Best Cat Food

melon_collie

My two cats are about 5 months old now and up to now I have been feeding them the dry nuts for kittens. However last week I was forced to purchase a few cans of wet food in a local convenience store as it was all they had available. I gave it to them and they loved it. When the wet food ran out I put them back on the dry food but every time I fill their bowl now they look at me as if to say: 'em..where's the wet food?' My questions to you all are:

1. Is it too early to move them permanently onto wet food?

2. What would you say is the best cat food out there wet/dry at the best price?

Thanks in advance.

tatli_lokma

I would say not to soley give only nuts or wet food. The advice I have been given from my vet is to mix them. The nuts help with the teeth and gums, and from a practical perspective are better for the litter tray if you get my drift. Wet food is good to help keep them hydrated, particularly if they are not much interested in drinking water. I usually give my madam a wet pouch in the morning. Then leave a small bowl of nuts for her to nibble through the day. Then in the evening she gets a fresh bowl of nuts and sometimes I will add a bit of gravy to the nuts if I notice she hasn't had much to drink that day.

At the moment she is on wet food as she was sick before christmas and has been a bit dehydrated. I am now slowly reintrducing her to a mix of wet and dry.

Pumpkinseeds

I'd agree with Little Ted. We feed our adult cats about 2 pouches a day at most,spread out in half pouches and we leave a bowl of dry food down for them to eat as they please. Are you feeding nuts and wet food designed for kittens, if not I would recommend that you do. I can't remember what the specific amounts are for feeding kittens but I think they need more food than adult cats, I could be wrong.

Our cats get Meowing Heads dry food and Felix as good as it gets pouches. I had to buy Whiskas tins the other day and they are obsessed with it so they'll do the disgruntled kitty bit when I get the Felix pouches today.

A lot of people recommend Select Gold or Royal Canin kitten food. None of these are cheap but it is much better than a lot of what is on supermarket shelves. It really comes down to what you can afford.

Nody

Anything with out rice or corn basically (Royal Canin etc. is good but may have to test around to find the suitable version but I prefer others these days, still mix up some 37 steralised with the mix though). Personally I use Zooplus for all my food so I'll link from there what I'd use for wet and dry.

For dry stuff I strongly recommend Acana which is not cheap but is all natural stuff. The good thing with Acana is that the cats will not eat to much of it as they get full and enough energy on less so the cost is very acceptable once you get over the fact you're buying less for the same money (but you use it slower so in my case a 7kg bag is used up slower then a 10kg bag of Royal Canin).

On the wet side there is a wider selection, I've used Almo Nature Labels, Applepaws and recently got Cosma. Once again these are compliementary (1 pouch / can a day) to the dry stuff but once again good quality on the stuff ensures it gets eaten and I don't have to worry about cheap starch . I keep on changing around on the wet stuff depending on what's for sale and to ensure variety for my cats to not grow bored.

tatli_lokma

also, I often buy chickens when they are on special offer or close to sell by date and reduced. I then poach them and clean it off, shred it, some of the stock water (to make sure it's got enough of a water content) and a bit of rice or potato to bulk it out and freeze it in batches. That way, if I do run out of wet food, there is something for her and also its a nice change. You can get the cheap chickens for less than €3 or so and I find it will feed her for about a week if mixed with her dry food, or 2 days if on its own (so about 5-6 servings). Not as cheap as the really cheap wet food, but still quite reasonable and you know exactly what is in it. Very good too if they have a dicky tummy as it is easy on the stomach.

maggiepip

More recent research has shown that wet food is much better for cats. One of the main reasons is cats do not drink enough water to rehydrate themselves and so their kidneys can suffer on a dry only diet. So its definately not too early to move them to wet only. I also dont agree with the theory that the dry nuggets clean teeth - I believe that that was a nonsense sold to us by the makers of dry food and it stuck. In my eyes its an urban legend!

On saying all that I have 4 cats (and 3 dogs) so its really too expensive for me to feed a solely wet diet. I feed a grain free dry food Porta21 sensible from zooplus - http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/porta_21/feline_finest/170966


its excellent quality OP and the price is reasonable for such a high quality food. They also get wet food a few times a week and tins of sardines (only 49cent from aldi) tuna and leftovers. They are all very healthy on this.diet.

tatli_lokma

Maybe it is just marketing nonsense, but on the other hand, from personal experience an all wet diet does indeed leave my cat with VERY pongy breath and the litter tray gets terrible abuse. Too much dry food and she gets consitpated. I hear what you are saying but I don't think its an urban myth, I do think the dry food does help the teeth somewhat. And I know it definitely helps me as far as the litter tray goes! That is why personally I think a mix of the two is the best option.

Monkaa

Hi guys I have a 9 month old kitten but have owned cats all my life but always fed my previous cats whiskas, Sheba & chicken when available more as a weekend treat but I've now taken my cats nutrition needs more seriously with this cat after learning how awful some of the cheap brands are & learning that the likes of royal canin, science plan etc are not so great either.

I'm feeding my kitten select gold wet & dry tho trying to keep it mainly wet as read that wet food is by far the more healthy way of feeding but obviously it's a lot more expensive so mixing it up a bit. Can anyone give me their opinions on select gold & natures way? My kitten wouldn't touch the natures way dry but got a can of their wet food to try as its a little bit cheaper than select gold. Are there any other good brands out there I should know about with over 70% meat & grain free?

Oh I'm sure it's just coincidental but I began feeding my kitten whiskas but since feeding select gold he's gone through a big growth spurt?! Could this be down to the better quality food?

Sorry the long essay there but really interested to know other people's views

SillyMangoX

Just on the whole teeth thing I find raw chicken wings or cooked prawns are great. They really chew at them so it gets off a lot of muck left by other foods. I just give them once a week!

Nody

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Just on the whole teeth thing I find raw chicken wings or cooked prawns are great. They really chew at them so it gets off a lot of muck left by other foods. I just give them once a week!

My cats licked a bit on the raw chicken wings I gave them and then walked away sadly (wanted to move them towards raw) .

To Monkaa; see my post above of what I've used which is quailty stuff. I've also noticed our cats grown a bit after getting the Acana but it could also be winter related so we'll see

Monkaa

Nody wrote: »

My cats licked a bit on the raw chicken wings I gave them and then walked away sadly (wanted to move them towards raw) .

To Monkaa; see my post above of what I've used which is quailty stuff. I've also noticed our cats grown a bit after getting the Acana but it could also be winter related so we'll see

Thanks sorry my phone didn't load the previous replies when I wrote mine! Acana looks like a great product, might them a try a try when my current dry food runs out if the price is right

What's your opinion on select gold as finding it hard to find any reviews on the net.

I think the notion of dry food being good for their teeth & gums is nonesense too. Cats don't chew their food like we do

tatli_lokma

Yeah my madam won't eat chicken raw, or fish raw for that matter. Wants the white meat cleaned off. Won't even eat the fish bones at all - have to clean off the flesh from the bone or she's just not interested at all. Fussy little madam she is.

Monkaa

Oh as regards the chicken wings...I'd love to treat my guy to some but have in
my silly head that he'll choke!? Do they eat the bones too?

Nody

Monkaa wrote: »

Oh as regards the chicken wings...I'd love to treat my guy to some but have in
my silly head that he'll choke!? Do they eat the bones too?

Yes but only ever given them chicken that's not cooked if you got bone in it (the cooking with chicken bone is what's dangerous to cats as it becomes brittle) and that has been fully frozen through for 24h at least.

maggiepip

I forgot to mention I accidently discovered that they love raw mince - so they get a bit of that too:D

Pumpkinseeds

My 2 love raw mince as well. 1 of them loves raw pork ribs and it seems to stop him killing things. I found that switching from Royal Canin pure feline slimness to Meowing Heads dry food has made a huge difference to my cats. The latter is high protein low carb, one of my guys piled on weight on the RC the other was under weight on it. They eat a fair bit less on the MH than the RC, so it works out cheaper in the end.

I tried various more expensive wet foods from Zooplus but they just aren't interested in any of it, I think they just like slumming it with the Felix stuff.

Heroditas

We give our guys two pouches of Maxizoo's Multifit between the three of them for their dinner.
Then they get some Hill's Science Plan dry food for breakfast and supper.
Nice glossy coats and seemingly contented kitties.