Saturday, I had a lady named Ingrid from Fundamentally Feline come to my house to give me advice on the 3 boys and the struggles I've been having. Her insights were very eye opening!
First, she said that I was not feeding them enough. She advocates free-feeding canned food and giving dry in foraging toys. (I can say that I started this immediately and I've already noticed an improvement in Calvin!)
Second, she wants me to get a urinalysis done on all 3 to ensure there are no physical/medical issues. If there are any levels that are off, she wants them to go on a prescription diet. (I've been against Science Diet/Royal Canin in the past, but she makes several good points about it - mainly that the majority of issues that she has seen over her many years of doing her work have been tied in to urinary issues. The SD/RC diets are supposed to be scientifically formulated to keep those from occurring.) Then once the urinalysis is done, it will decide what foods to feed them - Rx or if I can continue with the Wellness (I'm hoping I can keep them on that since they do well on it.)
Next, I have to tackle the outdoor cat problem. I'm going to look in to some ultrasonic deterrents for the yard and she suggested covering the bottom part of the windows and when I feel that it is safer, I can start giving them back their view. Between that and cleaning up all the pee spots, that hopefully will eliminate the spraying.
One thing she said to me regarding food I admit I had not thought of. She said that we're so worried about by products in our pet foods. That's something that as humans we need to worry about because of our longer life span. But because our pets live just a fraction of the length we do, we should focus on the problems that cats DO present with instead of worrying about things that MIGHT present.
There are so many more things she suggested, but it's hard to remember them all without looking at the notes I took. I'm really glad I got her to come down. I have said several times that despite having cats all my life, I learned so much in such a short time that I am getting excited to try and implement new things!
This is a pic from this morning - all 3 boys dozing on the bed while I got ready for work. (You can BARELY see Sable, since he decided to lay on my hoodie I set down.)
First, she said that I was not feeding them enough. She advocates free-feeding canned food and giving dry in foraging toys. (I can say that I started this immediately and I've already noticed an improvement in Calvin!)
Second, she wants me to get a urinalysis done on all 3 to ensure there are no physical/medical issues. If there are any levels that are off, she wants them to go on a prescription diet. (I've been against Science Diet/Royal Canin in the past, but she makes several good points about it - mainly that the majority of issues that she has seen over her many years of doing her work have been tied in to urinary issues. The SD/RC diets are supposed to be scientifically formulated to keep those from occurring.) Then once the urinalysis is done, it will decide what foods to feed them - Rx or if I can continue with the Wellness (I'm hoping I can keep them on that since they do well on it.)
Next, I have to tackle the outdoor cat problem. I'm going to look in to some ultrasonic deterrents for the yard and she suggested covering the bottom part of the windows and when I feel that it is safer, I can start giving them back their view. Between that and cleaning up all the pee spots, that hopefully will eliminate the spraying.
One thing she said to me regarding food I admit I had not thought of. She said that we're so worried about by products in our pet foods. That's something that as humans we need to worry about because of our longer life span. But because our pets live just a fraction of the length we do, we should focus on the problems that cats DO present with instead of worrying about things that MIGHT present.
There are so many more things she suggested, but it's hard to remember them all without looking at the notes I took. I'm really glad I got her to come down. I have said several times that despite having cats all my life, I learned so much in such a short time that I am getting excited to try and implement new things!
This is a pic from this morning - all 3 boys dozing on the bed while I got ready for work. (You can BARELY see Sable, since he decided to lay on my hoodie I set down.)
