Peat Approach For My Cat

[BobbyDukes]

would it be wise to not feed my cat anything from a tin or a pouch? Anything that is processed? Or am I overthinking this?

He seems to like raw meat, and even has raw liver (if I give him small amounts). He has no interest in OJ, though.

What do other people do, to ensure their cat is living a heathy lifestyle?

 

[XPlus]

Cats are predominantly carnivores.
They instinctively have an affinity for anything small and moving, especially mice and birds.
From what I understand, they convert amino acids to glycerol, to glucose, for fuel.

Also, from what I read that cats on wet diet (i.e. canned processed meat mix) do much better than on a dry kibble.
The problem is, most of the brands I see in the supermarket have PUFA.

So I feed him whole quail sometimes along with organ meats. Some cooked eggs and oysters, too.
Sometimes a little bit of Hagaan Dazs, since he meows every time he sees me eating it.
He's especially happy and active when I give him Kidney, liver and gizzards.
To make the diet more Peatish, I add gelatin to muscle meat meals.
The Taurine seems of a special importance to cats. I add very little once in a while.

I was never able to convince him to have any fruit or fruit juices before.
I think I've seen him chow down on a small piece of papaya once.
They do seem to fancy chewing bits of grass every now and then.

Also, since cats stress very easily, playing with them and letting them roam out (in a garden, balcony or apt. roof), chase birds keeps them in better mood.

One of the things I learned recently is not to give him tap water and not use baking soda in his litter (The PH change might case UTIs)

 

[Such_Saturation]

What water do you give the cat?

 

[XPlus]

Bottled water. Recently he had blood clots around his pee pee. The vet suggested that I avoid giving him tap water because the of the chlorine and "excess amounts of other minerals".

 

[Such_Saturation]

I am considering a water fountain because this cat has quit bowls completely. It would be the only way to provide bottled water.

 

[XPlus]

Do you suspect he's not getting enough water.
Sometimes I add broth to his food to make sure he's getting enough.

I think cats are like women, difficult to understand but they definitely wouldn't need too much water if they're mostly on a raw (wet) diet (i.e. meat is about 70-80% water)

 

[Such_Saturation]

No the cat demands it, and shows high creatinine and low sodium.

 

[XPlus]

Interesting. He only drinks from running water?

 

[Such_Saturation]

Yes.

 

[XPlus]

What are your thoughts on the high creatinine and low sodium.

 

[Such_Saturation]

I think the xenoestrogen from food and from the house have damaged the kidneys and established a state of chronic mild thyroid storms. In fact an ACE inhibitor really calms the cat down. But I myself have noticed that recently the tap water stinks for the first minute or so, and that, if not a direct cause, is for sure noticed by the cat.

 

[XPlus]

What you've mentioned really confirms to me that cats are very sensitive.
I'm thinking about using a little aspirin but there isn't much around about dose and benefits.

 

[Such_Saturation]

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/safe-c ... edications It says here that a tiny crumb could be good maybe. Of course you want to get some aspirin with no weirds fillers.

 

[Lilac]

I adopted a kitten, and I didn't see her drink water for about a year. She is close to two years old now, and she drinks very little.

I have been giving them tap water, but I will try spring water now.

 

[Such_Saturation]

I adopted a kitten, and I didn't see her drink water for about a year. She is close to two years old now, and she drinks very little.

I have been giving them tap water, but I will try spring water now.

Yes, that matches my experience of over fifteen years, so immediately I knew that there were some problems.

 

[Surfari]

XPlus - Aspirin is toxic for kitties. They don't produce enough of a certain enzyme to break it down.

 

[narouz]

I've wrestled with this for a few years with my cats.
Peat describes how...I think it was minks?...were fed a high PUFA diet,
and started dying/getting sick.
I'm pretty sure it was the fish oil kind of PUFA, if I recall correctly.
I think maybe he referred to dogs also being experimented with regarding PUFA,
and also suffering dramatic health tolls.

So the PUFA--or at least fish oil thing--would seem to apply to animals too.
(Well, what about all the hibernators who eat tons of acorns/PUFA to sleep the winter through...?)

At any rate, I decided to try to avoid cat foods with PUFA as far as possible.
If you get to studying the ingredient labels
you'll see that the more expensive and supposedly better cat foods
are more likely to have added fish oils.

It looked like to me that Friskies canned foods,
or at least some of them,
had the least added PUFA.
But you have to check carefully to find which particular kind of canned Friskies are best in this regard.
Also, I decided to just avoid for the most part
as far as I could
the fish versions,
and to stick instead to the beef--or mostly beef--versions.

For a while I researched making my own catfood.
Er...I decided against that.
I found an abundance of well-founded argument
saying that cats have very particular dietary needs
and that you can't just f**k around with throwing your cat some raw meat scraps
and call it a win for your kitty.
You'd have to add quite a few specific vitamins/nutrients for one thing,
and in pretty exact amounts.
Not to mention how labor intensive.

About the water:
they make these gizmos that have a reservoir inside holding water
and it recirculates the water,
flowing it like a little waterfall into a drinking pool for the cat to drink.
My cats did like it.
Well, some did.
Some didn't.
It made a bit of noise,
so...not something many would like where they are sleeping.

I think just feeding wet food instead of dry is a big, good step.
Neutered males have frequent urinary tract difficulties.
I think the dry food kinda dries up their intestines
making it harder for them to keep the urinary pathway clean and healthy.

 

[Such_Saturation]

I find all wet foods and dry foods have from 3% to 6% oils. There is a modest tendency to be on the lower side for higher priced food. The ones who brag about added omega-3 still have the same percentages. So PUFA cannot be avoided with commercial food. Higher priced food has in the grand scheme of things an insignificantly higher vitamin E content, so I give the cat two to three drops of EstroBan per day.

 

[narouz]

I find all wet foods and dry foods have from 3% to 6% oils. There is a modest tendency to be on the lower side for higher priced food. The ones who brag about added omega-3 still have the same percentages. So PUFA cannot be avoided with commercial food. Higher priced food has in the grand scheme of things an insignificantly higher vitamin E content, so I give the cat two to three drops of EstroBan per day.

Yeah, probably the bragging advertisement of added omega-3 is, thankfully, just more hot air.
Now on the oil content...
or fat content...

I would think if you get the kinds that have beef as a primary ingredient
instead of chicken or fish
then more of the fats would be saturated, hopefully.

I try to find the kinds that have less chicken and fish
and more beef or beef by-products.
I avoid the ones that show added soy oil or fish oil.

But I agree...far from perfect options in the commercial world.

I wonder whether it would be a good idea to feed a cat some whole milk and egg.
Not as the main part of their diet,
but something unpolluted and nutritious to offset the consumption of commercial food...

 

[Such_Saturation]

I find all wet foods and dry foods have from 3% to 6% oils. There is a modest tendency to be on the lower side for higher priced food. The ones who brag about added omega-3 still have the same percentages. So PUFA cannot be avoided with commercial food. Higher priced food has in the grand scheme of things an insignificantly higher vitamin E content, so I give the cat two to three drops of EstroBan per day.

Yeah, probably the bragging advertisement of added omega-3 is, thankfully, just more hot air.
Now on the oil content...
or fat content...

I would think if you get the kinds that have beef as a primary ingredient
instead of chicken or fish
then more of the fats would be saturated, hopefully.

I try to find the kinds that have less chicken and fish
and more beef or beef by-products.
I avoid the ones that show added soy oil or fish oil.

But I agree...far from perfect options in the commercial world.

I wonder whether it would be a good idea to feed a cat some whole milk and egg.
Not as the main part of their diet,
but something unpolluted and nutritious to offset the consumption of commercial food...

If you notice, the only difference between what's written on the tin is usually 4%. I'm serious, they write salmon or beef because 4% comes from salmon or beef. The rest is always... let's call it seasonal content. From Almo Nature upwards it starts to become significant and the food looks like actual food.