Conference misery::feline_v1

    You gave you cat Kaopectate?!?  Is that ok to do, giving people
    medicine to cats?
    

It is not OK to give any random people-type medicine to a cat.  Kaopectate,
however, is fine for a cat (assuming you can get them to take it - my
downstairs bathroom walls are covered with the outcome of attempts at 
giving some to Shamus).

Pam

    Does Corkie go outside?  Has she been catching presents and maybe
    eating them?  Have you tried her on IAMS?
    My 9-,7-,and 6-year olds haven't seem to change their digestive
    habits over the years - sounds like you have a real puzzle.
    As to a bad batch of dry, I guess anything is possible. I have
    run into very watery cases of canned food - dry??  nothing that
    I have noticed.  sorry not to be of more help.
    
    E.T.

    Re .1
    
    There's a book (probably there are several actually) that's a layman's
    medical encyclopedia (sp?) for cats with pictures and symptoms and
    what you can and can't give them.  For example, Kaopectate is the
    best thing in the world for them when they have the runs, but Pepto
    Bismol is real bad cause of the salicylic (sp again?) acid (asprin)
    cause they can't de-toxify it in their bodies.  The book is called
    "Taking Care of Your Cat" and it's saved me literally hundreds of
    dollars in vet bills.  It has flow charts and says "does it do this",
    y or n and has arrows pointing to either "follow home remedies"
    or " see your vet immediately".  You'd be surprised how much people
    stuff you can give to them as long as you do it in the right dosages.
    It gives a list of the "must haves" for your medicine cabinet. 
    I think I just might post that in a note.  It would probably be
    real helpful.
    
    re .3
    
    Nope, no presents.  She's strictly indoor, and the garbage is locked
    away tight.  I've been lucky, though.  She's never been a garbage
    kitty anyway.  I wish it were that simple.  She doesn't even like
    people food with the exception of an occasional bit of cheese or
    (believe it or not) green beans.

    Interesting - hmm.  I have almost no experience with runs.
    my crew runs to puking - and not too often.  at least you
    can eliminate (ha ha) the outdoor syndrome of mice & stuff
    like that.  Keep us posted on progress.
    
    E.T.

    Pat,
    
    The food may have gone "bad".  We don't normally use SD dry so I
    don't have a label to check.  We have had the unopened sample sizes
    of IAMS Kitten formula get rancid after having it around for couple
    of years. Any fat can get rancid and with the weather across the
    US it is possible.  Only way to tell would be to get a small size
    of a different batch number and try Corky on that.  Your observation
    that it appears undigested kind of goes against my rancidity theory.
    
    Frank

    Well, this one's sure got me stumped.  She's been on Tender Vittles
    now for over a week and not a bit of problem.  Her stool is just
    like it's supposed to be, and no undigested (yucky) bits in it at
    all.  When I first started her on SD dry the vet said to be prepared
    for itty bitty little stools that look like rabbit pellets almost.
    They were never quite that small, but the volume was definately
    less.  It's real strange, because right before the runs start on
    the dry, the volume increases (she's let loose a few mighty ones
    that look like they should be the dogs).  I'm wondering, she's never
    been an overeater.  She's so picky, but she does eat more of the
    dry, and she usually empties her bowl when she eats the dry.  Maybe
    she's simply getting too much?  I'm gonna look at the batch numbers
    and see if I can get a small bag of a different batch.  I'm almost
    afraid to try again.  She's a persian and you can imagine what her
    "pantaloons" look like when we're going through this mess.  I got
    real mad the last time cause when she gets gross she always runs
    under something and sits down, then I have to drag her out and clean
    her up...oh I'm grossing myself out here.....
    
    Re .6
    
    Frank - Is IAMS comparable as far as ash and phosphorus content?
    Ever hear of something called Eukanuba?
    
    Pat
    
    

    Pat,
    
    IAMS is the Cat version of Eukaneuba (sp) for Dogs.  You might want
    to try the IAMS instead of Science Diet.  I've had problems with
    cats having the runs with SD.  Since being on IAMS, like your vet
    says, the litter box looks like I'm owned by a bunch of rabbits!!
    
    Any pet store that sells IAMS will have trial size boxes for free.
    A great way to try the product without wasting any money.
    
    purrs
    cin
    
    ps.  I know what you mean about persian "pantaloons"!!!  I've got
    persians too.
    

    I'm a week late in replying to this note but hopefully you can help
    me and I can help you. I'm concerned with the comment about cat food 
    going "bad". I too use science diet.  I use both dry and canned.
    I give my little one a dish of canned once a night and keep dry
    food in a dish during the day.  I've learned this from raising dogs 
    (and hopefully the same with cats) that too much canned food can
    cause diarrhea (which is opposite from you and has me confused) 
    and too much dry food can cause constipation.  So I use both and 
    never have had any problems.  What I'm concerned about is that the 
    dry food I buy is in a big quantity (I forget the size)and last 
    a very long time (3-4 months).  How long before cat food goes bad????  
    It doesn't carry an expiration date does it? 
    
    By the way, this is my very first note and my very first time owning
    my little critter.  I got him back in November and have loved
    every minute of it.  Because of this notesfile, I have learned
    so much and want to thank everyone.  Believe me, I've been through
    so much, including losing him for a couple of days, but I'm one
    of those with a happy ending.
                                                         
    Thanks,
    Sue
                                                         
         

    Re: -1 How long before cat food goes bad?
    
    My experience is:  We had bought a bag of dry food (probably the
    4-5 lb. size) less than a week before our vet told us no more dry
    food for the cats.  We continued to feed dry food to help clean
    the cats teeth, approximately 1/2 cup once a week.  After about
    8 months, I noticed mold growing on the food.  I assume because
    we kept the bag under the sink which tends to be damp.  
    
    We have since switched to IAMS, and I buy the 1/2 gallon milk carton
    sized box, which lasts us for 1 1/2 weeks.  The man at the feed
    store told me that it's not a good idea to keep the food around
    too long.  I have no idea what too long is, and I am now probably
    going to an extreme with 1 1/2 weeks, but I know that 8 months is
    too long.
    
    Good luck.
    
    	-Nancy
    

    Sue,  try putting your dry cat food into a large plastic bucket
    with an air tight sealing lid.  I do this for my 20lb bags of IAMS
    cat food and 50lb bags of dog food.  Keep it in a cool, dry area
    and you should not have any spoileage.  I started doing this after
    I had dry dog food go bad (boy, did it smell!)
    
    Jeanne, Cali, and Sam

    re:10  The milk carton size can be kept in the fridge.  The problem
    is the fat becoming rancid - trash cans with locking lids or
    tupperware airtight containers work - keeping the food in a cool
    dry place also works.  I use about 20 to 30 lbs a month - have 
    not had any trouble keeping it - I have more trouble keeping it
    around to feed!  15 kids eat a bunch - good thing the Blue Seal
    is less expensive than the IAMS - it has MUCH less fat so it
    causes less problems with going bad and makes for much less
    fat cats!!!  I keep the 2 trash cans with the metal locking
    handles in the lower (basement level) of the house cause that's
    where I feed the kids.  It's cool down there and the locking
    lids keep furry paws out of the food!
    
    E.T.

    I really appreciate the information.  I'm definately going to
    throw out the rest of the food I have.  You know it's really 
    strange that after I found out about this yesterday, Chrisue
    (that's his name, thought it was a girl the first month I had
    him!!) got sick last night.  I felt soooo bad!  Was up most
    of the night trying to comfort him, seems OK before I left
    this morning.  Thanks so much for letting me know about this!
    I'm going to be more careful now with his food!
    
    Sue & Chrisue  
    

    Well I took your suggestions and bought IAMS last night - the size
    that comes in a milk carton and was pleased to find out that
    they have dates on these cartons.  The woman said it's the 
    processing date and not the expiration date.  At least I'll now 
    know how old the food really is before purchasing.
    
    Sue & Chrisue
    
    

    I too bought some IAMS in the milk carton, and I went to 1/2 dozen
    stores before I asked about the date on the box.  I kept seeing
    6/30/88 and figured it was old and instead of making a fuss, I just
    left knowing I'd never buy any food there.  After the 3rd store
    it got real frustrating because I'd never checked for an expiration
    date before and was real upset thinking "do all these places have
    old food"?  Knowing I had been feeding it to Corkie all along too...
    I finally asked at the last store and they told me that that date
    was the shipping date, which made more sense since all the stores
    I'd been in had food with that same date.
    
    I looked at the ash content with the IAMS though and it is higher
    than the Science Diet.  There was also another food there in a milk
    carton style box called Tami-Ami that had a lower content than the
    IAMS.  I went ahead and got the IAMS due to the recommendations
    in these notes and Corkie seems to like it fine.  It's still too
    soon to tell how she'll do on it.  The problems I've had with the
    dry food usually didn't develop for a couple of weeks after I
    re-started it.  The folks at the feed store I occasionally
    go to told me they don't see much dry food "go bad" because the
    fat content is fairly small, but they said it wasn't impossible.
    Didn't really sound like it was something they saw real often and
    feed stores go through tons of the stuff, so that made me feel better
    
    There are so many new foods coming out now that say "Low Ash". 
    I guess the food companies finally realized the need for it.  My
    neighborhood grocery store is stocking a generic low ash dry food.
    A four pound bag is only $2.39, thats less than 1/2 of the Science
    Diet or any of the others.  I read the ingredients and it's a Poultry
    Meal base like the rest and has basically the same ingredients.
    The ash content is the same as the Science Diet, so I think I might
    try that as well.
    
    Sorry to ramble on...........
    
    Pat
    

    re: 15
    
    Hi Pat, just adding 2 more cents - I think Tami Ami (sp?) is made
    by Eukanuba (sp???) - both IAMS & TA have a higher percentage of
    fat than most foods - the high concentration is why you feed less
    and why the cats eat less.  Remember to check the percent of 
    magnesium listed as well as the ash content.  
    
    E.T.
     

Sorry E.T., but it's IAMS that's made by Eukaneuba.  
    
    cin...who looked into distributing IAMS
    

    I thot that the Iams company made Eukaneuba Dog food (along with
    Iams cat food).
    
    Deb
    

    Actually, Deb, your probably right!!!
    
    cin
    

    Yeah, I knew that - someone just mentioned recently that 
    the Tami Ami was also - I had never heard that, but also
    didn't know who made the TA.  hmm..