What Do You Feed?

jellybeankitty

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I'm curious what everyone feeds their cats. What are your opinions on all wet/dry foods vs. mixing them? Cat food is quite a new subject to me. I know all about dog nutrition but when it comes to cats I can't say that I know much more than that they're carnivores.


Right now I'm feeding Jellybean, Castor & Pollux Ultramix dry and he gets 1-2 spoons of Friskies mixed in. I see a lot of people prefer wet over dry? How much would you suggest mixing or do you think an all wet would be best for him?

I'm also interested in peoples opinions on raw diets.
 

jack31

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Use the search function. There were some recent and not so recent topics asking the same questions.

As far as wet vs dry--you'll find people on either side of the fence. You have to read the information and make the decision you feel most comfortable with.

Leslie
 

sakura

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I don't know much about raw diets but they seem like a lot of work. I would much rather feed a premium dry food, like Wellness CORE and Innova EVO, simply because it's easier for me.

As for the whole wet v. dry thing, I think all-wet is best but I like the convenience of dry food, plus it's so much less expensive. I bought a Petmate water fountain so my cats drink more water. I feed 50% dry and 50% wet. So in the morning they each get a measured amount of dry food (right now one cat is eating Natural Balance Ultra and the other is eating Wellness Kitten) and then at night they get 3oz of wet food. For wet food, I usually buy Nutro Max, Natural Balance, and then a few cans of Solid Gold. I throw in Fancy Feast as an occasional treat.

I don't mix wet with the dry, I just feed it at separate times. They don't seem to like the two mixed together.

Is there a reason you are feeding Friskies wet food? There are much better ones for not much more $.
 

missymotus

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Mine are raw fed, it's not that much work. I buy my meat in bulk and spend one weekend a month or so cutting up chunks and freezing into portions.

If I didn't do raw, I'd feed wet with little or no dry.
 

twokatz

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Right now I am feeding California Natural and Pinnacle dry and Avoderm and California Natural Ocean Fish. I would love to try raw but my girls have trouble handling bacteria so it is not a good choice. I think canned is best but it is hard to just feed canned when you can't be there all the time and they get picky, just want to graze. What is driving me crazy is the pet food companies and all the changes they keep making, without letting you know!!
When you have picky, sensitive cats and they make a change it leaves you in a bind. It just happened again with California Natural, which is by Natura that make Evo. They changed dry last year and now they changed the canned, I ended up with diarhhea after just one meal. Felidae is also changing formulas in the next month.
 

arlyn

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I free feed dry Nutro Natural Complete Care, and my picky ancient girl only likes Friskies Loaf style canned, so she gets half a can of that every evening.
 
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jellybeankitty

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Originally Posted by Sakura

Is there a reason you are feeding Friskies wet food? There are much better ones for not much more $.
Not here. It's pay around $0.60 for a 3oz can of "quality" food or pay that much for cheaper brands in 5.5oz cans. Friskies I'm able to get in 13oz cans for $0.72, cheaper if it's on sale. Friskies is the only brand I can find that carries the big cans too except EVO and they can keep their food with their $3.50 a can. O_O; (Yes, 3 dollars and 50 cents for ONE 13oz can)

Keep in mind, I have a LARGE cat. He's a great weight at 14-15lb so 1-2 spoons is basically nothing more than a little treat to him. The one I picked (While it does have by-products) is basically a bunch of meats. It DOES have rice in it but it's the last ingredient with 4 meats and 2 meat by-products in front of it. So I did search out the best of the brand that I could find and it's certainally not that bad compared to some other brands.

What do you guys feel about soaking kibble? I've been doing it for Jellybean these last 2 nights and I've already noticed a difference in the litterbox. (Waaaay more pee's than before. Used to he pee'd like once a day and it was a small amount. Now he's going 2-3 times in larger amounts.) He seems to enjoy it just as well as canned or dry food.
 

fifi1puss

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I put out a 1/4 cup of dry Nutro Max roasted chicken flavor for each cat a day. Wellness is a favorite too but it is too expensive for me right now.

Than I feed them a 1/3 each of a pouch or can 2x a day. They won't eat anymore wet than that...even though it seems like too little to me
But their weight is good so I don't question.

I feed wet food such as Merrick, Wellness and meow mix pouches.

One of my cats loves dry food and one loves wet food and the other one will eat whatever I want her too! So, I like to give them both wet and dry.

But wet should be their main diet IMHO.
 

fifi1puss

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Originally Posted by JellybeanKitty

What do you guys feel about soaking kibble? I've been doing it for Jellybean these last 2 nights and I've already noticed a difference in the litterbox. (Waaaay more pee's than before. Used to he pee'd like once a day and it was a small amount. Now he's going 2-3 times in larger amounts.) He seems to enjoy it just as well as canned or dry food.
Just don't leave it out for longer than 1/2 hour as bacteria sets in. As soon as my cats leave the room I get their dishes up.


The drinkwell fountains are totally awesome! My cats drink so much more than before and it is so good for them to do so.
 
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jellybeankitty

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Originally Posted by fifi1puss

Just don't leave it out for longer than 1/2 hour as bacteria sets in. As soon as my cats leave the room I get their dishes up.


The drinkwell fountains are totally awesome! My cats drink so much more than before and it is so good for them to do so.
It doesn't stay in the bowl for longer than 5-10 minutes before he's eaten it all.
I do plan on investing in a fountain type waterer as well.
 

Asteria

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I usually feed EVO dry and EVO wet, but I'm trying out Merrick's grain-free formula wet and dry right now. They love it even more than the EVO. I'm trying to decide between the two. Or maybe I'll just rotate. Is it okay to rotate? My cats have never had a problem with it.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Mollysmom

I usually feed EVO dry and EVO wet, but I'm trying out Merrick's grain-free formula wet and dry right now. They love it even more than the EVO. I'm trying to decide between the two. Or maybe I'll just rotate. Is it okay to rotate? My cats have never had a problem with it.
yes rotating is fine///

IMHO merrick did not make a good grain free
 

kittykitties

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I use the Blue Spa Select brand (dry) I seem to only be able to purchase at PetSmart.

I'm completely satisfied with it. The $16 bag lasts infinitely longer than the cheaper stuff... She eats less, poops less and has beautiful fur.

At first she picked around the little antioxidant bits, but when I refused to fill her bowl with more food until she 'finished' she learned to like those too.


She's given as much food as she desires to eat. I just fill the bowl when it empties. She generally picks at her food all day, eating a little bit whenever she feels like it and "burying" the rest. Just incase, you know, the dogs want to eat her food or something. Though, burying it with air doesn't seem to stop them.
 

optionken

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Since my cat got diabetes from eating dry food, I am so in the canned food or raw camp
\t
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To...gredient_Label
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spri...tingLabels.htm
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms
The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in
Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Do...ne_on_Dry_Food
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.
Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.
Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

Please read about cat nutrition.\t
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutritio...Which_is_reall

Vetinarian diets The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza. http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spri...tFood/Vets.htm
 

junior_j

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I am no expert but our two kittens (7 weeks and 9 weeks)

Eat 1 pouch of Whiskers Kitten food , a day possibly one and a half depending on how hungry they are

For example

Yesterday:

One and a half pouches of food because they played so much
Today already half a pouch in the morning when we do not usually feed until the evening,

They also have a bowl of dried Whiskers kitten with real chicken on offer all day..
They prefer wet food but do eat dry to.
Jess x
 

cc12

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I feed raw with the occasional can of Tiki tuna as a treat. Tomorrow I am making a freezer full of stuff for them. I find feeding it very easy and quick.
 

bella713

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My cats eat Evo dry and Orijen Dry-free fed. Also California Natural in a feeder upstairs


For wet they all eat Tiki except Severino who eats Natural balance but he won't touch it until I sprinkle some EVO dry into it
He literally sits there and waits for it
 

kittylover618

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My one kitty refeuses to eat anything but Nutro DRY kitty food....wet food/treats..even people food ...ham,turkey....she SNUBS.

My boy on the other hand eats both wet and Dry food...I don't mix it though I leave them seperate.
 
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