I am due to get a Blue Burmese cat half way through July. He will be 4 and a half months old. Someone told me that Milk makes them really sick but i thought cats drank milk!!!! :help: Also, if you have any general advice that would be great.:thumbsup:

Start as you mean to go on.

Give him a dried "complete" food with water always available.
Kitten versions are available and then move on to adult.

I would recommend 'Iams'.

So do you think it is best that I keep him away from Milk?

Originally posted by pussym
So do you think it is best that I keep him away from Milk?
its best to buy cats the special cats milk as normal cows milk has loctose in it and this can cause upset tummys..

Ah, so it is just cows milk that upsets their tummy? :thumbsup:

Cats are usually lactose-intolerant.

If he fancies something, give him 'cat milk'.

IAMS is available in a variety of versions, from kitten to OAP, so if you use it get the right version, put plenty of water around and feed accoridng to the instructions.

If the kittens are used to softer foods you may need to wean them on to IAMS or similar solid foods gradually. The digestive tract handles dry food differently and you don't want a constipated cat.

Jarvis, one of the fur-family here at The Towers, is half Burmese and he is the most vocal cat I've ever had. Just be prepared for that.... :) The 'oriental' cats are usually more highly strung than the 'flat faced' domestic cats, again worth bearing in mind. Kizzy (other fur-family member here) is as laid back as they come, but Jarvis can frequently exhibit 'seeing martian' type bahaviours at the drop of a hat!!

Get his vaccination certificate and if appropriate consult your vet to see what he should have. Typically FIE, Cat Flu, FeLV and increasingly nowadays the FIV vaccine.

Good Luck!

Joe

Originally posted by pussym
Ah, so it is just cows milk that upsets their tummy? :thumbsup:

If 'upsets their tummy' is a euphemism for 'sickness and the runs', yep!! :)

Joe

With regard to the 'cat milk' my Smudge loves it, Whiskas do a 'cat milk' but I only give it Smudge as a treat because it's between 50 and 60 pence per bottle, and it's about two servings per bottle.

Water is best and like it has already been said, it should be available all the time, dried food is better as it can sit in the bowl longer than cat 'meat'. but this dried biscuit food (which incidentally, my cats have) can make them very thirsty. So clean drinking water should always be available.

The Whiskas cat milk can be bought in most supermarkets - somerfield it's about 60 odd pence, tesco it's 57p I think.

Good luck! post piccies when you get your pussy!

First of all I'd suggest you buy a book about the breed, this is a good start to keeping any animal. I thought milk wasn't ideal for adult cats and that the cat milks are better. My cats were never bothered about any milk and they don't need it anyway.

I feed a mixture of different dry foods they are higher in quality and nutrition than the tinned watered down foods, Royal Canin is one of the better makes along with Iams and Purina. Make sure plenty of water is left down with dry food, as someone else mentioned. Some 'wet' food is nice for a change for your cat. Also a good strong sisal scratching post is a must for your moggy. Good luck.

We've got a Burmese cat he's almost 9 years old now! hes always been fed the dried Iams food and lots of water available. we dont feed him milk or any other type of food as it makes his tummy upset.

He's the most laid back cat you will ever meet strangly named Valentino..... dont ask!

Can I just interject here? -

IAMS petfood manufacturers are well known vivisectionists and have been repeatedly discovered to have conducted needless experiments, as well as a bad record on general animal welfare in their labs.

I can't comment on other manufacturers, but the IAMS/vivisection link was brought to my attention, and we switched.

I'm just waiting to find out that Tescos are also arch vivisectionists, at which point I am going to have to start cooking for my cat.....

From the campaign website: IAMSKills.com

Iams/Eukanuba has been using dogs and cats in highly invasive experiments that subjected them to major surgeries and implanted them with tubes and other apparatus throughout their bodies. All of the experiments described below have been published in recent journals of veterinary research, most within the past three years.

One cruel experiment to study the effect of extreme weight fluctuations on the liver forced 24 cats to become obese by feeding them a high-calorie diet immediately after being spayed. Once obese, these cats were then starved for 7 to 8 weeks on a diet containing only 25% of the calories needed for maintenance, in order to induce drastic weight loss. The rapid, extreme weight loss forced 3 of the cats to develop hepatic lipidosis, a devastating disease that is difficult to treat and often fatal. No mention is made about the ultimate fate of the surviving cats. (1)

In another study to look at diet and allergies, 14 newborn puppies were manipulated with injections to develop allergens to various food ingredients. When the dogs were later placed on diets containing the allergen, they lost weight, developed moderate to severe diarrhea, hair loss and itching. Twice during the experiment, the dogs had solutions of the allergy- causing ingredient injected into the lining of the stomach while under anesthesia. These dogs will remain allergic for the rest of their lives. (2)

One cruel experiment to study the effect of extreme weight fluctuations on the liver forced cats to become obese by feeding them a high-calorie diet immediately after being spayed. Upon becoming obese, the same cats were then starved for 7 to 8 weeks on a diet containing only 25% of the required calories in order to induce drastic weight loss. The extreme weight fluctuations forced the cats to undergo hepatic lipidosis, a devastating disease that is not easily cured. No mention is made about the ultimate fate of these cats. (3)

A 1998 experiment sponsored by Iams killed 18 young Great Danes to study the effect of diet on bone density. The dogs had been placed on diets with varying amounts of calcium and phosphorus and were later killed so that their bones could be removed and analyzed. (4)

To study fiber in the diet, cats were subjected to surgeries that opened their abdominal cavities and flushed out the contents of the intestines. At the end of the experiment, all 28 cats used in the study had the entire large intestine removed. The study does not state the final fate of these cats. (5)

In fact, most of these experiments do not address what happens to the animals after the experiments. Animals with complex medical problems, missing large sections of their intestines, or forced to develop chronic allergies, are all manipulated to endure a life of disability and suffering.
References

[1] Ibriham, WH, Szabo, J, Sunvold, GD, et al, Effect of dietary protein quality and fatty acid composition on plasma lipoprotein concentrations and hepatic triglyceride fatty acid synthesis in obese cats undergoing rapid weight loss, Amer J Vet Res 2000; 6(5):556-572.

[2] Hayek, M.G., Hypersensitivity reactions to dietary antigens in atopic dogs. Proceedings of 2000 Iams Nutrition Symposium

[3] Ibriham, Szabo, Sunvold, Kelleher, Bruckner, "Effect of dietary protein quality and fatty acid composition on plasma lipoprotein concentrations and hepatic triglyceride fatty acid synthesis in obese cats undergoing rapid weight loss," AJVR, Vol. 61, Iams)5:556-572 (2000)

[4] Crenshaw, Budde, Lauten, Lepine, Nutritional Effects on Bone Strength in the Growing Canine, 1998 Iams Nutrition Symposium.

[5] Bueno, Cappel, Sunvold, Reinhart, Clemen, "Feline Colonic Morphology and Mucosal Tissue Energetics as Influenced via Sources of Dietary Fiber," Nutrition Research, Vol. 20, 7:985-993 (2000).