Cat Diets

Cats are Carnivores.

Unlike dogs who are omnivores, cats require a diet high in protein and amino acids. It is possible to feed a puppy too much protein. If you feed a puppy a diet high in protein at a young age you can cause the puppy to have a fast growth spurt that results in skeletal disorders, rapid growth is bad for their development so is overfeeding. #CatFood 

Cat diet requirements are different from dogs - "Well duh!" you might say, but some people don't really understand what this means.

• Cat's require higher protein contents than dogs because they are a true carnivore. 
• "All cats require taurine, an amino acid that is important for normal heart function, vision and reproduction. Although most mammals can make taurine from other amino acids in the body, cats cannot. Since taurine is found only in animal-based protein, all cats need meat-based diets to meet their nutritional requirements." (ASPCA Cat Care)
• Cats vary in their personal activity levels. For this reason free feeding can be ok for your cat.
• Unlike dogs, most cats are good at monitoring the amount of food that they need. Free feeding cats is ok for some, it is your job however to monitor that they aren't over-eating which can lead to obesity and other health problems.
• Free feeding is only ok if you're feeding your cat dry food which unlike wet food will not spoil.
• Cats should not be fed Cow's milk.
• Cats do not possess high amounts of lactase, which breaks down the lactose in milk. Milk based products can cause vomiting and diarrhea problems in your pet.
• Goats milk is a healthy alternative for kittens rather than feeding them formula.

How do you pick out a good food?

Not all proteins are created equal, a safe way to pick a cat food out is to choose a company with a good reputation but this doesn't mean that the food is good or has quality ingredients.

The first ingredient is most important. All cat and dog foods are required to list their ingredients by order of weight. A healthy cat food will always read a protein like chicken, lamb, or fish (some cats do have fish allergies) as the first two ingredients at least. Reading labels.

One thing to understand is that cats can't easily digest grains, important ingredients to avoid are:

• Corn
• Wheat products
• Soy products
• By-products
• Sugar
• Artificial preservatives
• Food coloring 

These ingredients are simply a carbohydrate overload for your cat and can lead to healthy problems including but not limited to allergies and obesity. If your cat food has any of these ingredients I would choose a different cat food. Be sure to read all the way to the bottom, as these ingredients sometimes will crop up.

Rice is a little different, it is easier to digest than wheat.

Ingredients to Look For:

• Real meat - chicken, lamb, fish
• Whole grains -  brown rice, barley and oats (cats need some fiber in their diet)
• Veggies & Fruit -  these provide essential antioxidants, enzymes, natural vitamins, minerals, and fibers.

Allergies  

It may seem ironic, but many cats are allergic to fish. So watch for the signs! My cat Belle has a fish allergy, her symptoms include:

Belle, is allergic to fish.

• Hive's on her chin (they look like a bunch of little zits)
• Swollen upper or lower lip
• Eye problems - she has experienced cloudiness in her eye before, the vet explained it as some sort of an allergy although we have yet to determine what for this one (it's only happened maybe 3 times in her whole life).

Recommended Brands:

Personally we are a huge fan of Blue Buffalo's Wilderness line of Cat Food.

Other Great Cat Food Brands:  All are grain free, with high protein contents, no artificial flavors or colors added.

• EVO Cat Food 
• CORE Wellness
• Blue Buffalo Wilderness Line - their "Wilderness" line is gluten free, and has less carbs and a higher protein content than their regular line. 
• Natural Balance Ultra
• Natural Balance Grain Free
• Canidae - Felidae Cat Food

My two adult cats are on Blue Buffalo's Wilderness cat food. The kitten will also be placed on Blue Buffalo Wilderness once she is eating solid food. Each line has a diet to make your kitty happy, knowing my cat is allergic to fish we stick to the chicken and rice formula (it has fish meal in it but this doesn't seem to bother her, the salmon formula however was a disaster!).

Your cat will thank you! Feeding your animals a healthy diet will make them live longer, happier healthier lives. Their skin will be happy, and their coats glossy and soft.

Belle age 3 1/2 

Merlot - 4 1/2 years old

Other Sources:  

kitten protein req.
#Cats #PetFood #Kitten

Kitten June 6th, 2014

I Call Her Baby.

I keep reminding myself that we aren't keeping the baby, and yes that is how I now refer to her, "the baby". I would love to keep her but I just think that 3 cats and 2 dogs is too many animals in our house...its more cleaning mostly, and more fur during shedding season.

Cat's aren't that expensive, we feed our cats a high quality diet of Blue Buffalo Wilderness, its like $42 or so a bag and lasts 3-4 months between our two cats. If you set aside $20 each month then you'll be covering future litter costs, and once a year vet visits. The initial cost of owning a kitten is a bit higher, being a kitten you have your spay/neuter costs that are I think around $200, plus initial vet exam and vaccination costs - this is why I like adopting animals. If you adopt then you are paying for about what went into getting the kitten up to date on shots and the spay/neuter fee, rather then shelling out $1000+ for some designer animal.

Spending literally every waking moment with my little baby has led to quite the bond, I can't wait for her to go a little longer between feedings (I miss sleeping) but on a good note she's just so sweet and incredibly fun to have around. She's a great snuggler, and is getting playful. My only hope is to find her a great home that will love and cherish her as much as I do, she deserves to live the spoiled and pampered life of a cozy house cat.

As of last night she now weighs 13.4 ounces, 16 ounces = 1 pound she's getting bigger!

Starting this evening we're going to be attempting once again to get her interested in wet food, keep in mind I haven't done this before so we'll change it as we go if necessary.

Step 1. Introduce her current diet of goats milk to her on a plate, this way she learns to lap it up.

Step 2. Introduce her once again to gruel (mixture of wet food and milk) while offering water in a dish as well. You can't introduce a new diet to quickly or you can cause tummy problems and diarrhea which can lead to dehydration and other nasty issues.

Step 3. Slowly decrease the amount of milk given.

The idea is that you slowly decrease the milk content while increasing the wet food, after a week or two she can be completely transitioned over. 

Don't rush the kitten, and watch their poo consistency for diarrhea in which case you'll need to call the vet. The key is Patience, Patience, Patience and persistence. Here is one website I have been reading about it. 

Kitten Update June 5th, 2014

"Feed the Baby!"

Do you remember the old show called, "Dinosaurs"? Their was a baby on their whose phrase was, "feed the baby!" and "not the mama!"

I am reminded of this show because of how loud my little baby is getting! She knows me, and sometimes i'm the only one who can get her to quiet down. Her lungs are developing just fine, on that note though so is her purr! She has a great little motor. But just like every other baby their is a lot of wailing involved when she's hungry or if she has to go potty.

She is now capable of going potty on her own without any stimulation, but likes to cry a bit before actually using the litter box. I guess she just wants to inform me that she's doing her job.  

We're still working on introducing wet kitten food, last night my husband had the idea to smear a minute amount on a large plate so that she would have to lick it up instead of snorting it up her nose, that kind of worked but she wasn't very interested. So last night I hit the internet in search of other techniques, her little teeth have come in and are getting rather sharp!

Wonderful little snuggle baby.

How big is she?

Well I need to weigh her and will do that this evening but here is where she is in growth:

• Full sense of smell - she knows right where the bottle is! And recognizes my scent and voice.
• Eyes are becoming a more pronounced blue rather than dark blue.
• Can potty on her own.
• Grooming herself.
• Loud purr developing.
• Nearly full set of teeth are in.
• Walking - although still a bit wobbly.
• Speed walking
• Beginning to climb things.
• Starting to explore more of her surroundings.
• Playing with fingers - not quite following objects though.
• Still must be kept quite warm or she can catch cold and develop pneumonia. 

According to About.com she is approximately 3 1/2 weeks old.

She still must be fed every 3 hours, on a good note she is sleeping more soundly at night and we are getting 4 hour stretches of sleep in sometimes. Because of this I have to take her everywhere still, this means school (my professor was a good sport thankfully), and work (this baby owes my boss a big thank you!) after she is grown I think I'll bake him a cake to take home as a thank you.

Sleeping under my desk.

She's starting to get super active in between meals, and developing a rather feisty personality!

She likes to chew on fingers, this is a bad habit but since she doesn't have litter mates to play with we're being kind of lenient..

Look at how tiny she is! Barely bigger than my coffee cup.  :-)



Her new setup is a small crate, we have the heating pad located under the towel that she sleeps on. We switched her to the tiny cat travel crate because it gives her a bit more room if she decides to move around, it closes better than the duffel bag (I didn't like the idea of zipping her in even though its breathable), and I can open the gate so that she can get to her litter box on her own.

Peek-a-boo!

So far the new setup is working great! She's staying plenty warm and it is making the car travel much easier on us both.

So far she doesn't mind being in the car, this could change as she gets older although its possible she could get used to it too.

New Feeding Idea:
Starting this weekend, probably Friday night we're going to attempt a new way to teach her to eat from a bowl. One blog suggested putting her milk that she is already used to drinking (only from a bottle) in a shallow bowl, she'll recognize the scent and associate it with feeding time. Instead of using a bowl though we're going to try putting just a tiny puddle on a plate for her to lap up, keep it really shallow so that she can't plunger her whole face in again (she has no sense of depth yet), and hopefully she won't inhale it too badly.

Sweet baby.