Peppy Pets
June 30, 04



Should You Leave Food Down All The Time For Your Cat?

With: Dr. Bicks, D.V.M.


Cats are no more intrinsic nibblers than humans, and
if you have an unlimited quantity of food lying about
for either, it's going to be eaten - and eventually
in excessive amounts.

If you're going to be away for the weekend, leaving dry
food for your cat is fine, providing you've also arranged an
ample supply of fresh water. Be sure the dry food has
at least three meat proteins in the first 6 to 7 ingredients;
that will ensure the urine Ph is acidic.

If, because of personal or professional obligations, you
must allow your cat to self feed, provide form and flavor
variety right from the start. Cats, if permitted, will easily
become addicted to one food, to the exclusion of others,
which can be dangerous and even life threatening, if
a dietary change is deemed necessary in the event of
an illness.

Do not leave food available for nibbling if you intend to
feed one or two balanced meals a day. Except for kittens
and pregnant or lactating queens, cats do not need the
additional calories of a round the clock buffet.

If you have a kitten and know you won't be home in
time to serve the next meal until much later, wait until
a few minutes after the kitten has eaten his normal meal
and then place dry food in his dish.

Don't worry if the kitten gobbles this down, too; just refill
the bowl. This is not going to be an everyday occurrence,
so don't worry. The kitten will probably sleep a lot while
you're gone and might not be overly hungry for the next meal,
but you'll be assured that he or she will have enough food to
eat even in you're delayed in returning.

Canned foods spoil can cause gastrointestinal ailments
if left out all day.

NOTE: Only FLUTD prone cats should have food available
at all times unless they are obese.

Check out our Feline Library Here


I can't find email that said wondering what you thought. If
it said more, somehow I deleted it w/out reading it!! I'm so
sorry. The samples came on Sat. I opened them up and the
cats LOVED them. They had already eaten but they were like
vacuum cleaners w/that dry food. I am in. I want in!! I
think it's great and the best test of all was my cat's
response to the food.

Bettina


Since my cat has switched to your cat food, she has
more energy and is just running "a muck" in the house.
She just seems like a whole new and different cat.
Happier, peppier and healthier.
Elaine & Tafi (my kitty)


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Lady and Pup
Neely & Larry Lee

About a year ago we adopted a Dalmatian from the Humane
Society. It was luck that we found her. We adopted her on
the spot (so to speak). She has beautiful markings, she's
not over spotted and has no patches. Her nose also looks
like she has a pink thumb print. She's adorable. Her
personality is sweet and gentle, but we think she was abused
before we got her. We discovered early on that she doesn't
like it when men wear hats, so we think that whoever abused
her wore a hat. If someone comes into our house with a hat,
she starts barking and growling. She would never attack.
But if I place my hands on that person and look at her and
go, "It's O.K." She will smile at that person and let him
pet her. She's not much of a toy dog. She doesn't play
with a lot of things, but she LOVES her rawhide bones and
cow hooves. Since we got Pup, she's started to play with
him. She likes to barrel into him full force and roll him
over. Then they bite and play until it gets too rough,
have their little spat and it's over. She's Daddy's baby.
He pats his legs, and she puts her front paws up on his lap,
and she rubs her forehead against his forehead.

Pup is my special child. He's not the brightest crayon in
the box, let me tell ya. He's definitely a momma's boy.
He's a lab/pitt mix. He is black with brindle markings on
his legs, and face. He has the slant-eye pitt look, but
other than that, he's all lab, especially his personality.
When you try to pick him up, he becomes this limp dish rag.
When he lies down, he just flops. He LOVES to fetch. He and
Lady have this little game they play, Momma throws his
favorite rubber squeeky ball, he runs to fetch it, and
Lady's goal is to try and stop him from bringing it back.
He loves to play keep-away. He's a little over 6 months old
and a little bigger than Lady already. He's growing so fast
I can't keep enough food in him. He looks skinny and
underfed, but I feed him first thing in the morning, and
when I get home from work, not to mention the treats!!

We just bought a new house, with a pool, and I thought with
him having so much Lab in him that he would like to swim.
When we first brought the dogs into the yard, my husband
opened the gate to the pool and they dashed in to check out
"The New Area." Lady ran right up to the waters edge, came
to a screeching halt and realized what it was, A giant bath
tub!!! She hates water.. so she managed to skirt around it.

Pup on the other hand, I don't think he even realized it was
there. It was if he was trying to run across water. He
went right in. My husband and I were standing by the pool,
and he wasn't coming back up, and he wasn't coming back up..
and I thought, "My Lord! I am going to have to jump in and
save my dog..." But after a couple of seconds he broke the
surface and his eyes were like baseballs. My husband picked
him up out of the water and set him down, he turned and
looked at the pool then back at us as if to say, "WHAT WAS
THAT?????" Now he's kinda leary of it.

I could go on and on forever about my doggies. I love them
more than anything (except my husband of course). They
bring us so much happiness and peace. After a stressful day
at the office, it feels good to come home to such a
welcoming and comforting presence. I hope to have many more
years with them.
:))


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sparkles, Blackie, Bob, Twitch, Kasey, and 4 little kittens.
Lydia

Our family is full of animal lovers, but our absolute
favorite pets are felines. We love cats. I can thank my
father for giving me my love of animals, especially cats.
Because of this we have 9 felines here at home. Sparkles
(momma cat), Blackie (daddy cat), Twitch (Big Brother),
Kasey (Big Brother), 4 little kittens (not named yet, as we
are trying to find loving, caring homes for them. There are
actually 5 kittens, but my neighbor adopted one and he is
getting so big! LOL), and Bob.

Blackie was once a stray kitty, we brought him home to live
with us on Christmas day of 2000. He spent the first 1 1/2
yrs of his life outside, but sometimes in a cold barn. He
has such long black fur, and he is very skittish. He is a
very loving father though. I have seen him tackle his young
kittens in order to help them clean and groom. It can be a
very hilarious thing to watch :o)

Sparkles was also a stray kitty and we took her in to live
with us on August 2nd, 2001. The funny thing though, we had
recently lost our cat Sparkie due to either a fox or a
coyote mistaking him as food. We had been searching for
Sparkie for about 4 weeks, when one night we were walking
home once again very disappointed and all of a sudden this
little kitty came up to us and wanted our attention. I
picked her up and petted her and put her back down. When my
fiancé and I started walking back home once again, she
started following us and meowing at us for more attention.
That little kitty followed us all the way home and we have
kept her ever since. The other funny thing is, she looks
just like Sparkie but a female instead of a male. I would
put money down on it that she is Sparkies daughter. She
looks so much like him! I often wonder if he (in spirit) led
his little daughter to us so we can care for her like we
took care of him.

After some months of Blackie and Sparkles becoming acquainted
with each other, they created and gave birth to Twitch and
Kasey on April 30th, 2002. They are pretty big boys. Twitch
takes after his father in the way of having extra digits on
his front paws. Then before Blackie was fixed in late
September 2002, he and Sparkles once again created and gave
birth to 5 kittens on November 4th, 2002. They had 3 boys, 2
girls this time around. They were 1 black and white male, 1
striped male, 1 chocolate brown and black male, 1 black and
white female with extra digits on her front paws, and 1
chocolate brown and black female with extra digits on her
front paws also. They are all very adorable. Very playful as
well (Especially the striped kitten).

Bob was my mother's and sister's cat for 4 years. He spent
the first year of his life as a stray cat, then 4 years with
my mother and sister, then as soon as he developed a urinary
tract infection and started having problems keeping his
business in the litter box. My mother couldn't handle that,
so I decided to bring him home and take care of him. All
that we needed to do was change his food and make sure he
drinks lots of water as well as exercise (With 4 little
kittens around, how could he not get enough exercise? LOL).

On top of all of our feline friends, we are a family of 4
living out in the country where its peaceful ( for the most
part...lol ) and beautiful. Away from city pollution, and
noise from the hustle and bustle. Its safe for the animals
to run around, but they all prefer to stay inside and play
with each other. This is our BIG LOVING family! What a day at
the zoo it is, right here at home too! LOL


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