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Archive through April 03, 2007

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Apr. 2007 ~ Jun. 2007: Hairball Haven (ARCHIVES): Cats (ARCHIVES): Archive through April 03, 2007 users admin

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Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 10:38 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
What a tail!

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 12:18 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
Just heard this on the radio today and wanted to make sure it got posted. The pet food recall troubles continue to spread. The problem was traced to Wheat Gluten that contained melamine. Turns out other pet food companies got gluten from the same supplier, so we are seeing more companies/foods added to the list. Check out these links for more info:

Purina has joined the recall
Hill's adds DRY food to the list. This is the first dry food that has been included in the recall.
The FDA Pet Food Recall site

The FDA warns that others may be added as they continue to investigate. Until this mess is over, I may just start cooking for the girls. Does anyone here currently do that...or know where I could get some recipes?

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 12:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
Rosie, I was going to tell you that you might want to try the "Souffle" varieties of the Elegant Medleys. I know there is a Chicken & Egg Souffle, not sure if they offer in in the Turkey, Tuna or Salmon. I've never used the IAMs so I can't make a direct comparison...but it doesn't have large pieces of meat...it is a more of a whipped kind of texture. However, with what is going on with the recall, I hate to recommend anything at this point!

Halfunit, THAT is a tail. WOW!

Whrlwnd, you asked for it, so here are a few pics of my Naiya. The top 2 are from just a few days ago, I added the bottom just as a comparison to show y'all how much she's grown since I rescued her all those months ago.

Naiya 1 Naiya 2
Naiya 3

Halfunit
Moderator

09-02-2001

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 1:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Halfunit a private message Print Post    
Awww! I love her black markings on the white legs! She has filled out nicely.

Gina8642
Member

06-01-2001

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 1:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Gina8642 a private message Print Post    
My mom has nicknamed my brown tabby "puppy" because he's sooo darn needy. He follows me every where and reaches up and touches me with one paw whenever I sit down. It's very cute 80% of the time and just plain annoying the other 20%. It's kinda like the dog I grew up with who would follow me around and paw me in attempt to get petted. My kitty definitely has NO siamese in him.

Max

Whrlwnd
Member

10-13-2006

Saturday, March 31, 2007 - 6:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Whrlwnd a private message Print Post    
Oh Boy! I am so glad I checked in today!

Naiya is such a pretty girl! Isn't it amazing what a difference a little TLC can make? My kits were both adopted also, and they both also blossomed after only a few months.

Odin is beautiful! What a great face.

And "Puppy" is a cutie!

Thanks for sharing your kits. They gave me a big smile today.

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 8:01 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
Gina, two thoroughly tabby looking cats can have what to all intents and purposes will look like a purebred Siamese. It just means that somewhere in the mom's and dad's background there was a Siamese in the woodpile. But, for it to happen, both of the parents have to have had a Siamese ancestor. It's just the way genetics work. So, your baby could very well have a bit of Siamese in him...it sure sounds like it.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 11:57 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
Another addition to the recall group - click on the link for all the info:

Del Monte Pet Products is voluntarily recalling select product codes of its pet treat products sold under the Jerky Treats®, Gravy Train® Beef Sticks and Pounce Meaty Morsels® brands as well as select dog snack and wet dog food products sold under private label brands. This is the first time I've seen pet treats on a list. I've been giving Naiya Pounce treats all week. I need to go check that label. The "private label brands" are Ol' Roy, Dollar General and Happy Tails.

Not sure at this point where this is going to end. I just hope we can all keep our babies safe from it. I experimented with cooking for mine last night. Threw together some brown rice, chicken, carrots and chopped parsley. Whitney LOVED it, Naiya was not at all pleased with it. She picked out bits of chicken, but left the rest mostly untouched. I think I will try running it through the food processor for her tonight...maybe add a little tuna to the mix, too. We'll see. My biggest concern with cooking for them is making sure they get the nutrients they need. But I did find some sites with recipes, so I am going to try some of those. Last night I was just working with what I had on hand.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 1:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
Well the good news is that Naiya's Pounce treats are the Seafood Medley flavor, which aren't on the list (and according to the label don't contain wheat gluten). I checked the labels for all of our treats to see what has wheat gluten and I'll be avoiding all of those for the time being. Most of what we had was gluten-free, though. So I'm relieved.

Twiggyish
Member

08-14-2000

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 1:53 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Twiggyish a private message Print Post    
Yikes this is awful. I just bought more dog treats, and we give our cats treats, too.

Goddessatlaw
Member

07-19-2002

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 2:03 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Goddessatlaw a private message Print Post    
Cdbga, I was reading that also and I'm to the point where I'm going to throw out all the cat food, dry and wet, and see about cooking for my kitties. I bought canned tuna, chicken and shrimp for them today (for humans). I have the same concerns about making sure they get all the nutrition they need, though.

Whrlwnd
Member

10-13-2006

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 3:23 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Whrlwnd a private message Print Post    
When using the canned human products be sure to keep a look out for sodium levels. I'm not sure that animals can tolerate the same quantity of salt that we do.

If you are going the cooking route...I'm told that chicken livers are pretty inexpensive to buy in large quantities. My cousin was cooking/making her own a couple of years ago just as a cost saving attempt. LOL! She had a lot of mouths to feed at the time.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Sunday, April 01, 2007 - 6:23 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
I figured I'd post links to some sites I've found with pet recipes. I haven't tried any yet, but I'm going to pick a few and pick up the ingredients tomorrow. I'll let you guys know how it goes with that.

Naiya wouldn't touch last night's leftovers, even after a little processing. Whitney pretty much inhaled her's again...then snuck in and got Naiya's. So, Naiya got some plain old tuna. I do by low-sodium everything, so hopefully tonight's tuna won't overload her! I will probably stick to cooking from fresh. I have some yellowfin tuna steaks and sockeye salmon in my freezer that I will never eat. I'm always buying fish when I think I should be eating healthy, and then I never eat it because I have this very irrational fear of fish bones.

Anyhoo, here are the links:

Cook's Recipes Pet Food Recipes
Recipe Zaar Pet Food Recipes
Applesforhealth.com Healthy Pet Recipes
e-healthy Pet Food Recipes

Prisonerno6
Member

08-31-2002

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 2:01 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Prisonerno6 a private message Print Post    

quote:

So, Naiya got some plain old tuna.




Be very careful feeding cats diet high in tuna or other fish. Fish lacks vitamin E, which is important to a cat's diet. Commercially produced tuna cat food includes other products to make up for that deficiency.

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 6:33 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
Yeah, what Prisoner said. Your kitty could be just as sick or dead from your good intentions as from the tainted commercial food.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 6:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
The tuna was just a one-time thing because she wouldn't eat the other food I had on hand and I figured a little tuna was better for her than two days of not eating at all. I've been researching recipes to cook for her and I'm going out today to pick up some ingredients....and I'm also going to look at some of the pet foods that don't contain wheat gluten. But, I do have some dietary supplements on hand to add to the foods to make sure the girls are getting their nutrients (Whitney gets glucosamine and an Omega 3 supplement added to her food, as suggested by her vet). So please, both of you, get off my back already ;) (Just kidding with the last part, I do appreciate the concern and the advice.)

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 7:11 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
When Ophie was first at our house as a kitten, she had digestive issues. In ignorance I fed her only cooked chicken beast for about a month. It's a wonder I didn't kill her. It turned out she had parasites. The vet fixed her right up and she's been on Purina One ever since. It looks like Purina is using corn gluten in most of their cat foods.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 7:30 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
Thanks for the info, OG. Purina One is what I've been feeding Naiya, but the bag we have here has the wheat gluten in it. But that could just be the flavor...like with the Pounce treats where the chicken flavor has wheat gluten, but the seafood flavor has corn gluten. I'll check some of the other Purina One flavors when I'm at the store and see if I can find one that doesn't. Seems like Naiya would definitely prefer that to my cooking! Did you do the Purina One Challenge thing where you can get a coupon for a free bag? There were also supposed to be free coupons in yesterday's newspaper. I'll have to remember to check that out at the grocery, too. If they have any Sunday papers left. I like free.

I don't want you all to think I've gone completely insane on this. I am just refraining from using products containing the wheat gluten for the time being. Now that the cause has been determined and they are just in the process of figuring out what other companies got their gluten from the same supplier, I expect to see the end of it soon. But right now, with new companies and products being added almost daily, you just don't know what will show up on there next.

Ophiliasgrandma
Member

09-04-2001

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 9:50 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ophiliasgrandma a private message Print Post    
I just checked with Purina's site online. They have all the ingredients listed for all their products. Ophie eats 'One for Seniors', no wheat in it of any kind.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 10:12 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
I just got back from the grocery store. I ended up with Purina One Advanced Nutrition Hairball formula, but there were a few others as well with no wheat gluten. We had been using the Purina One Naturals, but both varieties of that had wheat gluten. I also picked up a small bag (1lb) of Brandon Farms organic food. It is only slightly more expensive (about 6 cents and ounce more), but it came with a $3.00 coupon for the next bag. We'll see which Naiya prefers.

Escapee
Member

06-15-2004

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 10:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Escapee a private message Print Post    
My cats eat meow mix. They ask for it by name.

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Monday, April 02, 2007 - 10:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
Very cute, Escapee

Another Salmonella recall announced today. Click the link for more details:

Eight in One Announces Nationwide Recall of All Lots Of Dingo® Chick’n Jerky Treats for Dogs, Cats And Ferrets

(I'm on the FDA recall mailing list now, so they send me their recall announcements.)

I also found this site that is covering the gluten-related recalls: Pet Connection

Cdbga
Member

10-04-2004

Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - 9:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Cdbga a private message Print Post    
New pic of Naiya - she is relaxing on her Cat Ladder (made especially for her by her mommy).

Naiya_Cat_Ladder

Crzndeb
Member

07-26-2004

Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - 1:07 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Crzndeb a private message Print Post    
I feed my cat, Natural Balance Reduced Calorie (dry)...Natural Balance is an excellent brand that most large pet chains carry. They also have dog food.
Natural Balance website lists all their ingredients.

Vacanick
Member

07-12-2004

Tuesday, April 03, 2007 - 1:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Vacanick a private message Print Post    
That looks like a very happy cat!! Adorable!!