Of course we all love a bit of pussy but how many of you keep cats? I've just picked up a 12 week old kitten and a bit unsure what to feed it; Do you: a) Just feed it the cheapest dry food on offer from the supermarket? b) wet food? If so what brand? c) Treat it like one of the family and give it decent quality meat? Thoughts appreciated
Ahh hope your new kitten is settling in well. To start with, it's best to feed what he or she has been used to while settling in for a week or so. I work for www.ardengrange.com as nutrition adviser (for all my sins and other activities I am a qualified vet nurse and nutritionist), so if you would like some more information and some free food to try then please PM me. Ours is an ethical UK company that uses named ingredients from sustainable sources rather than derivatives. The directors are all animal lovers and nearly every member of staff has our own pets, so even though it's quite a large company now and been going 15 years we still maintain great standards and customer service to both our human customers and their cats (and dogs). Hope all goes well and so glad you've got a new addition! Expect it likes your wood burner!!!!
ive got a big black cat called 'Reggie', hard as nails is he, brings me loads of presents and is very loving. one bit of advice from me will be to get pet insurance, mine is about 7 a month, my cat suffered from cystitis and cost the best part of 3000 after a few operations, which the insurance paid most. enjoy your lovely kitten and get some pics up, oh and a piece of string and a box they can fit in and thats all the toys you need.
All good advice so far, especially the toys advice. Piece of paper rolled up into a ball is our usual toy of choice, it's free and adds random rolling patterns. In terms of food, get what you feel comfortable paying.If you start feeding your cat premium food now, they will come to expect it!! We've always fed ours named brand food, but that's out of snobbery! There's nowt wrong with the non-branded stuff - supermarket own brand etc, however, you tend to find you get better deals on the likes of whiskers and kit-e-kat bulk bags. Make sure there's always fresh water available, NOT milk, cats don't drink cows milk - it makes their stomachs bad. If you're other half is ever pregnant, she is NOT to clean the litter tray, EVER! If you're going down the house cat route... cat flap is the best investment ever. Means you don't have a cat waking you up at silly O'Clock to be let out (hence the reason I'm on here now!! One of the kids has locked the cat flap, and Albert decided he wanted to be out an hour ago. He does make his needs know quite vocally, haha! Unless you want kittens, get her spayed. If it's a boy you don't want Tom Cat whiff, get him neutered as soon as you can. Cat spray smells awaful and he WILL mark his territory, plus it's not really socially acceptable for him to wander about making his mark on every girlie cat in that area. In our experience cat's that have had their sex organs removed are also a lot less likely to wander off and disappear forecer, no matter how much vet insurance you pay Let's see a piccie of your new bundle of joy then! Here's Mr Fluffy, he's 16 weeks old, and cute as he looks!
I have a Field Spaniel that I have fed Nutro to all her life. When Nutro upped and f***ed off from Europe I was told to use Arden Grange as the substitute for Nutro. I tried most of the Arden Grange varieties but the ***** wasn't having any of it. After buying just about everything in the store she eventually settled for Collards. My ***** doesn't look as shiny as she did on the Nutro and to be perfectly honest about it, there is nothing out there (IMO) that matches Nutro. I was told to keep away from IAMS, and anything made by Prima I think it was. I ain't that impressed with the Collards but the dog eats it. I no longer have a cat and doubt very much I'll ever have one after losing three to road kills.
congrats on the kitten when mine were kittens I fed them wet food, mainly as the portions were small and they would tend to eat it all in one go so it wasn't ever left there to go dry etc. (boil the kettle and fill the bowl with hot water to get all the dried bits off else it is really hard work!) I now feed Bruce dried food, as I can stick loads down if I am going away for a night etc and it doesn't dry up or go horrible. He eats whatever tbh, I try to stick to james welbelloved which is about 13 a bag but lasts him over a month. carefull giving them treats, I gave Bruce a few bits of honey roasted ham out the fridge and now as soon as I go near the fridge he is glued to me meowing his head off they don't forget!!! enjoy though, cats are massively rewarding.
All good advice already given (except cats aren't supposed to be given any pig bits, but my cat will happily eat ham). Just to add, that as well as getting a male castrated to stop him spraying urine, it also stops them going miles to find females to service. In the past, two of my stud cats were run over on the main road, but never any of the others, who didn't bother going that far. Looking forward to the pictures of yours in due course. FD - cracking photo and lovely kitten.
I give our 2 a mix of whiskers wet and go cat dry. Tried just wet on its own but they ate loads of it and we quickly found a 50/50 mix fills them up better, making it cheaper to feed them. If you give them just dry make sure there is plenty of water. When they eat wet food they tend to need less to drink. As far a milk is concerned ours love it and does them no harm, but they are only ever given some after the bowl has been emptied of cereal and there is milk left over. Or if I am making amends for fleaing them, which they HATE. When ours were kittens we gave them whiskers kitten. This is more expensive, so we got them off that and onto normal stuff as soon as we could. As far a fleas go make sure you keep on top of treatments. Cant remember when you should start, so check with your vet, or just google, but frontline combi is generally considered the best as it stops eggs from hatching, but can only be got from your vet. Regular frontline can be had online and much cheaper, but we find it in effective as fleas are starting to become immune to it. We now use Johnsons tablets, which was 100% effective the first time we used it, but now not so much so. Enjoy the hours of fun they provide and get some pics up. PPS, Ours go nuts for lazer pointers and can be had from pets at home.
Advice from a disinterested party - I've moved in with two cats - they came with the GF and 'the boy'. They're 15 and 16 - normal, earth around the sun type of years, none of this 'cat years' stuff, they don't time travel, they just don't live as long as humans. We feed them cat food pouches, mostly Morrisons, sometimes Tesco or one of the main brands if they're on special offer. We only do this because the GF cannot handle spooning out catfood from a can and it's smells horrible so we don't want half can of catfood sitting around the house, I calculated it costs us 50 a month to feed them via this method which is madness is my view (taking into account pre me moving in my GF whos a student nurse, takes home 500 a month and after bills / food etc had less than 40 a month for herself) With a complete "no" from the GF on the subect of swtiching to cans I tried them on IAMS dry, they'd eat a few bits if they were starving, but no dice otherwise, occationally if I put some down at the same time at their normal foods they'd eat some more, but they wern't really fans of it. They don't mind fancy stuff though! I used to give them little off-cuts of chicken and stuff when I was cooking, now the *******s are all over the top when I'm trying to cook! Gave them a handful of prawns and diced steak once when we ran ot of catfood on a sunday afternoon, bloody hell! Oh and no cows milk is right! Half ****ed I gave them some areosol cream xmas type, cat puke everywhere! I used to put water down for them all the time and they'd totaly ignor it, drink out of the sink, yes, suck a tap, yes, puddles, yes water from the toilet yet - clean water from a bowl not a chance. In short 1) Not capable of time travel 2) Whichever way you intend to feed them, think hard because you might be comitted to it for the next 15-20 years 3) the Canned stuff and the stuff in foil pouches basically the same (arseholes and elbows) but costs 3x times as much. 4) Catfood in jelly spashes less on your hands, feet, clothes than in gravy - smells less bad too. 5) Cats by and large are pikey *******s who'll drive you nuts if you go giving them fancy food 6) Thick as **** P.S. I'm a dog person.
7) They don't need walking 8) They don't smell or smell your house out 9) They understand the concept of a loo, even if they also believe this extends to the flower beds 10) They don't chase sheep 11) Actually quite smart when it comes to food. I've seen thicker dogs. Anything with 'bull' in the name generally thick-as, but more also besides. HTH
the main brands in the supermarket are shocking, hardly full of nutrients and high on stuff they shouldn't be. It is also a false economy as they eat loads more of it. Get them on a decent, quality dried food and it doesn't actually cost a lot but lasts ages. Peejay - find a decent pet shop and buy one big bag of James Wellbeloved for about 13 and I bet it does both cats for a month, doesn't stink or go dry/horrible AND is much better for them than what your feeding them now. my boy bruce is a massive thing and goes crazy for it yet it still lasts ages
here's my monster cat, he was 5kg at 6 months old!!! he still has his plumbs and he rules the neighbourhood although he is too lazy to bugger off looking for skirt
This is a mid-size cat, unlike the large ginger VR cat you posted the other week! I'm tempted to say Mk3 ABF with leather, air con and a sub-woofer.
there is a big ginger thing two doors down that makes bruce look small!!! luckily he has no plumbs so bruce wins the regular texas style showdown that happens regularly. he is definately VR6 cat, mainly as size wise he is large but more importantly he weighs an absolute ton and turns like a boat
He is overweight because he is not living the outdoor life likes these ones. [YOUTUBE]m_MaJDK3VNE[/YOUTUBE]
check this out. so cute but also very sad (read the actual desciption under the video for the story) [YOUTUBE]9CC_9aFuEkA[/YOUTUBE]
