A shelter manager told me once that variety in food is the key when it comes to ensuring healthy nutrition for your pets.
So, yesterday, I thought I should buy a new brand of catfood for my cats.
Bobby had already achieved very significantly improved weight and demeanor after going on Canine Caviar for just THREE days, so I thought I should try the Feline Caviar for my cats.
I went to Amy’s shop and was told there were other choices as well. A friend had just told me about Orijen, which is of better protein. A google search also revealed it’s one of the best brands of animal food around. But I couldn’t get this brand.
There was another similar one called Evo, but I was a bit wary of the high protein. Amy says I should give only small amounts. Small amounts for my cats??? Er…a bit hard to control, especially when we are not quite sure who has fed who as there are four humans who feed them daily. So, I didn’t dare take the risk of overdosing them on protein.
So, Feline Caviar it is….
But my vet had forewarned me that it’s quite tasteless. But I’ll just try a small pack first.
This would be the Chicken with Pink Salmon….
Me likes…
So far it has passed the food-tasting test with Cow, Bunny, Tiger, Cleo and Indy. Only Pole turned up her nose and insisted on her Royal Canin. Not bad…that’s 5 out of 6. I guess perhaps it IS tasty, after all?
It uses hormone-free chicken, and there is no corn, no wheat, no gluten and no GMO products.
This is Bobby’s life-saver, so to speak, as he had rejected everything except his stir-fried chicken. This is the only kibble that he is willing to eat.
BARF is really good, I know. But Bobby wouldn’t touch it. And the cats didn’t like it either. Only Bunny and Cleo are willing to eat raw chicken breastmeat with the skin. They won’t touch the veges. The shelter manager also advocates BARF, and he says if they don’t eat it, starve them….until they do.
Gee….I don’t have the heart to do that!
That is why I supplement with kibble. My vet says it isn’t the best, but at least the better brands are formulated to be “balanced”. An advocate of BARF (she makes it to sell) says even if my cats eat just chicken meat and the skin (but MUST include the skin), it is enough. The shelter manager says you must have some veges and bones.
He said to check out wild carnivorous animals. What and how do they eat? They eat herbivorous animals. First, they will go for the stomach (to eat up the veges/plantfood of the herbivorous animal they have killed). Then, they go for the offerals (liver, etc.), then the meat and lastly, they chew the bone….as a dessert?
Based on this, he taught me the formula for BARF:
60% meat (of this, it’s 60% meat, 40% liver and bone)
40% veges
Do you have your own food story to tell on what has worked for your animals?
Please do share by leaving a comment on this post.
Disclaimer: This is just a personal sharing. Please consult your vet or a qualified animal nutritionist for professional advice on the nutrition of your pets.
Comments
8 responses to “The story of food”
Full on BARF advocate… Haha… My dogs have been on it for 2 years and their coats and eyes have never been better.. Thick coat with bright eyes with only visits to the vet for the annual vacination and heartworm.. :).. My oldest had skin problems before with commercial dogfood..
BARF is great, but my gang refused to eat it. Only Cleo and Bunny eats – and it's just raw chicken. They won't touch the veges.
You can get Orijen and Acana (both made by Champion Pet Foods, all Canadian ingredients!) from Pet Lover's Centre and Petsmore (there are quite a lot of outlets around). It's the brand I've been feeding my dog for more than a year now and he's doing great! Acana has a lower protein % than Orijen and it's also cheaper.
Well to each his own I guess.. I do feed some kibbles too, currently on addiction venison.. All mine r spoiled too as they always get what they want as I can't bear to starve them.. And they know it!! Lol..
You could try grinding up the chicken with innards as it smells better with it if ur willing to give it another go.. But only minimal amounts.. Think its 2%..
But in the end think its all about balance as even my vet is on the fence with BARF but can't deny the results!
Health of your furry companions aside, one of the advantages of BARF is that it makes their poop firm and quite odourless. Easy to clean up! Our dogs love BARF, so that's all they eat. Our old cat won't touch it, so he and our younger cat both get Addiction kibbles instead. Seems to be doing them good, and their poop is also pretty firm and relatively odourless, although not to the extent of the dogs'.
Dunno why I brought this up. Must be the story of the blueys' intestine-length poop. 🙂
BARF is good. But I only did it for a while and now I cook my dogs' food, mainly because I find it a bit 'geli' to eat raw. But I feed them raw knuckle bones. Bones are good for them to exercise their gum and teeth + some minerals and definitely calcium. My all-time favourite dog-cat book is Dr Pitcairn's. He recommends feeding raw too. I used his recipe (following as closely as I can) except that I cook the meat. I change grains from time to time (mainly rice and rolled oat), and meat too (mainly chicken, beef, liver, beef lung). When I have more cash and time I include tuna or sardine. 😛 Currently getting myself prepared to reduce their intake on animal protein by introducing some legumes and tofu into their diet. 🙂
For morning session I have to feed a bit of kibbles though, since I still couldn't incorporate the cooking part into my schedule without feeling too worn out yet. But it's mainly as snacks. Personally I feel that like human, we should eat everything moderately. It doesn't have to be all-time 100% healthy – so pressure. LOL. But definitely cannot all-time unhealthy. Oh and my dogs eat all sort of fruits and plain yoghurt too. I now make my own yoghurt so I can feed them. Otherwise they eat like dinosaurs and I'm going to go broke soon. 😛 When it was the season of rambutan, my Golden Retriever was the happiest because the rambutans from my neighbour's tree will fall into our garden and she could just pick and eat on the floor – she peeled the skin herself! 🙂
Oh and the occasional starving is actually good for dogs and cats. The fast mimics the way nature goes – sometimes they don't get food. It helps them to cleanse their body. Just make sure there is sufficient clean water. During the time when I don't feed (I actually also can't bring myself to do it, so I normally only do it for a night, otherwise for healthy animals, a fast can be up to 3 days or more) I give them beef bones to gnaw on. Yes, I know it's not really 'fasting' that way. 😛
Oh correction. Dr Pitcairn's should be raw diet. Not BARF.
Hi, all my poodles eat Orijen since they will puppies excerpt Jacky(my eldest male), Max(Second male), Eve(eldest female) & Adam(3rd male)started to eat when they are at the age of 1 to 2 years old. All of them just love it!