Food - wet, dry, best?

dkperez

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Two new furfaces..... Brownie is about a year or so female. Skye is between 6 months and a year female. We got them from a shelter where they were fed Science Diet dry.

We're currently mixing the kitten and adult and both cats eat it fine. The dry is out all day and the cate eat whenever they want.

But, I"m concerned that they aren't getting enough water - we rarely see either cat drink so I'm trying to figure out if its worth going to a wet food. But, I looked in here and I've never heard of most of the wet foods listed. And after reading a couple dozen topics, there doesn't even seem to be consistency in whether or not its even worth trying the wet....

SO, is there a wet food that's preferred, that I'm likely to find at the local pet food store here in Minnesota (I presume I'm not likely to find much at the grocer)? Do I need different wet for the adult versus the kitten? Should I continue the dry and just feed a meal of the wet once a day? What things do I need to be concerned about?
 

laureen227

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if you're concerned about fluid intake, you should get a fountain... mine love theirs! i have 2 petmate freshflows, a large & a small, & a drinkwell platinum. if your cats enjoy drinking from a running faucet, the drinkwell is a good choice.
also, not all dry foods are created equal... if you want to continue feeding dry, i'd suggest you read labels & decide which one is best for you.
 
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dkperez

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Thanks all. I should have said I'd read a bunch of threads in here before posing the question... I went through 8389 and several others, but there still seemed (seems?) to be a lot of discussion on whether or not cats are fine just eating dry food... BUT, I also read the information from Blaise, who challenged me by asking if I was willing to read "this".... The information was what I was looking for, although the response was posed in a rather challenging manner - have there been people that refused to read it, disagreed vehemently with it, or some other reason for the way you posed the link?

I also had read some of the entries in the topic that showed what people wre feeding - but I thought they were kidding - "chicken soup for the kitten lover's soul"? And there seemed to be a huge gamut of feeding there too - from "low carb" to "I buy dry from the vet" to Friskies to Wellness to Eagle Pack...

I've noticed Wellness referred to in several places, so maybe I'll see if I can get it at any of the local pet food stores... But, if there's something better that available here in the midwest I'd be happy to hear about it.
 

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Originally Posted by laureen227

yeah, it's a weird name... but a relatively decent food - much better than the supermarket brands [or even SD or Iams] even tho it's fairly grainy.
chicken soup for the cat lover's soul
chicken soup for the kitten lover's soul
they also do canned
chicken soup canned adult
chicken soup canned kitten
Chicken soup is likely one of the best premiums for the $$


The truth about cat nutrition is there is NO 100% correct way /... only the best that you and the cat are willing to do... for most this = dry with some wet ... for others it is all dry or all wet yet others will say raw or homemade...

I know that Jcat noted that when dry commercial foods were let into east Germany that in the last say 15 yrs life spans have doubled...

I aint that old
but I have had cats all but 3 yrs of my 30 and most of the cats seemed to do well on dry with wet in about 50/50 ratio...all of them often had table scraps also .. all the cats lived to at least 14 and that was a mostly outdoor ... the indoors all saw at least 18

IE the right diet is not a objective thing ///

Currently I have one who does dry and raw and another who eats it all
 

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My kids were cat Chow kids....well I was scooping the boxs 4 to 6 times a day, because they were full of POOP.

Now after 10 days on EVO Cat/Kitten dry, the poop is more firm, and I have WAY less to scoop. They are eating less and getting bigger faster. I am feeding a total of 3 1/2 cups per day, and everyone is happy. I was feeding about 5 cups of cat chow, and they acted starved still. I can't belive what they put in the foods. Cat chow is like fast food for people the more you eat the more you want.
So EVO is now our food $ 40.00 per bag. OUCH!
We are going to the vet today because 3 out of 4 are still having less then hard poops. I am thinking worms, I don't know, but we will find out.
K.
 

endorphins

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Originally Posted by wingss2fly

My kids were cat Chow kids....well I was scooping the boxs 4 to 6 times a day, because they were full of POOP.

Now after 10 days on EVO Cat/Kitten dry, the poop is more firm, and I have WAY less to scoop. They are eating less and getting bigger faster. I am feeding a total of 3 1/2 cups per day, and everyone is happy. I was feeding about 5 cups of cat chow, and they acted starved still. I can't belive what they put in the foods. Cat chow is like fast food for people the more you eat the more you want.
So EVO is now our food $ 40.00 per bag. OUCH!
We are going to the vet today because 3 out of 4 are still having less then hard poops. I am thinking worms, I don't know, but we will find out.
K.
This is great information for me! I'm looking to transition the babies from Royal Canin to EVO. Now, I just need to find a place to order it online as we don't have any retailers nearby.
 

purrrplej

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Originally Posted by Endorphins

This is great information for me! I'm looking to transition the babies from Royal Canin to EVO. Now, I just need to find a place to order it online as we don't have any retailers nearby.
Just out of curiosity, why are you taking them off Royal Canin?
 

endorphins

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Originally Posted by purrrplej

Just out of curiosity, why are you taking them off Royal Canin?
We're transitioning to feeding them a raw diet. We'd like to use the EVO to ensure that we're not missing any essential components of their diet. I've heard only absolutely wonderful things about this stuff and the ingredients list looks fantastic. I feel that the Royal Canin is good, but that the EVO will be more beneficial for them, especially the little boy. They're rescues and he was in really bad shape when he was picked up, so any additional help he can get will hopefully add to a long, healthy, happy life.

Any information I can get on this stuff, I'm devouring. Good, bad, or otherwise.
 
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dkperez

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Good grief, this is getting complicated...

The first question has been answered - last night a friend presented me with a couple cans of Iams chicken for the cats..... So, we gave one a try. In all the cats we've had in the last 30 years, I've never seen such dancing and vocalizing... They attacked the wet food like they hadn't eaten in a week...
Same thing tonight. So, they're definitely happy to eat wet food. At least Iams.

I found Royal Canin - about 50 different recipes as near as I can tell. EVO appears to have a wet, and one that says its "kitten and cat" which would be nice since Skye is 6-months and very small for her age, while Brownie is a year or so. Is EVO as good as Royal Canin? There doesn't appear to be anyplace that has Wellness anywhere in Minnesota... I"m going to see what the local pet food store has tomorrow to see if I can try some different brands and kinds to see what they like...

Do I just read the ingredients for meat rather than byproducts, low phosphorous as in .5% or so, and taurine? Is there something else I need to look for? How much carbohydrate is good? Bad?
 

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Originally Posted by dkperez

Good grief, this is getting complicated...

The first question has been answered - last night a friend presented me with a couple cans of Iams chicken for the cats..... So, we gave one a try. In all the cats we've had in the last 30 years, I've never seen such dancing and vocalizing... They attacked the wet food like they hadn't eaten in a week...
Same thing tonight. So, they're definitely happy to eat wet food. At least Iams.

I found Royal Canin - about 50 different recipes as near as I can tell. EVO appears to have a wet, and one that says its "kitten and cat" which would be nice since Skye is 6-months and very small for her age, while Brownie is a year or so. Is EVO as good as Royal Canin? There doesn't appear to be anyplace that has Wellness anywhere in Minnesota... I"m going to see what the local pet food store has tomorrow to see if I can try some different brands and kinds to see what they like...

Do I just read the ingredients for meat rather than byproducts, low phosphorous as in .5% or so, and taurine? Is there something else I need to look for? How much carbohydrate is good? Bad?
.5% phos?? is this a CRF or liver cat??

Evo is a NO grain ... high protein / Borderline too loe carb... good food

RC normal solid grain containing .///

apples and organges..

evo is sometime too too rich
 

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dkperez

I think the question and the answers are becoming over complicated. Granted, its a topic with much information, some disagreement and lots of inherent complication, but....

Let's step back a bit:
- You can spend a life time analyzing cat food ingredients, looking at percentages of X, Y, and Z. You can simplify this by insuring that the primary ingredients are of high quality, not by products, avoid corn, etc, and leave the detailed analysis to the AAFCO which provides guidelines that most cat foods comply with (either by direct testing or less rigorously by "meeting the standards of").

- No food, no matter how "high quality" does your cat no good if he won't eat it.

- There is widespread agreement on this site and elsewhere that wet food is beneficial to cats. At the very least, it more closely resembles what they eat in nature and that is seen by many as a good thing.

- Listen to your cats. They are in love with Iams wet, a decent reputable brand. Listen to how happy they are eating it. Spend more time working with them and less time studying labels and talking to us about the minutiae of things like % phosphorous. You'll go crazy and the AAFCO sets standards on ingredients like this so you don't have to go crazy. If you're cats get gas, or loose stool, or otherwise have a bad reaction to a food then don't feed it to them. If they won't eat a food, don't try to force them.

- If you're worried about overall nutrient balance of any one food, then try adjusting their diet from time to time so they are exposed to different brands and flavors, and don't spend their whole lives on just one specific food (but do it carefully and gently so they don't get upset stomachs).

- We sometimes get caught up in the idea that if we don't feed them the perfect food that we're not doing right by them. As Sharky said, there is NO perfect food. It doesn't exist except perhaps in one's head. What there is are foods your cat will eat, and foods your cat won't eat. Of the former, try to choose better over worse, and (we think) wet over dry, and then move on....

And while were at it, get them annual checkups, core vaccines (only as needed by the newest guidelines), keep them inside (unless you're willing to accept the chance of premature death do to outdoor dangers - and if you are I'd really stop worrying about the amount of phosphorous in food), have screened windows so no falling out or escaping, and away from household dangers, and that's about all you can do except for loving them for as long as you have them.
 
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dkperez

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OK, no more analysis paralysis........ So basically any good brand that the cats like will be fine for a feeding as a supplement to the Science Diet dry...

These two are indoor, and show no inclination to even want to go outside, they've already been to the vet for wellness check and to make sure they were up-to-date on everything, and Skye is being treated for ear mites (so is Brownie, who has none, and is rather disgusted about the whole thing)...

Everybody is happy, healthy, active, and Skye, who was 2 pounds 8 ounces at 6 months, is now over 4 pounds in just a month on a good diet.

Next big challenge is clipping claws since everyone we've had in the last 20+ years has been a shelter cat that was already declawed. The Soft Paws have arrived and I'll try them tonight.....
 

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Originally Posted by dkperez

OK, no more analysis paralysis........ So basically any good brand that the cats like will be fine for a feeding as a supplement to the Science Diet dry...

These two are indoor, and show no inclination to even want to go outside, they've already been to the vet for wellness check and to make sure they were up-to-date on everything, and Skye is being treated for ear mites (so is Brownie, who has none, and is rather disgusted about the whole thing)...

Everybody is happy, healthy, active, and Skye, who was 2 pounds 8 ounces at 6 months, is now over 4 pounds in just a month on a good diet.

Next big challenge is clipping claws since everyone we've had in the last 20+ years has been a shelter cat that was already declawed. The Soft Paws have arrived and I'll try them tonight.....
Oooh, Soft Paws are fun. My mother's devil cat, Bentley, a beige persian, would scratch everything in sight if he wasn't provided the attention he immediately desired. This was a problem, as my mother's an antique dealer and the house is filled with beautiful, old furniture. He would do this all the while staring straight into your eyes and meowling loudly at you. His eyes were a reddish golden (which got him his nickname - devil cat). We put hot pink Soft Paws on him and had a great time watching him masculinely try to scratch - unsuccessfully and with a new feminine touch. We could also hear wherever he was in the house when he walked across the hardwood floors. Those things made life a lot easier for us humans (and the other two cats in the family). Oh, and after a few months of him wearing those things, he rarely scratches now!

I had to laugh at "analysis paralysis." I'm usually that way with...well...just about everything. I'm the epitome of indecisive.
Fortunately, a woman whos opinion I greatly respect suggested the food (EVO) to me while talking about going raw and after a bit of my own research, it was easy for me to decide. Far easier when you have a suggestion from someone like that.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by dkperez

OK, no more analysis paralysis........ So basically any good brand that the cats like will be fine for a feeding as a supplement to the Science Diet dry...
at the analysis paralysis!

Originally Posted by dkperez

Everybody is happy, healthy, active, and Skye, who was 2 pounds 8 ounces at 6 months, is now over 4 pounds in just a month on a good diet.
up until about 6 years ago, i fed mine SD kibble. they did just fine on it.
i switched because i felt i could do better for the money.

Originally Posted by dkperez

Next big challenge is clipping claws since everyone we've had in the last 20+ years has been a shelter cat that was already declawed. The Soft Paws have arrived and I'll try them tonight.....
of my 3 clawed cats, Cable [who was a booger about it as a kitten] is the most cooperative, both for clipping & soft paw application.
Java's gotten better, altho she still attempts to leave on occasion - also tends to put her head in my way [she wants to watch, i guess!]
Firefox growls the whole time... & occasionally hisses at me, as well - both for clipping & soft paws.
good luck!
 
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dkperez

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Went over to the pet food place and found EVO, Wellness, Chicken Soup, and several other brands..... So, of course, since I like a varied diet I figured the cats should have the same option.... Brought home about 10 different cans and started trying them..... Put down EVO chicken amid the loud cries of imminent starvation and watched both cats stare at the food, then turn to us and accuse my wife of trying to poison them!

So, I opened up a can of Wellness and put some of that out..... MUCH happiness ensued.... They fell on the Wellness chicken like, well, hungry cats on food! Tried the EVO again the next morning and they apparently just don't care for that.... So far the Chicken Soup has been a hit, the Wellness, and the Science Diet....

As far as the little princess and the soft paws - I've now clipped her nails twice, just to get her used to it, and she's really easy - just sits on my lap and lets me clip... Although, she ALSO gets her head in the way 'cause she figures she's going to miss something interesting....... I'm going to try the soft paws this week......

Yesterday, my wife went up to take a nap and when I walked into the bedroom both cats were on the bed, with Skye (3.5 pounds) curled up between Brownie's (11 pounds) feet..... So, they're clearly getting along fine...

ALSO, decided they might drink more if the water moved, so I bought them a fountain. Watching them was comical, but Brownie settled in quickly for a long drink. Skye too a while to figure it out 'cause she kept sticking her head in for a drink and got her ear in the fountain.... Then she stuck her paw in the water. Then she tried to figure out what the ice cubes were... So far, she seems to be having fun, but I haven't actually seen much water going into her!
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by dkperez

As far as the little princess and the soft paws - I've now clipped her nails twice, just to get her used to it, and she's really easy - just sits on my lap and lets me clip... Although, she ALSO gets her head in the way 'cause she figures she's going to miss something interesting....... I'm going to try the soft paws this week......
my Java does that, too!
 
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