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Old 05-15-2012, 02:47 PM
 
786 posts, read 1,584,766 times
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Thanks, I've done sufficient reading and have ordered some Innova EVO, everyone seems to have their favorite, but I get the concepts of no grain, needs to be meat and some specific by-products to mimick their natural diet, small amount of organ meat and we'll give it a try. I also got a list of the "worst" foods to stay away from so a steep learning curve today.
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Old 05-16-2012, 02:31 AM
 
Location: Free From The Oppressive State
30,138 posts, read 23,530,498 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by judd2401 View Post
Thanks, I've done sufficient reading and have ordered some Innova EVO, everyone seems to have their favorite, but I get the concepts of no grain, needs to be meat and some specific by-products to mimick their natural diet, small amount of organ meat and we'll give it a try. I also got a list of the "worst" foods to stay away from so a steep learning curve today.
You could also try a raw diet. I've had my pets on that for two years and it has made a significant difference in my older cat and the other pets are very healthy. Many benefits to going raw...just make sure you do it correctly.

Another poster is correct, most vets don't have much of nutrition education under their belt and it is sponsored by Hill's, more often than not. I would not listen to a vet about dietary requirements. It is in your best interest to research what they should be eating, not relying solely on a vet who had one semester of nutrition, paid for by a specific pet food company.

If you decide to do this, find a vet who supports it or won't give you a hard time. There's a lot of them out there who don't like it or won't even see you. It's not because you are "harming" your animal, it's because you are taking money out of their pockets and they know it.

Even if you don't choose that route, get away from the grains, get away from all the garbage a cat wouldn't normally eat, (processed garbage), and have it be as much meat as possible.

The reason why some will tell you that high end is just as good as low end is because just about all of it is utter crap. It's all pretty much the same thing in the end.
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Old 05-16-2012, 07:03 AM
 
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I'll research the raw diet and how to prepare and the ingredients involved. I'm not sure we can swing that, maybe I'll be susprised. My impression from the articles on this blog is that there is a big difference in canned food, and at the pet store yesterday, read the ingredient labels to the point that the manager came over and wanted to know if I needed help. The ingredients differed significantly, i.e., gluten, corn, grains, etc. The grain free foods were much more expensive and were basically chicken and turkey. I bought a few cans of Inova and gave each cat a teaspoon last night and they both were interested and ate about half and walked away so we'll keep trying very slowly and will have to keep the dry going until we make the transition, may end up with both, not sure. I have to say we saw an energy spurt in both cats and they ran around and played like crazy after their meaty snack which made us wonder. Their stools also were much stinkier which may be something we'll be dealing with with meat vs grain. Their current dry food has literally no meat in it after I read the label of ingredients, as I said, steep learning curve, mislead by my vet I think.
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Old 05-16-2012, 08:35 AM
 
Location: Virginia
575 posts, read 1,985,209 times
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I have had several water fountains. I love them on principle and the cats adore them. However they all stink IMHO. I have not had a single one last a year. The pumps all go bad! They are aweful to keep clean. Oh you think they are clean, but really, really, take those suckers apart like you should - they are FULL of scummy moldy mess. Disgusting.

So after I had to break their hearts and throw the last one out, I'm back to bowls and cups (what they prefer) laying about. At least I know those are clean.
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Old 05-16-2012, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
36,499 posts, read 53,802,123 times
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Originally Posted by SuburbOfMemphisTN View Post
Interesting Article. Although my vet recommends dry cat food!
you need a new vet!
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Old 05-16-2012, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,543,247 times
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Originally Posted by Kittymom4 View Post
I have had several water fountains. I love them on principle and the cats adore them. However they all stink IMHO. I have not had a single one last a year. The pumps all go bad! They are aweful to keep clean. Oh you think they are clean, but really, really, take those suckers apart like you should - they are FULL of scummy moldy mess. Disgusting.
They're a bit of a pain because you do have to take them all the way apart and clean fairly frequently, every week or two. I have it modestly easier because I have two complete fountains. Didn't plan it that way, originally for two cats who wouldn't share, but it's been useful even with just the one. I can put one in the dishwasher and set up the other one so no loss in service. Everything can go in the dishwasher except for the motor. I do brush out the long tube that the water pumps up through with a specialized brush bought from the company.

With Drinkwell at least you can buy replacement motors as far as I know. But I've had these 4-5 years I think, perhaps more, with no motor burn out yet. It has to get really clogged I guess to burn out, or water level really low. Despite the cleaning hassle I'd never go back to a bowl.
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Old 05-16-2012, 09:52 AM
 
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If the fountain proves to be unmanageable, we'll return to our current system, which we will most likely leave in place anyway, the fountain will be an add on water park feature. But I like the idea of getting them to drink more water and I know at least one of the cats is going to love it. We'll see how much of a mess she makes. We put all of our dishes, dish holders and plastic mats through the dishwasher once a week, they're made to fit and in will go the water fountain as well, hopefully that will keep the scum away, I've had acquariums and outside fountains/ponds so I know scum is a given if you're not meticulous with cleaning. We're unsure where to set the fountain up, not sure whether to put it at their current feeding station in the kitchen, definitely not putting it at the feeding station in the bedroom [wood floors], or put it some place different in the kitchen as a new feature so the girls don't associate what could be an intrusive scary noisy object in their feeding zone. Any suggestions with folks who have fountains? By the way, the Drinkwell pumps are supposed to be high-end and last for years, we'll see.
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Old 05-16-2012, 10:51 AM
 
Location: Orange County, CA
3,727 posts, read 6,198,084 times
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Originally Posted by no kudzu View Post
did you learn anything new from this article?

10 Surprising Cat-Care Tips | ABC News Blogs - Yahoo!
The real surprise for me was the advice to not use a liner in the litter box. Have never thought about or considered not using a liner, and in fact, have never heard this idea mentioned. Not real keen about this, not using a liner would leave a big mess to clean up on the pan bottom when making a complete litter change, or would it? Do use non scented clumping litter, Fresh Step. My old cat tends to claw and shred the plastic liner over a period of time, and at litter change time the liner is usually pretty beat up. Comments from those that do not use a liner?
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Old 05-16-2012, 11:56 AM
 
11,197 posts, read 19,364,859 times
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Originally Posted by BlackShoe View Post
The real surprise for me was the advice to not use a liner in the litter box. Have never thought about or considered not using a liner, and in fact, have never heard this idea mentioned. Not real keen about this, not using a liner would leave a big mess to clean up on the pan bottom when making a complete litter change, or would it? Do use non scented clumping litter, Fresh Step. My old cat tends to claw and shred the plastic liner over a period of time, and at litter change time the liner is usually pretty beat up. Comments from those that do not use a liner?
I have never used liners, don't see the sense in them, since cats scratch them up anyway, though I do know one person who uses them. She has one cat and he does not scratch the liner to pieces.

I have two sets of litter boxes and dump and scrub every week. While one set is being washed and aired the other set is in use.

To clean them I soak them in hot water, bleach and hypoallergenic fragrance free laundry detergent. (I use laundry detergent becuase it is safe to mix with bleach). After they soak over night I scrub them, rinse them first with hot water then with cold (cold water removes soap residue and inhibits bacteria growth)

I then pour white vinegar in each box and let them soak in that for about ten minutes. The white vinegar also removes soap residue, inhibits bacteria growth and removes odor. After the vinegar soak I rinse them again and air dry. Once they are dry I sprinkle a layer of baking soda in the bottom of each pan and store them, stacked, in the bathtub until the following week.

I replace the boxes every year or so because, it seems to me, no matter how much cleaning I do, after a year or so the plastic starts to smell.

I have four litter boxes with three cats and I scoop a minimum of four times a day, or whenever they are used, if I am home to do it.

I use unscented litter a combination of clumping and regular clay. However I am now thinking of going to all clumping now that I no longer have my boy. His squatting so low is ONE of the three reasons that kept me from using clumping, before. Tracking was another reason, but I have solved that problem too.
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Old 05-16-2012, 12:27 PM
 
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If you have urine reaching the bottom of your litter pan, time for an upgrade. We love "Scoop away", it's better in my opinion than "Fresh Step", it catches all the urine and forms a little pancake, it also is good at odor control with the stool, the litter sifts almost totally clean daily as it has superior clumping action. It's more expensive but well worth it. I would think a liner would be a waste of time. Although we change our litter fairly frequently, it's not once a week because the plastic pan is dry and just dusty when we change out the litter and if sifted daily, does not develop an odor for weeks. We hose it out with some detergent and that's it, probably once every few weeks, my hat off to sifting the litter 4 times a day, we're not home to do that, once a day is it and that seems to be very adequate, 2 cats with 2 boxes, they both use both boxes. Scoop away is scented, the only drawback, I would prefer unscented but they don't make an unscented product that I'm aware of, and we buy it at a discount at Costco about $4/bag less than the pet stores. We pay more per bag but it really lasts much longer than cheaper brands and is well worth it to us.
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