Any recommendations for grain free dry cat food?

Pumpkinseeds

I'm looking for recommendations for a good, grain free dry cat food. Price isn't really a factor as I want to get my cats weight under control. We have 2 cats one has always been on the large side. He likes to visit some of our neighbours and I'm sure he thinks it would be rude to refuse the treats they give him. Anyway we had him at the vets for a tummy bug last week and at his weigh in he was 8.25 kilos:eek::eek::eek: Have tried asking neighbours not to feed him until I'm blue in the face, to no avail.:rolleyes:

We usually feed both our cats Royal canin pure feline and a couple of half pouches of Felix throughout the day. Our other cat is about 4.5 kilos and is a fit, healthy cat. We had them both on Orijens grain free last year but it didn't suit them. Any personal recommendations would be appreciated.

blueturnip

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I'm looking for recommendations for a good, grain free dry cat food. Price isn't really a factor as I want to get my cats weight under control. We have 2 cats one has always been on the large side. He likes to visit some of our neighbours and I'm sure he thinks it would be rude to refuse the treats they give him. Anyway we had him at the vets for a tummy bug last week and at his weigh in he was 8.25 kilos:eek::eek::eek: Have tried asking neighbours not to feed him until I'm blue in the face, to no avail.:rolleyes:

We usually feed both our cats Royal canin pure feline and a couple of half pouches of Felix throughout the day. Our other cat is about 4.5 kilos and is a fit, healthy cat. We had them both on Orijens grain free last year but it didn't suit them. Any personal recommendations would be appreciated.

I was in malta this year and was given a free taster bag of Princess food. It's apparently entirely cereal free. The chap we spoke to reckoned they would be selling in Ireland next year, but you may be able to buy it online. I have been looking here since for one, so will be watching this thread also! I don't think the actual make was from malta, but will see if I can find out.

We also have one giant greedy cat and one normal. The fat cat ate the food, but to be fair he eats everything that's put in front of him.

planetX

I bought royal canin for a few months when it was on offer and my cats all put on weight from it. I can't really help with a recommendation - I've tried meowing heads, clinivet and a few others. All ended up as dog treats. They're back on whiskas now, no weight problems.
might be an idea to go around the petshops and pick up free sample packs?

SillyMangoX

I don't really have any suggestions, but I am going through the same thing, my cat really puffed up after being on steroids/hormone treatment and would love to bring her weight down! Does anyone raw feed cats?

Alun

Our two went on Royal Canin "Obesity Management" (only available via vets) and lost close to 2kg each in the end.

bluecherry74

Meowing Heads would be a good choice. They do a salmon and potato one which my cats love. I think they have a list of irish stockists on their website. It generally tends to be small "boutique" type pet shops that do it as well as some vets. You can get it on Amazon as well, for a good bit cheaper than in the shops.

www.barkingheads.co.uk

Another good one is Taste of the Wild. I haven't tried their cat food but if their dog food is anything to go by it'll be high quality and grain free.

bluecherry74

SillyMangoX wrote: »

I don't really have any suggestions, but I am going through the same thing, my cat really puffed up after being on steroids/hormone treatment and would love to bring her weight down! Does anyone raw feed cats?

I was actually thinking of starting a thread on this! I'm researching it at the moment but I'm nervous because their dietary needs are more complex than dogs. It doesn't help that the only thing mine will eat raw is minced beef.

I think if you were to go down that route you'd need to invest in a meat grinder to mince the bones and possibly supplement with taurine as well.

Pumpkinseeds

Thanks for the replies. I was looking at some on the zooplus website but only a few of the grain free bands are available in trial sizes and I'm not paying for a 7kg bag they might not eat. I had intended to do the raw feeding at one point, did all the research etc, my lean former feral loves raw but our hefty chap walks away from it. I was hoping a high protein no grain dry food would be the next best thing.

Both of them loved the Orijens but it didn't agree with the lean chap. Our lean guy regulates his own intake, hefty fella on the other hand, never says no to food. So its gonna have to be the cat version of Atkins diet for him/them.

planetX

I've tried tempting them with the dogs raw nuggets - no interest. Sardines go down well though, I use them to compensate for the rotten dry food. Plenty of raw mice eaten here too, I've often wondered if I shouldn't just buy frozen mice somewhere, it's probably the best diet there is:eek:

Rommie

The cats here will eat any raw meat; beef, pork, turkey, chicken, fish, liver. They especially love chicken drumsticks! But it did take a long, long time to get them all happy enough to eat them. I'd love to do full raw feeding for them, but after researching it for a while, I'm not as confident as I am with the dogs. It seems a lot easier to mess it up with cats. For grain-free, I used meowing heads, taste of the wild, applaws and Orijen. They hated Orijen and Meowing heads (strangely after the first two bags of Meowing heads, they just would not touch it) but loved taste of the wild and applaws. Of the two, Taste of the wild seems to be the better, and you can always supplement with raw meat. My lot are currently on an obesity food because one fella was over 8kgs. Once they lose the weight, they'll all be trying out the new happy cat range which is grain-free.

If you want to supplement with raw, I found actually mashing up the dry food and the raw about the best way to get them eating it at the start. Warm chicken hearts went down a treat in the beginning as well

Pumpkinseeds

planetX wrote: »

I've tried tempting them with the dogs raw nuggets - no interest. Sardines go down well though, I use them to compensate for the rotten dry food. Plenty of raw mice eaten here too, I've often wondered if I shouldn't just buy frozen mice somewhere, it's probably the best diet there is:eek:

You'd think wouldn't you? Few weeks ago puss arrived in with a dead mouse. Mine are good at finding mice, however they won't eat one. I've just been looking at UK sites that stock the Meowing heads food, it looks like the best I've seen and delivery is about 10 euro for most of them to Ireland.

They way I see it, given that it's a high protein low carb food, they'll be eating less of it so it should balance out. It would be a damn sight more expensive and devestating if he ended up with some sort of weight related illness that we could have avoided by simply changing his diet and lifestyle.

SillyMangoX

How come there is no mouse flavored cat food? :P Mine will catch/torture mice and shrews but refuse to eat them. Think of how much cheaper it would be if they just ate what they caught! :pac:

Pumpkinseeds

My former feral loves to eat sparrows, I probably shouldn't admit that. I think I've broken the habit by giving him a raw pork rib a couple of times a week, it seems to satisfy the urge to crunch bone. Its hillarious watching him carry the rib around to find the perfect spot to gnaw it. They both love raw chicken and mince but I know there's no chance our larger lad would eat a raw diet.

He'd be off to his other houses like a shot. I've cut back on what he's eating over the last few days and he's a lot more active than usual. I'm going to get them a Da Bird, to get him galloping about.

Themadhouse

We use applaws, its about €85 euro for 15 kg but you use less than other foods so it does last.
It suits all of ours so its really the only one we have tried.
We also use it for kittens too, putting them onto the kitten applaws quite young.