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Old March 20th, 2009, 12:53 PM
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kikimau kikimau is offline
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Exclamation Actrium Hollistic Cat Food and Puppy Food.

I need to know if these are safe for my pets.
I have two adult cats. 10 months and 1 yr.
2 puppies.
12wks and 7wks.
One's a poodle, the other is a chihuahua.
Our female, Mimi, is on actrium because any other pet food makes her have diareha, and bloating, as well as bad gas. She has an allergy, the vet says, to dyes in pet foods.

Actrium has the following ingredients in it's Puppy Food:
Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (Preserved with mixed Tocopherolis, A source of Vitamin E), Rice, Potatos, Chicken, Beet Pulp, Whole Dried Egg, Flaxseed, Salmon Meal, Salmon Oil (a natural source of dha), Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Lecithin, Sodium Chloride, Kelp, Chicory root extract, cranberries, alfalfa, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatos, apples, blueberries, pears, bananas, vitamins and minerals (vitamin a, vitamin d3, vitamin e, niacin, vitamin c, inositol, d-calcium pantothenate, thamine mononitrate, riboflavin, beta carotene, pyridoxine hydorchloride, folic acid, vitamin k, biotin, vitamin b12 supplement,zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, iron proteinate, zinc oxide, copper proteinate, copper sulphate, manganese proteinate, manganese oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenate) citric acid, probiotics ( lactobacillus acidophillus, lactobacillus casei, enterococcus faecium, bifidobacterium thermophilum) Digestive Enzymes, Yucca schidigera extract, L-carnitine, dried rosemary, cinnamon, turmeric, capsicum, chamomile, dandelion, paprika, garlic.

Phew.
Garunteed analysis:
Crude protein (Min).............28.0%
Crude Fat (Min) .................18.0%
Crude Fibre (Max).................3.0%
Moisture (Max)....................10.0%
Ash (Max)...........................10.0%
Calcium (Min).........................1.5%
Phosphorous (Min)...................1.0%
Omega 3 (Min)........................0.40%
Omega 6 (Min)........................2.50%
DHA (Min)..............................0.10%


Is this going to be good for my Puppies?
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  #2  
Old March 20th, 2009, 01:13 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Looks pretty grainy to me. I can't find a website listing the ingredients for the cat food, but if it's anything like the dog food I'd stay far far away from it. I take it you feed your cats kibble? Have you thought about changing to a wet food diet instead? Far healthier for cats to get moisture with their food, and to eat meat instead of grainy carbs. More info here: www.catinfo.org
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Old March 20th, 2009, 01:18 PM
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kikimau kikimau is offline
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Well Mimi gets sick on wet food.
The vet told us to do this.
I cant find the bag for the cat food either we keep it in a closed bin.
I can't do raw food right now either
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Old March 20th, 2009, 01:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kikimau View Post
Well Mimi gets sick on wet food.
Is Mimi one of the cats?
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Old March 20th, 2009, 01:46 PM
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kikimau kikimau is offline
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yes she is
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Old March 20th, 2009, 03:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kikimau View Post
Well Mimi gets sick on wet food.
What wet foods have you tried, and what sort of symptoms does she have? Many cats get some loose stools during the transition to wet as their intestinal bacteria adjusts to new food. This goes away after a bit, and can be helped with the addition of probiotics.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kikimau View Post
The vet told us to do this.
Vets are generally not very knowledgable about what felines should and shouldn't be eating. They're subjected to a great deal of propaganda from the pet food industry (even in school, their "nutrition" courses are taught by pet food reps), and unless they do some independant research on the subject, I would take anything they say with a big grain of salt.

What cats should be eating is meat. Not corn, not rice, not potatos, not oatmeal. They have no need for carbohydrates, and the extreme amounts that we keep pouring into them via kibble results in diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, dental disease, and yes, allergies.

Then there is the lack of moisture in dry food. Cats were designed to get their water needs met through the juicy prey (60-80% moisture) that they catch. When they eat only kibble (which has moisture levels of 10% or less), they are chronically dehydrated. They have a low thirst drive and by the time you see your cat drinking, she's really really thirsty. There is no way for them to drink enough water out of a bowl to make up the deficit. This chronic low-level dehydration results in bladder and urinary tract problems and later down the road, kidney disease.

I really think you need to try wet food again, but a good quality one like Wellness, Innova Evo 95% meat, Nature's Variety Instinct, By Nature Organics..... None of these have any "dyes", so that should satifsy your vet's assumptions. Do a slow introduction, using probiotics and slippery elm bark powder to help with the transition. If you don't feel comfortable with a raw diet, that's fine, there are some decent commercial canned foods available. And please read the link I gave you. It has a lot of worthwhile info. Oh ya, and it's written by a vet, one of the ones who actually knows a thing or two about feline nutrition.
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Old March 20th, 2009, 03:18 PM
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kikimau kikimau is offline
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Thanks for the advice. I thought ALL wet foods had dye, I suppose whiskas isnt good.
Lol.
She gets diareha and her stool is reddish but the vet said it wasnt blood. It just was coloration from the food.
Theres never any blood around her bum or in her litterbox just the color is reddish brown as opposed to brownish colored.
She also gets bloated easily.
And when she farts.... HIT THE DECK... Lmao



Thanks though. I'll talk to my boyfriend and we'll do some more research for an effective wet food like the ones you've mentioned, see what stores carry what.
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Old March 20th, 2009, 05:16 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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That would be the cheap canned food. Some better ones are Wellness, the grain free varieties and Nature's Variety Instinct (my personal favourite). You may find the more you learn about the nutritional needs of cats, the more inclined you will be to feed them raw.
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  #9  
Old March 20th, 2009, 05:19 PM
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kikimau kikimau is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
That would be the cheap canned food. Some better ones are Wellness, the grain free varieties and Nature's Variety Instinct (my personal favourite). You may find the more you learn about the nutritional needs of cats, the more inclined you will be to feed them raw.
We don't feed raw because we need enough food to feed ourselves, how are we supposed to buy an extra steak/veggies for our animals isnt that like feeding a child? :P
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Old March 20th, 2009, 05:26 PM
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Love4himies Love4himies is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kikimau View Post
We don't feed raw because we need enough food to feed ourselves, how are we supposed to buy an extra steak/veggies for our animals isnt that like feeding a child? :P
I make my own raw for my cats and it comes to about 1.50 a pound, cheaper than cat food and a whole lot better for them. I get the chicken back bones from a local butcher at .25 per pound and they still have a lot of meat on them. The rest of the meat is what ever is on sale for that week. If it is a good sale, I stock up and freeze the meat until I grind it. I use a scale to weigh the bones, liver/heart and the muscle meat to ensure that I am getting the correct ratio and add a few egg yolks to the mix. In my last batch it cost me $14 and made the equivilant to $80 of Instinct canned.
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Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs)

Jasper RIP (2001-2018)
Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014)
Puddles RIP (1996-2014)
Snowball RIP (1991-2005)

In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey
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  #11  
Old March 20th, 2009, 07:57 PM
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kikimau kikimau is offline
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dont know if my bf would go for that idea though.. :s
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  #12  
Old November 20th, 2011, 10:43 AM
cindy914 cindy914 is offline
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Raw Food Diet for Cats

Quote:
Originally Posted by Love4himies View Post
I make my own raw for my cats and it comes to about 1.50 a pound, cheaper than cat food and a whole lot better for them. I get the chicken back bones from a local butcher at .25 per pound and they still have a lot of meat on them. The rest of the meat is what ever is on sale for that week. If it is a good sale, I stock up and freeze the meat until I grind it. I use a scale to weigh the bones, liver/heart and the muscle meat to ensure that I am getting the correct ratio and add a few egg yolks to the mix. In my last batch it cost me $14 and made the equivalent to $80 of Instinct canned.
Hello, Love4himies!

Can you tell me in detail what exactly you use to make your raw food diet, how you go about making it and how much you feed?

One of my three cats, Suvi, is 10 years old and weighs 21-22 lbs. and I want to help him as best I can to lose some of the weight. He is otherwise healthy but he does have an appetite. I just want to be sure that I have him around for as long as possible and have often considered a raw diet (to some extent!) more than just hand feeding him some of my chicken, turkey, salmon, shrimp or ham.

Any advice you can give me as to how to start this process would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

~ Cindy
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