Mazdaspeeder

Hey guys, we have 2 kittens (will be a year old in February), who absolutely love each other. We got them when they were only 3 months old. They are the best cats we could have hoped for because they are super friendly and never swat or bite and are very loving. However, as soon as we start putting food on the counters to cook or just heat something up, they get up there and start going after the food. They used to go after it while we were eating too, but that's slowly been going away.

One weighs 8 pounds, the other 7. We feed them EACH a 3oz can of Sheba in the morning, and a 3oz can at night (typically 7 and 7). Sheba has 113 calories per 3oz can. We were doing a combo of wet and dry together (no free feeding, meal fed) but when we took one of them to the vet they said he was overweight for his size, and once we took them off of the dry, we noticed their bellies got much smaller, and they are still as happy.

My fiancee wants to just start giving them dry food again (with wet), but I know it's not the best thing for them, especially since ours are both boys which can get urinary tract infections IIRC. She thinks that will keep them off the counters when we are preparing food, but I am telling her that it's just their instincts to go after food. When we do give them people food (very rare, maybe once a month), we will give them for example a few shredded or pulled pieces of chicken in their bowls. They do get some treats almost every day as well, but are maintaining their weight well.

Mazdaspeeder

Here they are on the left at 5 months old, right a week ago











We always joke that they're gay because they sleep together and lick each other like all day.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

We give my kitty only wet food. All of its life its been eating wet food. It never goes on the counter unless i invite it up there. Try storing the food next to its dish and distributing the food at its dish. Eventually it will learn that thats where the food stays.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I've never given my cats anything but dry food.

Mazdaspeeder

Well, one of them had a runny eye so we took him to the vet and they suggested we give him lysine so we crush up tablets and give it to both (as vet said it wouldn't hurt them) with their night food. Also, we feed them the pate mostly, so I usually use a fork to mash it up a bit before i give it to them. They also lick dishes in the sink, forks, basically if anything has/had food in it and you leave it out for more than a minute unattended, they will be at it. One particularly goes after bread and bagels, the other doesn't care for them. I like your idea, but i feel like they will just attack the food if I attempt to open it on the floor. Will give it a try though.

stratosteve

iTrader: (1)

Have you thought about 3 meals a day with the same total amount? We were doing 2 meals until our humacat would wake us up at 2-3 am. He is real good at communicating when he is hungry. The others will usually just wait.

Mazdaspeeder

We have, but with our schedules it's not really possible to feed them at the same time every day 3 times. In people's experience, how has the dry food been for their cats?

codrus

For 3 meals a day, I've done breakfast, first dinner when I get home from work, second dinner when I go to bed. Seems to work pretty well, plus you get a kitty alarm clock telling you that it's bedtime.

My kitties have gotten dry food since day one, except for the very end of Cinder's life when all he would eat was rotisserie chicken. :-/

--Ian

EErockMiata

We trained our cat with a squirt gun. We did this with both scratching and climbing. It has worked well and were able to stop using it after about 3 years. Our cat is now 10.

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

I only had 1 kitty that ate only dry food. I'm not saying that did it for her but she passed away at about 12 years in age. Dr said her liver was failing according to the blood tests and she had bad jaundice before we put her down. Dudi is eating only wet food. 15 years old now and other than the recently figured out hyperthyroid issue that was discovered thanks to this thread hes looking pretty healthy now that hes got meds. Before the meds though he was eating for a 25lb cat and losing weight. That said i'm glad to be a part of this forum.

good2go

iTrader: (2)

Since it is the only choice that is offered, it's no problem at all. Just make sure it's a good brand (i.e. NOT Friskies!)

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

My wife's 3 cats all lived into their 20s. Her last was 23. They ate Whiskas...

Mazdaspeeder

I will say that I'm a bit nuts when it comes to their food, I probably pay more attention to what they eat than I do. At the same time, I'm not willing to spend $5 a day on canned food, so I picked Sheba since it seemed to be the better of the cheaper brands, and constantly has coupons like buy 10 get 10 free. I was told by our vet (and read online) that dry food especially for male cats who tend not to drink enough, can give them urinary problems down the road. The vet said the more wet food they have the better, and to try and cut out dry completely if we could. They said since the wet food has lots of water in it already it compensates for the lack of drinking.

I've heard of cats living to 16+ years old eating whatever you can imagine, from all dry, to the most expensive foods, to fancy feast. I just try to err on the side of caution.

For example today I work 9-9 so I fed them at 6:30am (because they keep scratching the bedroom door if we don't and if theyre hungry), and probably the next time they will eat will be at 7pm when my finacee gets home from work. Sometimes, depending on how we both work, it can be as late as 9pm. I have to think of how we can feed them 3 times a day (or maybe leave them some dry when we leave for work). They get really excited for their food, and you can tell when they're hungry because as soon as you come in and take 2 steps inside the house, they bolt for the kitchen.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

I think a lot depends on the cat. We have two brothers and they were eating dry with some wet. One of them got a bad UTI and the other was fine. Went to full wet and no recurrence. Similarly ~15 yr old female with renal disease was given 6 months. Went from mainstream brand cat food to "holistic". Post food change vet visits showed no renal disease. She lived to 20. I realize there's a bunch of variables in all this, but what works for one may not work for another.

At 3 years old, our brothers get one 5.5 oz can of canned cat food each per day. As mentioned I get the Triumph brand from chewy.com that runs about .85 per 5.5oz can.

codrus

The upside to dry food is that it's better for their teeth. Since cleaning a cat's teeth involves general anesthesia with the associated risks, that's a pretty significant win.

--Ian

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

My kitty barely looks at the triumph food :( got a 24 of 5.5 and like 20 left of 3oz. Chicken.

Mazdaspeeder

I hear there is some mixed truth to the dry food cleaning their teeth, but I can see that being the case.
This. Her friend's mom gave us a can of this super good organic food and they didn't want anything to do with it. Sheba they can eat all day. They go really nuts for the cuts variety. It's fun to give them people food, they really make some weird noises eating it, and their eyes get so huge.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Girz0r

iTrader: (1)

Dem waffle fries Nom nom nom

triple88a

iTrader: (2)

Starvation is imminent. Thats Dudi. Also sorry for vertical video. Didn't want to miss it.