Proper Feline Nutrition

I want to take good care of my Zoe baby, so I will be switching from Purina to either Wellness or Nutro. What are your thoughts on these brands of food? I can't go top-quality, but I do want higher-quality food for her. And she'll probably eat less on higher quality than she will on the lower quality food, so Mom has agreed to let me switch her diets.

I just wanted to make sure both of these brands (I'll be feeding her Kitten Formula until she's about 4 months, then changing to either an All Age Formula or the Indoor Formula) included the feline nutrition needed to keep Zoe healthy. I've heard both recommended, but has one got better nutrition than the other? I'll maybe feed her about a tablespoon of canned Wellness every night and morning, just as a nice little "good morning/good night" treat.

I don't know much about cat nutrition, so if one of you experts could lend me some advice, I'd be greatful. I wanna do my best for Zoe!

The healthiest diet for your cat is a wet food diet of a good quality food like Nutro. If you do a search on this forum you will find mega, mega, mega information on nutrition and recommended quality foods.

Sharky is one with alot of nutrition expertise.

I like both the Wellness and the Nutro. Wellness also has a grain free dry that I really like. Nutro is a good mid grade food I think. Last time I checked there was a good variety of flavors with this food. Also Nutro has a buy 9 bags get the 10th free which is nice if you are on a budget.

Ping never took to the Nutro because the kibble was larger than he preferred. But he does like the Wellness because the kibble is smaller.

nutro is more $$ freindly ... on sale a 8 lb is often 14-16 and would last a cat eating primarily dry about two months ... Mine eat the fish flavors in the canned ...

wellness has the benifit of no grain formula s in wide variety of wet ... the Core is there grain free dry but it runs about 5$ a lb by me ... the other dry s run 4lb for about 20 so right about 5$ a lb...

Zoey eats nutros natural choice kitten 75% with 25% Core ... this works for her ... she isnt a wet eater and prefers raw when in the mood

I've never had any luck with Nutro Complete Care. I feed Nutro MAX to my UTI kitties. I really like Wellness, esp. their new formulas.

IMO, I would feed dry food, but also have 2 meals of wet a day. With just Zoe, you could probably split 3 oz of wet into two meals....just to give her some wet & maintain a budget.

Thank-you for taking the time to respond!
I see that most people feed wet either primarily or in addition with dry. I have no experience with wet, but I am on a budget, and I can't neccessarily afford to feed the both. I love Zoe, and I want to do good for her, but I just want her on a good, balanced diet, not the top-notch stuff. As I mentioned, I'll feed her dry mainly, on free-choice, and probably just a little bit of wet every night and morning, just a spoonful, so one can will probably last me 2 days/4 meals.
I think I will end up going with the Nutro. I am kind of on a budget (I mean, I get paid $6 an hour to work on the ranch, but that money's going towards college, a vehicle, insurance, etc) though. I already spend about $300 dollars a year on the hamster (bedding is more expensive than I realized when I got her!), the dog doesn't cost much except for the occasional chew, let's say for him it's $20, and now for Zoe, she'll probably be about $150 - $200, counting food, litter, toys, etc. That's averaging $500 a year, which isn't bad I guess, but we'll see about the wet. I may put her on it as she gets a little older. I'm sure she'll be perfectly healthy, but if not, I may supplement with wet to aid in a health problem, though she will get some. Thank-you all for your advice! I've heard alot about Wellness but I think Nutro is more budget-friendly, and I've heard alot about it's nutrition.

Oh, and White Cat Lover: I don't know how much a 3 oz can is, I've never looked at them. But depending on how expensive they are at the store, I'll see how much I can feed her that.

Depending on the brand a 5.5 oz can for me is cheaper. EP costs .93 for a 5.5oz can. Thats .46 a day for his wet.

(this is the only price I could find) A 3oz can of Wellness costs roughly .85 a can. So 2 servings a day would cost .42 a day.

About 1/2 of that 3oz can would be about the same I feed in one sitting 1.5oz.

Now a 5.5 oz can would be around 1.08. Now if you quater that and give a 1/4 every feeding thats .54 a day feeding 1/2 a can a day.

I don't know if any of that made any sense. Basically pull out a calculater and figure out which size and brand is more cost efficent for you.

Thankyou for researching that for me Ping! I will bring my mini-calculator with me to calculate the prices on Wednesday, since I'm not such a whiz at mental math. I'll probably feed her about 1/3 to 1/4 of a can at a sitting, of a 3 oz can, depending. I'll feed dry at the same time as the wet, so we'll see what we work out.

If you plan to do a 1/4 per feeding I would go with the 5.5oz cans(if you can find them).

Well, I mean, as a kitten, she probably won't eat much since I'll mix her wet with her dry. I'll just see how much she eats and supplement it with the dry, you know? Probably 2 parts dry, one part wet, for in the morning and night. But as a kitten, she has free availability of dry.

I'm currently transitioning 5 cats to a higher quality food with more wet food.
I decided on nutro max cat roasted chicken formula. I bought a 20# bag today for $20. $1 / lb isn't too bad. I also feed Pippin Wellness grain free cans. He gets 1/4 5.5oz can for two meals a day. So one can at $.99 (sometimes cheaper on sale) feeds him for two days.
The other kitties get meow mix pouches, which I buy at the grocery store. I got a pack of 12 for about $5 today. They aren't the best quality, but they aren't bad. The only problem I have with them is all the fish, but the cats I'm feeding it are all very healthy and have never had health issues.
They each get 1 pouch / day split between two meals for a total of 4 pouches. That might get modified to a total of 2 pouches/day split between them all.
They get the nutro as semi free feed. I fill the bowl twice a day. Once it's gone, it's gone. The bowl holds about 1 cup of food, so that's 2 cups / day split between 5 cats.

I tried feeding the wellness core, but none of my cats like it. I picked up a sample bag of wellness indoor today just to see if they like it. It might be an ok alternative to mix with the nutro.

Good luck!

Devlyn

Thank you! I think I've decided on the Nutro MAX, not sure what flavor, with either Nutro or Wellness wet food, whatever's on sale/cheaper!

i think both brands are good. however my cats like nutro natural dry better than wellness. one of them just plain stopped eating the wellness i had bought. i ended up donating most of the bag of wellness to the shelter. nutro is more budget friendly for me. a 5lb bag of wellness is literally twice as much as a 4lb bag of nutro natural, and still more than an 8 lb bag of nutro natural.

mine don't like either wellness or nutro wet foods.

Originally Posted by KuntryKitty

Thank you! I think I've decided on the Nutro MAX, not sure what flavor, with either Nutro or Wellness wet food, whatever's on sale/cheaper!

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cheaper good quality wet foods can be found in the grocery store...

meow mix has several grain frees and 5.5 ouces would run 65-85 cents... sheba in the tubs runs just under a buck ...

I would try to find 12-13 oz wet cans ... cans keep easy 5 days in the fridge and Nutro usually runs 79-99 cents for a 5.5 but a 12-13 is only 1.29 and you get 2.5 times ... wellness is also a better buy in the big can... I would pay 1.00 for a 3 oz 1.35 for 5.5 or 1.75 for a 12-13

What is the difference between Nutro MAX and Nutro Natural? I like the sound of natural better... Haha!

I know Wal-Mart is ALOT cheaper on everything in pets than in our PetCo. So I'll look there for toys she might like, and that's where we buy her litter. I'll see where we can find the cheapest canned food, Wal-Mart or PetCo. I'll probably go with any brands I know are safe, probably at Wal-Mart too. I'll get one of those plastic lids for canned food so I can keep her food fresh for longer.

Originally Posted by KuntryKitty

What is the difference between Nutro MAX and Nutro Natural? I like the sound of natural better... Haha!

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Nutro Natural Choice has better ingredients than Nutro Max. In the dog-food line, there's also Nutro Ultra, which is the top of the three, but unfortunately Nutro hasn't produced a cat formula of Ultra. Just Natural Choice and Max.

'3444HHHHHHHUIIIBKPDDDD*******/ Zoe wanted to write

Then I'll go for the Nutro Natural Choice dry, and\\*--- ((there she goes again))) the Wellness wet or 99999999999 (hehehe) whatever they have for a good price, that is a decent brand

Max is designed for healthy and finicky cats .... it contains wheat which I know avoid but I have massive allergies in my house .... wheat and rice are digestable as far as grains and cats go /... Max hairball is wheat free

Natural choice is is designed to be tummy friendly and reduce litter odor and hairballs...


An ultra cat may come but I would NOT be trying it as I always for dogs and cat s end up back with Natural choice simple and good

Originally Posted by KuntryKitty

What is the difference between Nutro MAX and Nutro Natural? I like the sound of natural better... Haha!

I know Wal-Mart is ALOT cheaper on everything in pets than in our PetCo. So I'll look there for toys she might like, and that's where we buy her litter. I'll see where we can find the cheapest canned food, Wal-Mart or PetCo. I'll probably go with any brands I know are safe, probably at Wal-Mart too. I'll get one of those plastic lids for canned food so I can keep her food fresh for longer.

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You'll never find good cat food at Wal-mart. Most all of their cat food is filled with fillers. I know I've read of the packages. Most start with *corn* If you want to find good cat food the pet stores are the best places. When I first got my ragdoll I thought Iams was great and you found it at wal-mart. Then when I started reading up on cat food I found out it's not the best, the best food are found in the pet stores.