A cat question

[ClichéGuevara]

What are you feeding him, out of interest?

The girls' usual wet food is Felix AGAIL and they have Royal Canin "Sensible" biscuits. Plus they get the odd meal of raw. Lexi is also rather fond of snacks-on-legs...

Cooked meats mainly, but he will eat whiskas chicken biscuits. He's shown no interest at all in the treats.

 

[Reynard]

Cooked meats mainly, but he will eat whiskas chicken biscuits. He's shown no interest at all in the treats.

Cooked meats as in ham, chicken, that sort of thing?

If so, do bear in mind that this isn't ideal long term, as these things don't have the taurine in that cats need in their diet to stay healthy. Cats cannot synthesize taurine like humans can, so they need to have it present in their diet.

If you are choosing a wet food, look for one that is labelled "complete". Anything that's described as "complimentary" or things like cooked meat should be more of a treat than a regular food.

At least the biscuits are "complete" though.

If you want to look for a wet food that's a bridge between cooked chicken, say, and reasonable quality wet food, you might want to try him on HiLife "Tempt Me". The chicken selection has proper bits of chicken in, but it's a complete cat food. IIRC you can get single pouches of this, so will save you buying a whole box.

In my experience, a cat will usually eat the first pouch of something out of curiosity. It's usually the *second* pouch that's the tipping point LOL

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Cooked meats as in ham, chicken, that sort of thing?

If so, do bear in mind that this isn't ideal long term, as these things don't have the taurine in that cats need in their diet to stay healthy. Cats cannot synthesize taurine like humans can, so they need to have it present in their diet.

If you are choosing a wet food, look for one that is labelled "complete". Anything that's described as "complimentary" or things like cooked meat should be more of a treat than a regular food.

At least the biscuits are "complete" though.

If you want to look for a wet food that's a bridge between cooked chicken, say, and reasonable quality wet food, you might want to try him on HiLife "Tempt Me". The chicken selection has proper bits of chicken in, but it's a complete cat food. IIRC you can get single pouches of this, so will save you buying a whole box.

In my experience, a cat will usually eat the first pouch of something out of curiosity. It's usually the *second* pouch that's the tipping point LOL

Cheers for that. I knew nothing about the taurine, so I'll keep that in mind and try to find some alternatives, such as the Hi Life you mention. I've had it in mind that he'll keep going off certain foods, as we all do too, so it'll be good to let him try several different ones, and save the cooked meats as a treat. I've been gradually mixing it with the biscuits. I've had to be careful, as he wasn't happy at having to sort through the biscuits to find the meat at first. And they say animals don't have expressions. Talk about dirty looks and heavy sighs.

It's no good thinking I'm being caring if I'm really harming him, even if it was out of my ignorance.

I'm really pleased I made the OP and follow up. Thanks again to all for the advice.

 

[Reynard]

You're welcome. Hope you can find something that suits Sir's palate.

I guess I'm lucky that my current two have pretty catholic tastes. I've had Poppy since she was a kitten, so she's used to what I feed, and Lexi, having come from a cat hoarder, has known what it is to be hungry.

Oh yes, the dirty looks...

I used to have a cat who loved sausages. One night, we had hot dogs, and on seeing them, he was mithering me like crazy. So I gave him a piece just to get him out of my hair. Let's just say he was less than impressed. He went to sit in a corner, his back towards me, and his ears flat; the ultimate expression of feline displeasure.

 

[Profpointy]

Couple more snippets of cat advice / factoids. Apparently salt is v bad for them, so things like ham or cheese aren't good. Ditto milk, as, like most adult animals, they can't digest lactose. I am given to understand that the hard pieces are better for their teeth. Previous cats I've owned have had bad teeth, ending up toothless, but the current one has 90% hard pieces and I believe these are better. Also she has a lot of (ahem) fresh food so the small bones, fur and feathers are seemingly also good for teeth cleaning as well as being what their actually designed to eat. All cats I've known tend not to drink much from their water bowls, but prefer manky pond water or from flower pot trays in the garden - ugh - but there you go.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Couple more snippets of cat advice / factoids. Apparently salt is v bad for them, so things like ham or cheese aren't good. Ditto milk, as, like most adult animals, they can't digest lactose. I am given to understand that the hard pieces are better for their teeth. Previous cats I've owned have had bad teeth, ending up toothless, but the current one has 90% hard pieces and I believe these are better. Also she has a lot of (ahem) fresh food so the small bones, fur and feathers are seemingly also good for teeth cleaning as well as being what their actually designed to eat. All cats I've known tend not to drink much from their water bowls, but prefer manky pond water or from flower pot trays in the garden - ugh - but there you go.

Cheers.

Aye, the effect of normal milk showed itself in the litter tray, and could be noticed right through the house.

We've got the low lactose cat milk now, which seems to have sorted that out. Hopefully, getting the cat food mentioned earlier will address the salt issue from the cooked meats I've been giving him. He does seem to enjoy the biscuits now too.

 

[hopless500]

My lot drink (filtered) tap water.
Their diet is mainly cat biscuits, 2 pouches of wet food between 3 each evening and critters. The youngest has poor teeth but the other two who are several years older and siblings, have excellent teeth. On the same diet and being younger you'd expect this to be the other way round. Me and the vet are inclined towards genetics on this.

 

[Reynard]

Couple more snippets of cat advice / factoids. Apparently salt is v bad for them, so things like ham or cheese aren't good. Ditto milk, as, like most adult animals, they can't digest lactose. I am given to understand that the hard pieces are better for their teeth. Previous cats I've owned have had bad teeth, ending up toothless, but the current one has 90% hard pieces and I believe these are better. Also she has a lot of (ahem) fresh food so the small bones, fur and feathers are seemingly also good for teeth cleaning as well as being what their actually designed to eat. All cats I've known tend not to drink much from their water bowls, but prefer manky pond water or from flower pot trays in the garden - ugh - but there you go.

Lexi's rather partial to snacks-on-legs as you can see. Her teeth are dreadful though as the colony she came from (we took 42 cats out of one house) were all infected with calici. So she'll be having a dental in the new year.

Chunks of raw meat are also good to help with teeth cleaning - one of the reasons my two have a raw element in their diet. That and the fact they like it.

My two hate milk of any kind, but they do like a bit of cheese. It is a rare treat though, because of the salt.

 

[Reynard]

My lot drink (filtered) tap water.
Their diet is mainly cat biscuits, 2 pouches of wet food between 3 each evening and critters. The youngest has poor teeth but the other two who are several years older and siblings, have excellent teeth. On the same diet and being younger you'd expect this to be the other way round. Me and the vet are inclined towards genetics on this.

Ooops, that reminds me. The biscuit dispenser is empty. I had better go fill it before they both start giving me the evil eye.

 

[raleighnut]

One thing I'd watch out for is other Cats in the neighbourhood when you do let him out, some can be very territorial and don't take kindly to another adult Cat on their 'patch'.

 

[cyberknight]

What is he used to eating and what food are you wanting him to eat?
Ask yourself would you eat something you didnt like?

Or as a cat your tastes change every 5 minutes and one day you will scoff your food and the next walk away from the bowl like its full of poo.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Ah, cats and food: I'm away to cut him some chicken, today he's off Felix.
Glad all is well with your new furry pal, op.
If you can, get a cat flap fitted, mine loves the freedom.
I did train mine (by putting an obstacle in front of the flap) that when I go to bed he needs to stay in ... or in the morning I'd find carnage in the living room, or worse, on the bed.

 

[palinurus]

Cheers for that.

It's been suggested I say his name and stroke him as I feed him, but we can't decide on a name yet, so we were going to get a bell...to ring instead of the name, not instead of the cat.

The theory is, I should let him out an hour or so before his feed, then call him back with his name/bell for food. Whistling while I feed him cold be fun though.

I did this with my cat in the old place we lived. Jangled my keys instead of a bell, still do it (although now he has a catflap and largely comes and goes when he wants)

I jangled my keys mainly because I didn't want to yell his name out of the third floor window several times a day.

 

[palinurus]

I jangled my keys mainly because I didn't want to yell his name out of the third floor window several times a day.

Also I didn't want to broadcast to the landlord that we had (quite by accident) got a cat. He must have figured it out anyway. Only place I ever got the full deposit back on so he probably wasn't too bothered.

 

[Speicher]

@ClichéGuevara - Do you know how "sir" reacts to fireworks?