She wasn’t saying that kibble is as bad as tobacco. She was comparing the response to the warning as being similar. She was saying that anecdotal evidence to the contrary doesn’t necessarily disprove the trend. That is all.
Paula
[QUOTE=Schune;6486853]
Are you really comparing a proven carcinogenic substance to dry cat food? Really?
Heaven help us, I must rescue my mother’s crabby cat that is being poisoned by his Iams weight control kibble.[/QUOTE]
Actually many of the pet “weight control foods” promote unhealthy weight.
The ingredients in the Iams weight control Cat food are:
[INDENT]Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Corn Grits, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken, Dried Egg Product, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavor …[/INDENT]
- SOURCE: http://www.iams.com/cat-food/iams-healthy-naturals-adult-weight-control
Three of the first four ingredients are carbs. A better weight control food would be a food like this:
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/catkittenAnalysis.aspx
The Orijen cat food is carb and grain free. The food is more filling (less waste) and while it costs more you don’t have to feed as much so the net cost is probably the same.
Carbs = Insulin. Insulin = Weight Retention and starvation on a cellular level. So the cats FEEL hungry even while they retain weight which means that the cats will act starved because they actually are feeling starved… starved for quality food.
If anyone does switch from a high carb food to a grain free food make sure you transition slowly mixing higher ratios of the new food otherwise you will be in for an upset stomach.
^
THIS!
I have a woodburned plaque that says on one side “Cats Are Hungry” & on the other “Cats Are Fed”
A holdover from when DH & I fell prey to the above-mentioned HooDoo.
Whoever got home 1st fed the cats.
Then whoever got home 2nd got the same Starving Cat histrionics.
And they got fed twice.
Of course 1st feeder had to remember to change the sign…
Why are they always hungry?
Cause they’re CATS. lol I used to free feed mine and they’d get nervous if they could see the bottom of the bowl!!
You guys are going to crucify me…
I feed “special kitty” . After doing some research I realize that’s probably a big problem.
It’s quite unfair, my dog gets $50 a bag grain free purified water food, the horses eat better than I do, poor kitties!
I wouldn’t mind switching to wet if they chill out. They drive my roommate crazy, running after her, twisting in and out of her legs and meowing like banshees.
I can’t leave dry food out because the dog will eat it and I don’t have a counter higher than the dog can reach.
So what do I feed now?
I used to be hung up on brands and content until I realized we consumers were never being given all the information to actually make a good decision. What it comes down to, IMO, is this -just moving from kibble to canned will boost their protein. As for protein sources -they’re not going to turn their noses up at anything and goodness knows that there is no real mathematical relationship between cost and content when it comes to canned cat food.
Go peruse some cans. Buy a couple and try them out. And try to resist the cat hoodoo -they can get fed twice a day just like a dog.
Paula
[QUOTE=RenaissanceMare;6487530]
You guys are going to crucify me…
I feed “special kitty” . After doing some research I realize that’s probably a big problem.
It’s quite unfair, my dog gets $50 a bag grain free purified water food, the horses eat better than I do, poor kitties!
I wouldn’t mind switching to wet if they chill out. They drive my roommate crazy, running after her, twisting in and out of her legs and meowing like banshees.
I can’t leave dry food out because the dog will eat it and I don’t have a counter higher than the dog can reach.
So what do I feed now?[/QUOTE]
Well that’s why they’re hungry all the time. Because they are hungry all the time. Cats are “obligate carnivores designed to eat meat – not grains”. Special Kitty is made from almost entirely fillers and by products. It’s about the cheapest cat food on the market. It would be like you eating Ramen Noodle every day for years. You’d be starving too.
Orijen is great. Blue Buffalo is great. Really what you need to do is look at the ingredients label. If the first three ingredients are not ALL meat products - walk away. Anything that is grain free is good. It will be considerably more expensive then what you have been paying for cat food.
Make the switch slowly, mixing the two foods together over the course of a week. They will probably ignore the new food for awhile. It’s like going from potato chips to health food. They’re used to potato chips and may become very picky. Once they are hungry enough they will eat the new stuff.
[QUOTE=paulaedwina;6487543]
I used to be hung up on brands and content until I realized we consumers were never being given all the information to actually make a good decision. What it comes down to, IMO, is this -just moving from kibble to canned will boost their protein. As for protein sources -they’re not going to turn their noses up at anything and goodness knows that there is no real mathematical relationship between cost and content when it comes to canned cat food.
Go peruse some cans. Buy a couple and try them out. And try to resist the cat hoodoo -they can get fed twice a day just like a dog.
Paula[/QUOTE]
The ingredients are right on the packages. I don’t know why you would say we’re not given real information. Just read the labels.
Natura got sued for putting false information on their packages. Specifically with them it was the claim that their ingredients were human grade. Personally I do not need my pet foods to be human grade, but it was a wonderful reminder that all my hard work to decipher the actual ingredients in the food was probably for naught.
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/did-you-purchase-a-natura-pet-food.html
So I’m so over being OCD about what each product has. I’ll buy basic stuff and add to it myself.
Paula
Unlike dog food, there are cat food brands at the lowest levels that are grain free. Fancy feast original has an entire line of grain free wet food.
Cross-eyed kitty eats a variety of brands from natural balance to orijen but every now and then I’ll throw in a fancy feast if I run low on food and can’t make it to the pet store across town. If I needed to cut down I would feel comfortable feeding solely fancy feast original. I doubt I would agree with their ingredient sourcing, etc but at the end of the day it would be better than a similarly priced kibble that is heavily grain-based.
OP I would definitely give it a shot. Worst case is that you update and say they are still being rowdy. Might as well go about it systematically.
[QUOTE=paulaedwina;6487754]
Natura got sued for putting false information on their packages. Specifically with them it was the claim that their ingredients were human grade. Personally I do not need my pet foods to be human grade, but it was a wonderful reminder that all my hard work to decipher the actual ingredients in the food was probably for naught.
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/did-you-purchase-a-natura-pet-food.html
So I’m so over being OCD about what each product has. I’ll buy basic stuff and add to it myself.
Paula[/QUOTE]
I don’t think animals need human grade either but one time does not make a trend.
I’m way too cynical to think that it’s a one off, that pet food producers were liars only that one time and the rest of the time I should trust they’re not misrepresenting the contents of their packages. That’s just me.
Paula
[QUOTE=Schune;6486853]
Are you really comparing a proven carcinogenic substance to dry cat food? Really?
Heaven help us, I must rescue my mother’s crabby cat that is being poisoned by his Iams weight control kibble.[/QUOTE]
Dry cat food has been proven to cause diabetes and urinary blockages, among other things. These are every bit as fatal as cancer if untreated.
The sweet feed reference is accurate. Just because it hasn’t killed your horses doesn’t mean it’s the best diet for them. And just because it was widely accepted 30 years ago doesn’t mean that science hasn’t since consistently proven that it’s not a good option. I always find it funny that horse people who follow all the latest science when it comes to horses’ diet regimen are so willing to feed their other animals total junk.
My great grandfather lived to be 98 years old despite eating a terrible diet. As in, he would eat butter, like a quarter stick straight up. By the same thinking that many people use as an excuse to feed dry cat food, since he lived to that age, it must be okay to do daily, right?
AS for OP’s concern…think about it. If you eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast, you’re hungrier sooner than if you eat a hard-boiled egg. Dry food is primarily carbs, while a good wet food is grain free, and mostly protein and fat. Cats’ diets should be under 7% of calories from carbs, and there are almost no dry foods that meet this standard. I think there might be one on the market at 7%, Evo, IIRC.
[QUOTE=HenryisBlaisin’;6487812]
Cats’ diets should be under 7% of calories from carbs, and there are almost no dry foods that meet this standard. I think there might be one on the market at 7%, Evo, IIRC.[/QUOTE]
Wellness Core isn’t bad – 11% from carbs – and it’s available at my local Petco (the EVO is not or I would have gone that route). It’s what my cat gets (and the kitten gets the kitten formula of it). The adult cat gets Wellness grain-free canned as a once a week treat, the kitten gets it once a day.
Both cats are on self feeders and they don’t hoover their food. The adult cat eats less now than when she did when I was feeding her Iams because she’s getting so much more out it. The nice bonus to the lack of useless fillers means that there’s less going out – it’s a lot more pleasant to take care of the litter box now.
The adult cat has always been a porker and I can’t say that she’s lost any weight since switching from Iams – calorically I think she’s eating less now despite Wellness being more calories per cup, but it has cleared up a lot of her skin issues (dandruff) and just generally has made her more active because it’s more in line with what she’s supposed to eat as a obligate carnivore.
That doesn’t mean she still doesn’t beg if I am eating something she thinks she’ll like, you know, like onions. You’d figure after the 200th time of smelling a slice of onion and being revolted, she’d remember that onions are bad. They’ll always pull the starving kitty routine if they think you have something that is delicious or if you’re anywhere near their food bowls.
LOL! My feline fiends did it to me today…I’m pretty sure. 
I taught an 8 am class so I pretty much hit the ground running this morning. Shower, dress, feed critters, run. I’m pretty sure I fed them before I left, but wouldn’t you know it -I get home and they’re both giving me the, “Thank goodness you’re here, we’re sooooooo hungry”.
Me “I fed you before I left”:yes:
Them “I don’t think you did cuz we’re soooooo hungry”
Me “I know I fed you before I left…I think I fed you before I left. Yes, I fed you before I left! But why are you acting like I didn’t feed you? Maybe I didn’t feed you -it was a bit of a blur this morning. No, I remember feeding you…maybe I misremember…okay, I’ll feed you now just in case.”
Sigh
Paula
My cats always act like they’re starving, doesn’t matter if they’re fed wet or dry food (either Wellness CORE or Blue Wilderness). If I walk in to the garage and they haven’t eaten in more than 5 minutes, they follow me in to the garage to give me their best “I AM STARVING! FEED ME NOWWWWW!” performance.
I have a cat who was a stray at one point in his life. When he was brought to the adoption center, he was very obviously starved.
He’s not starved any more, but he is obsessed with food. I have to feed him closed in a separate room, so that he doesn’t gobble up all of his food then rob the other cats of theirs.
I have always thought that he just became conditioned to eat everything there was when it was available, because he didn’t know where his next meal was coming from. If your cats were strays at one time, that may be part of the problem.
Also, it probably wouldn’t hurt to have them checked for hyperthyroidism, especially if they are always eating and still thin.
I do feed wet food, with the two older cats who need extra calories getting sneak meals of low carb, high protein dry twice a day. I agree that wet food is definitely better, but am not anti-dry for some of their meals, especially if it is good quality.
It’s the cat voodoo. If you even believe a little bit, there’s no stopping it.
I wonder if anyone sells gris-gris bags or charms to deal with it :lol:
I would look for a higher quality dry food and supplement with a wet food. Then put your cats on a time table. They get fed at 9am and 10pm and not a minute sooner or later. Stick to your guns and in a few weeks they will be less annoying.
You can switch to wet food if you want to, but I think you’ll still have “hungry” cats. If you give in and give them food when they annoy you then they have you in their little paws.
