And, as a corollary to that, do you use “premium” food, or the cheap stuff?
My two dogs get dry Iams or Canidae (all human-grade meat), with a spoonful of canned food mixed in. If I feed them Purina or grocery store brand cheap foods, they fart terribly, and the poop is messy & icky to pick up. They also get dandruff, especially in the winter, on the cheaper food. They also get to lick the plates clean, and get some table scraps - never ever bones, though.
The cats get dry food, whatever premium brand is on sale at Petsmart.
The wild birds get generic birdseed. I figure anything that won’t let me pet it doesn’t deserve the good stuff!
After reading the Consumer Reports bit on pet food my dog and my cats get Purina. For the price it’s one of the best overall values in pet food. Look it up yourself. You don’t need to pay 60 a month for Icanuba or whatever the fuck it’s called; that’s what I had my severely malnourished puppy on for months until I found out it’s the same as Puppy Chow at four times the price.
Don’t get swindled in the animal food market like I did. Get a good copy of the Consumer Reports list and go from there. Oh, yeah, and don’t let Consumer List or Consumer Reporting fool you; there is only, IMHO, one reliable source for accurate, unbiased, consumer reporting and that’s Consumer Reports since they DON’T take advertizing revenue. Therefore, they are not beholden to any advertisers (for an aside, look at your local paper, reports on auto safety (non existent) and then see how many auto ads they have) get it? They have auto folks PAYING them so it’s no wonder they NEVER have any news stories about AUTO SAFETY PROBLEMS. Let’s all look at Firestone tires and how that it had to be MASSIVE before any TV or Print reported it but Consumer Reports had it almost YEARS before the others… do you GET it now?!
Get a good, hard clue about honest consumer advise… you won’t get it from your “normal” news sources. Get into Consumer Reports for the REAL FYI.
The cats: We set down Friskies, as the older cat seems to have fewer problems keeping it down, and various canned cat food. I say “we set down” because the cats will also steal food if we don’t watch them closely. The cats will also stare at my husband and force him to put down bits of beef roast, chicken, turkey, or whatever he’s eating. He says he doesn’t like cats. Perhaps it’s because he subconciously resents their telepathic control over him. The cats also like ice cream, though they don’t get it very often at all.
The dogs eat Gravy Train, canned Alpo, and some other canned dog food which I don’t remember right now. They also get some table scraps and certain large bones. They enjoy potato skins. When I was trying to start a compost pile, they ate the table scraps, so I gave up the compost pile and just slopped the dogs. Every now and then, we will buy large beef or pork bones, and bake or boil them for the dogs. Yeah, yeah, I know the dogs aren’t supposed to get bones, but these are LARGE dogs, and they like to chew. And they love the bones so much. When we gave our younger dog her first bone she almost couldn’t believe her good luck. We adopted her from the Humane Society, and we think that she’d been abused before being picked up. She was so happy with that bone, she just carried it around for a while (she’s at least part German shepherd) before finally settling down to gnaw on it.
She’ll eat nachos, popcorn, and noodles without a seconds thought.
I once was unpacking some stuff and noticed my cat eating the packing peanuts. I had to lock her in the bathroom to help save her life. Once I cleaned up the peanuts and let her out she gave me a look like I was the biggest asshole that had ever lived.
Typical.
What’s always killed me is her willingness to eat that Nine Lives crap. Every time I fill her dish I look at those silly little extruded fish things made of God knows what, I shudder. But she just chows it right down and heads back to the couch.
Oh yes, my older cat will eat ANYTHING with a tomato sauce on it. Spaghetti, enchilada, ketchup-coated french fries, whatever. I’ll let her have a bit of pasta, but not much. And since she’s so VERY old (18, which is ancient for a cat) I refuse to let her have anything really spicy, like enchiladas, or greasy, like french fries. She’s convinced that I’m doing this out of sheer meanness.
Frankly, I don’t trust any commercial dog food to provide proper nutrition for my dog. Many pet foods contain as their main ingredient protiens which are poorly digested by dogs, and don’t porvide adequet nutrients. I do feed my dog Purina One as the main staple of her diet, but I supplement with fresh cooked vegetables, eggs and meat (cooked in light olive oil) stirred in to her food. I give her raw carrots as treats.
Even commercial dog vitamins are often useless, because certain vitamins, in pill form, are also not bio-available to dogs, and get passed right through without doing any good.
Most dog foods are the human equivellent of eating nothing but rice every day . . . it’ll keep you alive, but you won’t be as healthy as you could be if you supplemented your diet with fresh meats and vegetables. Poor nutrition can lead to many health problems and a shortened life span. Your dog’s diet should be as nutritionally up to par as your own.
I don’t however, suggest that you feed your dog everything you eat. “Junk food” and fatty foods should be avoided, as well as sugary foods. But dogs do need a variety of foods in their diet.
In the wild, dogs eat meat and plant matter. They will eat some plant matter raw, but in the wild, plant matter generally comes from the stomachs of herbivores that they kill. That’s why it’s best to cook vegetables before you feed them to your dog . . . so that they will be softer and easier to digest. Most domesticated dogs don’t handle raw meat very well, either because they’re not used to it, and can also catch salmonella and e-coli as well as a human. So if giving eggs and meat to your dog, make sure that they’re well cooked.
Since I have started feeding my dog a better diet, she has stopped eating grass. I’ve read that dogs eat grass in an attempt to get the nutrients they need, but the sharp barbs on grass irritate the stomach lining, which causes them to vomit. If your dog has a problem with this, try feeding him/her vegetabvles and see if this stops it.
Reporting in as the servant of the most spoiled cat in the universe …
We found Gryffin (who is currently a 2 year old male cat) when he was about four weeks old, malnurished, and flea and tick infested, on the NYC subway. So naturally he is now the most spoiled cat in the universe.
The official diet is Wegman’s brand soft food, mixed with dry food. I mix them together like tuna salad. Wegman’s is a grocery store chain that is not found in my area. Why then, and how, does Gryffin eat Wegman’s? Because my mother came to visit, and brought some Wegman’s with her. It was my childhood cat’s favorite food, and she thought it would be cute to have some to give the Gryff. He now refuses other brands, so Mom mails cases of it to me (my mother is a saint). And yes, I know that eventually he would get hungry enough to eat another brand if that’s all I fed him. But did I mention he’s spoiled?
Purina has a new dry food that claims to prevent hair balls, it’s called Special Care. I have noticed a difference in the frequency of the hair balls since we started using it. Still some hair balls, but not nearly as often.
The non-official diet includes anything that Gryffy can get his paws on. I do let him have some table scraps, but this is a treat. He really will eat anything, including veggies and bread. One thing he really loves is peanut butter. He gets this as a very special treat.
OK, has anyone else ever sampled the pet food? I felt like I had to try it, because I didn’t want to give him anything that I absolutely wouldn’t eat myself. I was surprised that it doesn’t taste nearly as strong as it smells. No wonder he goes nuts for a little scrap of fish or lamb.
My cat was 5 years old when she was given to me by a friend. He fed her the cheap stuff and that is what she likes. Can you imagine how stupid if feels to throw away a bag of 7 dollar cat food because your cat will only eat the one that costs a dollar fifty?
I read somewhere that cats set their food preferences in the fist year of life. I am convinced my friend did not feed this cat regularly because her favorite treat is the garbage. She’ll jump in it head-first if it’s not kept covered. Sometimes she needs her garbage fix so badly that keeping it covered won’t help. She’ll just jump on it until she knocks it over. Stupid cat.
18 years is ancient for a cat? I got mine 8 years ago. Does this mean she’s old and approaching ancient? How long do cats live? I thought they were good for 25 years at least. Why did I read this thread? Now I’m paraniod! I think I’ll go check on her breathing.
My boyfriend’s cat actually prefers the really cheap bright pink kibble that makes little bright pink turds. I’ve read opinions on both sides of the cheap/premium pet foods in various pet-oriented publications, and I’m still not sure if there’s a big overall difference. I’m not a snob about it, I just err on the side of caution with my critters.
My cats don’t seem interested in any other food except cat food. I think the “never feed your dog table scraps” doctrine is just a marketing ploy by kibble manufacturers, though. Lissa is correct; in the wild, carnivores tend to eat the stomach contents of their prey first. Cooked vegetables are good for dogs, & easy to digest. I’ve seen “vegetarian” dog food. Now THAT is a ridiculous idea!
BTW. I think about 15-17 years is probably a fairly average life span for a cat; 25 is possible, but not typical. Dogs will live anywhere from 8-18 years generally depending on size & breed. My 14 year old cat is still quite active. My 11 year old Shepherd mix is definitely getting slow & creaky, though.
My cat eats this really expensive prescription food from the vet because last year he had a really bad urinary tract problem. If I hadn’t gotten him to the vet THAT DAY he could have died. So he gets the expensive stuff, but I get to have my cat around. I consider it a fair tradeoff.
Though he’s not picky. It amazed the vet when I told him that Cloud had no objections to the new food…all I did was put it in his bowl, he sniffed, and started eating. Apparently as long as it’s food, he’s happy. He doesn’t get people food except if I turn my back.
My wolf hybrid will eat just about anything. The day after Christmas he got a bowl with mashed potatoes, roast chicken some cherries and cheese cake from dessert, a little gravy and all topped off with some of the salad and vinaegrette dressing it came with… All of it snarfed promptly. You name it, broccoli stems, banana, canteloupe rinds, apples, potato peels… A white furred organic disposal is what he really is. A true omnivore.
My cat is another matter. Dry Friskies is all that he will eat. If I give him wet food he just licks at it and then gives up. I bought some store brand that was on a spectacular sale and he wouldn’t touch the stuff. I waited a day to see if he would break down and the little sucker went out and caught a juvenile mourning dove. It was as if he was saying, “Look @sshole, gimme the chow or I’ll get my own.”
Well, in our house, the eaten pets tend to be mice; the eating pets are a Kenyan Sand Boa and a Royal/Ball Python and (for newborn mice) a Bearded Dragon.
(We don’t view the crickets and mealworms that are fed to the geckoes, anoles, and dragon as pets.)
Unfortunately, the python is not expected to ever get large enough to dine on children, so we have to resort to normal threats to bring them in line.
As for my cat, over the summer when my less-than-a-yr-old housecat got the hots for some neighborhood strange, he escaped the house several times. Once he came back with a whole patch of hair missing from his hide–no wound–just bald. He got ear mites and scratched all the hair off his neck & ear area. He became extremely ugly & skinny & the sight of him lounging on my furniture almost made me retch. Not to mention the 3 sets of miniblinds he destroyed by launching himself at the windows in an attempt to escape to join the little harlot. I was seriously thinking of just dumping him somewhere. I was feeding him the cheapest food he’d eat. He ate a bowlfull a day, but still looked like he was dying of aids.
My sister took pity and bought him a gift of “Deli Cat.” Within 2 weeks I noticed weight gain and hair growth. He’s now my pride & joy. He’s absolutely huge, his hair is unbelievably thick & he sheds very little. He still eats the same bowlfull a day, so there must be more nutrients in there. Friskies’s also makes something similar called “Chef’s Blend” which I alternate with occasionally because there’s a $.50 coupon in every bag and he eats both brands equally well.
No table scraps. ! (Except at Thanksgiving, and poor Jezebel had dire-rear for a day after. There was no controlling guests slipping them some turkey, pie, sweet potatoes,etc).
Dogs: Flint River Ranch super premium mature dog food dry.
Cats: Flint River Ranch sp kitten and cat food dry. They will never taste canned food unless they get sick and there is no other choice.
FRR is mail order only, and you have to have a vet refer you to them. Once you get a FRR customer number you can order for life. Food quality meats go into this food, no by-products (such as rendered fat etc.)
My four dear foundlings are very happy I’m a food snob.
At a particular pet mb there was the accusation that FRR was a scam, a ‘multi-level marketing’ scheme. How come all the vets feed their pets FRR? And I am very happy with shiny coats, clear eyes, and not an excess of body fat on all my pets. If I didn’t feed them FRR I would probably home-cook for them following recipes from Dr. Pitcairns “Natural Health for Dogs and Cats”.
For my feline kids, I buy three or four premium brands, mix them up in one of the nice tin can’s Iams keeps putting out and feed them from that.
I refuse to let them get used to just one type or brand of cat food because cat food manufacturers will eventually change their formula and then i have to work at weaning them off one type and get them used to another.
I had this problem years ago (maybe 6 or 7 years??) with Iams and won’t fall for that again.
