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Health, Disease & Diet Find out the best tips and practices on managing your cat's diet, health care, and issues with diseases from our community of animal lovers

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  #1  
Old 10-14-2008, 11:09 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Thumbs up Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Canned Cat Food
Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?
By Franny Syufy, About.com

[note from ashley: although the author advocates the feeding of canned food listing the whys and wherefores, i feel that the part on why letting your furkid eat non-meat ingredients in cat food - be it canned or dry - is the real issue/crux of the matter]

Although many people rely on dry cat food as a staple for their cats' diets, canned cat food is a must for developing strong bones and muscles, while mitigating many potential conditions caused or contributed to by an all-dry cat food diet. It's true that dry cat food is convenient; it doesn't spoil rapidly, and most cats like the "crunch" of eating dry kibbles. However, dry cat food has its definite "downside." Cats who eat a diet of only dry food are losing out on the extra nutrition they can get with canned cat food. Many commercial dry foods are packed with carbohydrate fillers, usually corn, listed as "corn meal," "ground whole corn," "corn gluten," or even more thinly disguised as "maize," "ground yellow maize" or other misleading names. The ingredients listings are often split, which gives the consumer a false impression of the true proportion of carbohydrate to protein, e.g., "Poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, wheat flour, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, brewers rice..." Of the first six listed ingredients of this popular "grocery store premium" brand, four are carbohydrates, with the combined corn ingredients leading the list. I'd pass this food by, simply because of the first listed ingredient, poultry by-product meal, but that's another article.

In the wild, a cat will eat only a very small quantity of any grain, namely the stomach contents of mice, rabbits, or birds he catches. Why then, should a pampered household cat eat a diet that is loaded with the one food nutrient he really doesn't need? Although french fries and Twinkies might be tasty treats on occasion, what human would consider living on them day in and day out, much less feed them to their children as a regular diet? Why then, would we do less for our cats?

Dry cat food can also contribute or be directly related to certain health conditions:

* Feline Diabetes
Elizabeth Hodgkins, DVM, does not mince words about the connection between dry cat food and feline diabetes. On her web site at www.yourdiabeticcat.com, she states, "Without the constant feeding of highly processed, high carbohydrate dry foods, better suited to cattle than cats, adult-onset feline diabetes would be a rare disease, if it occured at all."
* IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease)
Dr. Lisa Pierson, DVM, states, "Too often these cats are treated with a high level of steroids and a so-called 'prescription' DRY diet. I feel very strongly that this common therapeutic regimen needs to be re-evaluated. There are an impressive number of anecdotal reports of cats that were terribly ill with IBD exhibiting dramatic improvement when ALL dry food was removed from their diet."
* CRF (Chronic Renal Failure)
Dr. Lisa Pierson, DVM, states, "It is troubling to think about the role that chronic dehydration plays in feline kidney failure. And remember, cats are chronically dehydrated when they are on a diet of predominantly dry food."
* Urinary crystals and cystitus
The chances of bladder crystals or bladder inflammation are greatly reduced with a canned or raw food diet, which both give the essential hydration needed for a healthy urinary tract.
* Diarrhea
Diarrhea and other allergy-related conditions are often caused by corn or wheat fillers in dry cat food. After eliminating other potential medical causes, switching to canned or raw food can make the diarrhea go away almost overnight.
* Dehydration
Cats on canned food diets or raw food get sufficient water in their food. Cats on dry food alone must be given plenty of water, especially during hot summer months.

Isn't Raw Food Better?

In a word, yes, if you can feed your cat a nutritously-prepared raw food diet, such as one of these:

* CatNutrition.org Recipe
Recipe for preparing "from scratch."
* Frozen and Freeze-Dried Raw Cat Food
My list of commercially-available raw foods
* Feline Instincts
Another excellent commercial raw food.

However, if time constraints or expenses prevent you from embracing a raw food diet for your cats, canned food is by far the second-best choice.

Certainly, raw food is exactly what cats eat in the wild, by necessity. Dr. Pottenger did a study in the mid 20th century, which resulted in evidence that a cooked meat diet caused physical deterioration in cats and their offspring, over a period of time. (Some contemporary experts have questioned whether it was the lack of taurine, rather than the cooking, that caused the nutrional deficiencies Pottenger cited.)

While many feline nutrition experts recommend a raw meat diet for cats, this isn't always workable for some cat caregivers. Other experts recommend canned food only, with dry food reserved as "treats," to be doled out two or three kibbles at a time.

A Word About Dental Care

The old axiom was that "canned food can cause dental disease in cats." The reality of the situation is that fancy kibble shapes aside, food is not a dentifrice. All cats require a regular dental program of brushing, rinsing, along with regular veterinary dental exams and professional cleaning, if required.

I would encourage a raw diet as a long or short term goal, and striving for an all - or mostly - canned cat food in the interim. My own cats have historically eaten a dry diet, but the "new generation" (My four-cat "clowder") are eating both canned and dry. The adults presently get a can in the morning, and again in the evening, and Billy, the new kitten, gets two cans a day, divided into three feedings. It's important to note that I feed only premium foods to my cats, both dry and canned. I never purchase a new brand without reading the label thoroughly. They also get a variety of brands and flavors of foods. As I mentioned earlier, no one wants to eat french fries every day.

I'll increase the proportion of canned food over time, until they are ready to make the switch. Then, some day, we'll see about a raw food diet.
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  #2  
Old 10-15-2008, 10:13 AM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

tq ashley...more good info

as the kiddos in the house..kibble everyday...canned food twice a month the max...raw food..yet to try..but poached chic every weekend...they are doing ok with tht rutin at least for the time being...err i think...
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Old 10-15-2008, 02:04 PM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

I rarely feed my cats with canned cat food. 1 fed them with RC Persian Kitten 32, Acana, Orijen and recently I added Sanabelle kibble.

In addition to these kibbles, I had my own blended steamed chicken recipe which I fed them in the morning and at night.
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Old 10-15-2008, 03:58 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

i guess i'm the most laziest - i rely on orijen, natural balance and canned version of natural balance and the fussy cat canned fish. canned food smells nice and helps a

i try to experiement with BARF (biologically appropriate real food) which is raw food but it didn't work - my cats didn't take to it at all.

i'm glad we have the discussion liek we're having. knowledge is always a two -way street.

however to me, the importance is not so much in the form of the food - whether dry (kibble) or wet (canned). the importance is in what we feed them - whether it provides the appropriate nutrients that our cats need (protein from meat, no grain, no wheat, no gluten no carbohydrate).
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Old 10-15-2008, 06:09 PM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bareen View Post
In addition to these kibbles, I had my own blended steamed chicken recipe which I fed them in the morning and at night.
psstt bro sharing is caring..
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Old 10-24-2008, 10:14 AM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Calling Bareen.... heheheeh
Mind sharing the recipe?
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Old 10-24-2008, 01:13 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sillylupie View Post
Calling Bareen.... heheheeh
Mind sharing the recipe?
we want your recipe bareen
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Old 10-24-2008, 04:40 PM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ashleywong View Post
we want your recipe bareen
Blend steamed chicken neck, back bone plus the skin, heart, liver and buntut . Remove hard thick bone first. Go easy on the liver as too much will make the chicken taste bitter.
Hard boil an egg. Keep and bake the egg shell to make calcium powder. Blend the egg and the calcium powder with the chicken.

You can add a little fibre using cooked carrot, uncook oat, wheat germ or your favourite kibble. This will help stimulate and regulate hairball.

Add a table spoon of cooking/olive oil or cod liver oil. Blend all.

Let your blender work till you cant hear the bone cracking and hitting the blender jar.

You'll get a very thick creamy chicken paste. Pour into a square plastic container 1 to 2 inches thick. Chill in freezer. When set, the paste will become hard. Cut into cube before serving. Extra paste can be frozen.

Option: Add a can cat of Friskies kitten to give more appealing aroma to the recipe.

Warning: Not all cats will like this recipe. Preferred to be feed as dinner and breakfast. Dont leave all day in open room as it may easily be infested with flies.

Base on my own cats, the cats that eat more of this tend to get larger then the one that eat less. My little kittens had also start sneaking eating from the adult bowl. Kibbles still my cats all day available food.
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Old 10-25-2008, 07:34 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

hi bareen

wow, that's quite a recipe - got calcium got meat protein and vitamin B complex from the organ meat, and i like that all the bone parts are totally blended to pulp - no sliver to hurt the cat's throat. got fibre (known vege that's okay for cat).

say, can the blender take cracking the bone? won't it damage the blade? sorry, when it comes to cooking - i'm pretty much "culinary-challenged"

thanks for sharing.




Quote:
Originally Posted by Bareen View Post
Blend steamed chicken neck, back bone plus the skin, heart, liver and buntut . Remove hard thick bone first. Go easy on the liver as too much will make the chicken taste bitter.
Hard boil an egg. Keep and bake the egg shell to make calcium powder. Blend the egg and the calcium powder with the chicken.

You can add a little fibre using cooked carrot, uncook oat, wheat germ or your favourite kibble. This will help stimulate and regulate hairball.

Add a table spoon of cooking/olive oil or cod liver oil. Blend all.

Let your blender work till you cant hear the bone cracking and hitting the blender jar.

You'll get a very thick creamy chicken paste. Pour into a square plastic container 1 to 2 inches thick. Chill in freezer. When set, the paste will become hard. Cut into cube before serving. Extra paste can be frozen.

Option: Add a can cat of Friskies kitten to give more appealing aroma to the recipe.

Warning: Not all cats will like this recipe. Preferred to be feed as dinner and breakfast. Dont leave all day in open room as it may easily be infested with flies.

Base on my own cats, the cats that eat more of this tend to get larger then the one that eat less. My little kittens had also start sneaking eating from the adult bowl. Kibbles still my cats all day available food.
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Old 10-25-2008, 09:54 PM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ashleywong View Post
hi bareen

wow, that's quite a recipe - got calcium got meat protein and vitamin B complex from the organ meat, and i like that all the bone parts are totally blended to pulp - no sliver to hurt the cat's throat. got fibre (known vege that's okay for cat).

say, can the blender take cracking the bone? won't it damage the blade? sorry, when it comes to cooking - i'm pretty much "culinary-challenged"

thanks for sharing.
After steaming, use chopping knife to chop the neck and back bone to finger size thick. When you do the chopping, any bone that you cant chop remove it. Bone on the neck and back are soft but rib bone are hard. Of course you cant blend drumstick dan wings. If your cat need to gain weight, add extra skin but for overweight reduce.

When you blend, add the juice and fat that was produce while steaming. If the chunck is chop too big, the blender may have problem spinning but off and on it again and again and shake will get it going again. Then let it blend till no more cracking sound and the chicken is smooth and creamy.
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Old 10-26-2008, 11:16 AM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Gulp ...... what a recipe!! My kitchen is not a fully-functional one, don't even have a blender, so, I guess, my cats are stucked with kibbles! Hahaha

Plus, like Ashley, I am "culinary-challenged" too...
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Old 10-26-2008, 04:37 PM
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Default Re: Canned Cat Food Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sillylupie View Post
Gulp ...... what a recipe!! My kitchen is not a fully-functional one, don't even have a blender, so, I guess, my cats are stucked with kibbles! Hahaha

Plus, like Ashley, I am "culinary-challenged" too...
No blender means no grinder to process raw diet
You ladies should spend more time in and complete your kitchen
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