Cats are naturally carnivorous and generally have a high protein diet.
Dry food is generally very low in protein and therefore the main reason why our Vet told us to start mixing in the wet food.
It also helps with the kitty dandruff. Another thing you can do is mix in a little omega 3 oil with the wet food.
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'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'
What a horrible, horrible way to kill your cat. If you don't want him anymore put him up for adoption, or at least humanely have him put down.
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I had a strange thing happen with my cat last week. I was on vacation over Christmas and had someone drop in and give her food and water for the two weeks I was away. When I got back she wouldn't eat. Not only would she not eat her dry cat food, she wouldn't eat her treats. I took her to the vet and the vet said "she's getting to be an older cat and well, it could be 101 different things, so we're going to have to run a battery of tests. The total cost for the tests is going to be $1,800." I was like, uh, "NO!!!". Are there people that can actually afford $1,800 for tests?!? I think if it was ME that wasn't eating, I wouldn't pay $1,800 for tests. Anyhow, the doctor recommended that I try going to the baby food aisle and getting creamed beef and creamed lamb. The cat gobbled it down. So then I went back to the store and in the cat food aisle there is some Wiska's meat and gravy packages... which is even more liquidy than canned cat food. Cat ate 4 packages yesterday!! But she still won't eat anything dry including her treats. I'm trying to figure out what is wrong. If I were to guess, I'd say sore tooth?
What a horrible, horrible way to kill your cat. If you don't want him anymore put him up for adoption, or at least humanely have him put down.
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I had a strange thing happen with my cat last week. I was on vacation over Christmas and had someone drop in and give her food and water for the two weeks I was away. When I got back she wouldn't eat. Not only would she not eat her dry cat food, she wouldn't eat her treats. I took her to the vet and the vet said "she's getting to be an older cat and well, it could be 101 different things, so we're going to have to run a battery of tests. The total cost for the tests is going to be $1,800." I was like, uh, "NO!!!". Are there people that can actually afford $1,800 for tests?!? I think if it was ME that wasn't eating, I wouldn't pay $1,800 for tests. Anyhow, the doctor recommended that I try going to the baby food aisle and getting creamed beef and creamed lamb. The cat gobbled it down. So then I went back to the store and in the cat food aisle there is some Wiska's meat and gravy packages... which is even more liquidy than canned cat food. Cat ate 4 packages yesterday!! But she still won't eat anything dry including her treats. I'm trying to figure out what is wrong. If I were to guess, I'd say sore tooth?
Maybe you should talk to the person you had dropping in and feeding your cat over those two weeks where everything changed. Maybe it is a sore tooth and she can't crunch the dry stuff
Some people deliberately leave a tap dripping for the cat to drink from if they are going out for a day (but a holiday seems a bit extreme).
You say the water in the house has been turned off--did your friend tell you the water has been turned off, or are you just assuming that's the case because the taps don't turn on?
Perhaps some pipes have frozen cutting off kitty's dripping tap?
That's the only excuse I can think of to absolve your friend from negligence.
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Yes, I'm sure the water was turned off. I sounds like something he would do; and when I went downstairs to see if there was water by her litter box it was warm down there too.
I do plan on giving him heck; but the cat is also technically the responsibility of his daughter. I can forsee that she may have forgotten (or thought she broke the tap when it didn't work.) My buddy also knows I'm anal for details so if he knows by now; he would know that I would have seen the water; checked a message board, and given her water.
For the doubters, urinary crystals do happen on dry food diets when they're not hydrated enough. Here's a good article on the dry/wet food debate. This article is also good about pointing out that the worst thing about most dry foods is the grains. I've got all my felines on strict grain-free free diets, mixed wet and dry food. More expensive, but they're much healthier (one has had major GI problems) and have thrived into their twenties.
Twenties? seriously? I have 2 cats ages 4 and 15...I'm counting down the day the 15 year old kicks it...could be more than 5 years now.....sheesh!
Anybody know if it's ok to give your cat milk? I heard they can get worms but don't know if that's true. They seem to like it quite a bit more than water.
My cat used to drink out of the toilet no matter if you left her water or not. She was nasty. She stopped now, but if we are going out of town for a few days, we'll leave the seat up as a back-up source of water just in case something should happen.
As a side, cats can go a pretty long time without food. Years ago, my landlord closed a dug hole at the side of the house that a stray can was living in (although no one knew it at the time). I heard meowing but couldn't tell where it was coming from. I assumed that one of the other tenants had a cat. After about 3 weeks, the meowing was sounding really weak so I asked the other tenants if there was something wrong with their cat and they said they thought we had a cat and were wondering the same thing. I called the landlord, she came and openned the hole and a cat shot out like a bullet. The cat was under there for 3 weeks in the middle of January with likely little or no food and survived.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
We have a cat and she drinks about half a cereal sized bowl of water everyday.
You might want to mention that to your vet the next time you're in for a checkup....unless your cat is super active, overdrinking is sometimes a sign for things like Diabetes.
For the doubters, urinary crystals do happen on dry food diets when they're not hydrated enough. Here's a good article on the dry/wet food debate. This article is also good about pointing out that the worst thing about most dry foods is the grains. I've got all my felines on strict grain-free free diets, mixed wet and dry food. More expensive, but they're much healthier (one has had major GI problems) and have thrived into their twenties.
This actually happened to my cat... it was horrible. The cat would just sit in the litter box and try to pee with no success. Luckily the vet could remove the blockage with a catheter (the cat was asleep for this) and he didn't have to have his junk removed. We now have him on a wet/dry combination that works very well and is made for cats prone to these crystals.
Our cat usually won't drink standing water, needs to be running. Had to get him a water fall so he would drink enough water.
Maybe you should talk to the person you had dropping in and feeding your cat over those two weeks where everything changed. Maybe it is a sore tooth and she can't crunch the dry stuff
The person said that the cat was eating just fine when she was coming over (would go right to the food bowl when she filled it). She noticed nothing wrong. So you agree that it's likely a sore tooth? Given that a teeth CLEANING is $800, I can bet a tooth extraction would be double that. Me thinks she'll be eating the Wiskas from now on.
Also, the vet had recommended to me years ago that the softer, meatier food was better for them than the dry food anyway. So I'll stick with that rather than pay for a tooth extraction.
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As for cats and milk..... yes, most cats are lactose intolerant. Milk will cause indigestion and diarrhea. However, Wiskas does make something called "Catmilk" and it is in the pet food aisle. It is 98% lactose reduced. That is what I was giving my cat between when I noticed the cat hadn't eaten anything at all for 2 days and when I could get her into see the vet. So for 3 days she was living off of this "Catmilk".
I have given this "Catmilk" to the cats in the past, but as a rare treat. They love it, but it's expensive. I once saw it on sale and bought 4 of them. The cashier was ringing them through and said "Wow. Never saw this product before. How do they get the cats to stand still to milk them?"
From my vet's advice, cats are carnivores and get most of their liquids from meat. However, most of our house cats aren't living off their hunting skills. Most modern dry food are quite moist but most aren't enough to keep cats hydrated. Cats love running water. My cat was quite spoiled and would whine if it wanted to drink from the tap.
Best advice, get a good quality food for your cat. Stuff you find in the grocery store isn't the best for it. A mix of wet and dry is good as the dry helps keep the teeth strong, and the wet contains more protein and moisture.
Excessive drinking and peeing is a sign of diabetes
The person said that the cat was eating just fine when she was coming over (would go right to the food bowl when she filled it). She noticed nothing wrong. So you agree that it's likely a sore tooth? Given that a teeth CLEANING is $800, I can bet a tooth extraction would be double that. Me thinks she'll be eating the Wiskas from now on.
Also, the vet had recommended to me years ago that the softer, meatier food was better for them than the dry food anyway. So I'll stick with that rather than pay for a tooth extraction.
My late old girl went through a similar thing where she stopped eating dry and would only lick at her wet food. Took her in and they didn't find anything. Next couple days her face swelled up really badly so I took her back and it turned out to be an abscess in her mouth, and she had to have it drained. It was gross, but easily treatable. So watch for swelling. If it is a bad tooth, it'll cause pain all the time, not just when she's eating, so you really should have it pulled.
Good (and bad) to know that I don't have to defend the information I had given. Glad the risk didn't go against some of you.
NSFW, starts talking about Vern's condition at 3:58.
I give my cat a large bowl of dry food to eat from at any time, and also feed him wet food every day. I give him fresh water in about a 2 inch deep bowl every feeding time.
My cat is terribly lactose intolerant. He loves milk, but it gives him bad diarrhea. I have tried giving him some Whiskas specifically formulated cat milk, but he doesn't seem to like it very much. The little he did drink didn't make him sick.
For treats, I give him Whiskas Temptations and these catnip bags some lady at the farmers market makes. He goes loopy on those bags.
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Best advice, get a good quality food for your cat. Stuff you find in the grocery store isn't the best for it. A mix of wet and dry is good as the dry helps keep the teeth strong, and the wet contains more protein and moisture.
Yep, not surprisingly, the food you give your cat has a massive impact on their quality (and longevity) of life. Feeding a cat grocery-store food is basically like taking them to McDonalds every-day. High quality food is expensive for sure, but feed them crap like Whiskas, and you'll end up paying for it one way or another down the line.
Depends on how long you want them to live, though. I think anything over 12 years or so is a bit of a pain in the neck. Whiskas, Meow Mix, etc. probably gives them a tasty meal and doesn't mean you'll be saddled with a cat for 15 - 20 years.
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Depends on how long you want them to live, though. I think anything over 12 years or so is a bit of a pain in the neck. Whiskas, Meow Mix, etc. probably gives them a tasty meal and doesn't mean you'll be saddled with a cat for 15 - 20 years.
This also works with children.
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