It So Hard To Talk About This.. But Need Advise..

maggiedemi

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My cats are doing well on Purina Cat Chow Complete in the blue bag, and Friskies canned food. I don't know if you have those in Canada. I put out a half a cup of dry food for each cat at 7am, and then at 7pm they share a 5.5oz can of Friskies between the two of them. For litter, I get the big 40 pound boxes of clumping litter at Walmart, BJ's, or Tractor Supply. One box lasts a month in a jumbo litter pan. I scrub the boxes once a month and put fresh litter. If you keep the litter at 3 inches, it will stay clean. You just add back a little bit of litter once a day after you scoop. I hope you can keep them, they will be happier with you. :)
 

di and bob

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Even the no kill shelters euthanize the too feral, the injured and the very sick.And they send house cats to farms, which is just about the same.
Cat colds are self limiting, yes they spread, and they last about two weeks. Antibiotic meds and eye drops do absolutely nothing as long as it hasn't mutated to a bacterial infection, because antibiotics don't work on viruses.So as long as the eye discharge is clear, and not yellow or green, and there is just sneezing and a little coughing, everything will be fine. You can get antibiotic eye ointment on the internet for a lot cheaper, ( such as Foster and Smith) just notify your vet you will need his OK. You have been to him enough for him to be OK with this, you should know what a cold looks like. L-Lysine is highly recommended, you might want to get it as treats and give it to everyone for a few weeks until this virus is stopped. Good luck! PS you can live healthier by being a vegetarian or never enjoying a piece of cake or a bite of candy in your life, but whom would want to!? There are people who live to a hundred all the time who smoke and drink and eat whatever they want, who am I to judge.
 
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Blakeney Green

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If there is any possible way for you to keep your cats at home with you, please do so.

It's better for cats to eat cheap food at home than to be surrendered. It's better for cats to use cheap litter than to be surrendered. Those things may not be the greatest, but they don't come close to the stress and fear cats experience in a shelter, even if it's temporary but especially if their shelter placement drags out months or years. Keeping cats in the home is the better option if it's humanly possible.

If dry food is all you can afford right now, then feed dry for the time being. If you're having trouble affording your current litter, do whatever you have to. Wood stove pellets are a much cheaper alternative you can substitute. They aren't as great for odor control, but they work - and all this is temporary. If you haven't already, I would suggest a serious talk with your vet about finding a solution to the disease(s) getting passed around rather than treating individual animals as they get sick, because the treatment merrygoround isn't productive. Any animal showing signs of illness should be isolated from the other animals until after symptoms abate.

If you do decide that surrendering is the only option, shelter contracts do typically require that you return the cat to their care rather than rehoming, but returning to the shelter's care does not necessarily mean the cat has to actually re-enter the shelter. You can do the legwork on your own and identify a home willing to take your cat, then let the shelter know that person wants to adopt. Shelters will almost always be fine with transferring the cat from one owner to another as long as the new owner passes the shelter's adoption qualifications too. Your shelter contract doesn't mean you can't have a say in helping the cat find a new home.

Taking a pet to a shelter is an extreme last resort. Sometimes it's necessary, but it's not in any way preferable to taking some budgetary shortcuts. I can't emphasize enough how difficult shelter life is for cats, even if home life wasn't totally perfect either.
 

Kefa

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I had 5 cats when I was young and poor. Back then there was really cheap canned food called Kozy Kitten (which is now Fancy Feast and much Fancier. Kozy Kitten was ground up cooked fish and it looked and smelled like it) and Alley Cat dry food, which was just as bad. All my cats from back then lived longer than 15 years except the one that got hit by a car. One of them lived to 21. As earned more money I did buy better food, but for several years they lived on the cheap crap.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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Thank you I've read through all of it but I don't know if I have time to reply to every one of the posts . The thing is here at least here in the province I made with the shelters around me when you adopt them you sign paperwork that states if you were to ever not be able to take care of them anymore you have to surrender them back to the same shelter it's not that I would want to go back it's that that's the only option I have as far as where they would go if I was not able to take care of them if that makes sense . I don't know how illegal the contracts are within my heart I know that's what I signed and that's what I would have to do if it came down to it . We do not have kill shelters here at all no kill so that's not an issue . I've got a bag and a half of the current litter and after I'm done or actually as I get closer to midway down the second bag I'll buy one of the suggested brands here in Canada, that is cheaper. And no I'm not a hoarding house I actually have quite a clean house :) as far as food I'll start to look in to dry options and start to cut back the wet only one time a day instead of two so I'll only be using five cans instead of 10 . Yes all the cats drink water just fine . It's also not that I can't afford the middle it's that I can't afford so many with us will treated as they are I guess . It would definitely cut back if I can get the cheaper litter and make it work . As well as only feeding half the wet for now . My husband never meant that he would purposely malnutrition the cat we're not abusers of animals here it's just growing up my husband had a cat, it lived outside, and ate scrap from all over. He hardly fed it so he thought that was normal. It's not obviously so his picture of reality is a bit twisted. Not on fault though.
Good morning, Candice!
(We live on the same coast, so I know it's morning where you are) :)

The shelter is just trying to look out for the welfare of the animal by wanting you to bring back an adopted pet if you do find yourself in a hard situation. The rescue where I got my cat has a similar contract. One of the reasons they do that is to try to encourage the adoptive 'parents' to not just dump the animal on a back road or something, which I know is something you would never do!! We all can tell how very dearly you love animals, and your animals especially!
:redheartpump:

I think cost-cutting ideas are the way to go for now, and hoping the cat flu issues and stuff will pass very soon. (My concern about costs stems from if, in the future, either you, your husband, your sons, or your pets could run into any major expensive, unexpected health issues -- and then you will be in a tough boat! It's very good to cut costs where you can, to help with that possible future.)

I would recommend, though, if you do cut costs on food, that you make sure your growing kitten Rosemary in particular gets a good amount of calories per day for approx her first 8-10 or so months (enough food for the growing stage of her life), as having as healthy a kitten as possible leads usually leads a healthier adult cat.

:grouphug2:
 

maggiedemi

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I have to take back my recommendation for half a cup of Cat Chow dry food each. My cats now both have a UTI and are on Amoxicillin for it. I think it was caused by too much dry food, not enough canned. So do feed as much canned food as you are able to, even if it's only 50 cent Friskies. Indoor cats just don't drink enough water to be on mostly dry food. Or maybe I fed the wrong brand of dry food. Maybe I'll start another thread and ask for recs, but for now I'm increasing their wet food. :(
 

di and bob

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An easy way I have found to get cats to drink more is to get a cat fountain.The splashing water always attracts them over there, it may take them a while to get used to it though. I know all of my cats are absolutely fascinated by moving water! I have never had a cat with a UTI from eating dry, but mine seem to drink a lot of water too!
 

riley1

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Thank you I've read through all of it but I don't know if I have time to reply to every one of the posts . The thing is here at least here in the province I made with the shelters around me when you adopt them you sign paperwork that states if you were to ever not be able to take care of them anymore you have to surrender them back to the same shelter it's not that I would want to go back it's that that's the only option I have as far as where they would go if I was not able to take care of them if that makes sense . I don't know how illegal the contracts are within my heart I know that's what I signed and that's what I would have to do if it came down to it . We do not have kill shelters here at all no kill so that's not an issue . I've got a bag and a half of the current litter and after I'm done or actually as I get closer to midway down the second bag I'll buy one of the suggested brands here in Canada, that is cheaper. And no I'm not a hoarding house I actually have quite a clean house :) as far as food I'll start to look in to dry options and start to cut back the wet only one time a day instead of two so I'll only be using five cans instead of 10 . Yes all the cats drink water just fine . It's also not that I can't afford the middle it's that I can't afford so many with us will treated as they are I guess . It would definitely cut back if I can get the cheaper litter and make it work . As well as only feeding half the wet for now . My husband never meant that he would purposely malnutrition the cat we're not abusers of animals here it's just growing up my husband had a cat, it lived outside, and ate scrap from all over. He hardly fed it so he thought that was normal. It's not obviously so his picture of reality is a bit twisted. Not on fault though.
Keep in mind that all of these posters are trying to give you the advice you asked for. So here is my take on things:

1. If you have no kill shelters I would try to surrender your extra cats to one. The receiving shelter calls the original shelter and gets there permission. This is only required if the cat is micro chipped. If not the shelter never knows. You will not be able to adopt from the original shelter again if you don't get permission but then again should you adopt more cats?
2. You are using the world's most expensive litter. People have suggested lots of cheaper alternatives. If you are having trouble with smells you do not have enough boxes or you are not scooping enough.
3. I do not feed canned Friskies but then I only have one cat. Other than not listing a particular meat I don't see anything wrong with it. I am against dry food but many cats have lived very long lives while eating it. Try to find on that the first two ingredients are the name of a meat.
4. Keeping your cats inside will cut down on illnesses. I am in the US but many countries let their cats roam but doing so will create more opportunities for illness. Find a nice vet. Sometimes a vet will see one of your cats but give you medication for all. My vet does this for my fosters.
5. I worked at a no kill shelter and cats as old as 16 were being adopted. Not as fast as kittens but fast enough. A good shelter matches the cat and the owner so that the cat does not come back.
6. I have one cat & one horse because that is all I can deal with. My sister feels that giving them a home is more important than good care. They get enough food but never get their health taken care of. Believe me you don't want to live like that.
7. Cutting back to the number of cats your family can afford will take a lot of pressure off you and your husband.

So sorry to be blunt but you have to make a decision in the best interest of the cats. Let them have families who have the resources to care for them.
 
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candicew

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Thank you.
We will be switching litters.
Maybe I'm super sensitive to smells, well I actually know I am. It all smells to me! I have 6 boxes and scoop almost right after they go in the daytime and the second I get up in the morning , it's my first chore when I get down stairs. As I have mentioned before, we are clean people and I keep my home clean. No diey insanity conditions here.
I have cut back on the cans of wet and the cats seem totally fine. They all get one each 1xa day except for Rosemary, she gets one at night as well and Sarah shares with her. They are still given good quality dry, if I can cut down with litter and 1/2 wet, there is no issue with affording a good quality dry. I would never drop wet 100%, for me personally, I feel they still need it as 1/2 their diet.They are well taken care off, I wish to not surrender that is why but I am here . I guess these are things I should of thought of on my own but wanted to hear advise. We LOVE our cats and want it to work out I just need to get some costs under control, like litter! It's funny because my mom and I just had a similar conversation as I stated here, as she has 5 horses ... she brought up conversation and it at least showed me God heard my plea for help with this and that I was in right tack as my mom talked about switching to cheaper hay, cheaper feed and so on.
Anyhow, thank you again.
Keep in mind that all of these posters are trying to give you the advice you asked for. So here is my take on things:

1. If you have no kill shelters I would try to surrender your extra cats to one. The receiving shelter calls the original shelter and gets there permission. This is only required if the cat is micro chipped. If not the shelter never knows. You will not be able to adopt from the original shelter again if you don't get permission but then again should you adopt more cats?
2. You are using the world's most expensive litter. People have suggested lots of cheaper alternatives. If you are having trouble with smells you do not have enough boxes or you are not scooping enough.
3. I do not feed canned Friskies but then I only have one cat. Other than not listing a particular meat I don't see anything wrong with it. I am against dry food but many cats have lived very long lives while eating it. Try to find on that the first two ingredients are the name of a meat.
4. Keeping your cats inside will cut down on illnesses. I am in the US but many countries let their cats roam but doing so will create more opportunities for illness. Find a nice vet. Sometimes a vet will see one of your cats but give you medication for all. My vet does this for my fosters.
5. I worked at a no kill shelter and cats as old as 16 were being adopted. Not as fast as kittens but fast enough. A good shelter matches the cat and the owner so that the cat does not come back.
6. I have one cat & one horse because that is all I can deal with. My sister feels that giving them a home is more important than good care. They get enough food but never get their health taken care of. Believe me you don't want to live like that.
7. Cutting back to the number of cats your family can afford will take a lot of pressure off you and your husband.

So sorry to be blunt but you have to make a decision in the best interest of the cats. Let them have families who have the resources to care for them.
 

Blakeney Green

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Have you ever tried using a litter deodorizing powder? If you're very sensitive to smell, it may help you tolerate a lower quality litter. I like the Arm & Hammer brand with baking soda, personally, but I'm sure there are other good ones too.
 
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candicew

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Thank you yes, I was going to give that a try
Have you ever tried using a litter deodorizing powder? If you're very sensitive to smell, it may help you tolerate a lower quality litter. I like the Arm & Hammer brand with baking soda, personally, but I'm sure there are other good ones too.
 

Willowy

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Sweet PDZ is good---if you have a Tractor Supply store in the area, you can get a 20-pound bag for around $10. It says it's for horse stalls but it works for cat boxes too :D.
 

Kefa

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You can just put a thin layer of cheap baking soda in the bottom of the litter pan too. No need to buy expensive litter with brand names. Heck when money was really tight my cats used shredded paper. Or just plain dirt dug up from outside.
 

vyger

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So, I have a bunch of cats. More than many other people but not as many as some others. I have 9 and one feral wild cat who has decided to stay and now curls up in my lap sometimes when I happen to sit down while working outside. Actually he can be a bit of a problem since he now weighs upwards of 18 pounds. He put on almost 5 pounds since he has been eating the free food and doesn't have to try and stay alive by catching things. He decides he wants attention and I am not allowed to refuse. Since it was only this spring that I couldn't get within 10 feet of him it is interesting to have him demanding attention. Anyway, there is no way I could afford to give all these guys expensive canned food. Once in a while as a treat I split up a small can, but it is a treat not a staple. Now there is a big range in size in this group from small six and seven pound cats up to the big feral and my almost as big Homer, who is neutered. Some of them stay outside all the time, some inside all the time. And the rest come and go as they like. Some are fat and some are thinner.
But, back to your question, how can I feed all of these guys and still manage to feed myself also? Besides buying dry food on sale at various places I buy at Walmart, when I can manage to get to one. The closest is 90 miles away. So I buy the 44 lb bag of Special Kitty outdoor cat food for about $24 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Special-...ategy=PWVAV&visitor_id=duL4pGpPlIrUCNHJvjAz1c and the 35 pound bag of Special Kitty Gourmet cat food for around $17. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Special-Kitty-Gourmet-Formula-Dry-Cat-Food-35-Lb/38026151.
That is 79 pounds of cat food for a little more than $40. (US) Then I do something really terrible -- I mix them together in a big food storage bin. The cats like the Gourmet formula better but mixed in together they eat the other one also with no complaint. It lasts for almost 2 months although I can't say for sure because I will mix in bags of other stuff if it starts getting low and something is on sale. They really like the Kit and Kaboodle food and it is often on sale but supposedly its not as good for them so I mix it in for the flavor and to fill in when I can't get to Walmart. There are others also. Our farm supply store has a generic food that looks ok from the label and the cats liked it also but I think they changed the formula because the last time I bought it the cats specifically didn't eat it. It got picked out and left in the dishes so no more off that one.
Anyway, if you do some research you find that a lot of brands are actually made by the same giant companies. They just change the names. " Special Kitty is made by The J.M. Smucker Company. This is the same company that makes 9Lives. We have previously reported that Walmart commissioned the Mars Corporation to create Special Kitty according to the standards for 9Lives and the two foods are virtually identical, except for the packaging." So it's cheap food that the cats like and nobody has died from it after many years. In fact they thrive on the stuff.
I give them as much as they want based on whatever is not eaten. They always get refiles twice a day. Because it is now cold outside the outside cats eat more and are less picky. Being out in the fresh air spikes their appetite. The smaller cats obviously eat less, almost half what the big feral eats. When it looks like one of them is getting thinner, and it does happen sometimes, I give them a better food with more calories until they fill back in. The current special one I am using for that is Diamond Naturals, which costs almost twice as much. And feeding a few separate from the others is a problem also but we manage.
My cats are fat, happy and healthy. they never get sick and except for ear-mites that are being persistent have no problems.
You could probably feed your five for less than $40 a month. There has been a bit of an ongoing controversy about the expensive foods verses the cheap foods. I don't know, I tend to think that getting plenty of low cost food in an all you can eat is a better choice than starving, hunting down your next meal. I also tend to think of the grocery store where you can buy the best steak for $16 a pound and up or the the cheap cuts on sale for $1.99. With a little marinade and seasoning the cheap cuts will give you just as much nutrition as the prime cuts. And on a limited budget will feed a lot more people. Oh, by the way, I was (am) a single dad who raised three kids on my own. We ate a lot of chuck, but nobody ever starved or went hungry.
 

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Just here to offer support and say you are very brave to post here and ask for help. There are a lot of people who let their ego get the best of them. And then there's also a lot of people who would rather intentionally neglect their pets rather than ask for help.

There is nothing wrong with rehoming (some) of your pets if that is done with their best interest in mind.
There is also nothing wrong with keeping your cats and doing the best you can with the means you have.

Both of those options are quite admirable, actually. I think for now you have decided to do the latter, and if I was in your situation that's probably also what I would have done. If then, after trying that, their quality of life was not up to my standards I would try to reduce the amount of cats in my care. But you're TRYING to make it work, first. Which is awesome.
 

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The most effective litter I have ever tried is Target's in-house Up & Up brand. They sell a fragrance-free clumping clay litter for $6.99/20 lbs. It has no smell, does not track around the house, and is low-dust. For an extremely effective litter, it is half the price of other comparable brands!

I tried Dr. Elsey's for a while, but it was not good as masking the smell and it was expensive.
 

siamesekitten

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As for healthy dry food, I use FirstMate Limited Ingredients Diet dry food (the blueberry chicken one). It is grain-free and I calculated the carb content to be as low as all the premium brands. Best of all, it is manufactured in Canada (higher manufacturer standards there). I used to use Orijen, but I switched to FirstMate when Orijen moved their factories to Kentucky and the production quality suffered.

My cat does not eat wet food, so I just make sure he has plenty of access to water. I buy from Chewy and it is $30/10 lbs. It is not the cheapest dry food out there, so an alternative could be feeding a cheaper dry food brand and supplementing with Fancy Feast Classics which are grain-free and affordable.
 

vyger

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The most effective litter I have ever tried is Target's in-house Up & Up brand. They sell a fragrance-free clumping clay litter for $6.99/20 lbs. It has no smell, does not track around the house, and is low-dust. For an extremely effective litter, it is half the price of other comparable brands!

I tried Dr. Elsey's for a while, but it was not good as masking the smell and it was expensive.
I will have to try that. I also go through a lot of litter. Only problem is that the closest Target store that I know of is 300 miles away.
 
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candicew

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So I still have not switched litters as I still have 1/2 bag of the wheat one but I was looking at the arm and Hammer one and thought that might be OK ? I did keep with their their grain free food, but the bigger bag to save money and also got lucky because it was 20 percent off today as the expiration is in March ! And then I switched from Royal Cain adult to Petsmart authority brand . And I'll still keep to one can of fancy feast a day and then we get Rosie two.
 
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