Conference misery::feline_v1

If the kittens won't eat Iams or Science Diet dry, you might try adding a
little water to the bowl to make it easier for the kittens to swallow.
Don't drown it, just moisten it enough to soften it.  As the cats grow, you
can use less and less water until they finally accept it dry.

					-- Roger

    The maker of Science Diet (Hill's) also makes a canned food called
    C/D. Our vet recommended both.
    
    					Val

    I recall somewhere reading that kittens should NOT be given dry
    food until they are several months along.  I beleive it has something
    to do with their digestive system not being able to properly handle
    the stuff.  It made sense, after all in the wild what they eat would
    be for the most part fresh and moist.
    
    Also, especially on male kittens the urinary tract is not fully
    developed thus there is more likely to be problems resulting from
    dry food that which has a higher ash content.
    
    I will see if I can come across the article that explained the issue
    of dry food and kittens.
    
    Science Diet (Hill's) makes a canned food especially for kittens.
    It is worth the money.
    

    We've always fed our two kids the canned foods you can find at
    your local grocery, anything with an ash content at 3% or less.
    We supplement it with 9-lives dry food (the Super Supper type,
    since they won't eat dry food that isn't X shaped).  They get,
    between the two of them, a flat can of wet food per day plus
    about 2 handsful of dry food, half in the morning and half at
    night.  We mix the wet food with water to make sure they get
    enough liquid (as well as to slow down our fat-cat's eating
    so our daintier eater gets her food without this monster looming
    behind her), although there's always water available and they
    DO drink it.  The cats are about 11 lbs each - used to be around 12
    and then they lost their kitten fat.  After they went RAPIDLY
    from 10 oz to 9 lbs, the vet asked us what we were feeding them
    that they were getting so healthy on!

    --Louise

    I have frequent litters of kittens and am very careful of their
    diet.  Starting at about 5 weeks I start giving the kittens
    a combination of equal portions of cottage cheese and Friskies
    Buffet Poultry Platter (I've used this for years and never had
    a problem).  The cottage cheese seems to help keep their stools
    solid and gives them the additional dairy product that they 
    loose when weened.  DONOT give a kitten Science Diet C/D as it
    is low in Potassium and Calcium which are needed in a growing
    kitten's diet.  C/D is also bad for pregnent cats would highly
    recommend Feline Growth by Hills instead if you want to stick
    with the Science diet.  I use Iams (there is an Iams available
    for kittens too) as a dry food suppliment, my cats find it more
    palitable than the science diet.
    

    With all the talk in this file about decent diets, I finally decided
    that Figaro deserved better than 9-Lives... so, even though it's
    inconvenient, I made a trip to my local Med/Vet store and bought
    some Science Diet canned food, and a box of IAMS dry food.
    
    So... the problem is that weaning Figaro from the grocery store
    food to Science Diet isn't as easy as it sounds... she's been turning
    her nose up at it.  This wouldn't be a problem except that she's
    just as content to forego this *new* stuff, and go outside and woof
    down a few mice.
    
    What I need is:  hints on making this new diet work.  How long does
    it take for a kitty to become a convert?  
    
    I thank you and Figaro thanks you!
    
         ^_^
        (>.<)
         )_(  Jeannie

    C'mon!  Would YOU eat a scientifically developed health food
    guaranteed to provide a well balanced diet, keep you trim and healthy
    that you scoop out of a big brown bag???  I mean, get serious. 
    Besides, your cat was already probably eating better then you on
    9-lives.  My feeling is if you can find ANYTHING that your cat will
    eat then stick with it.

    We're trying to slim down our striped fur blimp.  She used to get
    dry food whenever she wanted it, and she would often reject her
    wet food dinner.  Now she is RIGHT THERE at mealtimes, right next
    to the other cat who has always been vocal about his dinner.  And
    she has been far less picky about which types of food she will
    gobble up - she's eating ANYTHING.  And she looks at us with those
    big round eyes, like we're Starving her to Death and she's Lucky
    to be Alive At All and what's Wrong? Don't we Love her anymore?
    What did she Do?  All this while she vacuums the food dish area
    for whatever little scraps may have been missed...  One benifit
    that I didn't foresee is that the food dish area is a LOT cleaner.
    Instead of eating only the big pieces of dry food, the cats are
    now eating the broken pieces too.  And there's been no scraping
    the food out onto the floor.  I guess they were just spoiled!
    
    --Louise

    re .2
    
    The science diet c/d is made especially for cats that have a health
    problem such as FUS.  It shouldn't be fed to any cat without a vets
    instructions.  The science diet that is for kittens and queens is
    feline growth.  And for those of you that have overweight kitties,
    science diet makes a food called r/d (reduction diet) which is also
    available from the vet.
    
    JoAnn
    
    ps- What is it about these finicky cats?  I always thought that
    the finicky cat was invented by cat food companies, since my four
    are gluttons for anything that resembles food in the least.

    I agree, JoAnn,
    
    My "kids" will eat anything thats put down for them!!!   Although
    I think that competition at the food dish may have something to
    do with it!!!
    
    But, does the dish ever become empty???   Nooooooooooo!!!!!, but
    you might think their afraid it will!!!   tee hee!!
    
    If your having problems with your cat being finicky, just get another
    cat...just a suggestion!!
    
    purrs
    cin
    

    RE: .9
    
    >The science diet c/d is made especially for cats that have a health
    >problem such as FUS. It shouldn't be fed to any cat without a vets
    >instructions.
    

    I'm not sure that that statement is exactly true. Hill's Prescription
    Diet Feline C/D was developed especially for cats with problems like
    FUS that needed a low ash food, and it has a slighlty lower ash
    content than Hill's Science diet, but I wouldn't go so far as to
    say that it should be fed only to cats with medical problems. When
    my Argus had his first bout with FUS the vet put him on dry c/d
    and suggested that even though Pip had no problems I put her on
    it also, not because he thot she was going to have any problems,
    and not because he is makeing a profit on the food (I suspect he
    is selling it to his FUS patients at very near cost, 12 lb / $16),
    but because he thinks it is a good food. When the time came to put
    Panther and Eirene on adult food, I specifically asked if I it was
    OK to feed them c/d, or now that there are comercially available
    low ash foods like Iams and Science diet should I put them on those
    and just leave Argus on the c/d. The told me that there was no harm
    in leaving them on the c/d, it might even be healthier for them.
    And I have to admit, they have all got beautiful shinny coats that
    I personally attribute to the c/d (whenever they get tired of it
    and I feed them something else for a week, their coats show it).
    
    I should mention one thing. I have been talking about the dry c/d;
    Argus (and Argus only) eats moist s/d (stone diet) which the others
    aren't suppost to have, and the other 4 eat moist Triumph LO-ASH
    (which comes in many flavors).

    Deb
    

    Our vet also suggested feeding everyone (well...not us non-cats)
    C/D routinely.  We use a combination of the dry and canned, and
    its cost is similar to what we'd have to pay elsewhere for the
    Science Diet.  I have the (big) kittens on Hills Feline Growth and
    IAMS (kitten food ---> cat food, because that's what they had been
    used to when they arrived).  I expect they will eventually all end
    up on the two forms of C/D.  I'm using supplements for the kittens
    to get their coats silky (one "cured," one getting there), but the
    older cats, who've been on C/D long term with no supplements, have
    always had gorgeous coats.  

    re .11 and .12
    
    I think I said that it shouldn't be fed to cats without health problems
    unless under the advice of a vet.  It is lacking in some nutrients,
    one of them being calcium (lacking probably isn't the right word,
    lower would do better).
    
    If this food was completely well balanced and recommended for all
    cats, would it be available only by perscription?  Think about it.
    The reason it makes their coats so beautiful is that it contains
    more oils than other brands.  Ever notice that your measuring cup
    gets greasy from it?  
    
    My main point was to let those of us who are not as experienced
    with this type of food know that their vet should recommend it to
    them and know that their cats are on it.  It is also MUCH higher
    in calories and should not be free fed, you could end up with a
    very overweight and unhealthy cat if you are not careful.
    
    JoAnn

    Well, I didn't know where to put this.  I did a search of titles and
    found 50 different notes on 'food'.
    
    Since my question is on canned food, I picked this topic.
    
    My cat, Magic, occationally sticks up her nose at canned food.  Not 
    any particular type, it could be 9-Lives, Science Diet or Sheba.  It
    doesn't happen all that often, maybe once a month.  Almost as though
    the food were bad.  You could open a can of 9-Lives Oceanwhite Fish 
    and she will turn her nose up, but open another can of the exact same
    thing and she will eat it.
    
    My question is, have any of you had the problem of getting "bad" food
    from a can?  Or is this Magic's way of telling me that she is sick of
    a particular type.  Can cats really tell when something is so bad that
    they should not eat it.  
    
    I ask all these questions because when this happens, my husband would
    just assume leave it in the dish until she eats it or starves.  I, on 
    the other hand, spoil my cat something awful and immediately pick it up 
    and replace it with fresh food, or at least something she will eat.  
    Generally when we use my husbands method, the food sits for at least a
    day before I give in.  Magic is an indoor cat, out only occationally
    with one of us, so never eats mice or birds.
    
    Does the FDA have such restrictions on cat food that you shouldn't get
    bad food?  
    
    Wendy and Magic  
    
    

    Well, I think that an occasion batch of food can be 'different' and
    cats have very sensitive senses of smell - not sure if they can
    'taste' but smell if very developed.  It couldl be the food 
    especially if it only happens once in a while, or Magic may just
    not be 'in the mood' for that flavor or maybe just not very
    hungry that day.  
    
    E.T.

I swear that cats are just picky eaters....Nick INSISTS that I offer a variety
of food - he will eat avidly IF I change around the FLAVOR, but NOT THE BRAND
of food.  He is very specific about this....he prefers Fancy Feast, Science
Diet C/D, and his third choice is Whiskas.  He wants different flavors of
Fancy Feast and Whiskas though, and if I feed the same flavor of one of them
for 3 dinners in a row (he eats C/D for breakfast and early evening snack),
he stops eating it.

I've told him that DOGS aren't picky and he should THINK ABOUT THIS...but
he's not worried....he knows he's got me where he wants me....8^}

			D

    re: .16 - I've read about some research that pretty much proves that
    finicky eaters are made not born  :-)  Looks like ours all have us
    wrapped around their paws.
      Nancy