Cat food shortages

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

My parents try to keep barn cats on their property.

The problem is that the predators are cyclical. My folks will get a healthy population of 6 or 7 adult barn cats and then the predators get to know about it and wipe them out, down to maybe 1 or 2 survivors.

Of course, it doesn't help that bobcats have moved in on the property and now raise kittens there annually. Some years they don't bother the barn cats and other years, they wipe them out. This was a bad bobcat year.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Can cats eat what humans eat and survive OK? (I've never owned one)

a reply to: lux666

I have to disagree with tuna packed in water. I've had a Siamese since she was a couple of weeks old she's 13 yrs old now. She eats nothing but tuna and treats twice a day, no health problems at all. She pefers it chopped up real fine with lots of water so i have to add some water to it.Every once in a while i get her a case of Fancy Feast Fish and Shrimp and mix withit, but still have to have the water. She also loves Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise straight up, hold the bread and meat.

I also feed 10 other community cats, they all get tuna in water once a day, mixed in with other canned food not the first sick one yet. Great Value from walmart .68 cents a can.

a reply to: ketsuko

I think we have enough land that the bobcat and the coyote coexist fairly well.

I have noticed that the bobcat are not as open as before. They used to walk around like they were the kings. Not so much anymore.

Much, I think, is coming from the amount of recent construction. It has changed much of the animal presence and behavior around here.

We still have a lot of rabbits. They are super smart. They hang out close to the house, because they know we won't bother them. And the bobcat and the coyote keep their distance.

They also know they can go nose to nose with the Huskies, and they will lose interest in them, as long as they don't move. Move and they are toast.

They can thank the cat members of the pack for that.

The wild boar don't seem to be affected by much of anything except people.

We have had a noticeable increase in pheasant and quail, so I just think we still have enough woods, and wild land left that there is room and food enough to sustain all, for right now.

That is rapidly changing.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Big time! The Green Iams I normally get is hard to find, but I managed some from Chewy! It was reasonably priced and shipped pretty quick

Sometimes I cook for mine too. Chicken, steak, Turkey… anything good quality they go nuts for

We have a wild cat, little bob tail, comes around too. It’s a sweet cat so I feed him/her not sure. But it eats fresh meat and also loves the Iams and types of wet food portions I give the others

a reply to: carewemust

There are some things they shouldn't eat. They can though, but it could be rough if they don't get the taurine. Cat food manufacturers supplement the food with it, so I was thinking I should keep some on hand if they do need to eat people food only.

If a cat does not get enough Taurine the cells in the cat’s retinas will slowly degrade and the quality of the cat’s vision will degrade. The cat will develop cardiomyopathy as the heart muscles become compromised. Digestive upset due to impaired bile production can occur, but because GI upset is a common symptom of other conditions it does not necessarily point to Taurine deficiency. Other symptoms include lethargy and an unhealthy skin and coat. While these symptoms are very slow to progress, if untreated Taurine deficiency can lead to permanent blindness and possibly death due to heart failure.

www.nasc.cc...

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Taurine! That’s right, always seeing that on the bag. Didn’t know it was so important though Will make sure to get some powdered or liquid form

a reply to: TomCollin

I thought we weren't supposed to give them tuna all the time, so we just give it once in awhile. It's interesting your cat does fine eating mainly tuna.
That's pretty funny that she loves the mayonnaise! Does it have to be Hellman's? My cats turned their noses up at a certain brand of tuna (can't remember which one) once. I wondered if there was something wrong with it that only they could smell. Cats are so weird.

a reply to: JBurns

I linked to the one I bought off of amazon. I supplement with it a few times a week. I read somewhere that they will just excrete what they don't need, so it's not possible to give them too much. I'm not sure I buy that, I'd have to really research more. I guess humans benefit from it too.

originally posted by: Ellie Sagan
a reply to: TomCollin

I thought we weren't supposed to give them tuna all the time, so we just give it once in awhile. It's interesting your cat does fine eating mainly tuna.
That's pretty funny that she loves the mayonnaise! Does it have to be Hellman's? My cats turned their noses up at a certain brand of tuna (can't remember which one) once. I wondered if there was something wrong with it that only they could smell. Cats are so weird.

My Enoch will eat just about anything. Sylvester is very picky. He prefers the dry food.

We let them free eat the dry food, but we give them a half a can of wet food daily. Sylvester never eats all of his. So Enoch, gets to clean the bowls.

Sylvester will eat cooked chicken, he will not eat chicken flavored cat food, and he is not crazy about the seafood flavored cat food either. He loves beef, and cheese flavored cat foods, and he prefers the foods in gravy.

Like you said. Cats are so weird.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

I don't really know on the mayonnaise, that's all I ever used so that's what she gets. Now the tuna has to be starkist don't her give no cheap stuff or albacore, just tuna in water. Put something else down, it's sniff and then a WTF look and goes off and pouts, sometimes whines until you give her, her tuna.

The others eat just about anything I put in front of them, and if one is late that's just tuff they lick the bowls clean.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Thank you! I am going to give it a try, especially since I cook food for them sometimes

They seem to love it but I always worry they miss out on something important. They get their regular dry Iams and Sheba wet portions too at least