Cat Diet Question For The Kitty Lovers?

[KeithG]

I have a 14 month old cat who had been diagnosed with urinary crystals before he was even a year old. My vet has put him on a preventative diet (C/D food by Hills, both wet and dry), to prevent it from happening again. My cat does enjoy a little "people food" every now and then, I just don't know what I should avoid. Obviously I don't feed him anything junky that is too fatty, spicy, salty or sweet. He enjoys plain beef or chicken, but I don't know if he should be having things like potato, rice, bread or pasta. He even enjoys the odd green vegetable. Any portion I give him would be a small one.

Are there any "people foods" I should avoid giving him?

Thanks for all your inputs in advance!

I would like to keep my little guy on his vet reccomended diet. The question I'm asking is what kind of "people food" I should avoid giving him when I feel like giving him a treat.



And thank you for your well detailed and very informative answer Jaasiel. You are right. This question is just "BS". I didn't actually have to deal with the problem and the vet appointments. I just thought I'd waste the time of all of the animal lovers here just for pure amusement. If you dont understand what I'm talking about, look up the word "sarcasm". Have a little taste when you answer people's questions next time!

[Jaasiel]

A 14 month old cat just diagnosed with urinary crystals - BS!

[KenS226]

You are right. please don't feed that crap. You do not need special food only proper food for the species. that means NO DRY

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat?s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Food_Ingredient_Label
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/InterpretingLabels.htm
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i?s, constipation, and a host of other problems. Male cats are especially prone to blockages
from dry food. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. ( Have a fat cat?)
An even bigger problem is that it IS dry and it dehydrates no matter how much your cat drinks
Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food. Cats are not naturally big drinkers.
95% of the moisture is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Think about it.
Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_Just_Fine_on_Dry_Food
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.
THE BEST CAT FOODS CONTAIN NO GRAINS NO BYPRODUCTS
Cats are meat eaters not cereal or rice eaters
Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.
Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=librhttp:/
/www.felinefuture.com/?p=470ary&act=show&item=doesdryfoodcleantheteeth


Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Vetinarian diets The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza. http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Vets.htm
Nutritional Education Program website page for the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. Notice who they are receiving grants from for this program
http://mypetcarnivore.com/educational_grant.htm

[Bio]

A quick Google search on something along the lines of "human food toxic cats" (without the quotes) will gice you a more comprehensive list, but Chocolate, Caffeine, bad. Onions TOXIC, possibly deadly. Do not feed your cat pasta if you did not make the sauce yourself, because there is always the chance there could be onion in it.

My kitten hates any liquid that fizzes, and for some reason will only lick the surface of bacon scraps and refuse to actually eat it. She ate a prtzel I dropped on the floor once, and the occasional tiny piece of whatever happens to fall, including a dry macaroni noodle or whatever. She also loves mashed potatoes. She will do anything to get at them

Carbohydrates are pretty much neutral to cats. They have nothing whatsoever that their bodies need, but eating a bit isn't super bad for them.
I wouldn't recommend anything with much sugar, as it might make the cat flip out. It probably isn't terrible for him, but he might be way too hyper then crash, which I am sure isn't good for them.

I have actually asked a vet about this, and she said basically that it was a bad idea to get them used to people food unless you were ok with them begging, but that nothing in a small amount (size of your fingertip-ish) other than onion would be bad, though dairy can make them have diarrhea.
Oh, here, I will just copy+paste what she said:
"Yep, onion is highly toxic to cats. A small amount of human food is unlikely to be a problem, so long as her stools are normal and she is eating normally. But giving human foods sets a bad precedent for begging. Less of a problem for cats than dogs, but.... Some cats like really weird things. I have a patient who would do anything for cantaloupe."

Anyways, I figure meat products that have been checked for bones would be the best thing to give a cat, since they are supposed to get a whole lot of protein. Ground beef maybe, or something. I only give my cat stuff that is cooked enough for me to eat, but I do not know how they deal with uncooked meat...