hiya,

i'm still yet to try them, as i'm going to a show on saturday & intend to pick the products up there.

i did find "simple solution" on the pets at home website, but i'm not sure about "feliway"...i was going to check the show out first hopefully for slightly cheaper prices. you can order them online though...have a little search.

i noticed meemonkey also mentioned "simple solution" in his post on this thread, maybe he could let us know if his experiences using it have been successful

Thanks Hun, I had a look on eBay Feliway seems a bit expensive.

I've had a small success tonight, Indy went in the Litter Tray with the lid off but took the foil I had used to cover the cat tree base to cover his poo

I had been playing with him for 30 mins prior to the poo so not sure if maybe he just felt more relaxed. OH said maybe he doesn't know how to use litter so used the foil to cover it? Any ideas on this strange technique?

I've also noticed that he has runny poo what can I do to make that stop? I read the forums and checked his food he doesn't have anything with grain, egg or gluten in the ingredients. He has Tesco Cat Foot and Go Cat Kitten biscuits. Any ideas?

Sorry if I sound like an idiot but I don't know much as Indiana and Moshi are my first Bengals and already I feel like I am doing a bad job

lol, the fact that you are concerned about their behaviour means you are doing a grand job.
if the food is what he is used to, he shouldnt have any probs with it, just keep an eye on toilet habbits if you can & see if it continues. the occasional runny poo isnt too much of a concern but it is if its continuous.
mine tend to use the trays with no problems, they just like to mark elsewhere aswell.
i'll let you know after i get the products & see how they do

Thanks Hun I appreciated it

Meemonkey how did you get on with simple solution?

Yes, probably removing the cat tree completey for the time being and putting a litter tray in it's place would be the best idea.

I've found simple solution to be the best available ezyme cleaner for pets in the uk, I've had good results with another brand which had a much nicer scent but you'd have to mail-order that from the states. Buying simple solution from pets at home gets quite expensive, but if you only need it for a temporary situation with a pet then its not so bad.....You'd only save about a pound at a show so pets at home would be the best option for you really.

I do think it should be used in conjunction with other methods just to kinda hedge your bets - i.e moving trays around to problem areas, increasing number of trays, etc etc

Even try putting a small bit of litter with his scent on it in a clean tray to encourage him to use it!

On the subject of Feliway - Personally I don't rate it at all, although others I know use it to great effect. Maybe my cats just can't be fooled so easily, one girl even decided to spray the diffuser....I guess thats what she thought of the calming pheromones!

If you do plan to try the feliway then avoid buying from your local vetenary clinic, our vets wanted £36 for one diffuser.....I bought two off ebay for £32!

oh good grief!
that sounds like just the sort of thing my willow would do lil minx!! lol.
i'll start with the simple solution & see how that goes, i don't mind the scent...everything lemony i've tried hasn't worked...i can sacrifice a pretty smell for a success lol, anything's gotta beat eau-de-queen.

I just had a talk with my vet yesterday about food. I've been feeding mine grain-free food to firm up Mikesch's soft stool, but my other cat gets constipated on it, so I'll have some trial and error coming up to find out what food they can both tolerate. I brought some cans to the vet and asked for his opinion. His favorite of my choices was Pet Promise, but I'm not sure whether you can get that in the UK. It's not grain-free (contains rice), but has no wheat/corn/soy or any glutens or protein concentrates. I bought it because it is made with hormone/antibiotics-free meat, contains no animal by-products, no rendered fats or meat meals, and no artificial supplements like colors, flavors or preservatives. It is low on fiber, so I might have to mix some psyllium into the portion for my easily constipated cat.

Ash content (aka minerals and other non-combustibles) in cat foods seems to be tricky and not necessarily an indicator for good or bad quality when taken on its own. Low ash foods for example might indicate a lack of meat protein as meat has a certain minimal ash content that you can only reduce by substituting plant protein instead of meat. Plant proteins are usually less digestible for cats and might be nutritionally inferior (an indication would be if a plant such as corn or rice is listed as top ingredient and the food has added amino acids to make up for deficiencies). Very high ash content on the other hand indicates poor quality animal protein sources, such as rendered meat and bone meals full of nasty chemicals that have been heat-processed, dried and concentrated to the point that they lose their nutritional value and accumulate toxic substances. I have yet to find out if there are any clear recommendations for an optimal ash content (and this might differ from cat to cat), but I found a paper that lists nutrient composition of whole vertebrate prey (used for zoo animals) including ash. Typical prey animals for small cats (e.g. mice, rats, squirrels, birds) seem to be in the range of 5-12% ash dry matter (corresponds to 1.25-3% for canned food, 4.5-11% for dry food). So that's what I'm looking for in terms of ash content on the foods I buy.

And while I'm already mentioning that paper, here's what I got from it looking at the typical composition of a cat's natural prey:

- about 75% water
- about 25% dry matter including:
-- 35-45% protein (some up to 60%)
-- 15-40% fat (typically around 20%)
-- 5-12% ash (typically 5-8%)
-- 3-8% carbohydrates (typically 3-5%)

Translating this into cat food, it means a canned food of the following composition is the closest match to a cat's natural prey:

- 75% moisture
- 8.75-15% protein (ideally from an animal source)
- 3.75-10% fat (ideally from an animal source)
- 1.25-3% ash
- 0.75-2% carbohydrates

Also, a typical prey (e.g. mouse, small bird) would be about 1-2 ounces in weight, so cats rarely eat more than that in one feeding as their stomachs aren't made for stuffing themselves like a dog does. Instead, they eat several smaller meals throughout the day to get their fill.

If you feed primarily dry food, you have to make sure your cats drink a lot. This is usually not a problem with water-loving bengals, but my non-bengal Binky is a rather reluctant drinker. My vet said cats prefer cold water and recommended adding ice cubes to the water bowl every now and then to get him interested in drinking.