for all you cat owners

[mushpea]

help,, me a novice:blush:

where do you feed your cats, do you leave the food down all the time or can you feed them twice a day , if you leave it down all the time how do you stop mindees eating it.
oh and what do you feed your cats, we are getting a kitten (as previous post) , i feed my dog twice a day on dry food and he is fed outside and whilst he is fed i dont allow the kids outside not because he is possiesive or anything but because i dont want the littlys eating too"!! he is so dopy hed quiet happily share his food.
anyway can you feed a cat biscuits only if so what sort or do they need both biscuits and meat, the 'breeder' ( mindees nan) feeds the kittens on adult cat biscuits, tuna, ham, chicken and anything else she can find:rolleyes: but i want to do it properly so would like some suggestions as to how to feed them
also my dog has a treat each night like a pigs ear or a rawhide chew, do cats have treats like these? i realise they dont need them but it is a treat and he is not a fatty by any means.

[LOOPYLISA]

Hi im not minding so my cats food, water is out all the time :thumbsup:

We have 3 cats and they are fed 2x aday, well saying that 1 of our cats is always eating :rolleyes: , she is such a piggy :D

They have tinned food am and pm, and there is always dry biscuits and water avaliable all day, they do have treats, bit of meat, cheese, you name it, one of them even likes crisps, oh and avocado (yes they are strange ), these are treats and only given now and again, they do like milk and i only give them a drop, hubby tells me off as its not good for them but it is not very often .

Don't forget to worm them, you can get tablets at pet shops even supermarkets, enjoy :D , i love mine to pieces :thumbsup:

[hollybritten]

I have them in the kitchen pantry then a stair gate on the kitchen

[sweets]

when i had a cat i fed her just dry food as she wouldn't eat tinned, or tuna! i was quite pleased really as had no crusty bowls to wash and dry food doesn't smell!
Cats love treats and mine had one every evening, usually proper cat treats but occasionaly a piece of cheese (her favourite treat):blush:

[Princess Sara]

I leave a bowl of dried cat biscuits and a bowl of water outside (use to be in my kitchen until my lo started playing with it!) My two girls are happy with this, and have been for years, oldest being 15 now bless her.

Resent studies have shown the wet food isn't as good for them as the dry stuff because they don't really have to chew, it has a higher water to food ratio and people aren't giving as much as is actually needed. It's a good treat but I wouldn't give it to them as a stable meal iyswim?

My girls like a bowl of half milk half water once a week (old girly is lactose intolerant but half half is great even if they're not) and a slice of ham or bit of chicken now and then. If they want a treat they can go and catch a mouse! They do actually do this...

[mushpea]

thats interesting about the cat meat thing, thanks for your replys, the 'breeder' says she gives them kitten milk is this needed if they have a full food type biscuits? or would this be a treat

[sweets]

just as a treat really as water is much better for them. if you are going to just use dry food them make sure it is complete one as some are just to go with meat. Iams are good but a bit expensive, my cat only got them when they were on offer! lol. but when she did have them it was like me eating a big bar of choc! yum.:laughing:

[mushpea]

thanks so what about supermarket brands of complete food, are they any good? we use tescos for our dog cause he prefers it, not the right cheap one but the next one up think its called bruno would they be any good, i meand the cat food for the cat though:D

[sweets]

i used whiskers complete kitten food for mine, but own brand would be fine i'm sure.

[LOOPYLISA]

Ours eat felix, just what they get used to really :D

You don't want to change it too often though :thumbsup:

[Princess Sara]

The breeder will fob you off with alot of tosh about what is best for your cat. Always check with your vet when you get their first set of jabs... I've heard horror stories about breeders telling new dog owners their breed is only aloud raw beef fillet and cows milk, nothing else!!! Lol.

Any complete dried cat biscuit mix is fine. They have regulations and standards to meet so even the tesco blue strip cheap stuff should cover all their needs, but the ones specifically for kittens are slightly better as the pieces are smaller and have more protein etc for kitten growth.

My girls have the same as your dogs (but the cat version...) not the blue strip cheap stuff but the next one up. And like I said after 15 years my old girl is still going strong.

[mummyof3]

My kitten had tesco own brand kitten dried food mixed with whiskas kitten dried food - makes it last longer :laughing: When he left his mum they said he had kitten milk but when I bought it for him he turned his nose up prefers water.

I feed my two cats in the morning and leave the food down all day until it needs refilling which is usually by 11am :eek: very greedy cats !!

[Ripeberry]

I'm lucky in that I've got a small utility room attached to the kitchen. They can access the outside via a small open vent window and the utility room door has a cat-flap in it.
I can also restrict them coming into the house in the evenings by closing the lock on the cat-flap.
Stops them leaving me 'presents' in the rest of the house :panic: I also feed them in there so mindees and cat food never mix.

[Blackhorse]

my cats have their food upstairs where no mindees are.
when it was only my dd it was downstairs and she knew now to eat it..

I used to feed them tinned cat food and they always had a bowl of crunchies and water.
but I recently switched to dry cat food as they are both so fussy and a lot of food got wasted as once it is open and they refuse to eat it it needs to get binned after a while.
so with the dry cat food they are happy and eating well and no more waste!!

[mississmoomoo]

I leave a bowl of dried cat biscuits and a bowl of water outside (use to be in my kitchen until my lo started playing with it!) My two girls are happy with this, and have been for years, oldest being 15 now bless her.

Resent studies have shown the wet food isn't as good for them as the dry stuff because they don't really have to chew, it has a higher water to food ratio and people aren't giving as much as is actually needed. It's a good treat but I wouldn't give it to them as a stable meal iyswim?

My girls like a bowl of half milk half water once a week (old girly is lactose intolerant but half half is great even if they're not) and a slice of ham or bit of chicken now and then. If they want a treat they can go and catch a mouse! They do actually do this...

You are totally right about wet meat. They should have a balance, I have a pedigree persian and the breeder I bought her from told me that dried food is very important for there teeth and diet as it also fills them more too. My cat has dried food put out in the morning which she has throughout the day and 1 sachet of wet meat on an evening. As a treat she has half condensed (tinned) milk with half water. But her main drink is water.

Oh and I keep her food and drink in the downstairs toilet away from my 20 mth old.

[zillervalley]

Hi I feed mt cats a t night and they are in my neighbours house in the day time or in the garden.

ziller

[Rubybubbles]

one of my cats is still missing:panic:

But my other cat gets feed dried biscuits, he likes the whiskers ones and now since the other cat :( he gets a wet pouch each evening as he has stopped eating and drinking and going really sad, so needed to up his water content

Buy the kitten food:thumbsup: any brand, they are like us humans and fussy and may not like one! go with what the breeder is feeding then over a week or 2 you can change to your own preference

[LeeAnn]

my cat is fed on dry biscuits, we use kitekat as others are too strong for her tummy. her food and water bowls are in the kitchen all the time as she is an indoor cat. Although my youngest mindee is 2.5 so she doesnt even look near it.

As for treats, my cat has to be tucked into the kitchen at night as she charges around the house scratching at DDs door and wakes everyone up :rolleyes: so to give her a treat (bribe ;) ) she gets half a pouch of sheba chicken before we shut her in.

[CherryBlossom]

I have two indoor (Ragdoll) cats, who are both just over a year old.
I haven't started Minding yet, and was a bit worried about the litter tray and food being about with Mindees.
I think that I will leave the litter tray upstairs in the spare room, where the Mindees won't go.
With food, I am hoping to feed them in the morning and in the evening from the kitchen, so will leave the safety gate closed whilst cats are eating.
I heard that Ofsted are quite strict about litter trays and cat bowls out etc?
Hopefully a bowl of water left out all day will be ok?

Although my kitchen is the only access to the garden I plan to leave the safety gate closed at all times, unless we are all playing out in the garden, as wouldn't really want Mindees having free access to kitchen especially when cooking etc. (Which might mean that I will have to get another gate over backdoor to stop them running back into kitchen from garden lol)

I feed my cats Royal Canin dry food which is really expensive but they are quite fussy, and its the only thing that makes their poo less smelly lol.
I suppose it odesn't matter though if your cats go out!

x

[louised]

My cats are also locked in the utility room at feeding time, they have a mixture of dry food and wet.

[LeeAnn]

I have my litter tray and bowls in the kitchen but it is CC not Ofsted who I am registered with. My CCO was happy with my RA, and if I ever have a baby when it is mobile I will get a gate for the door. Otherwise I just teach them to stay away from it, mindee points to the litter tray and says "eewww Meatball's toilet" (meatball is our cats nickname ;) )

[teacake2]

I have 5 rescued persians ranging in age from 18yrs to 2yrs. They are all fed in the kitchen and the food and water bowl is left down for them all day. They have a mixture of dry and wet food. You will need to feed your kitten, as has been said, on specially formulated kitten food until it is at least 6 months (they loose their baby teeth at around this age) and then gradually introduce it to adult food. Because of my very old girl I have to have a litter tray available for her, (she is deaf and almost blind), the mindees cannot access it even though the mindees are sometimes in the same room as it. I have a gate over the kitchen door to keep the mindees away from the food.
OFSTED were okay with this but perhaps I had a cat person this time.
If you need any advice please feel free to pm me.
Teacake2