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Conference misery::feline_v1

Title:Meower Power is Valuing Differences
Notice:FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY
Moderator:MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO
Created:Sun Feb 09 1986
Last Modified:Tue Jan 11 1994
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5089
Total number of notes:60366

1048.0. "Gerber babies" by CLUSTA::TAMIR (To a cat, all things belong to cats) Wed Jan 20 1988 11:34

    You guys know everything....do any of you have any experience with
    this???
    
    My 1 1/2 year old, Chauncey, has had all sorts of problems in his
    young life.  He's still a tiny little guy, not quite 7 pounds, and
    doesn't eat a lot.  When I give him canned food, he'll lick the
    gravy from it and leave the rest to sit.  I've tried every thing
    on the market, and he just doesn't seem to like it.  Dry Iams is
    always available and he'll nibble on that (probably his survival
    instinct!).  Anyhow, I had been giving him (and Honey) a very
    occasional jar of baby food, like after trips to the vet or whatever.
    Needless to say, they love it.  I remembered that when Honey was
    sick as a kitten, the vet recommended that I feed him the high meat
    dinners from Gerber's as a way of getting some food into him.  Well,
    I got a few jars and the boys seem to love it.  Chauncey will walk
    around the kitchen crying until I give him some.
    
    The question is...does anyone know of a reason why this type of
    baby food should not be fed to cats?  I'm giving them the high meat
    dinners, which have rice and vegatables as well as meat.  There
    is no sugar added, and there doesn't seem to be any garbage in them.
    They split a small jar once a day.  I've been observing the litter
    box, and everything seems to be fine on that end, and they do seem
    to love the stuff; they eat every bit of it, rice and peas included!
    
    Any opinions???
    
    Mary
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
1048.1be careful; it can be habitforming!VAXWRK::SKALTSISDebWed Jan 20 1988 12:4215
    Mary,
    
    First I'd say that the nutritional requirements for a cat are not
    the same as for a human baby. These foods claim to be nutritionally
    complete, but I suspect that they are talking about a baby human's
    needs, not a cat. Personally, I'd ask my vet.
    
    I've found that the only way that I can get a pill into Eirene is
    to hide it in baby food. The biggest problem that I've encountered
    from doing this is that she will refuse to eat anything except baby
    food (even when she is feeling better). Last time it took me two
    weeks to before I could get her to eat regular cat food (and I had
    to resort to tuna to do it).
    
    Deb
1048.2Feed Him a SteerTOXMAN::MECLERFRANKWed Jan 20 1988 12:429
    Mary,
    
    It's expensive in the long run and balanced for human babies not
    felines.  We find that the beef fed to greyhounds supplemented with
    a phosphorus-calcium blend gets our Himmies/Persians up to snuff.
    We get ours in Lynn, Ma.  I think Robin Schulte has a connection
    at the Seabrook track.
    
    Frank
1048.3More Nutrition in Cat FoodNAC::LACOURWed Jan 20 1988 14:2618
    Last Spring, my Gonezo (who's FAT - 18.6lbs!) decided to starve
    himself after his annual visit to the vet.  The vet told me to put
    both Gonezo and Barney on diets (Barney weighed in at 17.6lbs) so
    at first I wasn't concerned with his not eating.  However, this
    went on and after numerous visits to the vet, I finally asked about
    baby food.  They said ok, try it, but as it's been pointed out in
    .1 and .2, the nutritional value isn't there for cats.  The vet
    said not to get the cats in the habit of eating it, but I must say
    that it helped.  I don't know if it had anything to do with the
    baby food, but shortly after I started feeding it to Gonezo, he
    started getting up from where ever he was hiding and came to the
    kitchen to eat and that's when I switched back to 9-Lives (canned).
    
    Mary
    
    PS - Since Gonezo was a kitten, he's also eaten the gravey and left
    the food.
1048.4Look Out for Abused Kitty ActTOXMAN::MECLERFRANKWed Jan 20 1988 16:477
    Some cats get spoiled very quickly and go into the "Nobody loves
    me so I'll starve myself and die" routine known so well by all pets
    and children if they do not get the baby food.  Try the gradual
    mix of baby food/cat food until it is all cat food to "wean" the
    beasty back to what he is supposed to eat.
    
    Frank
1048.5And the winner is....CLUSTA::TAMIRTo a cat, all things belong to catsThu Jan 21 1988 09:3013
    Chauncey might get an Academy Award for his performance!  He doesn't
    get a steady diet of baby food; his primary diet is Iams.  The baby
    food is being used as a supplement and is given only once a day.
    So far, he hasn't stopped eating the Iams (or the new Purina PRO 
    which he seems to like).  I'm trying some othe varieties of canned
    food, like Triumph and OMH, which I hadn't tried before.  Last night,
    the OMH liver dinner went untouched by either cat, but when Chauncey
    landed in it this morning (a drag racing accident), he seemed to
    think it wasn't so bad after all.  We'll see....  I'd much rather
    have him eat cat food, but until I can get him to a robust 7 pounds,
    I'm almost willing to feed him anything!!
    
    Mary