My cats are my fur children. They rely on me to provide a good, happy, healthy home for them. That was the promise I made when I invited them into my life. Yes, at times it can be expensive and sure I would rather spend money on shoes than extremely high vet bills not covered under my health insurance, but they are my fur children and worth it. I have met many people who don't understand it, maybe people who think having pets is actually gross. Fur in the home, eww. Those people I will never understand.
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| I love coming home from work and they greet me at the door |
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| And they love to rub on my nice pants to work....silly girls |
After some recent health issues with my one cat Chelsea I got to thinking...if I am eating better quality food why wouldn't I give the same good quality to my cats. So after MUCH trial and error, anyone with cats can relate to the food struggle, I found one they both agreed on. Until recently...
My cat Chelsea needed to have 4 teeth pulled! My poor fur baby. My poor wallet! But it was for her health and happiness, I couldn't not have the procedure done. When I went to pick her up the vet informed me she could only eat wet food for a few weeks. WHAT?!?! My cats never liked wet food and now I have to switch both of them. No way am I going to stick Chelsea in a room alone without her sister for a few weeks just for food. So I went and picked up wet food.. The first day was okay, mostly because she was starving and ate everything. The second day they decided they did not like that food any more...back to the store I went. This went on for days. They would stand in the kitchen meowing and yelling at me because they were hungry and missed the dry food. About a week later I was having tea at my parent's house and was telling my mom what was going on. She said it's been about a week how about a very thin dry food easy to crunch on. Luckily my mom had gone through a food change recently and had some different foods for me to bring home and let them try.
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| My girls |
Mom and I also got to talking about my cats weight. I told her I noticed they both seemed to have put on weight. At first I thought it was just winter puff, but now I wasn't so sure. She asked me how many calories were in the food I was giving them. I was stumped. Calories in cat food?? I never thought about it. She explained she went through something similar with her cat Sammy and him putting on weight and needing to drop the lbs because it wasn't healthy for him. She said after doing research and looking around the best range for most cats is under 400 calories per cup. I looked up my cats food at the time and it was way into the 500 calorie range!! Well that explains a lot. It's just like with people, you eat too many calories you put on the fluff. We just don't look as cute with our fluff.
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| My parent's cat Sammy...before losing weight |
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| Sammy after losing weight...he even looks happier |
Now started the journey of finding a new cat food that was healthy for them, fit my budget, and they would actually both eat. Petsmart to the rescue!! The best part about Petsmart is they allow you to return opened bags of food. My wallet loves them so much. I also have to thank Jay for being so patient with me as we stopped in before dinner one night so I could pick new food. I looked through bags and bags reading labels and rambling on about calories, taste, and price. I picked a few and brought them home. The results...Abby liked one but struggled to eat the pieces, Chelsea liked another but Abby did not, and the third they both ran away from. Back to PetSmart I went. I returned the other ones and picked up 4 new ones. I decided this time to try them out like a kitty buffet. I put a little of each in separate bowls and would see which bowl got eaten the quickest. So far it appears the Purina Naturals is in the lead...closely followed by Iams Proactive. They want no part of the Hills Science Diet.
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Current situation in my kitchen
I could be a satellite store for PetSmart |
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| Current three foods the girls are taste testing. The middle is Purina, Iams in on the right, and The Hills is to the left |
I am just happy they eating again and we are getting back on the path of healthy eating for them and me!! I learned a lot about my cat's health these last few months and I plan on learning more. Have to keep them happy and healthy!
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| Abby girl playing |
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| Fluffy Chelsea taking in some sun while napping |
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