Time to eat my CAT for dinner..HELP!

[serryjw]

Igamoo is driving me crazy. The only thing he wants to eat is REAL canned tuna. If I give him cat food he MEOWS NON-STOP!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Been there. Got that t-shirt.

The problem with tuna is that for some cats, the stuff is almost like crack. I rarely give it to mine (I've heard it's not good for them, at least if they eat it often), but there have been occasions when I've run out of cat food and all I had in the house is the water-packed albacore tuna I keep to make sandwiches for myself.

So, fine, the tuna gets snarfed up with great enthusiasm. But then at the next meal, when I serve plain old cat food, I get The Look. You know, that slitty-eyed aggrieved feline look. And the meow -- the "What the fuck are you trying to feed me, and where's the tuna?" meow. Because, of course, the expectation is now for more tuna.

Since by this time there is no more tuna, cat food is the only option, and eventually the complaining stops. I guess the best thing to do is never offer tuna at all.

P.S. Don't eat the cat. I've heard they're gamy and stringy. Eat the tuna instead. :evilgrin:

[mwooldri]

2. Never had that problem with Shadow.

Except that Shadow is a 35lb Siberian husky.

She *loves* tuna. I've given that to her when we've ran out of dog food. Though I do mix it up with crackers and she will eat them mixed up with the crackers.

Though when it comes to replacing the tuna with dog food she doesn't care too much. She may look at me for a moment and ask "why this? I liked the tuna" but unlike a cat after so long her stomach will take over and she will eat it.

BTW she's an excellent mouser. We had a "mouse problem" in our first house when she was a puppy, and she developed a taste for them. Especially when they were in little plastic cubes with peanut butter smeared on the crackers inside. Apparently peanut butter is irresistable to both dogs and mice. Our cat... he just ran off! Hardly surprising, I called it Target, because it had the shape of the bullseye on its side in its ginger fur. Plus my dad doesn't care for cats, he scared them off from the garden using a pellet gun - he hated them crapping in the freshly planted flowers. (or the grass for that matter).

[qnr]

4. Yes, our husky/malamute (and samoyed/malamute/wolf mix too, but he's gone)

absolutely love tuna. Heck, just drip the water or oil in his bowls and he goes bonkers.

[Zambero]

3. Try a 48-hour liquid diet (=water only) fast for kitty

I guarantee you, he'll have no further complaints regarding the cat food.

[swag]

5. Here's a recipe I like.

In a skillet, saute in butter until soft a diced yellow onion along with a sliced small sweet-tart apple (Pink Lady variety is good this time of year, but any slightly tart apple should suffice).

Increase the heat slightly and add the best chunks of cat meat - the less marbled the better - searing on all sides.

Reduce heat slightly and pour in 1/2 cup of red wine (a Temperanillo is good, though some cat-lovers may prefer a Malbec reduction), cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

I usually steam some cleaned and bottom-exed brussels sprouts to go with the cat, using a vegan bouillon as my fluid, allowing maybe an eighth of an inch of the liquid to rise above the steam-rack's surface so as to better imbue the sprouts with flavor.

Some may object to all the butter in the cat recipe, but the red wine and the brussels sprouts should do a lot to negate the negative health impacts of the butter as well as to assuage the guilty conscience.

Bon Appetit!

[serryjw]

6. RFLOL!

Come over and cook for me!

[swag]

7. The weird thing is that the same recipe is also good with

boneless pork chops.

[LisaL]

8. Cats don't taste good. They are carnivores.

[benny05]

9. I don't feed kitties the tuna

but as someone suggested, I give them tuna juice (tuna that is packed in spring water, not oil) and that is a treat. But I don't give it to them very often. Vets always said to stick with dry food as much as possible.

I'm guessing you live in a condo or apartment, and thus, it's challenging to leave the cat in another room with the litter box, food, and water?

[LisaL]

10. Actually, wet food is good for cats. Cats don't drink enough

water, so, if vet tells you to feed your cat dry food only-do not listen to the vet.
Solid gold cat food has blended tuna. It's tuna in water, and it's cat food. Feed it to the cat-problem solved.

[benny05]

11. My kitties drink a lot of water

because of feeding them dry food. Admittedly, I purchase Hill's R/D for them (pretty tasty for them), and it works great because both are indoor cats and somewhat sedentary. It keeps them from gaining much weight as they get older. Benson, the male kitty, had renal failure nearly 3 years ago, and while I gave him some wet food, he went back to the dry within a few days after getting out of the Vet hospital. I have two water bowls out: one upstairs and one downstairs so he and his stepsister have water wherever they prefer to hydrate! Both are in great shape--better shape than the owner whom they adopted! :-)

I might add I can only afford this because the kitties, along with their counterpart pooches who live with us as well, are our kids.

:bounce:

[LisaL]

12. My cat, who is less than a year old, had urinary problems.

A lot of cats get these problems because they do not get enough water. Feeding wet food is a good way to get more water into them.

[benny05]

13. Good thing

Not disagreeing, but sharing my experience.

What breed and color is your kitty?

B

[LisaL]

14. Persian. Red and white.