Hello everyone it's been quite some time since I've been here, but I came because I am hopeful someone with knowledge and experience can help me out.

My male bengal boys, Link and Loki, are now over the age of one, and since I adopted them I have always tried to make healthy and informed diet decisions for them. For example,

they have always been on the NOW Fresh kibble by Petcurean which is a high quality grain free kibble. In addition to this I used to feed raw de-boned chicken. However on my first visit to the vets the vet told me although meat is a great part of a felines diet, raw is too dangerous as they could become carriers of salmonella and infect me or my family... Naturally I became concerned, so I started to boil their chicken, and for the most part everything went well for a while.

They always did enjoy their NOW kibble, but as they got older they became more picky and I guess bored with it.
They also used to eat Grain-free cat food, which is also a holistic food for their wet diet, but the company changed their label and some ingredients around, and the boys would not have it, and altogether boycotted the company.

I started to become frustrated because all they wanted was boiled chicken, of course I WISH they could eat that at every meal, but even I cannot afford to eat chicken every meal 365 days a year. They can have it for one meal a day but I stopped mixing boiled chicken with their Kibbles to create more variety. So to get them more excited about meal time I turned to tuna... and I know what you are all thinking, no no no Tina!

You see I didn't know tuna was so so bad for kitties, and then someone told me it wasn't healthy, and I went straight home and I read online why, and became very upset with what I read. All along I was thinking if humans can eat it so can my kitties, after all it was not cat tuna, it was human grade tuna.

I have been feeding it for about 3 months now, but only half a can each for 1 of their meals a day... Now I am so scared I my boys may be prone to developing yellow fat or kidney problems, something I have been so careful about avoiding since day one!

On top of all this, my boys enjoy green beans and peas, and sometimes I cook that with their boiled chicken so they would have some fibre and extra vitamins, but then I Googled that as well, and those TOO are not helathy as a steady diet!
People online were saying peas and green beans have an outer skin that is hard for kitties to digest properly..

Now I am so worried and confused, here I was thinking I am being a responsible and informed caregiver and now I feel terrible. They are very picky eaters maybe even spoiled, but I have no idea what to feed them now.

Raw or not?
Peas/green beans or No?
Other vegetables, or no vegetables at all?
Other meats or only chicken?
High quality cat food only?
so you see my confusion....

What should I do? Please anyone with advice would help us a lot!

Everyone should know, Link and Loki are not sick or showing symptoms of any sort! Thank goodness, I just want to avoid any vet visits so their diet must be improved/changed ASAP!

Thank you, I apologize for the long story.
Tina

I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I think if anything you are not nearly worried enough about what you have been feeding your cats. Because yes, salmonella and yellow fat are two things that could happen, but unless you have been adding the right amount of taurine you cats could go blind, and unless you have been supplementing the proper amount of bone meal, and internal organs, and other vitamins your cats can develop other serious problems.

You need to do one of two things:

1. Do a serious study of feline nutrition and understand what they need and just as important in what proportions and make all the food yourself. There are stickies in the nutrition section of this forum that are a good starting point, but I and others can point you in other directions if this is the route you want to go.

2. Get out of the home cat food manufacturing business (which is essentially what you are doing now, haphazardly) and find some nutritionally complete commercial foods that your cats will enjoy.

Honestly, it's not near as simple as whether to feed your cat peas, or whether to feed raw (when people talk about "raw", it is actually less about whether or not the food is cooked or not, and more about making nutritionally complete food with high quality ingredients at home, it's just that they generally choose not to cook it), or whether to feed tuna or other meats, because the answer to all those questions is yes *IF* you do it properly. And that requires a lot of effort and learning on your part.

My suggestion is that you go out to your local pet store, and come back with a bunch of different canned (or nutritionally complete commercial raw mixes) cat foods (brands and flavors) that are going to be the closest thing to what you've been feeding your cats, and see if any of them strike your cats' fancy. I'm not sure where you are but here in the States things like Weruva, Tiki Cat, Earthborn Hollistic, Against The Grain, and others that are not "pate style", and feature basically chunks of meat, in a nutritionally complete mix, will give you the best chance of success. And if your cats don't like those keep trying other brands and flavors until you find something that works, and stick to that. In the meantime, the "ala carte" things you are giving them need to stop for the most part. It is ok to give occasional treats, but that shouldn't make up more than 10% (or less) of their diet. Not to mention giving them really bad eating habits. It's kind of like a mother feeding their kids potato chips and hamburgers for every meal.

If you are interested in learning at least the high level "quick and dirty" overview of what to feed your cat and why, I recommend this book:

http://smile.amazon.com/What-Cats-Shoul ... t+cats+eat

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The little monsters 3

Thank you brianj12 for your reply,

I would love to be able to properly know how to construct a diet of raw foods and how to properly measure how many vitamins calories and protein they need for a balanced meal, but I am a student in University and don't have the time or money to properly purchase all the ingredients and prepare food like that.

That is why I thought boiling chicken was fulfilling their dietary needs, for the most part.. guess I'm not so very informed.
But I am happy that at least I have always been purchasing holistic grain free high quality kibble, and I have tried many different can foods of the same quality level in hopes that they would find one yummy. Still no luck, which is why I turned to tuna and chicken because I wanted them to still eat wet food since they were not liking any cans.

But no more spoiling them, I will have to give them tough love and leave the can food in their dish, and if they turn their noses away and refuse to eat, eventually I hope when hunger hits them they will give it a chance.. It just worries me when I don't see them eating and walking away.

I will look to try a few more can food brands to insure they have a balanced meal and proper nutrition for all their bodily functions.

As for the peas, green beans, and chicken, I will still give it to them on occasion as a special treat, maybe once every few weeks. But no longer will I be making meals like that everyday.

Tuna will be completely out of their diet for a while. I don't want to take any risks.

Thank you,
Tina

I don't know that tuna is complete forbidden, I never feed it to my cats ala carte, but many well thought of cat food manufacturers feature flavors that include tuna. I wouldn't make it a staple, but I put some cat foods that feature tuna in my cat's "rotation". One of my bengal Serafina's favorite foods is Tiki Cat Hookena Luau, which is literally pieces of shredded chicken with some tuna added, in a sauce. It almost looks good enough to eat for humans

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The little monsters 3

Tina,

Another good overview of feline nutrition and health can be found here:
http://www.catinfo.org/

The information I've found here is the basis by which I feed my kitties. Hope this helps.

Mooch