Who feeds pouches?

[Millys Mum]

I feed pouches and small tins, the only big tin of food my lot will eat is Yarrah chunks, but not all the time.

I feed 4 meals a day, 1 400g tin between them for breakfast and the other 3 meals are 2 pouches between them (this is for the official 6, the other 2 unofficial cats eat seperate, pouches too of course). Some meals get some dry on the side but not much, tend to use it as a bedtime snack/bribery to get them in.
They get random servings of raw meat and some dinners of roast chicken, free range of course

[Gillian Harvey]

I usually use this one here http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm (scrolll right down to the recipe/ingredients) - which is pretty much the same as the catnutrition.org recipe - its actually mentioned part way down and includes a link to catnutrition.org. I don't add the psyllium every time though and I don't always add the eggs, I've never really understood why so many of these recipes include eggs. I add taurine as well even though its probably not really needed (but it doesnt do any harm either - specially good for my Sam with heart failure) 

I also use feline future powder - which you just add to raw meat http://www.felinefuture.com/ (maybe try that with a small batch first to see if they go for it?

[Mark]

[quote author=Gillian (Ambercat) link=topic=20113.msg344191#msg344191 date=1227656508

When I feed raw homemade I just dole out a 'dollop' that looks about the right size  and when I feed raw 'do it yourself' (i.e. chunks, bits and bones!) its kind of pot luck 
[/quote]

I have been thinking about this - I will make a trial batch over xmas when I have some time and hope for the best. Kylie has bever eaten meat in it's natural form so I don't hold out much hope. Is your recipe something like this? - do you add the taurine etc?

http://www.catnutrition.org/pictorial.php

Now we have a proper food processor, there is no excuse 

[Debsymiller (Rufus' mum)]

Yes I'd love Noni to exercise more

Don't know if you've tried it but I find a lazer toy drives even the laziest cat wild... may be worth a try and you don't have to do an awful lot yourself. Mine run miles chasing it in the evening... I just have it in my hand when watching tele. They LOVE it!

[Gillian Harvey]

I used to feed natures menue pouches, but they went off NM so don't buy it anymore. I don't feed any of the little pouches - not cost effective in this household, although I do buy the small tins of applaws/encore sometimes. I like the Nature's Harvest trays, good high meat content/no grain etc, but again they are too small, takes me half an hour just to get all the cardboard sleeves and plastic lids off LOL!

A large tin of Whiskas supermeat will go round 4 of my lot for one meal. I don't leave biscuits down at all. They have a handful of biscuits at bedtime.

When I feed raw homemade I just dole out a 'dollop' that looks about the right size  and when I feed raw 'do it yourself' (i.e. chunks, bits and bones!) its kind of pot luck 

[Desley (booktigger)]

Ah right - might be worth trying to make her do things for her food, such as feeding at the top of stairs, so she has to walk up to get them (worked well with Tom, Lucy would rather not eat - she did miss one meal in my attempt to see how long she would go - not quite the way of losing weight I had in mind!!).

I have never mixed food, as it stops what little effect the dry food has (bear in mind mine dont eat all their food in one go), it makes the dry food go off quicker, and also, the dry is for them to nibble at while I am working so they have always had separate bowls so they can eat the wet while fresh, and pick at the dry later - but then I do have mainly oldies. When we have overweight cats, no cat is allowed dry down all the time unless I am in to make sure the overweight cat doesn't go anywhere near it.

[Rosella moggy]

Only started this cat diet malarkey recently Desley.  Lord knows how much they were eating before that but a lot was being thrown out and dry used to be down all the time.  Am going to leave it a full 4 weeks to see if we are making progress with Noni.  Even if she just stays the same weight, it will be progress as she has gone from 3.5 to 4.6kg in last 6 months and she's only 2.  Yes I'd love Noni to exercise more and believe me we try every evening but the fastest she will run is when you go in the kitchen to dish out grub.  Otherwise the most strenuous routine appears to be rolling from one side to the other on her back half heartedly batting whatever you dangle for her 

Any particular reason for not mixing wet and a little sprinkle of dry?

[Desley (booktigger)]

Ah - I thought you meant 3 a day each. Maybe Noni needs more exercise. I dont ever mix dry aqnd wet food together.

[Rosella moggy]

Meant to say I found it helps to sprinkle a little dry on the wet to encourage puds to eat the wet if they are usually only partial to dry.

[Rosella moggy]

R - 3 pouches a day with biscuits and chicken is a lot of food, and it does depend on how much dry you add. I

Not between 3 surely Desley?  Only a sprinkle of dry food. Have to admit to 4 pouches between the 3 of them today as it was really chilly.  It does get topped up with chicken though and Billy has a meaty stick too coz he loves em.  I think my post was unclear  .

[Desley (booktigger)]

R - 3 pouches a day with biscuits and chicken is a lot of food, and it does depend on how much dry you add.
I feed pouches for mine as they can't get through a tin - fosters are normally on tinned food, but it depends how many i have in, as sometimes one cat can't get through a tin on their own. Norm and JEannie can easily manage a tin of supermeat between them a day though!! Mine really only get 1-2 pouches plus dry - they dont always eat a full pouch in one meal. Zi is more a dry food gal, she never touched wet food before coming here, I quickly changed that, but she only picks at most of her wet food, so I throw a lot away with her.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Jaffa has 3 pouches a day, or the equivilent.  He eats mostly stuff with a high meat content, which I think tends to be more filling.  Those plus a few treats each day, and the odd chicken wing, keep him at a steady weight of just under 5kg.  Mosi has half that amount with approx 20g biscuits per day.

I second Christine's suggestion of investigating zooplus.  My both like both animonda carny and bozita, which come in a can and tetrapack respectively, and work out very cost effective when compared to pouches.  Its only because I buy these that I can afford to splash out on stuff like applaws too.

[Debsymiller (Rufus' mum)]

Mine have a (almost) wet food only diet. They have about 3 pouches a day each but if they are realy wingey then I give them an extra pouch between them. I do have biscuits in the cupboard as an occasional treat but prefer them to have a wet diet.  I find that if I leave biscuits down, Rufus completely scoffs them and makes himself sick!  I feed a real mixture of pouches as they get bored very quickly and get picky if they get the same stuff for mroe than a couple of days. I make sure I bulk buy each month and buy a mixture of what's on offer... we have the following in our cupboard at the start of each month:
*Felix as good as it looks
*Felix in jelly (but only a small pack as they're not always keen)
*Gourmet Pearle
*Purina One- natures balance (their absolute favourite!)
*High life petit pates
*Sheba
*Oh so Meaty
*Natures best
*Natures menu
*Tesco finest
*Supameat

I try to make sure they have at least one meal which has a high meat content and also regularly feed fresh chicken. My boys are all lean and athlectic looking with shiney coats so definately do well from having lots of meat.

[Teresa Pawcats]

Pedro and Minimopsical cannot have dried food because of health problems; Minimopsical eats 3 sachets daily whilst Pedders a growing lad eats 4 sachets. All else receive 2 sachets plus dried daily apart from Tinkerbelle who is nursing kittens she has 6 sachets daily plus dry kitten food.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I think mine scavenge a lot of biscuits during the day and night and am not sure who eats them all but going by the size of the turkey rear ends here think its Misa and Sasa 

Misa is definately a big boned cat and when he adds fat flesh and furr on to the large bone structure he is over 6kg , ummmm 6.5kg  But seriously he is very tall  and sooooo cuddley as his winter coat is doing very well this year.

Sasa is a smaller cat and ummmmmmm quitelarge furry, her white trousers are looking magnifcant at the moment and also her winter coat....................ummmmm how did i get onto all of this......oh yes it was the Kate Mogg comment 

Well Sasa certainly is no Twiggy Cat 

[Christine (Blip)]

I actually had the same question - how many pouches a day do they need? My cats get 2 pouches a day + dry food

This does come up a lot - understandably - and you'll get a lot of variation in the answers.  I feed Blip two pouches a day and leave dried food down in case she wants to eat between times.  This seems to be an average sort of amount.  Blip is a 'she', weighs 4.85 kg and is pretty muscular and active.  You would not mistake her for Kate Mogg, though 

[psychopunk]

I actually had the same question - how many pouches a day do they need? My cats get 2 pouches a day + dry food (purina one for adult cat and hill's natures best for kitten). On the box it says 3-4 pouches a day for adults and 2-4 pouches a day for kittens. Somehow it seems too much, I don't want to make them into porky kitties. For both of them I've been changing the foods, cos after a while they just lick the jelly off and leave the rest. For now they seem happy with felix agail.

[Rosella moggy]

Thanks for starting this thread as I'm trying to cut down on the cat food as Noni is very overweight.  I have been a wee bit concerned that I have cut down a bit too much altho haven't noticed HRH's tummy getting any smaller.

From the general comments on this thread though, I think I could perhaps reduce the food a little more but think Noni would throw a complete wobbler.  I think a mixture of wet and dry food is best but need to watch the amount of dry I think. I am just sprinkling the dry over the wet atm and all 3 clean their plates - that's 3 pouches a day (plus chicken every evening  )

Ours used to like tins of whiskas supermeat with a few biscuits on top. As you have 6, I assume you would use a whole can at each feed so it would be fresh each time. The problem we found with tinned food was they only like it when first opened.

[Dawn F]

three of mine have two pouches per day and biscuits down all day, the other only eats dry although I'd love her not to - I tend to keep an eye on the bargain section here and go to whichever supermarket has felix on offer! yes I am that fickle!

[Leanne]

Ours have Felix

A pouch each morning and night and Milo has biscuits down constantly. Jess gets 10g of biscuits over a day.

[CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls]

Thats one thing I can say, my cats haven't been feeling the credit crunch lol

I haven't changed what I buy them really only the biscuits because they are forever changing their tastes.

They will eat Gormet, Felix as good as, Sheba, Whiskers oh so and when they have had enough of these they have Whiskers in jelly. They would not eat kitty cat or felix really. I suppose this is my own fault as I gave it them in the first place. 

I have trouble with the biscuits as I need something that is good for them but price ecnomical, which I cant seem to find and we go through a lot. I use Joe & Jills atm.

I feed mind 2 pouches a day each, although I dont know if each cat eats 2 to themselves as they mix and match  and they get their biscuits filled 1/2 full on the morning and full on the evening.

Saying this I do have fatty cats lol

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

MIne eat felix jelly pouches but also have good quality biscuits to nosh on when they are feeling peckish.

They share 4 a day between 4, 1/2 each in the morning and same at night.

[Christine (Blip)]

You're better feeding predominantly wet food, summerleft.  Do you mean that your cats prefer individual pouches to tins - I take it you do - in which case you might like to look at brands like Animonda and Schmusy, available from Zooplus, which are tasty, nutritious and good value.

[Janeyk]

My 2 mainly eat Whiskers supermeat, neither have teeth though, I wish they would eat other things but as they are old I just let them have what they prefer, they seem unhappy otherwise.  I need to find some nice pate types for a change for them.  My sister's cat preferred pouches and gourmet and my previous cats have enjoyed them too.

[summerleft]

I swear I am mad, 6 cats and they eat pouches or maybe gormet!!! if its on offer but its costing a fortune.

I put down biscuits, a mix of go cat, pro plan, whiskas and anthing else I can think of which I admit the dog steals! But my cats just wont eat tinned meat any more, what have i done!?!!

Does anyone just feed biscuits?