Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hey everybody -
Three weeks ago we lost our amazing tripawd boy to cancer. We highly suspect that the cause was a yet-to-be detected radon issue in the house (now mitigated), but would really like to up our game in terms of feeding our remaining cats -- to ward off cancer and other potential health issues.
I'm sure many here have done their homework, so I'd be super grateful to anyone who is inclined to share info or to know what you all are feeding your cats (tripawd or not). Cooking for them is not completely off the table, but I'm not a very enthusiastic cook for the humans 😄, so wondering what canned/packaged foods you all have found to be good.
Thanks so much!
Melissa - mom to tri-angel Jonesy and (only) four other felines
Melissa - mom to tri-angel Jonesy and (only) four other felines
Hi Melissa and crew. It's good to hear from you, even though I know you are missing that adorable Jonesy terribly. Did you ever find that special star henceforth known as the "best damn cat star" evvvver? ⭐⭐ It was such an honor to get to know that special boy💖
I'm no help on the food questions for cats, but just wanted to send out a viral hug
((((((((Hug)))))))
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Hi Melissa,
First off, sorry for your loss of Jonesy.
Second, I think we'd all like more info on your other cats, especially pics!
I just have two, and they are both finicky eaters (shocking, right?). What one likes, the other doesn't 
I settled on two middle-of-the-pack brands (as far as price and nutrition):
For wet food I buy Nulo (grain free
), and dry food I buy Simply Nourish (not grain free
, since neither will eat grain free
dry food).
There are two or three good websites that do cat food reviews, which I used to make my decision. I tried a few other brands before settling on these two.
Hope this helps.
Brad
Sally: You are so awesome. 😊I will have to keep an eye out tonight. Still some tears around here -- sometimes they just come out of nowhere -- but we're hanging in there.
Brad: Thanks for the condolences, too, and for the info on what you are feeding. I have had my eye on Nulo and actually picked up a few cans the other day.
I will happily comply with any pic requests...
This is Abbey. She is nine, and is a tiny tyrant -- a seven-pound alpha female and expert treat hunter. She is super sweet to the humans but keeps the cats in line.
April is Abbey's sister...and cousin. The foster said that Abbey and April have the same dad, and that their moms are sisters. 😬She is named after April on Parks and Rec. She loved Jonesy from day one and was always by his side. Seems to be doing okay, though. We wonder what she is thinking, re: his absence. She is also nine.
Meh-enz is our beefy tuxedo boy. He is super loving...until he decides he is done receiving love, at which point will hurl himself off of your lap, sometimes causing pain. He is also known to bogart all the food at feeding time. He gets lots of crap for aforementioned qualities, but is really a pretty good boy and a friend to all. He is eight.
Last but not least is Simon, also eight. He is such a good boy -- super sweet and wonderfully weird. He is tense and high strung, and likes belly rubs a lot, so we call him our dog.
We never intended to have such a huge crew. After our cat, Tosh, died in 2012, we got the girls, thinking that if Jonesy didn't take to them, they would have each other to play with, but they were a wonderful trio. The two boys were emergency rescues -- on the euthanasia list at a shelter around an hour south of us. They were only three months old, too. 😢We were supposed to be fostering them, but we were bad fosters.
We currently feed them Nature's Domain (repackaged Diamond) from Costco. It is grain free and the ingredients look pretty good, but we are open to something better, if we find it. For canned food, my husband has just been getting Friskies from Costco as well, which I don't approve of, so I have been trying some other brands and have looked out a bit for info. It's just hard to know what the best sources are.
Melissa - mom to tri-angel Jonesy and (only) four other felines
Hey it's so nice to hear from you, and to get the scoop on Abbey, April, Meh-enz and Simon. What a fun bunch! I'm sure they are all missing Jonesy in their own special ways.
You ask a great question! It's something that I know other people are interested in too so thank you for asking here. I'm no help choosing high quality cat food, but I do know that we all want to make sure that what we feed our pets is excellent stuff. It can be so confusing when you shop for pet food!
We have done a few posts about cat food and nutrition in the Tripawds Nutrition blog so you may want to check those links out.
Brad, what are the two websites you used?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Loce the pictures ofmyour kitty family💖 And with each having such unique and delightful personalities, you have your hands full. Thanks so much for shar them with us. Real smile making kitties😊
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Such beautiful photos! I am so sorry that you lost your 
kitty. So scary dealing with radon. My sister just bought a house that has to have a mitigation system for it. It's over 100 years old. They have a system in there now that detects the levels constantly.
We are now all on the Royal Canin prescription S/O diet because our Andy kitty cannot tolerate anything else without blocking. Even treats. Before that, I had them on Crave or Blue Buffalo Indoor Chicken Diet. I really like the Crave because so far to date I don't think they have ever been recalled. The ingredient list is really decent, the price is middle of the road, they like the flavor, and all of the reviews I have ever seen have been good. Blue Buffalo seems to be good quality too. The indoor dry is grain free and the cats seemed to like both foods without too many issues. We have feral cats outside (Phoebe's pride) that we feed the Purina all natural dry and Friskies canned pate. I used to feed my indoor kitties the Friskies pate if I couldn't get the Crave wet. Now that we have Chewy to order from it makes it easier than hunting down foods that the grocery and Petsmart run out of often.
Even today, I looked up the Crave before I posted this and they always have decent write ups. I am not sure there is a magical food that is perfect so you have to do the best you can with what you have to work with. https://www.the.....od-4150202
I have found many places that do cat and dog food reviews, and honestly I still think you still have to use your own judgement and look at the labels. Ultimately, wet food is supposed to be healthiest. We split it down the middle and give them kibble in the morning, and wet food mixed with some warm water in the evening and that works for us. I make sure they always have a fresh water supply, and I have a large ceramic bowl that only the cats can get to upstairs. That way if they prefer no dog drool... lol. They drink out of both bowls though. I did try just canned for a while, but Andy still blocked so changing foods in this house will be a no go for the rest of his life.
Good luck on your food hunt, and again I am so sorry for your loss of Jonesy.
Hugs,
Jackie and Huckleberry
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
I am not sure there is a magical food that is perfect so you have to do the best you can with what you have to work with.
Couldn't agree more Jackie! We have seen pets with the most expensive or home cooked, totally 100% organic diets, get diagnosed with cancer, and we've seen pets who eat Ol' Roy get cancer but live longer than others who eat more premium food. It's a crapshoot. Just do the best you can. Wise words!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi!! Thanks to Sally & Jerry for the nice words about our remaining kitties. They are definitely a fun and unique group! Even Meh-enz (I feel kind of stupid seeing his name spelled that way -- it's Mittens, but my husband insists on pronouncing and spelling it like that). 😆
It shouldn't surprise me, but even with this big crew, we are still missing Jonesy pretty acutely. I've been paying particular attention to the orangies who come up for adoption through the rescue I volunteer for, but need to resist the urge -- four is more than enough! And obviously there can be no other. I'm particularly concerned about the potential issues/expenses of having four elderly cats at the same time (let alone more), which is a big reason for wanting to take a harder look at what we are feeding.
Jackie - thanks for the condolences, too -- and for liking the photos. 😊 It's good to hear you have found exactly what works for Andy. 😊 Re: the radon, we have an electronic detector, so we're continually monitoring. So glad to know it is under control now, but what a nightmare. I'm glad your sister's issues are under control, too. Needless to say, I wish we had thought to check it a long time ago.
I really appreciate the info about the Crave brand and will give it a try. Thanks for the link, too! We have continued to feed the Nature's Domain kibble and have been trying Nulo and Whole Earth Farms canned food over the last week or so. The Nulo went over pretty well, but the WEF wasn't well-received by one of the three who partake. Tiny Abbey isn't a fan of canned food at all, but she loves the Churu packets that came with Joney's care package, so that was a nice discovery. 😊
Jackie said:
I am not sure there is a magical food that is perfect so you have to do the best you can with what you have to work with.
Jerry said:
Couldn't agree more Jackie! We have seen pets with the most expensive or home cooked, totally 100% organic diets, get diagnosed with cancer, and we've seen pets who eat Ol' Roy get cancer but live longer than others who eat more premium food. It's a crapshoot. Just do the best you can. Wise words!
Ol' Roy - had never heard of that one before -- had to look it up! 😆
I really needed to hear that. It's hard not to think of all that I wish I had done, but it's true -- sometimes things go south despite your best efforts. When I was growing up, our cats always ate store brand food, and most of them ended up having kidney failure. I wanted to do better for my own cats, so the the two predecessors to Jonesy ate Science Diet and Royal Canin (regular - for whatever life stages they were in). One died from complications of chylothorax and the other of lymphoma. They all (cats from my childhood and adulthood) seemed to go between ages 12-14. Was hoping Jonesy would be our first to go to 20 or beyond.
Melissa - mom to tri-angel Jonesy and (only) four other felines
Awww I'll bet you all miss Jonesy! Sweet kitty, you can tell just by pics that he had a big presence.
Meh-enz ... haha now I get it, too cute 
No need to feel silly at all around here!
For cat food, I think the closest brand to Ol' Roy would probably be Meow Mix or something like that. But you're so right, you can feed the best and still things happen and they leave us too soon. Do what works for the pride and your wallet, and know in your heart you're giving it your best. As much as we try, there are some things we have no control over. Live each day to the fullest and enjoy every bite!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
jerry said
Awww I'll bet you all miss Jonesy! Sweet kitty, you can tell just by pics that he had a big presence.
For sure! He really did have that certain something. 😌
Well said, re: the food. We'll keep doing our homework and I'm sure we'll find something they like and that we feel good about -- and try not to overthink it too much.
Further suggestions are still welcome! 😊
Melissa - mom to tri-angel Jonesy and (only) four other felines
Howdy Melissa and cat gang!
Before my cat's cancer diagnosis, I was feeding her food I would find at Petco/Petsmart. The doctors couldn't find a real cause for the cancer, so I wanted to eliminate any possibilities. I first dug deep into the pet food industry and (lack of) regulations and was horrified. I highly recommend visiting truthaboutpetfood.com. Susan Thixton, who is behind the website and a pet food safety advocate, has compiled a "List" of pet foods she would trust to feed her own pets.
"Each company on the 2021 List has provided me verification documents to prove all food ingredients are human grade. This verification includes invoices, certificates of analysis, and letters of guarantee from suppliers. As well, companies provide verification documents for organic ingredients and meats sourced from humanely raised animals."
I used this list to find my cat's current food, Open Farm. My cat also has several allergies including potato so their recipes have been a life saver. I wanted to do anything possible to make sure my fur baby is as healthy as she can be. I hope you're able to find something that works for the family 
~ Vanessa + Mew ~
Great suggestions @bluemoon, thank you! I subscribe to Susan's newsletter. That woman has a real passion for helping pet parents understand the pet food industry and how to feed healthier.
Open Farm is a new food to me, thanks for the recommendation. Glad it's working.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hey - sorry not to have seen this earlier. Forgot to hit subscribe! I really appreciate the recommendation, Vanessa. 😊 Checked out the Open Farm website and it looks like I can pick the food up locally, which is always nice. I will check out the truth about pet food site, too.
Thanks so much!
Melissa - mom to tri-angel Jonesy and (only) four other felines
Yay! Glad the info is useful, let us know what works!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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