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Old 09-13-2008, 05:59 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Re: Picky Eaters!! What does your cats eat?

Hi

since we're on the subject of picky eaters - have you ever wonder why your cat is a picky eater? is this label truly well-justified and well-deserved by your cat or is it something we just put on our cat to justify our non-effort or lack of interest in finding out why our best beloved companion is not eating well or only eat certain food?

cats all eat by smell and some cat food are very "tasty" in terms of smell - so tasty in fact i was tempted on a few occasions to take a bite myself too ...but the ingredients used may not be good for your cat and your cat will soon learn this after eating it - hence it will learn to associate the "taste/smell" of certain food with not feeling good such as "watery poo", "stomachache", "general feeling of unwellness.

unlike humans who have managed to supress or kill their own ability to listen to their bodies, cats still do listen to their body or rather they will know when certain food makes them feel bad ...and most of the time, it's not the food but what ingredients that goes inside it.

your reply : but my cat didn't really tell me that it's not good! it's not as if it became really sick - i didn't see anything wrong with it, only that the cat were picky and didn't want to eat it...

answer : your cat did but you weren't really listening or rather, you weren't observing, or even if you did, you didn't bother to explore further (common malaise among the general population of pet owners in malaysia, so you don't have to feel bad about it being a carrier of this malaise).

i'm quite amazed, really, at the wholesale ignorance or apathetic attitude of many owners of companion animals (let's keep it to cats and dogs) towards the nutritional needs of their animals

we don't need a rocket science degree to learn about animal nutritional needs and we don't need to reinvent the wheel i.e. do all the research ourselves - in this age of information technology, all we need to do is to ask, or rather, reach out to the internet or even printed materials (like books you know) in order to glean the information we need. as easy as abc..really. and yet lots of people moaned and groaned about the difficulty of getting their pets to eat properly, of having to constantly clean up smell poo/urine, or why is their companion animal constantly sick, etc, etc, etc.

true, not all the information out there are accurate or correct, but there's something called "informed decision" and this means after you have obtained as much information as you required, you're in a position to make better judgement or decision...see, easy.

or perhaps our society is largely still of "herd mentality", apa orang lain buat, saya ikut, apa dia bagi korang punye kucing makan saya pun ikut, apa advertisement kata baik, saya terima buta-buta aje. or "apa leh ni si ashley buat kacau, kucing aje...kucing liar pun makan makanan yg tak elok tak mati pun dia...


some would say, not all of us have the choice of financial freedom (got money) to pick and choose what sort of "expensive" food to give to our companion animal. fair enough. costs does matter and times are tough. but this also begets the other question : ever do the math?

good quality food with appropriate ingredients may cost more than the usual brands you used but compare this against 1) the cost of total amount of food you spent on your cat using your current favourite brand a month + 2) the cost of vitamins and supplements to either make your cat healthier or to correct some sort of ever-present health-related condition i.e. skin/fur/dental/smelly poo related + 3) litter-cleaning related cost (cost of material including cost of your time in trying to clean up the poo and the cost aversion to cleaning up poo plus the whatnots restriction that you place on your cat in order to try to get it not to make smelly poo + the cost of having your house smell like an oxidation pond ) + 4) veterinary costs to cure your babies of the current illness or health-related issues of the month (*gasp* you don't even bother to take your beloved baby to the vet in hope that it will get over whatever is making it sick???!!) + 5) cost of grooming and grooming products in the hope that it'd make our cats look "beautiful and more healtier"??

there's a more simpler equation for the above : penny wise but pound foolish


i know i'm going to get a lot of flak for this but i don't mind...go ahead, it this will get people to think more and ask more question, then i will glad take all the brickbats that's hurled in my direction...besides i'm used to getting brickbats - on-the-job training, very effective

have a good weekend
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