Indoor Cat Food Recommendations

Heroditas · 05-01-2011 11:22am #1

Right, I've had enough and am reaching breaking point regarding this.
As many of you know, we have three indoor cats.
We currently feed them Friskies dry food in the morning and at night and then they get two Felix pouches between them at dinner time.
They're not overfed but there will b a rebellion if muggins here has to continue to clean out their litter. It stinks to high heaven. I'm starting to feel like Gillian (let's have a smell of your poo) McKeith but without the avid enthusiasm.

As a result, we are going to move them over to proper indoor food - both dry and wet. It'll probably cost an arm and a leg but it's gotta be done.

Even thinking about the litter tray now......

hadook · 05-01-2011 11:35am

I've been using Royal Canin Digestive for the last few months (switched from Indoor & Light as we have a cat with a very sensitive stomach) and the litter tray smells have dropped significantly again. My cats have pretty much always eaten RC but I'm especially impressed with the Digestive.

I don't feed wet cat food often but they get fresh chicken etc (nuked to kill the bacteria), cooked meat & other scraps.

The Sweeper · 05-01-2011 11:48am

Royal canin dry, plus raw meat (whatever's cheap cut into strips to encourage chewing), plus a pouch or tub or tin of whatever is available is what I feed here. Days where breakfast is RC biscuits and dinner is, for instance, long thin strips of beef shin - litter trays are as inoffensive as a litter tray is likely to ever get.

Shanao · 05-01-2011 11:56am

Would definitely reccommend RC, though even when I put my guys on it, it was a while before I found one that suited them. One used to have very bad gas on the RC indoor and indoor longhair (farting cat is not fun, especially as the little bastard used to jump up on the desk, turn his butt to you when you rubbed him, and then fart, fecker) and then when I was told that one cat's teeth would have to be cleaned, i moved them onto the Maine Coon specific food. It's made a huge difference. No more smells, litter box is much easier to clean out and the one with the problem with his teeth has to chew it to eat it and its cleaned his teeth as well. I dont feed any wet food as my guys drink plenty of water, but I do give them a small bit of lambs liver every now and again.

morgana · 05-01-2011 12:56pm

Ours have been on the Husse dried food for about 2 years now
http://www.husse.ie/home/
which they like and our vet always remarks on how healthy they are and how shiny and soft their fur is :P
If you buy the 7 kg bag delivery is free (very handy, you don't have to lug heavy bags around) and I've found their service excellent and very friendly indeed.
We tried the Husse pouches but they weren't a hit; they get about 2 pouches a day (brands vary as one day it is the best stuff ever and the next day the same is absolutely yuk, but Aldi's gravy variety is mostly accepted :P) to supplement the dried food.
And they supplement with mice if the food on offer becomes too unacceptable :P
I cannot attest to poo odour as they do their business outside unless the weather is too wet or cold, and then it seems bearable ^^

Sundew · 05-01-2011 1:18pm

I use Royal Canine "Exigent 35/30 - Savor Sensation"
http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/my_pet/cat_products/feline_health_nutrition/exigent.aspx

I hasten to add my 1 year old kitty is NOT a fussy eater in the least but we had a lots of toilet issues, similar to yours. We had him 2/3 different types (including another Royal Canine and James Well Beloved).
The "Exigent Savor Sensation" was the one that settled our kitty's toilet motions. Nice solid and sweet smelling deposits unlike the previous foul gifts he left for us

We don't use any wet food at all and it works for us.

Heroditas · 05-01-2011 1:24pm

Folks, thanks a million for the advice.
We occasionally gave two of the horrors some mince when they were very young but it didn't seem to agree with them, probably because they were too small at that stage.
I'll try one of those indoor brands and also give them some mince and see how they get on.
Maybe we might still give them the pouches every second day or so. I always find that they stink most after they have the Felix beef pouch. Must be the aditives and preservatives in that one. They're never asbad after the salmon or tuna ones.
Actually - tinned tuna ... that might be worth a shot!

MaryK666 · 05-01-2011 1:37pm

Heroditas wrote: »

They're not overfed but there will b a rebellion if muggins here has to continue to clean out their litter. It stinks to high heaven. I'm starting to feel like Gillian (let's have a smell of your poo) McKeith but without the avid enthusiasm.
As a result, we are going to move them over to proper indoor food - both dry and wet. It'll probably cost an arm and a leg but it's gotta be done.

Even thinking about the litter tray now......

We used to have the same problem with our original two but we switched them to a dry food only diet, and we free feed, with incredible results. We now feed a mixture of Orijen and Royal Canin Light 40 mixed in equal proportions and we've finally gotten rid of that stomach churning stench. We put them on Orijen alone initially and the vet was amazed at the improvement in their eyes, coats and their general health. The only problem was when they began to pile on the weight as they are so lazy, they'd ask to be carried to the litter trays if they could :rolleyes:
That was when we switched over to a 50/50 mix and although they haven't lost a huge amount of weight, they're not getting any bigger. They still get things like small portions of cooked chicken as an occasional treat but they're thriving on the dry mix. Of course they still beg for food like starving orphans but it's out of greed and not hunger.

When we took the rescue kittens in recently, we struggled to find something that agreed with their digestive systems so in order to stop the runny poo, our vet suggested putting them on Science plan dry kitten food supplemented by pouches of Science plan wet kitten food. They're now 15 and 14 weeks respectively and although the stools are now solid, the smell continues.
As a result, we're weaning them off the pouches and continuing to free feed the dry food.
They're now down to one pouch between them in the morning and one at night. It helps that they're still in quarantine in the back bdroom while receiving their ringworm treatment but I'll be cutting the wet food down over the next week or two and getting them off it completely before they're back to being out with the others.
I'm not holding out much hope of the smell disappearing while they're on the Science plan food but I'll be adding some of the older cats mixed food to their dry stuff as they get a bit older with a view to having them all on the same diet by the time they're a year old.

I bulk buy the Orijen and the Royal Canin Light from zooplus and it works out a lot cheaper than any of the other foods ever did. They're happy, healthy kitties and, best of all, I can clean out the litter trays without retching

Zapperzy · 05-01-2011 2:37pm

Im immune to litter box smells anyways so my opinion probably isin't very useful!

I feed about 50:50 wet:dry, I use james wellbeloved dry food and bozita wet food, I never notice any foul smells but when I ran out of food and was awaiting a delivery I had to use whiskas for about a week and I definitely noticed a difference in smells then! My cats also an indoor cat and I don't feed a specific indoor food, I just cut down on the amount I give her.
I didn't think indoor specific food reduced smells, I thought it was just low energy to compensate for reduced activity?

dan_d · 05-01-2011 7:02pm

I was right where you are a couple of months ago OP.

I adopted 2 cats from the pound - about a year old. I was feeding them mainly Felix pouches. And I could not handle the litter tray. At all. THe oH tended to vanish at cleaning time! Cleaning it was gross, and if they used it while there was anyone in the room with them (us or guests!), it was a vomit-inducing smell. To say nothing of the fact that it seemed to cause a certain........flatulence.... in one of them, that could also clear a room!!!!!!:eek::eek:

Anyway, I've put mine on Royal Canin aswell.They drink water, not milk, which also helps. They are outdoor cats, btw, but the litter tray is there as they stay in at night. Every couple of days I give them half a Felix pouch each, but all their other meals are dry food, and there have been absolutely no objections at all (they eat like they've never seen food before!).

The litter tray has HUGELY improved, as has the smell.And the flatulence is a thing of the past!!;)

The Sweeper · 05-01-2011 10:08pm

Regarding feeding an all-dry diet, I know that dry food is advertised as a complete food.

However, the link between all-dry food and painful bladder syndrome is too persistent so I would never feed my cats all dry.

There has been little proper scientific research on this, because it's a relatively new phenomenon and subsequently it takes an age to get a control group in place to conduct properly done research. However, the anecdotal evidence is strong and recurring and to be honest it depends what vet you speak to. Large animal vets may tell you dry food is fine. A general practice small animal vet may tell you dry food is fine. But find a vet who works with catteries or cat shelters and you'll get a different story.

When you start dealing with a large volume of cats, you start to see more and more problems - cystitis, struvite and oxalate crystals in the bladder, urethral blockages resulting in emergency catheterisation, surgical widening of the end of the urethra (by cutting off the tip - ouch!) to try and make an opening for the stones to prevent them blocking the urethra, reduced kidney function, permanent kidney damage, renal failure and death.

There is a strong possibility that there are contributory factors - early neutering can lead to a narrow urethra. High stress environments can give rise to anxious cats who then suffer bladder inflammation and cystitis. Put an anxious cat who was neutered early into a stressful household (say with other animals, a new baby, or high-noise through traffic if the cat is nervous of people) and feed him nothing but dry food and I wouldn't be surprised to see you have problems with struvite and oxalate crystals and urethral blockage.

Cats who've had bladder problems need to be accommodated or the condition can become either acute, threatening the cat's life, or chronic, meaning you're constantly dealing with cystitis or painful bladder syndrome.

Ways around painful bladder syndrome include feeding wet food and using water fountains to encourage more drinking - but of course we all know wet food is terrible for the teeth.

My way around it is to feed dry food as one half, or less, of the cats' daily nutritional intake. The other half is made up of raw food and wet food - so chunks and strips of raw beef, lamb or chicken, or chicken legs on the bone to encourage gnawing, and also commercial tins, trays and pouches.

Two of my cats are brother and sister. Both were neutered young, both have a tendancy to anxiety. Both have suffered cystitis - the male more than the female. I started to run Feliway diffusers in the cat room where they sleep overnight, I already have drinkwell fountains, and I stuck to the feeding regime of half dry, other half wet or raw. I also stick to good quality kibble with protein as the first ingredient and preferably the first and second ingredients - some of the royal canin brands allow me to do that.

My mother in law adopted the third kitten from the same litter - a fella identical in size and shape to my brown spotted tabby, but her cat is jet black. He also lives in a multi-cat household, and is an anxious cat. She could never get him to eat anything except Hills Science Diet original dry food, so he's always been on an all-dry diet. She bought a drinkwell fountain but just used bowls of water for a long time before that. She wasn't using Feliway diffusers.

In both households the cats are non-roaming indoor cats, but mine get daily access to my enclosed yard - about three to four hours a day on weekdays, seven or eight hours a day on weekends if I'm home and in the garden. Her cats don't get outdoor access because she's on acreage and has no boundary to fence, and hasn't built a cat run.

These cats are not even three years old - they were two years old on 1st September 2010.

Last year, my mother in law had to take her guy at the vets a thousand dollars of emergency procedures including emergency catheterisation, blood tests for kidney function - his urethra was totally blocked and he was in danger of dying, urinalysis, so on. He's now on Hills c/d - a prescription diet for bladder problems - for the rest of his life. It's an expensive food, and because she's got a multi-cat household she has to have all three cats on it because it's impossible to police cats to ensure they're only eating their own food. He can never have any other food because he has permanent kidney damage. He's also on kitty valium to try and take the edge off his anxiousness and prevent further bladder inflammation.

The shelter I work with currently has three cats up for adoption with the same lifetime dietary requirements - medication and special food due to bladder and kidney problems. We've seen many, many more. A google search on painful bladder syndrome in cats, and struvite and oxalate crystals in cats, will drop a tidal wave of information on you, with people who have the same issues with their cats.

Litter trays or not, I wouldn't move to all dry - keep mixing and matching until you find something that works for you and for your cats, read the ingredients on packets, and see if you can bulk order food over the internet to save you money.

Heroditas · 06-01-2011 12:13am

Sweeper, thanks a million for all the advice and information.
I'm not very happy with the idea of an all-dry diet either. It just doesn't seem right.

I'll definitely change the brand of dry food they are on to an indoor one and need to perhaps cut down on the amount of pouches they have and look at perhaps tins of tuna or some mince every now and again for their dinner.

Thanks again folks.

The Sweeper · 06-01-2011 1:43am

Be careful of tinned tuna too - it's fine occasionally as a treat, but it's not catfood and doesn't contain the right balance of what the cat needs. Too much oily fish can cause pansteatitis (yellow fat disease) in cats.

Heroditas · 11-01-2011 11:37pm

OK so we changed their dry food to Iams indoor food and although I was afraid they'd turn their noses up at it, they absolutely adore it.
Also, we still give them the Felix pouches but not the beef one because that seems to cause the most stink!
The newest arrival seemed to have been the one with the smelliest turds for the last week or two and, funnily enough, we gave her some remnants of smoked salmon for dinner for a couple of days and the improvement in "aroma" was amazing.
Guess I might have to gradually transition over to fresh food for their dinner.

Those cats get treated better than I do :rolleyes:

Lawrence1895 · 12-01-2011 4:37pm

My tom is mad about catnip crunchies and a wee slice of ham...but only as a treat

Themadhouse · 12-01-2011 9:04pm

We feed Applaws, it has no grain and is 80% chicken. €80 for 2x 7.5kg bags. Cats can be sensitive to beef or meat derivitives and to grains like wheat etc. Almost like a crohns disease.
The guys get a wee bit of wet food as it is important for their urinary system. We have 9 cats so the wet food depends on the cat. One gets felix kitten, all can have applaws, all can have steamed chicken in the water it was cooked in, some can have lambs mince tthat has been frozen and thawed fully (freezing fully i very important).
It can be trial and error with the smell issue!

Ken. · 14-01-2011 8:50pm

have you thought of trying smell reducing litter. theres an add on tv for one at the moment but i cant recall the name of it. personally we use tesco's litter and theres no smell. weve got an indoor kitty thats mainly fed wet food

Heroditas · 28-01-2011 2:38pm

Quick update here folks.
The Iams indoors food has worked an absolute treat, along with cutting out the beef pouches (we occasionally give them the chicken ones as a treat).
They seem a wee bit hungrier than they used to. I assume that's because the indoor stuff has less calories but all three of them have lost a bit of fatty weight and they are absolutely nutso again! It's like we have three kittens.
Also we don't fill up the bowls so they can snack between meals anymore.
One of them has eve gone back to climbing the curtains again.... :rolleyes:

Adventure Pout · 31-01-2011 6:01pm

All the cheap brands cat food sold in supermarkets are junk food..
Sorry but i boycott completely iams food, as they test horribly on animals - which is weird as they always make their ads to look fab..but behind the scene they are terrible..
I have an indoor cat and he is fed mainly on raw meat mixed with InstinctTC.
No poo smell, no sickness, lovely coat..He is on raw meat since the age of 4-5months and is now a very healthy kitty at nearly 4y.o
Remember that cats are OBLIGATE carnivore, so their main food in the wild is any form of meat and not carbs (i.e dry food)
Here is the link for InstinctTC, if you want to find out more:
http://www.tcfeline.com/

Indoor Cat Food Recommendations

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