[archat68]

Originally Posted by blackasta

he's learnt to eat solid food and likes Parle G biscuits, but can't chew pedigree yet. Thinking of getting him vaccinated.

You can give her a bit of rice and chicken or curd-rice, made to paste.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Pedigree, Whiskas, and Royal Canin are all made by the same company

Which company is that?

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by carboy

Which company is that?

Mars.
The same company that makes orbit chewing gum, and snickers chocolate bars.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by blackasta

Mars.
The same company that makes orbit chewing gum, and snickers chocolate bars.

Thank you. Good to know - http://www.mars.com/global/brands/petcare

Looks like even Sheba is their brand - that's also an expensive brand, I think.

Anyway, isn't it possible that they use different ingredients in different brands.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The pike actually got my hand!
We had a succession of wedding invites this morning, and the next door neighbour said to the cat, "Oh, you are here!" She is going to their house too. It seems that she is seriously hungry, so we fed her*. But not in the house.
Next-door lady thinks the cat is pregnant already.
*The cat, not the bringer of the wedding invitation!

Yes, quite, I got that - it was the cat that was fed and not the next-door lady! That conclusion (that it was the lady) is too awful to contemplate!

Looking at all this knotted complexity, I can only think - there, but for the grace of God, goes Shashanka!

Yes, there was a time when I had come that close to being persuaded that cats are the bigger, better deal! It was only that inner voice that saved me & we opted for boxers instead!

[Aroy]

As far as I know, you should never give dry pet food, but use plenty of water with the feed. The reason is that when the dog drinks water after the dry food, the dry bits soak water and expand. This may result in the intestine damage as the intestines can twist/straighten while the dry bits absorb water.

https://www.caninejournal.com/canine-bloat/
https://www.dogfoodinsider.com/preve...-healthy-diet/

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by carboy

Thank you. Good to know - http://www.mars.com/global/brands/petcare

Looks like even Sheba is their brand - that's also an expensive brand, I think.

Anyway, isn't it possible that they use different ingredients in different brands.

I think a highly qualified vet who does not sell any pet food on ethical grounds and professional independence is far more qualified than any of us quacks here.

I wouldn't touch any of their products by a bargepole, unless i am feeding strays for whom these are great treats on an irregular basis. Honestly though, they probably have it better than home fed cats, they hunt quality live prey.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I think a highly qualified vet who does not sell any pet food on ethical grounds and professional independence is far more qualified than any of us quacks here.

What does he recommend?

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by carboy

What does he recommend?

Food cooked or raw at home. Nothing else comes close even. Everything else is the humans comfort zone.

Pretty sad really. We are destroying everything around us because of our own sloth and greed. Apocalypse isnt far off.

Sorry, i just got triggered

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

our own sloth

You have a sloth? Lucky man!

ok, ok, I understand that you mean it in the sense that I would say it is my spirit animal! But they are delightful things. You can find some sweet stuff on youtube

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Food cooked or raw at home.

Purely cooked food will work for dogs but not cats.

Cats have the following requirements.

- Taurine - this comes from uncooked meat - cooking/boiling destroys taurine in the meat. In the 70s when cats first started getting fed at home all over the world, tons of cats became blind or developed heart problems because of mainly being fed cooked food.


- In India's it's not easy to feed a cat raw chicken - cat will get infections from the bacteria - we do not have a good cold chain infra.

- Cats are fully carnivourous unlike dogs - so a huge majority of their diet should be non-veg - as Thad as said here a few times, if you want a vegetarian pet, do not keep cats.

- Cats cannot survive just on a raw fish diet - there is something in raw fish which destroys thiamine in the cat which is again bad.

This is what I do for my cat - 20% of his food is dry food from Whiskas/Meow. Remaining is boiled chicken & boiled fish. However, I supplement my cat with Taurine - around 250mg per day.

When I cat was very young, I didn't do the Taurine supplementation for a month or two, my cat's growth was quite slow for his age. Once I started the Taurine supplementation, my cat grew like crazy in a month's time - I think I luckily caught the taurine deficiency in time.

[Red Liner]

Carboy, i have moved to orijen, available on amazon. Completely grain free. It is way better than farmina even (i have met the chief vet at farmina foods india).

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by carboy

- Cats cannot survive just on a raw fish diet - there is something in raw fish which destroys thiamine in the cat which is again bad.

I don't think I knew that. Thanks!

We had a brother and sister cat who were really addicted to fish. We cooked it for them and fed them almost daily. They used to go crazy, before and afterwards! We gave them other food as well though.

[blackasta]

Lots of info & schools of thought here !

Our cats get:

- raw fish / chicken when it comes home from the market. Normally the chicken is freshly slaughtered one, but I guess the fish are not freshly caught.
- boiled small freshwater fish n rice for lunch
- whiskas for early morning / evening snacks
- one of the cats is still fond of milk, so occasionally he gets a ladle or two.
- any non store bought non veg table scraps

The dogs, which are technically strays, but stick to a small block of 5-6 houses, get:

- Parle G biscuit + pedigree every morning and night
- whatever anyone else might feed them

Truth be told - this is the best that can do for them in my time / budget. Obviously I do treat small wounds on both species myself, and get the vet for bigger problems.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by blackasta

One of my cats (tom, 4 yrs) ...

The poor soul had been refusing food since last night, and passed away a few hours back (late evening) in our garage.
Just finished burying him in the garden.