I had forgotten that I had not finished posting about our kitty and his food issues!
I have a pet cat named Scout. He is a tuxedo cat and the oddest one I have had. He literally melts in your arms and sleeps so relaxedly that his lips droop. He prefers to be upside down (I think his gyro got installed wrong ;) ), and completely trusts you to a)hold him like a baby and b)when you are done, turn him over end in a reverse summersault to the floor.
If I may...this is his little story: several years ago we lost both of our cats to kidney disease (more on that below). I want a cat in the house, one who is loving and people oriented. Howitzer, my big cat, was a wonderful people cat. He adopted any little baby who came into the house (including letting our other kitten nurse off of him! She had a strong suckling urge and he let her actually nurse off his little boy cat nipples. Poor thing had furless raw patches up and down his tummy, but eventually he weaned her :) ).
Hummer, my little female, was shy but not aloof. We got her from a box in front of a grocery store and she was only as long as my hand--I remember riding home and marveling at how tiny she was. She would pat your back and snuggle if you were crying. Her purr was loud like a chainsaw and you could hear her purring down the hall, but her meow was so quiet that often you would see her mouth open but no sound came out or you would just hear the tiniest little squeak. They were wonderful.
And then they both were gone.
It was time for a new kitty and I went to the shelter to find one. I was thinking of getting a little tortie--I had had them before and liked their color. The worker was surprised that my torties were well behaved because many, apparently, can be aggressive. They did have one available, and we took her in the little room to get acquainted.
The worker was right--she was aggressive and not at all inclined to make friends. She was not acting shy, she was acting angry. Not the cat for us.
But there was a mom and two half grown kittens that were tuxedo cats. The worker assured me that the male was a love bug. She was right again! He was so snuggly and so sweet that when they injected the ID and gave him his shots, he just purred louder.
I was still nervous. I wanted to get the right kitty. I wanted to know he would be a good fit. I prayed that the Lord would let me know as I walked to the front desk to finish the paperwork. Not a few seconds later, the lady at the desk told me his name was Scout.
Why is that remarkable? Because we were in a phase of naming all our pets after military somethings. Scout was military enough that I knew that this was the kitty for us :) The Lord blessed us with the silliest, snuggliest cat I have ever had :).
Ok, back to the present and his present issues....
He has been on friskies wet food for a couple of years now. He was on dry, but then had bladder blockage issues, and for some reason stopped drinking his water out of a bowl after surgery. So we went to wet food. All seemed fine.
Then last week he started getting ill when he would eat. I was upset (he is one of the niftiest cats I have ever had--very cuddly, plays fetch, etc). But I was also confused. Not to get indelicate, but his constitutionals were still fine, the problem seemed to be only upper GI.
This weekend it got very bad, so I made him some chicken and rice and cooked egg. He kept that down fine. Then I bought some organic food for him, and he kept down the poultry based foods, but NOT the beef (though the problem was much less severe). Then I tried him back on poultry--fine. Tried him on liver--he refused to touch it.
I am seeing a pattern: poultry is fine, beef and beef related food is not.
So I went to the Pet Depot to see what was available. Honestly they are just so expensive! I did buy a few cans of food just to try. I avoided science diet (per the worker) and a few others. I have also decided to avoid Natura and related since they are having a lot of recalls. I asked the worker (who is extremely knowledgeable regarding food) if it would not honestly be better if I just made him chicken and rice since he tolerated it so well. She said that that would be best. She said use brown, not white, rice.
So now I will be making my own cat food on the big cook days. I will freeze it in muffin tins and pop them in a ziplock and microwave for his meals. I have not finalized the recipe yet, and still have some research to do, but I am pretty confident that this will be a good way to go. I will see if there are trace minerals that he might need.
DISCLAIMER!!! I am NOT a vet. I am NOT a nutritionist. In fact, it was only about 10 years ago that I stopped arguing that poptarts should be considered a fruit serving because there is a picture of a cherry on the box. PLEASE. DO. NOT. TRUST. MY. METHODS. I am in no way responsible for anything that might happen to your pet if you choose to try what I am trying. If a couple years pass and my critters are doing fine, then I might have more confidence, but for now, please feed your pet at your risk and not with my "research" :)
Is it perfectly scientific? Nope (but I am going to try to make it so!). But knowing what junk can get into the foods, and knowing that my cooking process will not result in recalls, I feel that he will get the best he can if I make most of his food. I will keep some organic food (I am liking Newman's at the moment) around for emergencies, camping, and in case I am behind in my cooking :).
After doing some research using http://catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood and http://www.pet-grub.com/part1/how_to_make_your_own_ground_egg_shell_calcium_supplement_for_dogs_and_cats , I have a better idea of what I will need to make sure my little scamp is healthy. He will definitely need taurine, fish oil, vitamin B complex, vitamin E, and lite salt (which has potassium in it). I will be using egg shells, as I have no desire nor inclination to have a raw food diet for him (as much as he drags food around the house, no way raw chicken is going to be in his bowl!).
My only question is whether I will include brown rice or not. On the one hand, I think not as he is a carnivore. On the other hand, I am not so much sure it will hurt him since he also eats plastic (and obviously is not too choosy in what he swallows). I do know that meat will be the majority of his diet, with rice as a filler. I have no problems with a little filler--which is why I end up eating more breadsticks than necessary at the Olive Garden.
I guess my thing is that I am not afraid of FOODS for my critters (though I will never feed meat to an herbivore--that is how mad cow got started). I am wary of pathogens, melamine (Howie and Hummer that I talked about earlier: Two completely unrelated cats, one male and one female, three years apart in age, from different towns, and they just happen to get simultaneous kidney disease right when the melamine-in-pet-food stuff came out? I find that a bit of a stretch.), aflatoxin, and other nasties. I figure if I get the pet food about right in terms of making sure I have the minerals, etc, then it is as good as I can do. :)
I am sure that TWS won't mind if I don't get to his breakfast biscuits because I have to make food for the cat, right? ;)
This is our silly boy. It is hard to tell from the pic, but he is really limp. You can continue to flip him over to his feet and he does not mind at all!
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