What do you feed?

urbantigers

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I feed Jaffa wet food only and Mosi wet food with a bit of grain free dry sprinkled on the top.

I don't like dry food for cats as I think wet is better in every way, but it's useful for them to accept the texture of dry in case I need to leave dry food down in an auto feeder.

I don't free feed either. Not with greedy guts Jaffa around!
 

missymotus

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Originally Posted by ghosthunterbeck

I've always been told that eggs (raw or cooked) are good for cats.
As long as you feed the whole egg it's fine.
 

jellybella

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I believe wet is best for them, but I adopted at least one dry food junkie.

I feed them two (sometimes three) small wet meals and leave a quality dry out during the day. This is a controlled free feed --they get 1/3 of a cup and no more. Some days I am pleasantly surprised to find the dry still there when I get home from work. That's a day they get more wet.

Stan is more picky with his wet food, but he does accept it (if it has dry food "sprinkles" on top
).
 

epona

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Originally Posted by urbantigers

I don't free feed either. Not with greedy guts Jaffa around!
It's tricky having a greedy cat isn't it? I'd prefer to be able to just plonk their food down in front of them and let them get on with it, but Sonic will have finished his and moved on to Radar's bowl while Radar is still licking the gravy
I stopped free feeding when Sonic was about 6 months old and started growing outwards faster than he was growing upwards. I appreciate that he has a lot of muscle mass to fuel, but if he's starting to put fat on his ribs then he's obviously getting too much. His muscle tone is great though, and activity levels good, I'm just going to have to give their dry separately as I am sure Sonic goes back for seconds from Radar's serving
I swear I have never come across such a greedy cat!
 

jenwales

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My last cat (who died two years ago) was diabetic. When he was diagnosed I did a bunch of research and was horrified to learn that the dry food he was eating was the likely culprit. I switched Mo and Jack (the current cat) to a canned diet at that point.

Jack eats 90% canned and 10% grain free dry. He loves his kibble.
 

urbantigers

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Sonic sounds just like Jaffa! I free fed Jaffa and his brother when they were kittens, but by the time they were about 6 months I'd put a day's rations out for the pair of them and Jaffa would empty the bowl in a few minutes
That was the end of free feeding at my place.
 

kittytales

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I feed my cats raw, and my dog raw with canned tripe added regularly. I also started using the honest kitchen about 2 months ago, and give my dog a cup several days a week. The kitties get a small amount of the canned tripe occasionally, but no honest kitchen as I really appreciate their poops on all raw.

When boarding, everyone gets canned food. Due to moisture content (and to a lesser degree, meat content) I would really not feel comfortable feeding dry food exclusively. I really feel that a diet that is almost completely devoid of moisture is unnatural to exist on and very hard on the body. Even dogs, who are much better drinkers, have a hard time getting enough water into their systems to counter act an all dry diet.
 

yosemite

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It took a lot of trial and error finding a wet food for Bijou and Mika. I tried every quality (no by-product) wet food I could find. Finally we got it narrowed down to two flavours of Merrick's. Our cats won't eat anything with fish or seafood. In July I switched the dry food to Orijen, measure the amount they get to free-feed on per day and started feeding wet for breakfast and dinner. Bijou has lost 1.3 lbs on this regimen and Mika has maintained her weight. Bijou was getting much too heavy - he was 18.5 lbs in July and does indeed look slimmer and trimmer now. The cats actually seem to eat less, do not beg for food or appear to be hungry, have less stinky poo and their overall coat has a sheen like velvet.

I'm also a believer that dry food does nothing for their teeth.
 

alleygirl

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Riley is free-fed dry, but he gets 2 meals per day of wet, with sometimes a small 3rd serving of wet at bedtime if he begs
 

arlyn

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I free feed dry and because of a tight budget, I only feed canned two -three times a week.
One day I hope to be able to afford canned daily.
 

babygirl2000

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I feed Ryan mostly wet food. The wet food keeps his BGL (blood glucose level) down. He does get dry when his BGL goes too low. The dry is specially for diabetis cats.
 

shay's human

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My kitties get a quality wet food 2-3 times per day and they each get 1/8 cup of a quality dry once a day. There is usually some of their dry food left each day.
 

gidgetcat

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We have five cats who all eat Wellness Indoor Health dry...now comes the complicated part...Gidget eats about 2 oz of Wellness grain-free canned every morning. Dallas eats about 1 oz of Wellness canned and 1 teaspoon of Sheba everymorning. Yoda eats about two teaspoons of Wellness canned every morning. Cricket eats about two teaspoons of Sheba every morning. And Chloe, who used to eat Wellness canned every morning, has decided that wet food sucks and refuses to eat it.

They've got me trained very well.
 

kluchetta

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Originally Posted by GidgetCat

We have five cats who all eat Wellness Indoor Health dry...now comes the complicated part...Gidget eats about 2 oz of Wellness grain-free canned every morning. Dallas eats about 1 oz of Wellness canned and 1 teaspoon of Sheba everymorning. Yoda eats about two teaspoons of Wellness canned every morning. Cricket eats about two teaspoons of Sheba every morning. And Chloe, who used to eat Wellness canned every morning, has decided that wet food sucks and refuses to eat it.

They've got me trained very well.
OMG. You sound just like me. I've got about 5 files on my PDA listing which flavors and brands everyone likes, LOL.
 

jean44

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I feed canned grain free Wellness or Natural Balance three times per day.

My two with a history of crystals, Eric and Kolohe, need the moisture wet food provides. Eric has had high blood glucose, although not technically diagnosed with diabetes. The high protein, grain free food keeps his BG in the normal range.
 

catnip

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I feed mainly wet and some dry. I have had so many people say to me 'the vet said not to feed wet!' I don't get it. I think it might be because all the supermarket wet over here is muck and unhealthy. I order mine on zooplus.
 

mechanicalman

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Originally Posted by Catnip

I have had so many people say to me 'the vet said not to feed wet!' I don't get it. I think it might be because all the supermarket wet over here is muck and unhealthy.
I think it's pretty universal that vets recommend dry or simply express indifference about what an owner chooses to feed. It's definitely not uncommon here in the US. I really don't put much stock in the advice of vets. This is taken from the FAQ section of a local vet's website:

Is declawing my kitten cruel?
Declawing your cat can eliminate inappropriate scratching with no detrimental behavioral or medical consequences.

That's just one example of "expertise" that I do not require from a vet. I don't need these people to talk to me about food, declawing, vaccinations, etc. I make those decisions myself. The vet's job is to tell me if my cat has any medical problems and to (hopefully) help me if she does. BTW, I think many recommendations made by vets are clearly financially motivated. Sorry that drifted OT; just making the point that I don't consider vets to be the ultimate authority on what is best for my cat.
 

littleraven7726

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Originally Posted by kluchetta

OMG. You sound just like me. I've got about 5 files on my PDA listing which flavors and brands everyone likes, LOL.
I'm glad I'm not the only one.


My cats eat mostly canned, with kibble out for snacks. I split a 5.5/6oz can 3 ways in the morning. Split a 3 oz can in the afternoon. And about 6:30pm-7pm I split another 5.5/6oz between all 3 of them.

For dry I have 2 bowls out, 1/8 cup dry in each 2x a day. Most of the time they don't eat it all, so if there's some left I subtract it from what I give them fresh out of the food bin. Example: if one bowl is full, and one is empty. i only fill the empty one.
 
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ghosthunterbeck

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Originally Posted by MechanicalMan

Is declawing my kitten cruel?
Declawing your cat can eliminate inappropriate scratching with no detrimental behavioral or medical consequences.
Why not? I mean, the vet makes money on every declawing procedure that they do, right?


I've been looking a lot lately at the behavioral implications of certain health-related treatments in both dogs and cats, and this is one in which I've seen long-term negative side effects.

Can you imagine having your fingernails ripped out? Ugh!
 

vrgchs

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My cats get fed wet food approx 2 - 3 times a day. With some dry inbetween. Expecially my whole males and kittens get the wet. They have a balance of both.
 
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