Looking for a GOOD kibble...any ideas?

I'm hoping that some of you may be able to provide me a new direction to go in my search for a new dry kibble for my cats. Here's the background:

My cats have been on (in order): Cat Chow, then Pro Plan, then Royal Canin Indoor 27. Then, when I learned there was more to life than cat food you can buy at PetSmart, I switched them to Innova Evo.

Cleo didn't do well with the Evo; she just kept vomiting. In hindsight, I think I may have been the cause of this; I started to mix the food, old and new, together and introduce them slowly, but when I realized how much they loved the new, better-for-you food, I switched them over entirely. Not much of a good intro period, to say the least.

Since Cleo started vomiting because of the Evo, my vet thought she might be having an allergic reaction to the fish content in it and we switched to California Natural, which everyone hated and refused to touch.

When I switched everybody over to CN, I did it too quickly again; I didn't want Cleo to continue having problems and certainly didn't want the boys to have something that she loves but can't have.

Looking back on it now, I think that not doing slow incorporations of old/new may have been my biggest mistake. "OMG! Kellie, you should NOT do that!" I know, I know.

After we switched over to CN, Charlie started having issues with going to the restroom. After a trip to the vet, she diagnosed him with cystitis. We treated him, got him all better, and then he got it a second time. After a trip to the emergency vet and then a follow-up with our vet, he had struvites and she recommended that he be put on RC Urinary SO, so that's what we did.

I switched over immediately again, since they weren't even eating the CN, and have very few problems since.

So, everyone's eating RC Urinary SO now. But ugh. Do you guys know what's IN that stuff?!? I did the wrong thing the other day and looked up every ingredient in there. I should not have done that. I had already made up my mind to find something better...why did I do that???

I'm also giving Charlie and Ramsey a medallion per day each of the Nature's Variety raw frozen rabbit. They absolutely love it. Albert won't touch it and Cleo only settles if it's the only thing she's given.

So here's the dilemma: I want to find a food that is not fish based, that is grain free and that has added cranberry so that it'll ease my fears of Charlie having a recurrence. I don't want to feed them raw because I'll only want to feed the medallions- which I'm thinking of switching out for Stella and Chewy's raw frozen chicken, since it has added cranberries- and because Albert won't touch it. He's the kind of eater that if he doesn't like it, he'd rather starve.

So, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Our guys are on RC for Urinary (dry), but they also get a combo of canned and some raw (chicken/hamburger). The canned foods are Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Avoderm, Iams, Max Cat and Natural Balance.

I stick to chicken, beef, lamb, or venison in the canned ones. Charlie has not has any more UTI's since on this diet (over 2 yrs now).

Thanks, Goldenkitty, but that sounds basically like what I'm doing now.

Anybody else?

Dont get the whole vomitting thing, find that rather strange.

Plus I didnt know evo put fish in their food.

Check out Natures Variety Instinct kibble.
They are a great company and seem to shy away from fish.
My cats never have this kind of reaction, but again I have always kept them in some kind of mix.
I never feed just one kind of kibble.

Maybe just ignore the vomitting for a while, it might be a mental thing.

Check out Blue Buffalo Organics. Contains cranberry. I buy it at Pet Smart.

http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cat...ics-cats.shtml

My kitty loves it, and we've had no problems. She is a CRF cat too and won't eat the prescription food.

Kibble isn't good, period, except in extreme cases where the cat refuses all other foods. Then, they should have a water fountain and be fed a food with meat as a major ingredient.
http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html

Kibble may not be the best, but I could never just provide wet food. We are going away for 3 days, and though we will have someone look in on her daily, she would starve if all she had was wet. She absolutely won't eat any wet food that is over an hour old. You can't believe how much I throw away! Then if not for the kibble in her dish, I would have to get up at 3 am every day when her highness gets a craving.

I might be wrong, and I advise to PM Sharky on this one - Grain free is NOT the best option for UTI prone boys - corn is a grain that seems to help in avoiding recurrence.
You might want to rethink your plan...

Unfortunately, my cats can't do no kibble; we've tried. I have two who flat out refuse. We have a water fountain and drip the bathtub faucet and everyone is very well hydrated. We haven't had any issues in almost a year *knock on wood*.

I think what I'm going to do is mix together Instinct (pending talking to Sharky) and the SO and alternate supplementing S&C's frozen chicken steaks and NV's frozen rabbit, which Charlie and Ramsey love so much. This seems like the best thing for us right now. I'm also going to incorporate some Solid Gold Berry Balance and cross my fingers.

Thank you everyone for your input. Keep it coming if you know about something I haven't mentioned!!!

Choose your new food wisely - and switch slowly. Also, be aware that some cats, when taken off of their prescription UTI diet, get UTI/crystals very soon afterwards. Some cats *must* remain on those diets. I have one boy who has had re-occuring severe UTI issues, he eats a mixture of 50% Science Diet C/D & 50% Purina ONE urinary tract health formula. So far has worked for him, but the same may not be true for you. A few of my other kitties who have had UTI issues eat the Wellness (blue bag) dry food mixed with Healthwise.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Choose your new food wisely - and switch slowly. Also, be aware that some cats, when taken off of their prescription UTI diet, get UTI/crystals very soon afterwards. Some cats *must* remain on those diets. I have one boy who has had re-occuring severe UTI issues, he eats a mixture of 50% Science Diet C/D & 50% Purina ONE urinary tract health formula. So far has worked for him, but the same may not be true for you. A few of my other kitties who have had UTI issues eat the Wellness (blue bag) dry food mixed with Healthwise.

Click to expand...

Thank you Nat for the reminder about some not being able to move off RX diets...

I sent a PM with basic info ...

MOST grain frees have too high % s of Magnesium , calcium and phosphorus ... I say most as formulas keep changing and some will fall into the bordering too high and may work

I'm no longer going to switch him completly to a new food- sounds like my nerves about this were telling me something! I'm going to try to incorporate SOME Instinct into his current food so that he gets a variety, but will maintain him on his SO and some cranberry powder, just in case.

Thanks everyone!