No Wet Food Available, is it Ok to Feed my Cats Normal Canned Tuna?

[Alcatraz]

Oh dear.  You've got to love 'em!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

No, fish upsets his tummy I am afraid.

All this is because Sheba have stopped making the one food he would eat.........sigh

[Alcatraz]

Does Lupin eat oily fish Gill (high in Omega 3)?  Our two really like it, but only as a treat...

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I wish my young Lupin would eat it, actually eat anything........sigh

[Alcatraz]

I imagine it all depends on the cat, but our two prefer the meat to the pouches.  When we first gave it to them they wouldn't stop purring whilst eating...it was very cute.

I've heard of people having to mix pouch food with raw or add the jelly from a pouch to help the transition but fotunately for me, the boys didn't need it.

On the odd occassion I forget to defrost meat and have to rely on an emergency pouch, they are not impressed!

[CatGirl]

I've just been reading about feeding raw food but,i wonder how 3 oldies would take to it?when i give them any pouches,they mostly lick all the "sauce"off and leave the meat!

[Alcatraz]

Have you tried putting a bit of the tuna in with the Felix to see if that tempts your cats into eating it?

I've known cats live until a ripe old age on dry food, as long as it's a "complete" food and they have access to plenty of water.

Otheriwse, yes, try raw meat.  Chicken has a good amount of Taurine which is essential, but make sure they also have access to liver and other offal (kidney, heart, etc) and bone (if they have good teeth).

Without the bone, you'll need to add calcium additives.  If they have their own teeth, start them on chicken ribs/wings/neck and soon they'll munch through bigger bones with no problem.

Look at giving them 80% meat, 10% bone, 5% liver and 5% other offal...and about the same amount as your normal wet food...you'll know if they're still hungry or leaving lots.

My two LOVE lamb but it's pricey over here, is lamb/mutton/goat affordable in Saudi?  I know the Halal butchers here are pretty good.

Good luck.

[Hightime]

Thanks Tan, the website seems to be very informative, I'll sit down later today and take a proper look at it. 

[Tan]

Hiya

I would try with meat raw food if they will have it or chicken is better than Tuna.  Fish foods and Fish cat food can be addictive to cats cause of the stronger smell so they start not to want to eat any other "flavour".   It's all about the smell of the food for them

There is a very good web site all about feline nutrition education here - http://feline-nutrition.org/index.php

Your Cat's Nutritional Needs: The Basics - http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/your-cats-nutritional-needs-the-basics  (this is a brilliant read )

These pages have excellent advice on changing to raw food which is so much better than the commercial cat foods we are told is "cat food" and what cats "should be" eating by very big companies that make large profits from waste food! The cat food isle isn't the best food for our cats!!

Just What is Raw Feeding, Anyway?  - http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition

How to Transition Your Cat to a Raw Diet   -  http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/how-to-transition-your-cat-to-a-raw-diet  This is great advice 

[Hightime]

Thank you Mymblesdaughter, I'll check out that link and hope I or someone else can find the one on transitioning cats to new foods too.

Thanks Gill, the dry food is a lovely quality, imported from France, it's good stuff, they have that and plenty of water at hand all day and night.  Interesting about cats starving themselves to death, wow, I had no idea they could be so stubborn.

The only other wet food I saw available here was Felix.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

As long as its a full dry food and of reasonably quality and they have loads of water to drink it should be fine.

Do not take there biscuits away cos cats can be very stubborn and literally starve themselves to death.

I currently have two where the makers have stopped making their cat food and I am having all types of problems with them.

What other foods if any do you have to choose from, except whiskers?

[Mymblesdaughter]

You could prepare raw food for them yourself. There are some threads on the forum about it. I would say you are better feeding them chicken along with their dry food. Also fish like mackerel and pilchards are good as long as you don't give it to them to often.

Here is one of the threads

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,42407.msg755107.html#msg755107

There is also a thread about transitioning cats to eat other foods. I'm not sure how to find it but someone else will probably help.

[Hightime]

I'm looking online now, it'll have to be delivered here from abroad, which will be very expensive.

They are eating nothing now except dry food which I'm getting very worried about.  You see the problem is I don't know what it is okay for me to even let them try in terms of food that won't upset their stomachs or make them ill.  Is there a way of getting them used to other wet food in place of their Whiskas Tuna?

I mean, at the moment here I saw some Felix wet food in the supermarkets, I bought it but they don't want it.  Do you think it would be savage of me to take away their dry food and not give them anything until they become so hungry that they finally have no choice but to eat the other brand wet food?  Do I sound like a monster for even saying that?! 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Oh my that is not good.

Tuna in spring water is better for them than the oil one, if you can get it.

I would start going through all the various wet foods and a good dry food that they like plus the tuna in small helpings would be OK I think.

A full wet food plus bisciuts would be best though.

I hope others will come along and help on this thread but dont think any of us know what is available in Saudi..........can you buy online?

[Hightime]

Ok Gill, thanks for that.  I work in Saudi Arabia, and all supermarkets are out of Whiskas.  I tried giving them some Felix wet food but they're not interested.  I've taken on board what you've said about the tuna, but along with their dry food, what can I give them then as long as their Whiskas isn't available?  Any suggestions as to what is good for their diet which I can prepare myself?

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

You need to get them back onto their normal diet, tuna as a treat occasionally is Ok but no good as a regular food.

Where are you living, cant you buy it online?

[Hightime]

Hello folks,

I'm an expat and at the moment where I am there has been no Whiskas available for weeks now.  My two older cats, 5 years old each, are fussy and won't eat any other wet food except Whiskas tuna. I haven't been able to give them any wet food for weeks now and it can't carry on like this.  They both go crazy when I open a fit-for-human-consumption can of tuna. My question is whether it's ok for me to give them canned tuna that we eat?  If I washed the tuna and got rid of the oil it comes in etc., is it ok for the cats to eat or could it cause them problems?

Many thanks.