(no subject)

[madbaker]

First, I've had days like this.

Mild trauma for the kitty yesterday -- just as he was ramping up to run laps and chase things, we forced him into the cat carrier and the car. Yowls proceeded from the unhappiest cat in the world as we drove to the V-E-T.

The visit itself was okay (unlike here, although the temperature was indeed taken) -- he mainly needed an inoculation. The vet complimented his coat, although I don't think Galen was in any mood to appreciate it.

He's now 12 pounds, 10 ounces. (Sheesh. Our previous cat seldom cleared five pounds.) The vet suggested weaning him away from the wet food, saying that it's better long-term for his teeth. I hadn't heard that before. I suppose we'll try it, although Galen likes having his teeth brushed, thanks to the poultry-flavored toothpaste. We usually brush his teeth after we clip his toenails...

Ah well. Back to work.

What I'm reading: Neal Stephenson, The Confusion (finally)

Comments

Vet notes

[farmount.livejournal.com]

I tend to tell clients to feed dry food for a few reasons:

1. they can "free-choice feed" which for most (although not all) cats means that they are unlikely to do the "gorge and vomit." It also is much more they way cats feed in the wild.
2. the same nutrition in a can versus an equivalent amount of kibble has a huge cost difference. There's a lot of water in a can of wet food, and it's expensive water. One comparison showed that if you were to figure out the cost of water in a can of cat food it was around $3.00 for 12 ounces -- pricey!
3. dry food has a mild abrasive property on the teeth, not unlike eating apples with us. No, it's not much, but it is something.

There are dry foods out there which are specially designed to prevent tartar build-up, such as T/D. I can speak from personal experience that my cat Aurora (who is now 13) had her teeth cleaned when she was 5, again when she was 13, and only had one tooth with a nasty resorptive lesion which had to be extracted. My cats love the taste of T/D and will preferentially pick it out of the bowl. Another nice thing about T/D is that in general cats do have to chew the kibbles before swallowing, so there is less of the "scarf-n-barf" syndrome. T/D is in dry form only.

Worried about carbs versus protein? Check out some of the new diets such as Purina DM (Diabetes Mellitus, although some vets jokingly call it "dead mouse") or Prescription Diet M/D which bills itself as the "Catkins diet". Both are high protein, low carbohydrate diets. Both are available in wet and dry forms.

Good things about wet food: if you need to dilute your pet's urine (such as stones in the bladder, kidney problems, etc.) then you want to feed them wet food. More water going in = more dilute urine. This is perhaps more important for dog owners who want to prevent lawn-burn from dog urine. Also, wet food tends to be more "stinky" which is appealing to cats. For cats that are not feeling well (especially if their little nose is stuffed up with an upper respiratory infection) if you take wet food and microwave it for 5-10 seconds the food becomes warm, and thus more stinky, and thus more appealing.

Why, yes, I am at work right now... :)

Re: Vet notes

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And my cats probably thank you, too. Although they'd be more happy if I stopped putting them in hats, I think.