We really haven't had much information on this. We know canned pet food in gravy can be tainted and dangerous. We don't really know the specific kinds--I feed Friskies and Meow Mix. Friskies is made by Purina, but I have not heard whether it is possibly effected.

My indoor cats get strictly dry food, and I hear some of that has been effected by salmonella. No word about which ones have been effected.

To top it off, the last person to get groceries for me got ALL the canned food 'in gravy'.

I am afraid to feed my own cats. I have given them canned people food--tuna, chicken, sardines, mixed with cooked rice. Leaves me short, but I can have dry milk as protein.

Anyone care to join me for lunch? We are having bread sandwiches with dried milk. YooooooMIE!

dori, you must be one of the best people on earth.

We split one can of wet food between the four of them once a day. It's more of a treat than anything. But we have always used 9 Lives or Friskies. I am so happy that those brands were not affected.


Livvy, A.K.A. little girlses

There is a place I saw on the net that offered homemade recipes for dog and cat food...I'll see if I can find it again.

I agree with shoe, dori...you are indeed a wonderfully compassionate person. It's an honor to know you.

Ok...here's one site: HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PET FOOD RECIPES

HOMEMADE CAT FOOD RECIPES (This looks like a discussion board so proceed with caution.)

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PET FOOD THE SIMPLE WAY

Some of these recipes look easy to prepare, especially if you've got a crock pot to cook the meat slowly and you'll have a lot of broth to go with it.

It's a bit puzzling.... some sites say no eggs, and then some recipes include eggs! Some say no tuna, but others say to include tuna...how do we know what to do?

Thank you shoeless and Catherine for your kind words, but we all love our pets and would do anything for them.

I am going to have to pour over those web sites. I will bookmark them and go over them carefully. My cats don't like egg so that isn't a problem. They love fish, any kind of fish. Does anyone know why cats love fish? It doesn't seem to be a natural food for them does it?

And milk products! They would attack for anything like cheese or plain milk. But cats sometimes do not have the ability to digest lactose so I go easy on such treats.

Shoeless, my indoor cats would be in seventh heaven if they had that nice green 'bouquet' your Livvy is admiring. I got them a small container of oat grass and it ended up all over the kitchen. I didn't know cats could find so many places to decorate. The actual oat seeds were lying at the bottom of their water dish--do you suppose they have a bit of farmer in them? Or maybe they are related to squirrels?

Thank you both for your interest and your help.

dori, that green bouquet is artificial. I hope she didn't eat any of it. Our cats all go outside whenever they wish, so they get plenty of grass to eat. She especially likes an egg yolk now and then.

Catherine, thanks for the links. I'll have to check them out.



I don't know. I've never seen a cat catch a fish. Of course, I've never seen a house cat catch one of these either.



Why don't they have a 'mouse' flavor cat food?

I can honestly tell you that you're not the first to suggest a mouse flavor cat food. And cats definitely do appear to be drawn to mice, although I'm not certain if it's due to their flavor or the fact that they move.

Cats are avid hunters. In fact, the predatory instinct is so strong in cats that they will stop eating, in order to chase their prey. Contrary to what their owners might think, the predatory instinct is not driven by hunger. Cats will hunt, even when they are well fed. The fact that a mouse moves quickly, darting in irregular patterns quite quickly draws the cat's attention. Cats normally eat approximately 20 small meals per day; this hunting behavior allows them to have plenty of food available whenever they are ready to eat.

While cats may have a preference for mice, consumer research indicates that the idea of a "mouse flavor" cat food is not appealing to very many cat owners. From a practical standpoint, keep in mind that we manufacture many tons of cat food each year. As mice are not generally processed for consumption, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a supplier for an ingredient of this type.

I was "hulling" some strawberries one day last week and Charlie, the huge coal-black fellow that is my "familiar" went bonkers!

He jumped up on the counter, which he knows he's not allowed to do, and started to push his nose into the pile of strawberry hulls that were next to the sink. He behaved as though they were catnip.

I quickly washed the hulls and put them onto a paper towel, set them on the floor, and Charlie made a beeline for them. He rolled on them, sniffed them, and finally ate most of them. I was amazed, as he and the other three cats can go outside anytime they wish through their catdoor and there's a huge bed of catnip, just now high enough for them to roll around in and enjoy.

Any idea why Charlie acted like this over strawberry hulls? The other cats didn't acknowledge them at all.

One of the sites you posted Catherine, said cats sometimes like fruit. In fact, my Casper used to share muskmellon rinds with my ex's dog. When Ziggie had to be put down, Casper never looked at a muskmellon rind again. I guess he was just being a good companion, eh?

I would buy mouse flavored cat food in a second! IF they would eat it, that is.

Shoeless, those 'greens' sure look real. But that does explain why they look so good with cats around. I haven't been able to have a plant in the house since these cats showed up here. AND, just learned this year lillies are deadly poisonous to cats.

Cats systems are amazingly delicate.

I keep my cats in because 1) I don't want three more cats out there catching birds, 2) I don't want them exposed to diseases and 3) I don't want them to get tape worms. Eating mice is one way they get them.

(Hmm, how could they make mouse flavored cat food and make sure there is no chance of cats getting tape worm from it?)

And, it is time to start their flea regime, fleas and mice are the tape worm instigators.

Oh yes...and I've been the recipient of I don't know how many "gifts" brought through the cat door, a few of them still alive. I had to spend an hour chasing down a mole the other day. Charlie brought it in for my inspection, and quickly lost interest in it. When the mole decided it was safe to move again, it ran under the bookshelf, and I had visions of having to take all the books out, pull out the bookshelf, and find a fragrantly ripe mole behind it.

Fortunately, I was finally able to catch the mole in a quart jar and I released it outside.

Charlie slept through the whole fiasco....



(This isn't Charlie, but it's his twin, right down to the few white hairs on his chest.)

Then your Charlie looks exactly like my U. Yup, right down to the few white hairs on the chest.

Yes, I have had to chase down 'gifts' that were dropped by the door when I go out to feed the outside cats. Not much fun.

The biggest job though, is trying to save birds. I have an empty cage in here for any I can manage to get away from a cat. They get to rest after the ordeal and I let them go far away from where the cats are, but still close to the house. They may have a family out there somewhere.

http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/119/petfood

Pet Food Perils

Article about the pet food crisis. I love this paragraph:



I really feel comfortable with the food supply now!

There is a list of resources at the end of the article.

Link: Pet food recall expanded on new finding

WASHINGTON - An industrial chemical that led to a nationwide recall of more than 100 brands of cat and dog foods has been found to contaminate a second pet food ingredient, expanding the recall further.

The chemical, melamine, is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate used to make a variety of Natural Balance Pet Foods products for both dogs and cats, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday. Previously, the chemical was found to contaminate another ingredient, wheat gluten, used by at least six other pet food and treat manufacturers.

Natural Balance said it was recalling all its Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, its Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and its Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.

The Pacoima, Calif., company said recent laboratory tests showed the products contain melamine. It believes the source of the contaminant was rice protein concentrate, which the company recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination, it said.

Aside from the salmonella found recently, I had not heard of any dry foods being contaminated. I will have to send this new information out to my dog loving friends.

Thanks shoeless.

Here is a site that keeps an updated list of recalled food from Menu Foods.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

I just did a search. I want to use that cat food the last person who shopped for me got--and it is all in gravy. This site does allow you to search...

http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html#recall leads to this site...

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/ where you can do an individual search. Upper right hand side.



No mention of Purina Friskies or Meow Mix was made. I am going to give my cats a feast tonight!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/29/ ... php?page=1