Hoo Boy Online

In the quest to find a new food we finally picked a food. Okay I finally received a complete approval from Abbeylocks and the Three Black (and White) Bears.

I ordered three options for the trial. I was hoping that one would work and was so excited when my package got to the house. The first food we tried was Castor & Pollux Ultramix Indoor Feline Canned and the three boys (Slakk, Spudd and Copy) all liked it but Abbey refused to eat it. I decided to wait a day to try the next food choice.

Copy was still refusing to eat raw so he was VERY hungry for our next option. So we then tried
Newman’s Own Organics Canned Cat Food Chicken & Rice the good news was that all of the cat’s gobbled it up, the bad news was Mommy did not do her homework and the carbohydrate % was over 10% as fed.

With Slakk’s well documented Feline Diabetes I really try to keep him under 8% carbohydrates as fed ad for some reason I chose a can with rice in it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this food choice for a healthy cat or even some diabetic cats, but Slakk’s blood sugar will elevate.

Just to check I tested him (yes you can home test a diabetic cat just like human diabetics do) and his bloog sugar was in the 80s. His normal rate is in the 50-70 range so yes even one small can of a higher carb food will cause him issues.

In fact it is the reason Sam is not allowed any dry food because if Slakk gets into it his blood sugar skyrockets. After three years in remission and as he ages it is more important than ever to keep him in remission. His immune system is already compromised from the ravages of the disease so I have to be very careful.

So sadly we had to say no to the Newmans. I was down to my third choice, Evanger’s Canned Cat Food - Organic Chicken. I set the food down and SUCCESS!

All of the cat’s scarfed it down and then went and laid down and took a bath. In my cat world that is a great sign. So now everyone but Copy is getting their normal raw plus a tiny bit of Evanger’s and Copy got just the Evanger’s.

Our world is now at peace. Whew

My one-eyed feral brat aka Copy Cat has decided to go on strike against his regular food. Now if I was a one-eyed feral who won’t let anyone touch him despite being a house cat for THREE YEARS I would be happy just to be fed. But he lives in our house so he goes on strike and sits 10 feet away from me and looks pathetic.

So I am on the hunt for food. This happens about once every six months where one of my cats decides it is time for a change. So I pullout my favorite bookmark, Janet and Binky’s Cat Food List. This is a great resource for calories as well as carbohydrates “as fed.” We try to feed food under 8 carbs as fed for Slakk’s blood sugar to stay in the zone.

From Slakk’s Diabetes I learned that the labels on the cans are about worthless so I rely on this list for my information. The rule of thumb for the amount of calories a cat should intake everyday goes something like this:

(13.7 x Optimum weight) +70 = daily calories

My cats are ummm good converters, so they actually stay at around 170 calories per day, sometimes up to 200 but a normal weight 12 pound cat should figure eating around 230 calories per day.

So for some reason I went on a website for commercial cat food – VERY well known brand (no I am not going to name them because they do not deserve the publicity) and they recommend 1 can of their over-processed, slaughter house reject, pesticide filled cans of death, oops I mean cat food per every 2.5 pounds. Doing the math that is 4.8 cans per day…FOR ONE CAT.

After I got up from the floor I looked at the calories – about 435 total, assuming any cat could shove all of that in their mouth in a day (Slakk has offered to try), that is 200 calories OVER the optimal calories – and these are the people telling YOU they understand nutrition and you should trust them?

And then lets do the math, each can of death is $.079 times 5 (because you know you will feed 5 cans not 4.8) equals $3.95 PER DAY. That means in 30 days you would spend $118.68 not including tax, but hey you could forget your gym membership BECAUSE YOUR CAT WOULD BE SO FAT PICKING THEM UP WOULD BE A WORKOUT. If you have four cats like me then you would spend more on cat’s food then groceries

So then I look at a better alternative Evanger’s Canned Cat Food - Organic Chicken 5.5 oz. Can at $1.49 for a 5.5 ounce can. That is approximately the same calorie count as one day’s allotted calories. I feed this sometimes and honestly my big pig cats only get about ¾ of a can because quality calories mean less calories, but to be fair I will use the proper amount. So that equals $44.70 a month a whopping $74 dollar difference IN FAVOR OF A QUALITY PRODUCT.

Amazing huh?

If you really want to see your head explode look at the as fed calories for dry food, one cup equals 350-650 calories – ONE CUP. I will not even discuss the carbs…you know that is bad.

Raise your hand if your idea of feeding your cat is to take a bag of kitty crack and dump it in a self feeder…Don’t worry that was me before Slakk went diabetic. I ask you this - Do you think your cat is only eating what they need or are they gorging on the calorie heavy, carbohydrate-ridden pesticide filled bags of death (yes, related to the over-processed, slaughter house reject, pesticide filled cans of death).

So back to the web, I went to one of the lower calorie, yet highly-publicized dry cat food bags and read that my darlings should eat one cup or 362 calories – yes 150% of the recommended calories for a healthy 12 pound cat. Assuming my cats would self regulate at one cup (yeah sure) the kitty crack would cost a smidge over $1.20 per day.

Well until Slakk’s diabetes went out of remission and I was spending $100 dollars on his insulin alone. But again the cancellation of the gym membership would help out. Until one of the others went on the juice too…

But if you are feeding your cat on the calorie heavy, carbohydrate ridden pesticide filled bag of death or over-processed, slaughter-house reject, pesticide filled cans of death know this. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. We have been told that these companies know best and love our pets - well they are loving our pets to DEATH. My husband has banned me from the pet food aisle because I become an evangelist for proper feeding.

Kudos to companies like PETCO.com who have seriously started not only offering, but showcasing healthy alternatives to the cans/bags of death. Baby steps folks, babysteps.

I was in your shoes at one time and it took almost losing my sweet baby Slakk to learn his food was killing him. But now I know better and know feeding healthy is CHEAPER and your cat feels better and your vet bills go down and their coat shine goes UP. And maybe just maybe they will shed some weight.

So I am always on the lookout for great websites. I do web design as well as work as a Project Manager for large financial institution’s eCommerce in real life.

I was looking for a new halter for my horse and found a great site Horse.com, I was not familiar with it until I found out it used to be a store called Country Supply which I regularly went to. So they have sister sites, kind of like Organic’s sister site Natural Pet’s Store (it is just coming online and sells non-organic pet food and supplies but still high quality). Their other sites are:

Bird.com
Dog.com
Ferret.com

Hmmm anything missing? Oh yeah what about CATS. So because I am nosey I email and ask, I see you have a website for everything but cats. Slakk’s nose is out of joint too so he is sitting on my desk waiting for an answer. The lady tells me that Catepillar the heavy machinery company owns it and won’t sell it. Too funny. SO I guess they are out trying to figure out a name.

Slakk was not amused as heavy machinery equals noise and the only noise he likes is a cat food can opening. I liked the people so much I am linking them here…check them out they have great products for everyone but c-a-t-s.

Glad Slakk cannot spell!

While I was learning about feline nutrition I was astounded at what I thought I knew that was not true. Here are a few of the things I have learned on the way that I thought I would pass on.

Dry Food helps your cat prevent dental disease

False. Dental disease has no correlation to food choices. Studies have shown there is no difference between cats fed canned cat food or dry.

Most cats that get Feline Urologic Disease eat dry cat food

True. FUS can be prevented by feeding your cat a quality pet food with high protein as this type of food tends to raise your cat’s acidic urine. Acidic urine prevents the growth of germs that cause Feline Urologic Disease.

Feeding your cat a high quality food is expensive

False. The lower the quality of food you feed your cat the more you have to feed of it. Most obesity in cats comes from feeding your cat a low quality food. In order for your cat to get the nutrients they need in these foods they need to eat more. The more they eat the more calories they ingest the more weight they gain.

A Grazing Cat is a Happy Cat

False. In nature a cat makes a kill and eats it. They do not have a refrigerator or ability to can. They kill and eat. Automatic feeders cause your cat’s metabolism to slow and cause obesity (my own cat Slakk in his kitty crack days used to fall asleep with his head in the food bowl). As noted above, there are health implications such as Feline Urologic Disease as well.

Cats can get addicted to food

True. There are a couple of the low quality canned foods that I have fed in the past and it was tough to get the cats off of them. Artificial flavors, tuna, salt and sugar are the main culprits.

When transitioning your cat to new foods you will have the tale of two kitties. Those of you who are lucky – or have cats that are pigs - will have no issues. You will set down the new food and your pet will happily chow down and look at you with adoring thankfulness.

Now for the remaining 99.99% of us in the world, please read on.

When my cat was diagnosed with feline diabetes my world changed. For years the only feeding I did was to monitor the auto dry feeder and dump in some pesticide-filled, animal by-product filler food bag of kitty crack into it when it got low.   I realized then that without change to a healthy cat food, my cat would die.

So we had to switch over and I worked with my vet to come up with a solution. The first day I very positively put the new organic cat food down and went for a walk with my dog for thirty minutes. When I came back my dog was happy but I received the evil eye by my feline kids. I picked up the food and went on with the day. DO NOT LEAVE THE FOOD DOWN MORE THAN THIRTY MINUTES – NO GRAZING ALLOWED!

I did the same thing that night – put the food down but this time sprinkled Parmesan cheese before I left the house. When I came back they had eaten off the cheese but then left the rest. As hard as it was I went to bed and reminded myself it was for their own good.

The next day I repeated – both feeding times they nibbled but that was it. These two days are crucial because now your cats are hungry and probably more agreeable.

On Day three I took ¾ of their regular food and ¼ of their new food and mixed it together and sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top. And then took the dog out and when I came back I pulled up the bowls until dinner. I repeated for dinner.

Day Four I mixed their food half and half with the Parmesan cheese and Day Five it was ¼ old food and ¾ new food. At this point it depends on your cat – some are willing to give it up and accept the new food. If your cat is one of those then just start feeding the new food – with just a bit of Parmesan cheese if needed.

For the tougher cases I recommend gradually moving down from ¼ old food to none. Don’t forget the Parmesan cheese on top it really helps.

Soon you will be down to just the new healthy cat food with the cheese – the big test is if they will eat the food without the cheese. Usually they will be fine without it – if not then continue as it does not hurt your cat and a little bit goes a long way.

The most important pieces are to only leave food down 30 minutes – this is a FOREVER thing and leave the house during feeding time during transition – your nerves WILL affect your cat. If you put food down and are negative they will be too.
It will work and in the long run your cat will that you for a healthy diet.