[carboy]

Originally Posted by blackasta

but any are yet to go blind or be diabetic or malnourished.

Why would they go blind? You are feeding them meat, no? Meat, especially raw meat has loads of taurine. Kibble also has lots of taurine. Diabetes is of course depends on multiple factors - but carbs increase the chances of going diabetic. For cats, dogs & humans.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by carboy

Why would they go blind? You are feeding them meat, no? Meat, especially raw meat has loads of taurine.

Yup - that's the point I was trying to make. A cat must eat fish / meat, if possible - raw.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by blackasta

Yup - that's the point I was trying to make. A cat must eat fish / meat, if possible - raw.

Fish - cooked is better. Raw fish contains thiaminase which destroys thiamine in cats - thiamine is an essential vitamin B. Of course, if raw fish is only part of the cat's diet, it's fine. The problem happens if raw fish is all the cat eats which isn't so in your case. I don't feed raw meat mainly because I don't trust the cold chain.

[AnandB]

Have 2 male cats (neutered) and a female lab. One cat Coco and dog Bella we got them together. The other cat Cookie came three months later. All three are almost 2 year olds now.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

I honestly think that this " milk and bread etc can kill your cat" is overhyped.

Maybe can rather than will? I gave milk to cats for many years, until I learned that it is is neither necessary nor good for them.

Originally Posted by condor

They are animals - they know what is bad for them. Not like humans who eat by desire than by need.

Not really true. Cats that have become accustomed to milk will want to drink it. I seem to remember dogs loving chocolate, which we learned is bad for them.

Nor are they necessarily good at regulating their own intake. I have had greedy cats in the past (and seen many greedy dogs) but never had a really obese one (seen plenty of overweight dogs). Well, now I have. I feed her; our maid feeds her. She will insist to both of us that is starving. It began with nursing, from which she never recovered her slim figure, but she became ball shaped. We are dealing with it, slowly. I wish our maid would have more discipline! The cat is now plumpy but not ball-shaped.

Thanks, #Prodrive & @Sankar. Agree with you. Generations of us have seen cats eating what we provide them - rice, milk, etc - the regular stuff that we prepare at home. And they have managed their meat needs outside. Rarely have the cats brought home their hunt, though right now we are looking out for this hunting training to start.

Have seen animals eating all sorts of things. It may work out, and often does. But it is not necessarily the best or recommendable way.

Generations of humans have done absurd and stupid things. Off-topic, but I am horrified to read of the resurgence of one such: giving mercury to young children "to clean out their digestive systems." Doctors are seeing it when those kids end up in hospital.

Due to differing lifestyles, our grandparents did know stuff that we don't. For instance, the making of things that we just go out and buy. But it works the other way too: we have better science more easily available to us than they did.

Which all, in principle at least, has something to do with cats!

[mayuresh]

Adding personal experience: I had several cats at home in my childhood and they thrived on milk, rice, boiled potatoes, bhakri etc, and occasionally hunted mice etc. Most of them lived their normal life span of 10+ years without any major health problems. Yes, home made veg food is not `natural' for them, but have not witnessed it being harmful either.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by mayuresh

Most of them lived their normal life span of 10+ years without any major health problems.

Well, more than 20 years is not unusual for cats. I have known at least two cats that reached 30. Not Indian cats, though.

[digitalnirvana]

@AnandB your Coko, Cookie and Bella are quite a troupe! Beautiful!

@others there are two stray cats a boy and a girl in our office premises in Rajarhat Kolkata. The housekeeping staff used to feed them lunch (scraps of rice and fish) but now management has asked them not to. I try to feed them at night but it is clear that they are not getting fed adequately. Both are about 5 months old. Their mom has had litters in the past but none survived. These 2 also survived from a litter of 3. If anyone is interested in adoption please let me know. The male is grey / black and the girl is white with brown spots. Both absolutely beautiful and well tempered.

[pyrodrive]

Originally Posted by carboy

Unless he kills & eats other stuff, there is a chance that he is going to get diabetic with age. And depending how frequently or infrequently he gets raw meat, if he becomes taurine deficient, he will go blind. About raw, raw meat is best unless it's fish.

He used to hunt a lot of birds, but now I have put a collar with a bell on it to save the birds and his hunts aren't very successful now. I think it is a good idea to save the poor sparrows and doves who has a hard life in the urban jungle anyway.
As for taurine, I regularly supplement all my cats diet with human grade taurine and lysine powder anyway. So hope nobody gets blind !
100%agree that raw is best. With my bengals it is mostly raw but they get a bit of whiskas tuna in gravy wet food in the mornings ( adding supplements to this is easy, d strong smell of the stuff masks the vitamins / nutricoat/ taurine and lysine supplements I use on rotating basis) . If I were to add anything to the raw meat, they would turn up their noses and leave

[condor]

Mama cat now comfortable with my mum & me. Allows to pick up the kittens too, though the kittens are still shy

Our tenant's 8 year old son wanted to see them, so he & his mother came over. My mom took them to the cat, but the cat was hissing/growling when she saw the new people approaching her.





A make-shift place created with a couple of old tyres and a mat.

[Thad E Ginathom]

That's a lovely place you have made for them.

It's a nice feeling, being trusted by mum

[digitalnirvana]

@condor there's a saying oft quoted by feline aficionados that goes something like "a cat finds/chooses it owner" (as opposed to a dog).

You might have been chosen already!

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by digitalnirvana

We're going round in circles here. There is only one viable long term solution which doesn't involve culling. I've already mentioned that earlier.
You asked for a short term solution for this specific case. I have now given one and you point out it is specific. This conversation is going nowhere so I'm out after this post.
There is no one size fits all solution. We need to understand the root cause is our apathy towards animal welfare as a society. It is no wonder that developed western societies don't have strays.
Anyway for people who don't like strays and are ok with killing them perhaps brutally beating or shooting with air rifles or guns is the viable solution

Right on digitalnirvana, I agree - Culling is a mug's game. There's even one school of thought which recommends starting the process with homo sapiens! - there are far too many on the planet & in any case what gives us the right to take another life! One solution to control the vermin (rats) population was tried out in China - they surgically sewed up the anus (not joking, you may remember this) & this resulted in savage infighting and a fall in the population of rats. I did not follow up the subject subsequently. But a more humane approach has been tried out sporadically in Mumbai (even in our housing society) and that is castration. But even this was not tried out systematically on a large scale.

Originally Posted by aditbelw

Hugo, our family member. Perished after a fitting fight with a leopard. He was just 4 years.This one is a 20 year old photograph!

Hugo is one splendid looking character, and I'm sure it must have given a fight that the leopard isn't likely to forget soon. You are fortunate to have had a pet that could claim such a great epitaph.

[Rameshdude]

Hello friends,
I have two dogs, a lab by name Bella and a beagle by name Sasha.
The problem for me is whenever I take them out in my ecosport, there is shedding of their hairs and getting difficult to clean. And in our creta, since there is no leather seats, it is even more difficult to vacuum the hair.
Secondly, the ecosport is top end, it is at times difficult for Bella to climb in and out.
I need solution for few things.
1) which is an ideal car for the dogs ingress and egress- jazz, BRV or s cross?
2) can I attach a screen like sheet on the rear seat from top to bottom, so that hair doesn't fly into the front. Then I can still manage in my ecosport instead of buying a used car for the pets! I can use a step.
3) what is the ideal way to brush off the hair? Vaccum?
Please provide your valuable ideas, suggestions.
Thanks in advance
Regards
Ramesh

[Rajeev1]

Originally Posted by Rameshdude

Hello friends,
I have two dogs, a lab by name Bella and a beagle by name Sasha.
The problem for me is whenever I take them out in my ecosport, there is shedding of their hairs and getting difficult to clean. And in our creta, since there is no leather seats, it is even more difficult to vacuum the hair.

I can help you with the "shedding of fur" issue but dont have too much of an idea on the "ingress/egress" question.

We have bought a nifty grooming device called "Furminator" and found this highly effective in removing the loose hair / fur. The product claims to remove 90% of the loose fur and I found that shedding reduced considerably after i started using this on my pet. I have a full grown Labrador Retriever btw. Try this out if you haven't already ...you will have to deal with less fur flying around in the car.

http://www.furminator.com/products/d...hort-hair.aspx