Feeding Cat Food w/ Veggies

[NennaMeerkat]

So last night I took Mr. Blue out and let him roam on my kitchen table. And since he didn't seem overly stressed I remembered reading that they can eat dog and cat food without it being overly harmful to them. Since my cat is the one that has the premium top brand stuff cause of allergies I decided to feed him a few pieces. He ate about 6 small pieces before moving on to explore the table more.

Since he shows such interest in the cat food, enough to eat some in a new environment, does anyone think that getting some cat kibble chopped up and mixed up in a blender with some collard greens would be a good thing? Like making it a wet mash type of thing.

[Linnea]

Actually, it is recommended that you do feed cat or dog food with chopped up veggies. Most here on the forum feed like that, since its a very good source of proteins and other vitamins, while crickets, as they are usually fed in stores, dont reach the level of nutrition-ness a bluey needs.
Its also great since they gotta finish their veggies in order to eat more of the meat they love, it gets that 60% veggies 40% meat balance you need for your skink

Though, it is also recommended that you switch to dogfood sometimes since there is extra taurine added to the catfood.

just check the ingredients beforehand - chicken, turkey, lamb, oxen, pig and such meat is good, while fish and fillings such as rice should be avoided, but its not dangerous at all.

[Lea]

By kibble, you mean the biscuits? That's a no to kibble. It swells and absorbs water when wet and can still swell up inside your bluey,even if soaked beforehand- similar to how rice and pasta does. Well done for asking on this one.

You can feed a good quality dog and cat food, all natural products are best, check for high salt and fat contents. Throwing in a couple of bites of your own chicken or turkey meal (minus the spices, salts and gravies, that is!) is a good, cost-effective way of providing a good meat protein source, without too much hassle. You can also chop and freeze small pieces, then boil in a little water and reduce the water down as it cooks to give a meaty gravy of natural chicken juices. Just cool well before serving up.

[Alioop]

As Lea said, you can feed CANNED cat or dog food. Cat food will be ok temporarily but dog food should be fed long term because of the high taurine levels of the cat food.

[Linnea]

oh my god i made a mistake, im very very sorry D: i had no idea that kibble was biscuits and not a brand name.....

as the others said, i meant canned dog/catfood. definitely not cookie/biscuit thingies.

[NennaMeerkat]

Ha! Okay. Canned got it

Thankfully the pieces of cat food were UBER small (like the size of a green pea) and is very high quality stuff with no additives what so ever. He ate like six pieces and crunched on them a bit before swallowing. But tomorrow when I go out for other pet supplies I will snag some wet dog food. I would assume the dog food that is already generally a mash would work best?

[Alioop]

The pate dog foods work best for mixing, but I like to use the chunks in gravy once in awhile to give them a little variety and get their jaw muscles working a bit. I try to drain most of the gravy out first, which usually leaves me with enough to coat the greens/veggies. If you don't drain the gravy it just makes a big mess IMO. Some people prefer the high quality organic brands, but our old pro breeders have always used brands like Pedigree/Alpo with great results. Me personally, I mix it up a bit, but my main go-to is usually Purina Proplan.

[NennaMeerkat]

Thanks for shooting some brand names at me. I would have guessed Pedigree/Alpo would be okay considering my dog has gotten it since a puppy and she is healthy as an ox. I am hoping the dog food will stimulate him to eat up the chopped veggies I will be mixing with it. Though knowing my luck he will just manage to get all the dog food and no veggies XD

How much dog food should I give at one time? Like I get a normal small round can of the dog mash food?

[Linnea]

i give one third of a regular size can. dunno how large american dog/catfood cans are though xD

the volume of catfood in a regular can here is about......2*22= 44cm3 that means i give about fourteen cm3 dog or cat food in each feeding. after that i add plenty of veggies.

[NennaMeerkat]

These are the 2 standard can sizes. I am of course wanting to get the smaller can and not the overly tall one.

http://petcarelive.com/img/Pet_Supplies ... 2oz-ca.jpg

Was thinking 3 good spoonfuls per feeding?

[Alioop]

My rule of thumb is a pile of food about 1.5 - 2x the size of their head. I know its a weird unit of measurement, but I've found it to hold pretty true with my guys.

[NennaMeerkat]

Yup I think three good spoonfuls of the wet dog mash will be perfect then. Of course with veggies mixed in. I think Mr. Blue will be pleased with Friday's meal! Thanks for the help everyone. Hope I can get pictures of him eating and making a mess!

[Alioop]

Bon Appetit, Mr. Blue!