Feeding cats

[Borlotti]

Was listening about a raw food diet for humans on radio, and thought I would look to see what I was feeding my cat.  Am trying to get some information on sachets of cat food, thought it was tuna/prawn etc.  But seems to say on the packet that it is 4% prawn, and heavens knows what else, no wonder he wanted our prawn cocktail.  Cats used to get left over food, so until I find out what rubbish is in the brands of cat food think he will have to catch more mice and birds (which on the internet is the ideal diet), or I will buy liver, fish etc. He is too fat, so maybe that is what they put in the processed food. I think it is all a marketing ploy but I may be wrong.  I always gave my cats some raw mince before I was using it to cook with, and cut up some raw cooking steak for them if I was making a stew.  Perhaps the whole world has gone mad and should go back to the old days.  He has got chicken tonight but I have cooked it, in fact chicken legs are cheaper than buying cat food.  Anyone on here with expert knowledge.

[Borlotti]

[Obelixx]

A great deal of research goes into the content and nutritional value of pet food so, as long as you're buying a reputable brand such as Whiskas or Felix or even supermarket own label it should be fine.   It seems that the dry biscuits are better than wet food for their teeth but that the fancy snacks are not good - just like fast food is high fat and bad for humans.

If your cat is too fat, switch to the low fat version of cat biscuits.  do not simply cut out his food or he'll go elsewhere or risk ingesting parasites and so on from eating mice and birds if you force him to hunt.

[Silverleaf]

I love cats, but I think that domestic cats have a significant negative impact on the numbers of small songbirds. Please don't leave your cat hungry so he has to eat more birds - so many once-common species are now struggling.

That said, I don't see anything wrong with feeding pets with a diet lower in all the fillers and rubbish they put in commercial food. My rabbit mostly eats grass, dandelions, herbs, whatever edible green stuff I can find and hay, with a small amount of pellets as a treat morning and evening. Apart from having to have his molars trimmed occasionally due to malocclusion, he has no health problems at all because his diet is much more like the natural rabbit diet would be.

[Silverleaf]

Cats are obligate carnivores - they HAVE to eat meat and aren't adapted to eat significant amounts of non-meat foods. It amazes me that cat foods in general are mostly non-meat rather than mostly meat.

[Sinbad7]

I always thought overweight animals were overfed animals, just like humans in fact.

[Borlotti]

Just reading that the ideal diet/natural diet for cats is birds and mice, but don't worry as I live in a built up area and he doesn't catch birds, only one pigeon years ago.   Did catch two mice which I was not happy about as he brought them in the cat flap, and he had just been fed.  My Dad always cooked for my siamese cat and mother moaned about the smell of coley (fish) cooking.  It used to be cheap but it is expensive now.  Dad used to send me to the butchers to get some steak for the cat (and don't tell the butcher is for the cat, and don't tell your mother).  Chan was very spoilt and Dad used to leave the radiator on for him when out and mother was always moaning about that cat. I think that is where I got my love of gardening and cats from Dad, as when I was about 5 used to follow him around the garden, and always wanted to go to the vet with Dad as found it so interesting. I have just bought a large box of Whiskas sachets of cat food, and he won't eat it (that is why I was looking at the ingredients). Think I will do some research on the internet.
Also I want to avoid large vets bills, as treatment for cat's teeth is expensive and I am saving up to have mine done.

[ancellsfarmer]

As a  onetime vendor of pet foods, I can advise : That all petfoods sold in UK (and probably all of Europe )are "fit for human consumption". This does not mean that you would enjoy them, just that they do not now contan infections or pathagens. Many animals enter the food chain and those parts not in demand for humans get processed for pets,as may wastes from supermarkets, meat processing plants, cereal factories,bakeries etc. Consider the price in relation to human foods.
Consider cooking for your cat batches of cheaper meats,offal, rabbit,fish heads and freeze them in meal size portions. If your cat does not clear their dish in 5 minutes,you have supersized them!
Most cats hunt for fun, often not eating up their kills, sometimes just delivering it as a trophy. Feeding raw food is difficult in modern homes,it will permanently affect your carpet!!

[galina]

When I was a child, our cat was fed mainly bits of lung, cut up bite sized.  Sometimes a bit of chicken or fish heads as we got fish whole, not filleted, and liver as a special treat.  We had a butchers close by who did their own meat and the lungs cost pennies.  Our cat certainly supplemented his diet with mice too.

Guess most of offal goes into tinned cat food nowadays.

[Borlotti]

He loved his saver fish from Morrisons last night, and to say thank you he brought a mouse in at midnight.  Spent the day searching for dead bits, but nothing so far.  Hopefully he took it out the cat flap, nothing behind the fridge/freezer.  He had it is his mouth and was just playing with it, so even it got away it would not have survived long.  Definately going to cook for him, as so many addictives in the cat food, but maybe they need them, I really don't know.

[Silverleaf]

I think I remember reading that cats need taurine, but that's found in meat and fish anyway (especially things like heart).

[Borlotti]

I cooked him kidneys tonight, just lightly fried them and chopped them up.  He is not asking for food so often, maybe the hot weather, but finding it quite easy and cheaper than the sachets.  He is having a lovely after dinner sleep in the outhouse.

[antipodes]

Our cat has processed food (tins and biscuits) but she does love real meat. I get pet food offcuts from the butcher and chop them into little portions and freeze them. She wolfs them down.  My mother in law always makes her own cat's food, mixing cooked  meat and fish with rice and a few veg. Know cats are carnivores but hers have lived to ripe ages and no health issues...

I have a very good book on cat behaviour. it says in there that cats don't 'play' with their prey - as in the wild they can catch rodents that may bite and harm them, such as rats, they have the instinct to first whack the rodent around to stun it so they don't get bitten. Our domestic cats have the instinct but perhaps their skills are not so good and when they hold down their prey it looks as if they are toying with it, when in fact they are merely subduing it before the kill for their own safety. I agree that it is cruel, but they are predators and nature is not kind. Once they decide to kill, it is very quick.

[Golach]

My cats are fed mostly on tinned food, my older cats on sachets.  They have a distinct preference for the "cheaper" brands and love Aldi's cat food.  My oldest cat lived to be 23 and my two current oldest are two sisters, now aged 17 and still going strong.  One has all her own teeth but her sister has none (probably a lot to do with genetics rather than the cat food).

One of my cats is a prolific hunter and is always bringing in mice, sometimes live, sometimes dead.  Usually he eats them but sometimes leaves them for me to find (thank you Sparky).

None of my cats are fat but do have nice, shiny coats.

[Poppy Mole]

My two always have a dish of dried food out which they graze on during the day, in the evenings they have half a sachet of Whiskas each (the posher stuff!) I have tried them with home cooked & raw chicken livers & they just turn their noses up at it & refuse to eat it. They are good hunters & will have a mouse nearly every day - I hate to think how many would be running round if they didn't!! Sadly a few birds are also on the menu, the only trophies I get are the little shrews which they kill but don't eat.