[carboy]

Originally Posted by amol4184

What's the 'right' food for such cats?

Most certainly not chappati or milk.

Most cats get indigestion from cow milk.

Also, cats are highly carnivorous unlike dogs, so chappatis are really not for them.

A Cat's natural diet is meat & more meat, nothing else.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by carboy

Most certainly not chappati or milk.

Most cats get indigestion from cow milk.

Also, cats are highly carnivorous unlike dogs, so chappatis are really not for them.

A Cat's natural diet is meat & more meat, nothing else.

Thanks, didn't know that about milk. Explains how he miraculously appears on Sundays which is a mutton/chicken day at home. Little guy hangs around the whole day.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Last time when he refused milk, we had dried fish handy which he devoured.

What's the 'right' food for such cats?

Cats like all felines need Taurine - an essential amino acid. Taurine is found only in animal protein. Taurine deficiency can result in Central retinal degeneration (blindness), dilated cardiomyopathy (eventual heart failure) and other serious conditions in cats.
Don't ever feed a cat with dried fish as it contains salt. Cats have difficulty in processing excess salt which will lead to kidney failure.
If you want to feed cat, look for chicken liver. One liver for an adult cat is typical for their requirement. Boiled liver mixed with rice can be a standard diet for most cats.

Or buy the sardine type fish and remove the guts. Boil them and use one fish per day.
I have lived all my life with dogs and cats. I cook all their meals and feed them.

The pleasure you derive in seeing them eat their food is priceless.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Thanks, didn't know that about milk. Explains how he miraculously appears on Sundays which is a mutton/chicken day at home. Little guy hangs around the whole day.

As long as he doesn't eat all his meals at your home, you can feed him cheapest with this - you get 2.4 kgs for 400Rs. Dry food is not ideal - a cat shouldn't just be eating dry food.

It contains part meat & part vegetarian stuff, but it tastes like meat so they love it. As long it's not all all meals of the day, it would be ok. And it's dirt cheap.

You can also feed eggs. Stray cats like them. Chicken etc is also great for them. They also love Chicken Liver. Also keep fresh water for him if you can. Keep it in a steel bowl if possible. Many cats don't drink out of plastic for god knows what reason.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Cats like all felines need Taurine - an essential amino acid. Taurine is found only in animal protein. Taurine deficiency can result in Central retinal degeneration (blindness), dilated cardiomyopathy (eventual heart failure) and other serious conditions in cats.
Don't ever feed a cat with dried fish as it contains salt. Cats have difficulty in processing excess salt which will lead to kidney failure.

The dried fish we have is Bombay Duck which is sun-dried. I doubt if it has added salt in it like other dried fish but I will double check.

Originally Posted by Prowler

The pleasure you derive in seeing them eat their food is priceless.

True that!

Originally Posted by carboy

As long as he doesn't eat all his meals at your home, you can feed him cheapest with this - you get 2.4 kgs for 400Rs. Dry food is not ideal - a cat shouldn't just be eating dry food.

It contains part meat & part vegetarian stuff, but it tastes like meat so they love it. As long it's not all all meals of the day, it would be ok. And it's dirt cheap.

You can also feed eggs. Stray cats like them. Chicken etc is also great for them. They also love Chicken Liver. Also keep fresh water for him if you can. Keep it in a steel bowl if possible. Many cats don't drink out of plastic for god knows what reason.

Naah, he definitely has other sources of livelihood. For example, I have seen him catch small rats a few times in our garden.

And like I said, he is a visitor and vanishes for days. We do have multiple water containers around the house for birds and I have seen him drink from plastic containers too. His main food bowl is metal though. If we are in luck, we can summon him by striking the bowl on a tree stump and make that particular sound

Originally Posted by carboy

you can feed him cheapest with this - you get 2.4 kgs for 400Rs.

I think you missed the URL here..

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

I went to get something in my room and heard noises, rushed quickly outside, 3 street dogs were attacking my poor baby. I shouted, hit the dogs but it was too late. My poor girl died, very frightened, in front of me. I've been weeping since. The pain is insufferable.

I can fully relate with this. Years ago, our cat had 3 kittens. We loved them to bits and were really looking forward to them growing up. One fateful day (when they were just about a month old), we let the mother and the babies play in our front yard for some time. I had just stepped inside when I heard loud barking. Rushed out to witness something that I cant forget even today. Some stray dogs had somehow squeezed under our main gate and were tearing up the babies to pieces. Our cat too was bitten trying to fight them off. It was a massacre, blood everywhere. None of the babies remained by the time we chased away the damn dogs.





I've despised dogs ever since.

My in-laws have a 1 year old handsome boy. We only let him out in the front yard under supervision, that too on a leash.

[Akshay6988]

Originally Posted by amol4184

We have a stray cat that has laid claim on our house and garden and demands food on occasion.

congratulations ! A cat rubbing at your feet and looking up at you, smiling is the life itself smiling at you ! Feed him whiskas dry food and whiskas wet food mixed together if you can afford. Please avoid milk or chapati, cats are carnivorous animals. Boiled eggs, fish, dried bombay duck fish, and keep changing it. You can even feed leftovers from your weekend non veg meals, cats love it. Your cat looks like my beloved cat, sweet !

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

I can fully relate with this. Years ago, our cat had 3 kittens. We loved them to bits and were really looking forward to them growing up

Oh god, that was very sad to hear. I can understand your pain buddy. You did best you could for the mama and her little kittens. The pain lessens in time but those memories don't. Please try to remember her lovely memories..

My in-laws have a 1 year old handsome boy. We only let him out in the front yard under supervision, that too on a leash.

Such a handsome fellow he is! How did you get him used to the leash ?

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

Such a handsome fellow he is! How did you get him used to the leash ?

We trained him young. He loves boiled egg yolk. We attach the leash and give him small pieces as a treat. Initially he would try to scratch it off, now he's perfectly fine with it. He has even linked the leash with going out, whenever we pick up the leash, he immediately runs to the front door!

[papr23]

Originally Posted by amol4184

We have a stray cat that has laid claim on our house and garden and demands food on occasion.
Last few months we have grown fond of him and miss him when he goes AWOL for days.

Sometimes he eats chapatis and sometimes just refuses. Same with milk. I have never seen a cat refuse milk. Last time when he refused milk, we had dried fish handy which he devoured. My mom readily suggested not to spoil him with fish and meat else he will never eat chapatis!

What's the 'right' food for such cats? It feels bad when he meows for a long time and finally leaves without eating/drinking anything. Is he not hungry and just wants attention?

Same story. It's been few weeks and we are feeding rice instead of chapati.

Originally Posted by carboy

Most certainly not chappati or milk.

Most cats get indigestion from cow milk.

Also, cats are highly carnivorous unlike dogs, so chappatis are really not for them.

A Cat's natural diet is meat & more meat, nothing else.

Indigestion due to milk is news to me. I remember my granny storing milk in strange places due to street cats that invaded her kitchen!

Our cat's mother took shelter in our compound when pregnant and we have given adequate amounts of milk, rice, eggs and fish. It used to finish it off every single time.

We will stop giving milk and add chicken liver.
My 3.5 year old thinks it's her baby and demands us to feed the cat more than the cat actually and that is our worry. We are living in our holiday home and will leave this place in few months. What will happen to the cat then? Can the partially domesticated cat find food outside? Can it survive? Shall we stop feeding it gradually?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

My in-laws have a 1 year old handsome boy. We only let him out in the front yard under supervision, that too on a leash.

What a grumpy looking fellow!

Originally Posted by papr23

We will stop giving milk and add chicken liver.
My 3.5 year old thinks it's her baby and demands us to feed the cat more than the cat actually and that is our worry. We are living in our holiday home and will leave this place in few months. What will happen to the cat then? Can the partially domesticated cat find food outside? Can it survive? Shall we stop feeding it gradually?

Don't domesticate it i.e. let it spend a good % of the day (and especially night) outside. Let it hone its nocturnal skills and also survive amidst its surroundings. Feed it when it comes for food but don't over do it (limited/fixed amount of food).

Chances are it will figure out alternative houses to feed from. As well as survive on its own. There is an inherent risk in that approach (dogs, etc.) but in the longer run, it's better for the cat.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

I've despised dogs ever since.

Completely your prerogative for doing so, but dogs are simply doing what their DNA is hardwired for as a reflex survival mechanism.

Dogs attacking cats and killing kittens harks back to their wolf origins in the wild and their fight for survival, including that of their own young, against big cats.

Domestic dogs see a cat, they do not see big or small. They see a evolutionary species threat.

I've had 11 dogs, 4 still with me. A couple of very expert cat killers too. And personally I do not like cats.

However, we have a garage roof that has generations one after the other of cats, who we feed just like our dogs. The cats know the dogs. The dogs know the cats. But if a kitten falls off the roof (common ... we try to save them if and when we can) then the dogs will attack and kill it. The adult cats too sometimes get cornered and mauled.

Its nature.

Cheers, Doc

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Cats like all felines need Taurine - an essential amino acid. Taurine is found only in animal protein. Taurine deficiency can result in Central retinal degeneration (blindness), dilated cardiomyopathy (eventual heart failure) and other serious conditions in cats.

Cooking meat removes most of the taurine from the meat. But since it's an outside cat which kills & eats other stuff raw, he will get enough taurine from that & it should be fine.

Fish is the opposite. If a cat has only raw fish as his 100% diet, then it causes other problems - long term, not right away. Boiling the fish removes something from the fish which causes that harm otherwise.

Originally Posted by amol4184

The dried fish we have is Bombay Duck which is sun-dried. I doubt if it has added salt in it like other dried fish but I will double check.

I think salt is used in all dry fish as a preservative. Else, it will get spoiled during sun-drying itself.

Originally Posted by amol4184

I think you missed the URL here..

Sorry - here - https://www.amazon.in/Meat-Up-Ocean-...dp/B078KJV8JQ/

Originally Posted by papr23

Indigestion due to milk is news to me.

When human beings & cats are born, our bodies produce lactase which helps digestion of lactose in the milk. Humans continue to drink milk (moving from mother's milk to cow milk) so our bodies continue producing lactase. But once the mother cat stops feeding the kitten, the kitten stops having milk & hence for most of them, their bodies stop producing lactase & hence it causes lactose intolerance & lactose intolerance causes indigestion is many cats (not all though).

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by carboy

As long as he doesn't eat all his meals at your home, you can feed him cheapest with this - you get 2.4 kgs for 400Rs. Dry food is not ideal - a cat shouldn't just be eating dry food.

It contains part meat & part vegetarian stuff, but it tastes like meat so they love it. As long it's not all all meals of the day, it would be ok. And it's dirt cheap.

You can also feed eggs. Stray cats like them. Chicken etc is also great for them. They also love Chicken Liver. Also keep fresh water for him if you can. Keep it in a steel bowl if possible. Many cats don't drink out of plastic for god knows what reason.

Hi, Did you miss the URL/Name of the product? I am looking for some alternatives to feed a street cat and her 3 kittens who took shelter on my terrace.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Holyghost

Hi, Did you miss the URL/Name of the product? I am looking for some alternatives to feed a street cat and her 3 kittens who took shelter on my terrace.

Yes, I did - https://www.amazon.in/dp/B078KJV8JQ/

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

congratulations ! A cat rubbing at your feet and looking up at you, smiling is the life itself smiling at you ! Feed him whiskas dry food and whiskas wet food mixed together if you can afford. Please avoid milk or chapati, cats are carnivorous animals. Boiled eggs, fish, dried bombay duck fish, and keep changing it. You can even feed leftovers from your weekend non veg meals, cats love it. Your cat looks like my beloved cat, sweet !

Noted! And yes. The cat took about a month to before we could pet him. The feeling of being accepted by cat is something different. It's difficult to get into their good books. Much harder than dogs.
Seems like this color is quite common our area, Pune. We have about 5 cats of varying sizes with this color combination. Our guy makes sure he gets all the food though..gets ferocious if other cats come around.

Yes, I did - https://www.amazon.in/dp/B078KJV8JQ/

This and Purepet which came as suggestions on Amazon both seem to have some good and some horrible reviews (multiple cats dying!?). A lot of people also say cats throw up after this.

Not sure how reliable these reviews are. Sometimes sensational reviews like these get lot of publicity. Regardless I'm a little skeptical now. More inputs on this by bhpians would be great.

I just don't want to cause any discomfort or worse for my stray cat who was going on with his life just fine until I came by.