can my cat eat dog food

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shadow-puss
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can my cat eat dog food

Post by shadow-puss »

Story so far...

So my cat Shadow has started licking away fur between her legs, thought it may be allergy related so changed food....she has been a bit of a fuss pot since we got her she won't touch tuna,chicken,fresh fish,prawns,ham,egg, and usually only eats the jelly or gravy in wet food. so equally she goes through cat food brands like nobody's business.

I bought her applaws chicken and salmon because she liked iams chicken and salmon,she was fine on applaws for like 3 days but now won't touch it! I've tried adding water, I've tried adding applaws wet food pouches, I've tried adding a bit of scrambled egg (no salt,butter or milk added) but she just won't touch it.

My dog also eats applaws chicken and lamb dog food, whenever I go to feed the dog, Shadow starts to meow at me like when she's hungry but then turns her nose up at her food. I thought I would try putting half her own biscuits one side of her bowl and half the dogs on the other...low and behold she clears the dog biscuits and leaves the cat food!! :roll:

Is it ok for her to eat applaws dog biscuits? I just want to find something she enjoys eating but I also want her to eat food that's good for her.
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bobbys girl
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by bobbys girl »

If you feed your dog, cat food you are doing him a favour. I can't say the same for feeding dog food to cats. Dogs will eat ANYTHING and with some food, they probably are!

Cats are fussy eaters. Mine won't touch Applaws dry, but love the (expensive) ocean fish. They LOVE James Wellbeloved dry food, but don't like the wet.

James Wellbeloved fish dry food is a big favourite with all of them. They like Gourmet Perle and the jelly on Coshida.

BTW if you are having duck for tea - don't leave any lying around! :lol: :roll:
booktigger
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by booktigger »

Unfortunately dog food doesn't contain enough taurine, and taurine deficiency in cats can lead to things such as blindness, and if left long enough, can kill a cat. I don't know enough about dog brands to know if some have higher levels of taurine than others
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MarkB
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by MarkB »

Also, Propylene Glycol is a legal and safe additive to human and dog food, but it is highly toxic to cats and causes a condition called Heinz Body Anaemia.

http://www.askavetquestion.com/propylene-glycol.php
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shadow-puss
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

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Ok, well looks like I'm back on the hunt for a decent cat food! :D The little rascal she does like to keep me on my toes. Not only is she a fussy eater but it's like she enjoys teasing me with it, pretending she likes a food for a few days and right when I think I've solved the problem she starts turning her nose up at it again. :?
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by MarySkater »

I've found it works best to give them variety. They may they like a brand because it's new to them, but they get bored with it after a few days.
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bobbys girl
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by bobbys girl »

shadow-puss wrote:it's like she enjoys teasing me with it, pretending she likes a food for a few days and right when I think I've solved the problem she starts turning her nose up at it again. :?
Oh they ALL like doing that! :lol:
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meriad
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by meriad »

Try Arden Grange dry and also the James Well Beloved. I am fairly certain you can get small trial packs of both (and others) at Pets at Home

Waitrose now do a grain free dry food as well called Harringtons which has rice, but no wheat; again small bags available and my lot all quite liked it

try them maybe?
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by Crewella »

As has been said, feeding dog food to cats is not a good idea. I'm another one that feeds a wide variety and I do find that it works best to keep them from getting bored of something. I'm a rotten cat mum, if they don't like something, tough, they're not getting anything else until the next meal! :D
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bobbys girl
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Re: can my cat eat dog food

Post by bobbys girl »

Last week we did our food shopping in Donegal town. Great for us as there is a lovely whole food shop there and the supermarket has a lot of organic and oriental foods (yummy). But it is not so good for the kitties, I could not get their fav foods and as they were totally out of dry food, I had to call at our vets on the way back and buy some (expensive) Hills for them. It is quite a big biscuit and when I put it in front of Bob and Grace they both looked in their bowls then up at me with a look that said 'what's this sxxt?' As they did it in tandem, it was really funny, about the only thing they agreed on. I said 'you'll have to get used to it, that's all there is'. You could almost see Bob shrug his shoulders 'oh go on then'. :lol:
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