[caedmyn]

DH said we could get a cat

I'd like to feed it something other than regular cat food, but it'll have to be done very cheaply as DH absolutely refuses to spend a bunch of money feeding a pet. So...anyone feed their cat a "TF" diet? What do you feed them?

 

[RootBeerFloat]

My dogs eat mostly raw meat and ground carcasses from bone broth making. I get the raw meat as scrap meat from our local butcher. It's not good, humanely raised stuff, but it is closer to their appropriate diet than kibble. It IS expensive, though, not terrible but much more than we were paying for kibble. We're thinking about starting to add a little high quality kibble into their meals to see if it will help cut down the expense some.

Sorry, that probably wasn't too useful . . . It was my interest in TF that led me to raw feeding my dogs, though.

 

[bluets]

ohhhh.... don't get a cat unless you really really really want it. trust me - i have 2 that i want to throttle most of the time.

that said, the Pets forum here has a lot of info on raw pet food and semi raw pet food options.

 

[HerthElde]

I don't but I hope to switch them someday. I'll be watching this thread (oh, and I still love my kitties very much

)

 

[mosesface]

yes! please check the pets forum for more info on a raw diet (aka "TF for cats"). cats are cheap and easy to feed raw!!

 

[bluets]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HerthElde I don't but I hope to switch them someday. I'll be watching this thread (oh, and I still love my kitties very much )

well, my kitties need to subscribe to the healing the gut tribe - i'm kinda burnt out on that front otherwise i'd address those issues. the problem, though, is that cats have very different physiologies from humans, so much of what i've learned on our HTG journey is not useful.

our male cat has allergies to... (drum roll)... beef, pork, buffalo, venison, salmon, tuna, all other seafood, rice, wheat, corn, and now it appears he has developed mild allergies to turkey and chicken. he (and his sister) eat IVD brand "duck and green peas" cat food without all the crap to which he is allergic - i've looked at most brand cat foods (even raw ones) and have found that they usually contain at least 1 allergen for him. he is, well, bulimic (for lack of a better word) - he eats too much too fast and then pukes it back up - intermittently enough to keep us off guard. he pees outside the litterbox (a new thing that started when ds was born) when he doesn't get attention NOW. the sister kitty usually starts scratching at the wall right when ds starts to drift off to sleep while nursing - and then the scratching wakes him up. it's the behavior and the allergies altogether that are just tiresome at times - otherwise we love 'em.

so.... caedmyn, if you're thinking about having another child, i'd wait until after the child arrives to get the kitty, that way the kitty will be used to having to compete for attention.

 

[caedmyn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluets so.... caedmyn, if you're thinking about having another child, i'd wait until after the child arrives to get the kitty, that way the kitty will be used to having to compete for attention.

Actually this is going to be a temporary kitty...when we leave the midwest in 6 months we'll have to give it away. So I'm hoping that if we get a kitten it won't have developed too many bad habits by then...DH is a die-hard cat hater so I hope I can choose well and pick a kitten that will be very well-behaved (it does happen, I had a very well behaved indoor kitty...that DH hated). Really I don't know why he agreed to get a cat at all, unless DD's love of cats has somewhat won him over.

 

[gina2328]

Quote:

Originally Posted by caedmyn Actually this is going to be a temporary kitty...when we leave the midwest in 6 months we'll have to give it away. So I'm hoping that if we get a kitten it won't have developed too many bad habits by then...DH is a die-hard cat hater so I hope I can choose well and pick a kitten that will be very well-behaved (it does happen, I had a very well behaved indoor kitty...that DH hated). Really I don't know why he agreed to get a cat at all, unless DD's love of cats has somewhat won him over.

Please don't do this. You are going to get a cat, then try to find a home for it because you no longer want it. It may end up in a shelter to be euthanized. The worse part of it is your DH doesn't want it and is a cat hater. This is a terrible idea. Everyone in the household should be on the same page as far as getting a pet.

 

[Ruthla]

Quote:

Originally Posted by caedmyn Actually this is going to be a temporary kitty...when we leave the midwest in 6 months we'll have to give it away. So I'm hoping that if we get a kitten it won't have developed too many bad habits by then...DH is a die-hard cat hater so I hope I can choose well and pick a kitten that will be very well-behaved (it does happen, I had a very well behaved indoor kitty...that DH hated). Really I don't know why he agreed to get a cat at all, unless DD's love of cats has somewhat won him over.

If you do go ahead and get a "temporary kitty"- which I think is a bad idea, I'd suggest going to a shelter and getting an adult cat, not a kitten that has a chance of being adopted into a permenant home.

You might be better off with a hamster- they only live 2-3 years tops and are much more portable. They're still cute and fluffy and may satisfy your child's desire for a pet. A hamster can literally live on table scraps, they're so tiny, or you can spend maybe $5 a month on hamster food.