The Omnivore's Dilemma, now with kittens

The Gurgling Cod leans towards the non-biographical type of blog. (If you want to know about my cheese sandwiches, you'll have to start reading my LJ, which is, like, for friends only.) But the cinetrix and I came into a pair of kittens in late August. They have thriven, as the short film below made my one of their fans attests. We've been feeding them the fancy-ish Iams kitty kibble, which lately they seem less interested in, unless we make a big production out of the serving of it. Having experienced wet food for cats in the past, I'd prefer to avoid the stuff if possible,  but the question that that struck me was, as pet owners, we have a variety of responsibilities to our pets -- shelter, exercise, interaction/stimulation of some sort. Does a monotonous diet, however healthy, violate the mandate to provide an engaging environment, or is it anthropomorphizing cats to suggest that they get bored of kibble? I'm not suggesting that we hire Terry Bradshaw to serve them Turducken cat food twice a day, but I'd be interested in opining on the question of keeping Buster and Clementine (Lulu for short), innocent of wet food.

Comments

[regina]

crazy cat lady of food bloggers weighing in: turducken actually gives cats the squitters, as do the "california roll" and other varieties we tried to avoid the chicken in every can, which the vet said has given our geriatric siamese terrible allergies. now we have to search out "naive protein" like duck and rabbit and venison while ignoring the same vet's insistence that cats should only eat dry food, and the same kind every day (she sez they don't care about or need variety, which makes sense considering they would happily make mice tartare every night). our first siamese ate only canned food and lived to 16, so we split the difference and give banshee the kibble he considers crack in the morning and the canned food he gags down (or ignores) at night. iams is not as good since it was bought out by big food and turned up in supermarkets, outlets of last resort for feline fare. science diet is better, or try newman's own. aside from the chicken in them, they're cat-appealing. banshee's coat got very sleek on wellness brand, but it made him drink more and pee more, too, so now he's eating "duck a la veg." i wish i was making that up.

and just think: with two cats you guys can go twice as crazy...

[poacher]

One big con of dry foods seems to me to be that cats don't typically eat grain in the wild (well, maybe a few partially-digested kernels that happened to be inside their prey). Some cats can develop allergies to some grains typically used in dry foods, especially corn. I also wonder if the high-carb dry food might've helped lead to my cat getting diabetes, though there are plenty of cats who eat dry who don't develop the disease.

The ideal food for cats (according to my vet) is a mouse, but I don't really feel like having them in the house or microwaving a frozen one every day. :) If you're really motivated, you can make some good cat food yourself, but it definitely requires planning ahead. Ask your vet for a recipe, as meat alone won't provide them with all the nutrients they need. Some vets also recommend the occasional raw chicken wing so they can chew on the bones. (Cooked bones are too brittle and could hurt if they break.) So for us, it ends up being the can most of the time, with the odd supplement of freshly-cooked meat and a bowl of dry out for light noshing when we're away from home or trying to sleep.

[Skeen]

The cats are adorable but it's your rug I really like.

[jacqueline]

We use Science Diet T/D which has large kibble and helps keep their teeth in great shape. I've tried to start our new kitten on the kitty toothbrushing - limited success. Two cats are great company for each other and endlessly entertaining, as I'm sure you've discovered. Our second guy (now 10 mos) is also black with humongous ears. Have fun!

-Jackie

[addison]

Have you ever had such much comments? Reminds me of the Alan Coren book Golfing for Cats:

http://www.deanesmay.com/archives/000122.html

[addison]

Have you ever had such much comments? Reminds me of the Alan Coren book Golfing for Cats:

http://www.deanesmay.com/archives/000122.html

[JL]

Poacher's comments regarding dry cat food go along with what our vet told us: that recent research suggested that the higher carbs in the dry stuff contributed to various diseases, including diabetes, and that it could cause digestive problems. That said, he admitted that he still gave it (as well as wet food) to his own cats. We took one of our cats who had been experiencing problems off dry food and found that everyone was much, much happier.

[Cookie]

Oh no, the cuteness. They have totally thriven.
Wellness makes my cats shiny too. I get them occasional wet food (from the WF, natch) because I think it's a little weird for them to eat so much cereal, and I buy whatever kind I remember didn't smell too gross last time, but then it always smells gross, so I must always get it wrong.

[Ann]

Check out Blue Buffalo Wilderness - 45% protein, no corn what soy - my 2 rescue Maine Coons are glowing, love the stuff, choose it over junky wet food: I'm giving little baggies of it away to friends with cats. I know a lot more about dog food than cat food - but Science Diet is nearly pure corn - I've heard rumors they do a lot of support for vet schools and vets.... And Iams is not much better, just over-priced! Is there anything like Whole Dog Journal for Cats? Some vet techs I know feed their cats Wysong. Cats are "obligate carnivores" which means dogs will eat anything, but cats need meat! read labels, google a little, you'll all be fine!

[Jasmina]

My vet put all his feline "clients" on wet food (any wet food, the cheapest is fine) because the latest wisdom is that the dry stuff is too high in carbs and has led to a spike in feline diabetes. However, I still give mine a handful of the large, hard "oral care" dry food as a midnight snack to keep their teeth in decent shape.

[Kerosena]

My cat eats Nutro Natural Choice dry food. The package says something about "reducing litter box odor." It's a little spendy, but she seems to like it. She's a lean, energetic 12 year old.

She also gets a tiny bit of meat scraps a few times a week. But no mice.

[artoeat]

We also adopted to "bundles of joy" and our vet strongly suggested that we acclimate them to wet food. The logic being that when and if they get older they would need to switch to wet and they would be used to it.

All of our previous cats have eaten both to very ripe old ages.
Congrats!