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Adopted a Fat as fuck cat
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And for what it's worth, while cats will drink more on a dry food diet, it doesn't match up against what they'd get from a wet food diet.
I'm presuming it comes from this:
Body water content and turnover in cats fed dry and canned rations
Seefeldt SL, Chapman TE
American Journal of Veterinary Research 40: 183-185.
Guild Wars 2: Entriech.3507 | Scythe Gearsnap, Phlork, Irenic
In case someone brings up "but dry food cleans cat teeth": The idea that dry food is better for cat teeth is a myth. That is like saying our teeth are cleaned by cookies or crackers. Buildup on the gums and between teeth is the major problem for any animal with teeth. Similar to people living an extra 50 years now, cats live into late teens/early 20's rather than ~2 years as a wild cat.
Sometimes I wish we could just leave them alone for a weekend to free-feed on dry food instead of getting someone to look after them, but hey....they get more attention, and I don't get any more $TEXAS bills from the vet for life-threatening blockages, so it's really not bad
Haha, my family's cats do the same thing. They love crusts and paw at empty, closed pizza boxes until I put them outside.
I always save a little pizza crust for them because I'm a little bit terrible, but they just go crazy for those crusts. The one cat will pick up the crust in his mouth, take it away from the other cat (his mum), and his mum will freak out, and start attacking him until he shares.
It's fantastic.
Entriech gave great advice, I was going to suggest wet food but he really went all out.
My cat is the same way with wet food. She won't touch the stuff. She actually went two days without eating rather than eat wet food so I gave up on that. She drinks water when she's eating the way a person would who's out to dinner. It's kind of funny to watch.
Yeah, same. I've even tried wetting down the dry food a bit. She just doesn't want it. She will eat Fancy Feast Appetizers, and that's it. It looks safe enough, but anything by that label makes me nervous so I try to keep it to once a week.
She also actually does what other cats apparently do not: she self-regulates. She only ever eats a few kibbles at a time.
Ditto! I can free feed her because she won't eat herself silly or polish off her bowl right away. I thought all cats did this while dogs ate themselves stupid.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-cats-lap
Technically, the way I drink water uses the laws of physics too.
I am certain we were all thinking it. :lol:
If they do eat "treat" wet food, bonus for you, try hiding the "good" wet food mixed into the treat. Start with a barely noticeable amount and increase as you can. This should get them recognizing at least the smell and some of the tastes as food items. Keep in the fridge so it doesn't spoil a whole can, but do allow it to come back to room temp before serving.
You also do need to take advantage of them being hungry. As most people know, you CANNOT just starve a cat and force it onto a new food, it doesn't work of course, they're cats not dogs. However, you can withhold their dry food for short periods, up to maybe 8 hours or so if you want to use their hunger and routine to get them to at least check out your new wet food offering.
I ask this because my cat is overweight, and she also does the really annoying KITCHEN ARE YOU GOING TO THE KITCHEN FOLLOW ME TO THE KITCHEN. thing all the time. I seriously want her to stop this, I only feed her at morning, lunch and night.
If she's really hungry she will start meowing and being a real annoyance until I feed her. I can't seem to get her to understand that I will only feed her at a certain time and when I say so.
It's like, the only thing our cat will eat consistently. And even then, she's very picky about which flavors she likes.
Yeah, it's garbage. If you go to your local pet food store, they may have samples you can take home to try and see what your cat likes.
It's wet food so providing lots of water to the cat, but the nutritional content is bad.
Like Esh said, a pet store will provide samples for you to test out with your cats. Wellness, EVO, B.F.F. and Holistic are all good brands I believe. That's what my local good pet store stocks off the top of my head.
If the teaspoon is too much, go less, maybe just a bit of the juice.
As for cats pestering you to go feed them, you can try a lower calorie food but that you can feed more of so it fills them up. A vet could advise. Also more attention with toys or something else. Keep them tired.
He is probably much healthier, happier and hydrated!
...Partial hijack! My cats are eating dry food, Blue Buffalo, on which they seem to be doing okay. I say that because we used to feed them cheap shit, and Mayu barfed almost every day, which she no longer does.
The thing is, Mayu is a bit of a fatass. Maka is much younger and has yet to show any signs of tubbiness on the same diet, but we've only had her about a month. I've seen plenty of recommendations to have them eat wet food, but...well, when Mayu had a bad bug last year and we had to give her wet food, her brother snarfed some of it, and his asshole became a portal to Hell. :shock: I have never encountered a nastier dump.
The girls have fairly stinky poop as it is. Is there any guarantee that, given some quality wet food on a regular basis, their asses will adjust?
What was the wet food last year that caused the bad stink?