits and he gobbles them up as if it were tuna.
We had a cat who loved zucchini. He would go crazy, yes, act like a fiend, when he smelled zucchini. He would eat a whole zucchini and his stomach expand it so that he looks like a zucchini.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---Taurine is a um, substance that many animals produce internally, but catts don't. They get it from food, such as animals that DO have taurine occurring naturally in their systems. It serves as an electrolyte, along with potassium and salt and other yummy things, and facilitates nerve & muscle function--the heartbeat--among other things. So yeah---I'm not a scientist or anything, but you just know I am always right and very brilliant, BTW. Ha. Here's the deal--if an athlete or would-be athlete is sweating a lot, and drinking water to compensate on account of thirst---well, it --washes away the electrolytes your nerves and muscles require. Upsets your body chemistry, so to speak. See? But here's the deal---if you're feeding kitty dry commercial catt food and supplementing kittys' diet with people yummies(in lieu of $$$ canned food), they should be getting their taurine from the dry food. Bear in mind, cats don't tend to break a sweat very often. Ha. . That being said, if you're feeding kitty strictly vegan foods--- especially a developing kitten---- Ya well--- you prolly oughtta do serious research on the subject, including how much synthetic taurine and other stuff you need to meet your cats needs. Or kitty won't survive. No doubt, the info is out there. Because carrot sticks alone won't suffice, I don't think. Hope that helps you some. Thankk mee.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay--My indoor-outdoor catt is staying in today, because I won't let her out. Reason is, she's got a fixation. Yesterday, I saw her in hunting mode. I've spotted T-brown, my onsite feral, on the security cam, also in hunting mode. So anyway, I was carrying something and had to set it down because my brown tabby indoor-outdoor cat was carrying something in her mouth. It was a bunny, still alive and uninjured, more or less. So, cat ran under a trailer, but I grabbed her and made her let go o' the bunny and it hopped away. Not wounded much, but probably very stressed. So yeah---it took cover, and I brought my catt inside. But guess what? I just know she would head out there to try and find that bunny or another one to pick on. Yup. Then, I'd find it deceased, on the front step. A trophy. Catts will do that. Yuyp. So yeah---she's staying inside for another day or two. Yup. Thankk mee.

[rosarugosa]

Good rescue job, Bobby. We have a tiny baby bunny in our yard, and our boys watch it with rapt attention from their front-row window seats. The boys get live entertainment and the bunny is safe from them, although it's still a dangerous world out there for baby bunnies. The boys love to watch the bird feeders too.

[Klunick]

Okay--My indoor-outdoor catt is staying in today, because I won't let her out. Reason is, she's got a fixation. Yesterday, I saw her in hunting mode. I've spotted T-brown, my onsite feral, on the security cam, also in hunting mode. So anyway, I was carrying something and had to set it down because my brown tabby indoor-outdoor cat was carrying something in her mouth. It was a bunny, still alive and uninjured, more or less. So, cat ran under a trailer, but I grabbed her and made her let go o' the bunny and it hopped away. Not wounded much, but probably very stressed. So yeah---it took cover, and I brought my catt inside. But guess what? I just know she would head out there to try and find that bunny or another one to pick on. Yup. Then, I'd find it deceased, on the front step. A trophy. Catts will do that. Yuyp. So yeah---she's staying inside for another day or two. Yup. Thankk mee.

When we moved into our house in 1997, an abandoned cat came with it pretty much. We tried to make her an inside only cat but she wasn't having it. She would scratch at the front door to be let in and out like a dog. She would catch moles/voles around our Court, scratch on our front door to alert us so we could go out and praise her, and then she'd try to eat it! She would never kill them out-right but mortally wound them. We'd put her inside and throw the mole/vole into the woods.

[iris lilies]

Yesterday, my indoor cat escaped onto the roof. I had the windows open for the beautiful breeze and we don’t yet have screens put in. So, of course he had to take advantage of that to escape. But because he’s such a talker, all he would do is sit on the little roof ledge and talk about what he was going to do next. DH heard him yakking from the bottom of our hill.

William cat did not know what he was going to do next, but he sure was talking to the world about it. DH climbed on a chair, reached up and pulled him off of the roof ledge.

[littlebittybobby]

Good rescue job, Bobby. We have a tiny baby bunny in our yard, and our boys watch it with rapt attention from their front-row window seats. The boys get live entertainment and the bunny is safe from them, although it's still a dangerous world out there for baby bunnies. The boys love to watch the bird feeders too.TYVM, RR. I don't believe she injured the rabbit much, but stress is VERY hard on those bunnies. But I figured I'd give it a chance. But yeah---I've been keeping my huntress, Toona Fish, indoors for several days. It's been damp out, aanyway. Toona is one o' those catts that canb not only climb way up a tree, but has the knack for getting back down, again. Hope thatt helps you some.

[littlebittybobby]

okay---They had packs o' hot doggs for 99 cents, so I got a couple. May go back for more, since catts & doggs really like 'em. Yup. What I do is slice 'em up, for the catts, and do the samre dfor doggs, but put the slices in their dry food for awhile before I feed 'em. See--that gives their food more flavor, since they judge it by smell. See? It's a treat, and a lot ccheaper than canned food, at the present. Also, I make 'em a box o' mac-n-cheese, and put that on the catts dry food, or mix it in the dry food for the doggs. Canned green beans, too. Chopped Hard boiled eggs for the doggs, but not catss. Canned tuna, for either. The catts especially like tuna. I've got a loaf of commodity cheese I received from someone who couldn't use it, so that's next for everyone. Yup.

[littlebittybobby]

Okay---We interrupt this VERY busy and active discussion thread, to post a "FOUND CAT" photo, from the Cinncinnatta area. Yup. 5447

[littlebittybobby]

Okay----The grocery store where us po' fokes go, had armour star sliced pepperoni for 88 cents. It the kind you put on pizza and stuff. Well, the product was just 4 days away from its best-buy date, and so I got two packs to feed to the cats. As a supplement to their crunchies, of course. Plus, IU got more closeout-priced mac-n-cheese for 'em. They don't gobble it up, like they would the high-dollar canned num-nums, but by the end of the day, the mac-n-cheese is all gone. Yup. Hope that helps you kids some.

[iris lilies]

Okay----The grocery store where us po' fokes go, had armour star sliced pepperoni for 88 cents. It the kind you put on pizza and stuff. Well, the product was just 4 days away from its best-buy date, and so I got two packs to feed to the cats. As a supplement to their crunchies, of course. Plus, IU got more closeout-priced mac-n-cheese for 'em. They don't gobble it up, like they would the high-dollar canned num-nums, but by the end of the day, the mac-n-cheese is all gone. Yup. Hope that helps you kids some.

that is so much salt for them. I don’t know why you feed them all this junk human food.

I gave up on getting milk for my tiny cat that has no lactose in it. These non-lactose milk products are full of sugar.


Every morning I give her a tiny amount of real milk because she’s a crazy fiend for it. For such a tiny cat, she is such a chow hound, our other cat is more laid-back about food

[littlebittybobby]

that is so much salt for them. I don’t know why you feed them all this junk human food.

I gave up on getting milk for my tiny cat that has no lactose in it. These non-lactose milk products are full of sugar.


Every morning I give her a tiny amount of real milk because she’s a crazy fiend for it. For such a tiny cat, she is such a chow hound, our other cat is more laid-back about foodOh, heck no, Faux. I do NOT allow the catts to put salt on their pepporoni! They eat it plain. That said--they are not VERY classy(x4444)rescue catts, imported from out-of-state, with pushed-in faces. They are just plain ordinary local abandoned, unclaimed catts, from the streets of crime-infested SFD., Zurra. Yup. But anyway--- if you kids insist, I'll start going to the frou-frou pett food boutique, and pay $3 a littlebitty can for the gourmet food that you see advertised, somewhere or other. Made from REAL chicken gizzards. So yeah---if they advertise, it MUST be good. Yup.