[crazy4cats]

Sharon-
Thanks, I’m gonna check it out. I feel like I am constantly buying cat food. Buying a case or two would be smart.

[Bobby dog]

Hi Sharon:
“I have never met anyone that is so ambivalent and unable to make cat food decisions as I am…” I don’t see anything wrong with this approach. It always breaks my heart when I read someone leaves their pet on a food for over a month that clearly does not agree with them. I know it only takes one time for a food not to agree with me and I won’t eat it again. I can’t imagine someone making me eat something that didn’t make me feel well for more than a day let alone weeks or months at a time.

Since I have been rotating Bobby’s diet there have been only two instances that food clearly didn’t agree with him. One made him itch uncontrollably and the other he regurgitated within a half hour of eating it two times. The food that made him itch was a free sample which he finished before I realized it was the culprit, the other food went into the trash after it made him sick the second time. So you keep being ambivalent and unable to make cat food decisions if that’s what it takes to keep your kitty happy and healthy! 🙂

[Akari_32]

Don’t worry Sharon, I’m right there with you! Took me like an hour to sort out the cat food tonight after a great haul of coupons 🙂 Most of it was fish based foods, so I had to work it out so that he only got the fish ones as less often as possible while still making the rest of the menu as fun as possible LOL I don’t have OCD issues or anything. Why would anyone say that *rolls eyes*

New cat food (all the purple cans here are tuna….)

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/37331B65-17A4-4A8A-8D2A-B79194513662_zpsuiw3cgkj.jpg

Finally got it all worked out, on a four day rotation. Day one, Wellness Complete Health. Day Two, Friskies, and/or Wellness Grain Free Chicken and/or Turkey. Day three, Wellness Complete Health. Day four, Wellness Grain Free Tuna (with the exception of the first row, with those little 3 oz cans). Then it starts all over again.

http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx294/Akari53/262DF199-505E-4060-90E3-97789CC1735A_zpsgo1oav49.jpg

For the full breakdown of my coupon trip, see the coupon thread 🙂

Oh, and this cat does finally have a name! Gary Alec Jasper (then our last name). To understand this, Bentleys full name is Bentley Henry Eddie The Biebs (then our last name). I was sticking to the theme mom created lol Now it’s just a matter of breaking the habit of calling him “Here Kittyyy” and calling him Alec LOL

Also, I’ve created separation anxiety cat. When I make it into the bathroom alone, he sits outside the door and cries and scratches. If I leave the bathroom door open (or don’t close it all the way, and he gets in), he sits in the bathtub and hunts me till I call him out. If I’m in the shower and gets in, he sits on the counter and stares a hole through the curtain till I come out. When I go in my bedroom and start to close the door, he runs full speed to come in with me. When I try to get out the front door, he tries to slip out with me (he doesn’t do this with anyone else). He comes to me to for attention, comes when called (when I call him, anyways), let’s me do whatever I want to him (my favorite game is Shaken Kitty Syndrome :p lol). He’s bonded with me very strongly. Not that I’m complaining 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Hey Akari:
My feeding schedule is whatever food they’ll eat that day. lol Very nice and organized!

On the Purina One Beyond review side a poster commented Target had the new bags of POB. I think they tried the regular Purina One and their dog didn’t do well so they returned it and bought their usual POB Lamb. They commented if they had purchased their usual POB in the first place it would have been in the old yellow bag for $6.99. When they exchanged the food for POB lamb the next day they had already stocked the new bags and the new price was $9.99. That’s the kind of stuff that happens to me. Don’t know if they had any of the new dry recipes. I don’t think they changed the original dry dog food recipes, just added three new flavors. Anyway, I am going to be on the lookout for the new POB GF canned cat foods. Purina still doesn’t have the new recipe info on it’s website.

[Akari_32]

Haha, my CDO (get it?? Alphabetical order?? Ha! Ha ha! *eye twitch*) kicks in when fish is involved. I want to spread it out as much as possible so he doesn’t get hooked on it or develop any medical problems from it. I can’t help it lol

They raised the price?? Rude! I noticed SAMs Club raised the price of theirs from $31 to $34 for the 30 lb bag. That’s not too bad, but it’s still the old packaging. I wonder if they’ll raise it any more when the new ones get in….?

[crazy4cats]

Akari –
Don’t worry, I am also OCD, when it comes to lining up my cats’ food. Except, I have four cats to organize! I line up the dogs’ canned also and try not to say anything when my husband grabs a can from the wrong row. Even though it is making me crazy inside. lol! Also, not sure why you think you should be able to use the bathroom alone! I usually have a kitty parade every morning first thing in the bathroom. I don’t think I’ve been alone in the bathroom for years!

[Akari_32]

The only thing I worry about for the dogs canned is the expiration date. They only get one can split between them every week or so because my supply is running low and I’ve not seen any good deals on canned dog food lately. I do have some decent ones lined up for Pedigree and Purina One (yeah, yeah, I know. But it’s not a large part of their diet and Haley doesn’t like just dry– it’s too hard on her tummy) if I could ever get out to PetSmart to get them.

I don’t mind having a bathroom buddy lol He just freaks out if he can’t be in the same room with me. I dog sat over the weekend and stayed at the peoples house , and the neighbor said he was looking for me all weekend. He doesn’t like to be away from his mommy lol He just laid on my chest for like 15 minutes getting snuggles and scratches because he was playing with a hair tie when I went into my room to get my PJs on and he didn’t come in when I called him, so he had to make sure his mommy have him all her love before she locked him out of the room for the night lol he’s such a baby lol

[Bobby dog]

EEEEEEEEEEEEK say it aint so, Pedigree? I know, I know, I am not the one paying for your dog food. lol Anyway, I just hope they have better deals for you on Purina One canned!

The Classic Ground recipes are on my grocery store pet food list. They have meat by-products listed (at least their by-products are from USDA- inspected plants according to their website) and the rest of the ingredients aren’t bad:
Beef & Brown Rice, Chic & Brown Rice, Lamb & Long Grain Brown Rice, and Turkey & Barley

The Tender Cuts & Gravy recipes have meat by-products, wheat gluten, corn starch modified, soy flour, and added color included in their recipes.

And I am glad Kitty finally has a name, which name should I use for him? I love reading about how he has bonded with you! 🙂

Also, I bow to the Queen of Couponing!!!

[Akari_32]

The canned pedigree isn’t too bad. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a very good food, but It could be worse. LOL Not really much different than some of the Pro Plan, though. Since Haley can’t do just dry all the time, I just get what I can, and use the lower quality ones in moderation. My canned dog food collection would probably give you guys a heart attack LOL Since high quality dry food makes up the bulk of their diets, I tend to not worry about their canned. They’ve had much worse, believe me!

Mom calls him Gary or Kitty. I call him Kitty, but every night I’m “ok, tomorrow I’ll start calling him Alec!” Hasn’t happened yet…. LOL

[Bobby dog]

I understand where you are coming from, after all that’s why I have my grocery store pet food list; sometimes the budget makes the decisions. And I absolutely agree with adding moisture to kibble. I can’t help it, just trying to nudge you away from the 1.5 to the 3 star food, so pay me no mind! lol

I do feed some Purina in my rotation for both my dog and cats. I agree some Pro Plan canned doesn’t look much better than Pedigree. I will only and have fed these Pro Plan Select recipes when I find them on sale, Beef & Brown Rice, Chic & Brown Rice, and Sensitive Skin & Stomach Salmon & Rice. And I would feed the Purina One canned dog recipes that I have on my “grocery store list.”

I guess I will still call him Kitty until you tell me not to! 😉

[crazy4cats]

Bobby dog-
I went and bought 4 cases today of the KCIG since it is being deleted. When that is gone, I’ll have to get some more budget friendly canned dog food advice from you. I didn’t think my dogs were picky about their food. But, I found out different yesterday. We went to the ocean and I just took some dry food to feed them their dinner on the road. They haven’t had just plain dry for a long time. One of my dogs just looked at me like, “this is it?” He actually wouldn’t eat it until I picked some up and he ate it out of my hand. But, very hesitantly. My husband, of course thinks that they are spoiled. I’m sure after he was hungry enough, he’d eat it. Of course, he will eat poop, wood and cardboard though. So, anyway, I guess I’m stuck using toppers for them.

[Bobby dog]

C4c:
I feel bad for you and your pups. Maybe Costco will hear from many, many customers why they shouldn’t discontinue the food.

I have never tried to feed Bobby dry kibble other than for a reward, I bet he wouldn’t like it much either. Tell your husband to stop picking on the dogs! lol

Do you have a Del’s Feed & Supply near you? They sell 4Health pet food. They are affiliated with TSC somehow. Maybe they are TSC’s wild, wild west chain? IDK

http://www.delsfarmsupply.com/store_locator.php

Looks like TSC moved the Whitefish GF from Ainsworth to Diamond. Reportedly the Beef & Turkey GF are still made by Ainsworth; don’t know about the cat food. That was one of my budget kibbles. It was also helpful for when I couldn’t find anything on sale, the ol’ stand-by.

I have been eyeing Infinia at a pet boutique by my house. It is about $1.00 more per bag. That might end up being my stand-by brand if TSC phases out Ainsworth. This boutiqe is normally a few dollars more on most things, but I guess since their business consists of a lumber supply/feed store, two other large animal feed stores, and this boutique they must order PMI products in bulk passing the savings on to their customers. Betsy Greer suggested this food a while ago in one of her posts to someone so I started looking into PMI. I like the recipes & ingredients so I need to pick up a bag sometime in the next couple of months to see if Bobby likes it. If you read this, thanks Betsy!!!!! 🙂

[crazy4cats]

Yes, we have Del’s. However, they only sell the dry 4health, no canned. I check back about every 6 months to see if they’ve started carrying it yet. I need to check again soon. Thanks though.

[Akari_32]

Going to be picking up 96 cans of Sheba up up here in the next few days. Should cost me about $20, plus tax >=3 I (conveniently lol) have it narrowed down to 8 flavors (no fish, and feeds at 1 can per 4 pounds), which means 12 of each flavor. That’ll fit right into my 30-ish day set up of food, with some extra, and I also plan on another 15 cans of price matched Wellness, which should cost me about $5. And that odd number will take care of that pesky extra can of tuna Wellness Grain Free I have laying around, since he gets two cans a day of the Wellness. Yay!

Also, I’m teaching him to shake. Because I apparently have nothing better to do with my life LOL He’s doing really good, and this is our first real try tonight. He could eat his weight in those Blue Buffalo cat treats if I let him. We must have went through about 20 tonight! LOL When he gets better at it I’ll share a video :3

[crazy4cats]

Hi Sharon-
Was looking at ordering the CS online and I noticed the packaging has totally changed. And I think they went from 6 oz cans to the 5.5 oz. I don’t know if the formula has changed. Do you know? I don’t have an old can left.

[Bobby dog]

Archie update: His fur is really growing in nicely. Still a little sparse in places and his skin is still dry. However, the dry patches are past the point of scabbing over and it is more like a bad case of dandruff in those areas. Still giving him probiotics, coco oil 2x/wk, fish oil 3/x week & MSM in his morning food. The most improvement in his skin/fur came with the addition of probiotics.

Akari:
Can’t wait to see the videos, I love watching cat tricks!

Here’s my coupon questions:
What is the original price/can of the Sheba?
Is it on sale? If it is, what is the sale price/can?
Are you using the $3.00 off/24 cans coupon?

Jakes mom & C4c:
Okay, I have fallen behind a little on my ABC diet, but I did take out some beef liver that I froze the other week and will be adding it to Bobby’s dinner this evening. Although I gave him a few raw pieces as I was preparing to freeze it, which he seemed to like, I decided I would lightly cook it.

Since the few raw choices I have made so far have not gone over well, I thought I might need to take a different approach with him. I will lightly cook, then serve. In the future I will try cooking a little meat and serve it with a little raw and see how that goes. He did end up eating the chicken gizzards and hearts I first tried after I lightly cooked them.

[Akari_32]

Yes, the Sheba is on sale at Publix. Regular price is 59 cents a piece. On sale for 50 cents. I’m using the $3 off 24, as well as Publix coupons for B2G1 free. Came out right on target, 48 cans for $11 and change after tax. Gotta get my other 48 later lol

[Bobby dog]

Nice couponing Akari!!!! 😉

[Bobby dog]

Akari, I almost forgot. On the “The HK for $3.99” thread cindy q posted a question to you about your use of honey. I replied to her question and also wrote you would probably be back to explain how and why you use honey for Bentley. Did you see it? It’s on page five.

/forums/topic/the-honest-kitchen-for-3-99-a-box/page/5/

[crazy4cats]

Bobby Dog-
In regards to the ABC diet, I bought some Northwest Naturals raw nuggets. I feed them about 150 calories with their kibble twice a week. They have done well with them. I usually forget to defrost, though. So, I put them in warm water about 5 minutes before I feed and that is fine with them! I just don’t think I can do the raw organs. But, at least they are getting some raw meat. I haven’t done great with the vege/fruit day, however. I’ll work on that one. Lol!

[Akari_32]

Ask and you shall receive! Alec putting his best paw forward 🙂

http://vimeo.com/m/96860098

I will check that out Bobby Dog, thanks. Yahoo sends DFA emails to spam after I get so many in a certain amount of time lol

[Bobby dog]

C4c:
I haven’t done too well on the fruit/veg part of the menu either. I know I will do much better with the veg/fruit now because of summer. I will have a ton of beans and pumpkins from my garden and there are a ton of fresh produce stands in my area so I will have no excuses. I will also be hitting the blueberry farm when they are in season. I am going to pick extra this year so I can have some for Bobby during the winter.

The liver went over very well tonight. I cooked it a little more than I wanted to, but he seemed to love it.

Akari:
I love it, it made me laugh! It is absolutely adorable that he sits there and doesn’t lose interest. My cats would look at me like I had three heads then walk away. lol

[Akari_32]

I’m telling you, it’s those Blue Buffalo treats! He’s crazy for them. If I want him to come and he’s not coming when called, I just shake the bag and he comes running XD

[Naturella]

Hello, guys! I am sorry to butt in this thread again but I am leaving for Bulgaria on June 2nd and coming back on 22nd, and I am taking a few Meow Mix Souffles for my friends’ cats and a local shelter. Are they any good? The ingredients seemed “decent” – no by-products and stuff like in some of the Friskies and Fancy Feasts that I also looked at. Plus, Target has them on sale for $.49/souffle. So I snatched a few and I hope that TSA doesn’t snatch them from me on the way to the homeland! 🙂

[Naturella]

Also, PetSmart has them for $.50 – don’t know if either is a “good” price but it was the cheapest with no by-products and within my budget so yeah. 🙂

[Akari_32]

They aren’t bad. They all have fish though, and are high in carbs. Ok for a treat, but nothing I’d used on a regular basis. Good luck getting them through customs!

[Naturella]

Thanks, Akari! I don’t have enough space in my luggage nor the cash to bring whole meals to my friends – each only gets 3 souffles, lol, so they would definitely be just treats! As long as they don’t explode in my bag! lol

[Bobby dog]

Hi Naturella:
Apologies, are you silly? That is what this site is about, asking questions and sharing info. What a wonderful gift for any shelter!!!! This food is okay, not the best for long term feeding, and is an average price for the smaller size wet food.

They are a little heavy in carbs; excessive carbs can contribute to UTI’s in cats. Some people like to avoid fish in cat food. The mercury levels found in some fish is suspected of contributing to hyperthyroidism in cats. I still feed fish a few times a week because my cats are addicted to it; a little is better than a lot. lol

If you ever have the opportunity to help a shelter in the future maybe you will find this info a little helpful? IDK, here I go. As far as grocery store or cheaper cat food goes I stay away from anything with gravy or sauce (usually high carbs), I look for minimal ingredients, a named meat as the first ingredient, no fish, no K3, no artificial flavors or colors, no color retention ingredients (ex: sodium nitrate), and no rice, potato, wheat, corn, or soy products or starches. I haven’t found one that checks all of these boxes, but I have found a few that check most boxes costing anywhere from 46 – 54 cents/3 – 5.5 oz. cans.

Of the cheaper cat food I will only feed Purina and Sheba. There is one Friskies, four Fancy Feast, and five Sheba recipes in my rotation. Some of Purina’s recipes are grain free and their by-products are from USDA inspected facilities. All Sheba cat food is grain free and only contains fish if it is in the name of the recipe. Both brands contain some undesirable ingredients.

Maybe your friends will be interested in http://www.catinfo.org. Lots of great information on cat care and nutrition from a Vet.

Bruno is going to miss you so much, have a safe, happy, and fun trip!!!!

[Naturella]

Bobby dog,

Thanks so much for the great info! I really have learned a lot from this thread and from the catinfo webswte. I have actually been on catinfo.org and if I had a cat I would only feed that sucker raw/good canned. But for a shelter and my friends, I thought that just some “exotic American and still decent foods” would be a good change. I plan to bring kibble for the dogs and none for the cats unless I find a great deal on sale or something. All grain-free is what I will try to get. And then promote this site and catinfo.org to them. Just hope they find someone to translate for them on the go, lol. If all else fails I may just grab some Pure Balance from Walmart and Rachael Ray Nutrish Zero Grain but I will go on a deal hunt tomorrow!

I also got some great deals on small chew toys on clearance for $.99 at PetSmart (got 4 for the shelter + 2 for Bruno) and tennis balls for chasing (got 3). Plus the 14-so-far souffles and I want to get at least 6 more. And the dog kibble. My checked bag will be full! LoL.

And I will miss my men as well! But we got this! Should be back in no time! 🙂

[arwyru24]

The meow mix souffle’s have a lot of wheat gluten in them to give them the starch they need to be such a firm pate I think. In my experience cats seem to like the non souffle meow mix cups better probably because they all have quite a bit of tuna in it, is what it seems like. The tuna and shrimp, and the salmon and crab I think were both pretty decent for a really tasty treat/ junk food fix. At the shelter I worked at, I would give meow mix to cats that seemed to be having a hard time because they seem like such a fan favorite and food association bonding is one of the best ways to bring a new friend out of their shell.

[arwyru24]

Are you going to use the $1 off of 6 meow mix cups coupons from coupons.com ?

[arwyru24]

I have a whole ton (well maybe 6) of $2 off of 6 Purina one cat food cans that I got off of cans I purchased last year that are still good that I probably won’t use, because for 1 I don’t use Purina one for my cats, and 2 even if it works out to be 40 cents a can or so, that still isn’t really a great deal because the cans are so small that if its a donation can I can get a lot more value out of larger cans. I have two big boy cats to feed and anywhere I would donate cans to is feeding a lot of cats so I really have no use for small cans unless they are at an unbeatable price. Like when Sheba was putting bogo coupons on all of their cans a couple years ago, I would buy a ton of cans and they all came with bogo stickers on them so I couldn’t help myself but to buy a bunch of them for 25 cents a piece. hundreds of cans of sheba… I fed some to my cats and brought a lot of them to the shelter.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by arwyru24.

[Bobby dog]

Love the food donations to shelters, you guys are awsome!!!! 😉

[arwyru24]

Hey guys this is Sharon I finally figured out how to change my display name here to my username which is what I thought was my display name when I first signed up…user error lol. Wanted you to know that I’m the same person esp Akari, Bobby dog , C4C cause I’ve been chatting with you. I used Weruvas idea for coming up with a name by combining the first 2 letters of my pets names. So I have two cats Aaron and Wyatt and a puppy named Rudi.

[Bobby dog]

Can we still use Sharon or should we use arwyru24?

[arwyru24]

You can definitely still call me Sharon 🙂 I don’t want to hide my identity really or anything I just felt a little uncomfortable using my first name and last initial in such a public forum like this where anyone can creep and lurk around. Not that I think anything bad is gonna happen it just seems like some real weirdos come through here from time to time.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 5 months ago by arwyru24.

[Bobby dog]

I agree, there have been (and maybe currently) some strange people on here! Always best to think about your security in a public forum like this! 😉

[Naturella]

Sharon, no, I didn’t know about it! It would’ve been nice though, but oh well, all good! 🙂

[crazy4cats]

Hi All-
About a week ago, I bought some Natures Variety Instinct because it was on a special at our feed store. I’m happy to report back that all 4 of my cats ate it! Woo Hoo, (I think). Most of the time I end up having to throw out the expensive stuff. They like the cheap stuff much better. They probably won’t get it very often, but when on sale, I won’t worry about having to end up throwing it out after spending so much on it.
Sharon- I’m up to date on your new screen name.
Naturella- have a good time on your trip!

[camano43]

Hi: this is my first post to this website although I have been on the email alert list for food
recalls for quite awhile. I have 3 dogs and 2 middle age cats. I try to feed them all quality foods and this site is super to analyze the dog food companies. I have wished for a site such as this devoted to our feline pets, but have not had much luck locating one. Any suggestions? I live in an area that has several feedstores/pet stores but not lots of pet specialty stores for supplements, samples and new product info.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Camano-
Welcome to the cat food thread. Most of us on this thread often mention catinfo.org as one of our favorite sites for cat food information. Lisa Pierson is a vet and author of the site. She highly recommends feeding species appropriate wet food to cats. This tends to help prevent urinary tract problems and blockages especially in male cats. She suggests not using any dry at all. That being said, it is expensive to feed my four cats all canned, dehydrated or raw. So, I feed about 3/4 canned and 1/4 dry. My big male cats are the ones that eat more dry. I tend to believe that most of the high quality dog food makers also make high quality cat food. My cats are indoor only, so I lean to lower calorie kibble. Right now, I am feeding Wellness Core kibble with budget friendly canned such as Authority, Chicken Soup, Nutro Max, Soulistic and even some Friskies and Fancy Feast to keep the costs down. I have also fed Taste of the Wild, Earthborn, and Premium Edge dry foods. I’m sure a couple of the other regulars will pop in and give their recommendations as well. Oh, yes, I try to stay away from fish as my 15 year old cat has hyperthyroidism. Again, welcome!

[Akari_32]

Hi there! I’m extremely happy with Wellness Complete Health. They are grain free, very low carb (posted a picture a few pages back of an email they sent me stating the carb percentages of each recipe I asked for– the ones with out fish, in their entire brand), and seem to be lower fat that most of the premium brands (most premium brands are very high fat to keep costs down for them selves, but they still charge an arm and a leg, such as EVO). With coupons, I can get it as cheap as Friskies, or sometimes even cheaper. We don’t have a lot of feed stores around here, so that’s about all I can recommend. Lol Some Walmarts have decent foods, too. Just check their website, and if you find something you like, click “find in a store near me”.

[Bobby dog]

Hi camano:
Welcome to Akari’s cat food recommendations thread that we hijacked from her! lol I second everything that Akari and C4c wrote! If you get tired of reading through this thread or just don’t have the time, just post a question, we all pop in at one time or another to comment. I have fed brands from grocery stores, Wal-Mart, pet store chains, feed stores, and specialty stores. I keep a list of them; mostly so I don’t waste money buying something they don’t like again. So if you are thinking about trying out a food and want to know if anyone has used it before, just ask, one of us has probably fed it before.

Here’s some links to the pages I reference mostly on the catinfo.org site that C4c mentioned:
Home page: http://www.catinfo.org/
Commercial Foods: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods
Cat Food Nutritional Composition Charts: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm

If you have a budget to keep in mind, check out Akari’s “Coupons!” thread under off topic forums. You’ll find info on sales, coupons, and deals on pet foods there. If you have any coupon questions, Akari is the person to talk to. We discuss our pet food scores on this thread too though:

/forums/topic/coupons/

My five cats’ ages are between 6 -15 years; one has a hyperthyroid. I feed grain free kibble and canned food; I also rotate both foods. I feed mostly low carb foods and try to stay away from gravys, sauces, starches, glutens, grains, fish, and artificial ingredients. They are addicted to fish so I feed it a few times a week.

For kibble I feed Wellness Core Turkey & Duck, Innova Nature’s Table, and Merrick Chic. I am currently feeding EVO kitten & cat food that I got a B1G1 free deal on. Looking for something to replace Innova since Mars bought the P & G pet division.

Right now for canned I am feeding Wellness Complete Health Chic or Beef & Chic, Tiki Cat Sardine, Natural Balance Turkey & Giblets, Innova, Triumph Trout or Turkey, Pro Plan Select Chic & Liver, and Sheba pate’s without fish. I always have Friskies Poultry Platter, Fancy Feast Turkey & Giblets, Chic & Liver, Tender Beef Feast, and Fish & Shrimp Feast Flaked on hand and sometimes Purina One Turkey Pate if I have coupons.

I am trying out Grandma Mae’s canned and all my cats like it. It’s GF but there is fish in all the recipes. The flavors all have similar ingredients just switched around. It went over well so I will probably buy it again. I have to rotate the better canned foods because they get tired of them, so next month I will feed other brands; but, they always eat their Purina. lol

If you are comfortable ordering on-line, check out the on-line retailers mentioned on this site and sign up for their e-mail updates. Chewy, Wag, Petflow, Petco, Petsmart, I know I am forgetting some. Those sites sometimes send through sale info and free shipping deals. A lot of them give discounts for first time customers and discounts for auto ship orders. I tend to only order on line when I definitely know it is a food my guys will eat and of course it has to be a better price than what I can get it for at a local pet store. I have ordered from Petco and Petflow without any issues. Petco.com has great deals about every other month. They will do no minimum purchase deals with free shipping and handling. They also sell smaller bags of kibble for half off during these sales. Another deal Petco does sometimes is buy $100 of products and you get $30 off your order with free S & H.

[Akari_32]

Well I had a fun day today. And by fun I mean terrible, for both my mental and financial well being. -_-

Left for class like normal this morning, everything was good, blah blah blah. Got home, cat was in his usual spot on the couch. Went over, said hi, took Bentley out to go potty, and decided to take Haley for a walk. I was gone for like 30 minutes, came home, kitty-kitty was waiting in the window (where he’s not supposed to be unless the blinds are up, I might add). He came over to me, said hi and hung out for a few minutes, checked out the terrifying giant monster (yeah, right lol) that is Haley, decided it was best if he just left the living room, got half way to his cat tree, made a really nasty sound, and puked all over the place.

Like. Everywhere.

More than any cat should ever puke.

So I kick Haley out to the yard and lock Bentley up, and clean the mess up, and I look over at Alec, and he just looks terrible. Laying spread out on his side, looking litterally like some sort of road kill, kind of hic-upping, or something like that.

I figured maybe something was stuck i his throat, so I’m trying all kinds of things to get him to try and throw up again or cough it out, or something. At the same time I’m calling my vet. Which, go figure, it’s 5:04. They closed at 5. I call our secondary vet, and they’re closing in 5 minutes by the time I get their number. So they told me to call the emergency vet. By the time I get to the emergency vet, it’s been 45 minutes since he threw up.

They took him back right away and gave him an exam, and what not, while the lady at the desk took all my info and whatever medical history I could give them.

First they came in with a huge long list of crap. Xrays, tests, shots. Like $600 worth! I was like, that ain’t happening. I know this game! Not that i said that or anything. I was on the verge of tears since I realized something was wrong with him lol Even still, I didn’t have that much money to name, so clearly that wouldn’t work anyways.

But, we finally settled on xrays, a few shots (antibiotics, subq fluids, anti nausea) and staying over night on an IV. We were worried that he could have fluid in his lungs, or something lodged in his throat, since his breathing was terrible, and his gums were white. X-rays showed neither.

Turns out, he’s got something (she couldn’t even tell what– she sent it off to be looked at) lodged right at the end of his stomach. It was the same color as the bones were, and pretty big. I can’t think of anything that he could’ve gotten that would match up with that. So that changed our plan again. For the cheaper at this point, thankfully.

She didn’t want to give him any anti nausea medicine because she didn’t want to mask any symptoms of him trying to rid of whatever’s stuck in there. Makes sence. And she didn’t think he needed to stay overnight, either. So she gave him some fluids, told me to keep him confinded, and said no food or water tonight, and go to the regular vet in the morning for a follow up if he got worse and didn’t get any better.

Dished out $360 and went home, and got him set up in Haley and Dweezles cage (it’s huge) with a towel, bed and litter box, and there he’ll stay till morning I guess.

He’s looking better as the fluids absorb. He can support his weight now and isn’t all limp anymore. His breathing has slowed, but still looks a little labored. And he’s responding to my touch, and leaning in for cheek scratches. When he purrs is real gurgley and wet sounding, but he’s looking much better. His front half looks like a little fury sausage :p He doesn’t look sick any more, just more like sleepy-drugged kitty (he’s not drugged, though), but he’s alert to sounds, which I know is really good.

So yeah. That was our fun adventure for the day. I think it was worse for me than it was for him, though. I’m such a baby when it comes to animals being sick or injured. I was like crying all the way to vet, all the while making fun of myself in the back of head for being such a retard *rolls eyes* :p

[crazy4cats]

OMG, Akari! I’m confused, did they remove the object from his stomach? Or, are you waiting for it to pass? I would have been a mess too. I’m praying for a quick recovery.

[Bobby dog]

Akari:
Sounds like you handled it pretty well to me! I have the same questions as C4c has. Sending positive thoughts for you both and I hope he heals with no issues.

[Akari_32]

We’re just going to see if he passes it on his own for right now. If it’s not moved soon, then we’ll probably have surgically remove it. Good god I hope that’s not the case! I can’t afford that :/

They also said he has a lot of air in his intestines, which looking at how it’s just a bunch of little bubbles, I think it from his hiccups, and he’ll probably be farty tonight.

I asked if I should give him a little Vaseline or something to help it pass, but she was concerned that he could throw up again and then inhale some of it, and cause even more problems than what he’s got now. Depending on how he looks in the morning I may get some hair ball stuff from the regular vet when we go, if he thinks it’ll be ok.

Every now and then he’ll still kind of dry heave, like he’s trying to get whatever’s stuck in there moving. I don’t know of that’s a good thing or not. I’m used to the dogs just throwing up and moving along like nothing ever happened o.o’

[Akari_32]

This cat is something else lol I left the kitchen to go to the bathroom and take Bentley out, and I came back in to see him moved to the front corner of the cage all bright eyed and curious, wondering why I left him alone (like I said, separation anxiety cat), so I came over and sat down next to the cage, and scratched his butt through the bars. He promptly gave me the cold shoulder, but didn’t move away. So he’s mad enough at me that he won’t look at me, but not mad enough to not accept butt scratches. Lol

And thanks guys 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Poor little guy, alertness is a good sign though and of course still accepting butt scratches is good too!

[Akari_32]

He’s definitely feeling better. He’s moving about the cage, and grooming himself, and giving me evil looks. I keep telling to stop grooming because that’s probably what got us into this mess in the first place LOL Like, he’ll lick himself so much that he’ll soak his fur to the skin! He has Kitty OCD or something…. Lol

[Author]

Posts