Good quality that won't break the bank?

Hello,

I am the new owner of an 8 month old neutered male orange and white tabby. His name is Oscar and he is the sweetest laid back cat. He is a rescue from a bad ownership so I want to get him off to the right start. He is 10 pounds and not too fat but he does eat alot and I don't want him to get fat. He was being fed cheap friskies but I of course want something better. I can't spend huge amounts of money but will spend a resonable amount on a good quality food. I feed my dog innova, and really like the natural balance brand. I hate science diet and I work at a vet. I deal with cats alot, but don't really know alot about the foods that are out there. I tell people to stay away from the cheaper stuff and all, but I want something good for urinary tract health as he is a male, and I will be keeping him as a primarily indoor kitty. I probably will be feeding a combo of dry and canned to help keep moisture in the diet although he drinks well.
Any tips and advice will be helpful.

Becky

has he had UTI issues

Originally Posted by Kattiekitty

Hello,

I am the new owner of an 8 month old neutered male orange and white tabby. His name is Oscar and he is the sweetest laid back cat. He is a rescue from a bad ownership so I want to get him off to the right start. He is 10 pounds and not too fat but he does eat alot and I don't want him to get fat. He was being fed cheap friskies but I of course want something better. I can't spend huge amounts of money but will spend a resonable amount on a good quality food. I feed my dog innova, and really like the natural balance brand. I hate science diet and I work at a vet. I deal with cats alot, but don't really know alot about the foods that are out there. I tell people to stay away from the cheaper stuff and all, but I want something good for urinary tract health as he is a male, and I will be keeping him as a primarily indoor kitty. I probably will be feeding a combo of dry and canned to help keep moisture in the diet although he drinks well.
Any tips and advice will be helpful.

Becky

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Taste of the Wild rocky mountain is great! grain-free and $10-12 for a 5lb bag which is great.

I adopted my boy (age 5) a year ago, and, like you, wanted to feed him quality food. There's a terrific pet store near me that carries high-end brands, so I thought we were all set. Here's what happened:

1. He prefers wet food, and I went through every brand in the store, but he won't touch any of them. I even tried raw, but he wanted nothing to do with that, even though he loves my grass-fed chopped bison raw! He will eat only Fancy Feast, Meow Mix, and some of the Friskie's indoor.

2. I give him dry, and THAT he only eats high end! He loves Fromm and Taste of the Wild, both grain free. But he doesn't eat much dry at all.

I told my vet about the problem with wet food, and he says that the best food to feed a cat is one that the cat will eat

I feel him only meat in the canned food (although the Meow Mix has some hidden fish in its meat choices) to try to avoid UTI (he's had no problems).

My Red Boy, Tolly was on Fancy Feast, only a few pate flavors, for many years. I finally got him switched over to Wellness, he likes only a couple of the pouch grain free flavors. He gets Wellness kibble as snacks.

I think cats benefit from a little grain, which is why I feed the kibble for snacks.

He's always been thin, too. He weighs 9 pounds, but as a big cat, he could weigh 11 and still not be overweight.

Wellness is a middle of the road high end food. the 3 oz. pouches/cans cost $1.15 each here. I have two on the Wellness 80/20 diet. Mazy eats Hills Prescription c/d multicare kibble.

Well he is actually a very healthy cat so far and doesn't have any UTI issues. I do know ansd have seen many male cats or just cats in general have chronic issues and want to try to prevent this. I do alot of research on all my pets foods, and have done alot on my dogs food as well as my birds and rabbits foods. I believe that nutrition is key to lower vet bills and a healthier happier pet. I feed my dog innova adult and merrick canned. My birds are on Harrisons pellets and volkman seed and my rabbits are on Zupreem pellets and hay and fresh foods. All diets are well researched and work for my pets. I no doubt will do alot of research and label reading for my kitty as well. I will probably feed dry with canned. I do like innova but the regular has grain. There is EVO. Is the high protein bad? I know leading cause of death in older kitties is kidney failure so I want a balanced food. I will look around and run the brands I consider by you guys to see what you think.

NO High protein is NOT bad ... In a dry food it is VERY NEW and we do NOT have any long term studies or at least a full generation of cats eating it ( ie birth to ave age of 14/15)....

Wet food is helpful in both kidney and uti health as it mimics a natural diet of moisture, protein and fat ...

I laughing call my diet rotational
I feed Kirkland dry mixed with a no grain ( felidea right now) , a mix of wet s with little to no grain( 50% comes from the grocery store), freeze dried raw , raw muscle and organ meat s with an occational bone

Here is a GENERAL hint if they make a good dog food likely make a good cat food

I think with cats, as with humans, health is mainly a genetic issue.

My first cat was a stray who adopted me when she was about a year old. Since I knew nothing about cats at the time, I fed her Fancy Feast wet and Friskies dry. She loved both, refused to eat anything else, and was over 20 when she passed. Until she was 18+, she never had any health issues at all, and those she developed later were from aging.

I'm not arguing against high-end food (I wish my guy would eat it), but I don't think it's truly essential.

Originally Posted by sharky

I feed( felidea right now)

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Same here! So far the cats love it.

Originally Posted by Jordan S.

Taste of the Wild rocky mountain is great! grain-free and $10-12 for a 5lb bag which is great.

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If you're looking for the highest quality at the lowest price, Taste of the Wild, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul and Authority (PetSmart's store brand) are your best bets.

Well I went to the petstore this weekend as they were having their consumer appreciation sale and all dry foods were 20 % off. I looked at the various foods they have, all of which are excellent as they only carry the higher end foods. They don't carry any lower quality and recently gave science diet the boot (yay). Anyways, I feed my dog Innova adult large bites which has worked for him for several years. He also gets Merrick or evangers canned food as well. The Innova for cats seemed to have too much grain and the EVO was too expensive so it was between Taste of the Wild, Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo Wilderness. I chose the Wilderness as the price was decent and the ingredients look real good. I hope he doesn't get fat on it it as it is 455 protein and 18 % fat. I also got a variety of canned food which I will also feed. I chose EVO canned, Natural Balance, Innova and something called TIKI Cat, which is expensive for the tiny can, but the ingredients looked good. The Tiki Cat is mostly fish and sea food flavors. Is seafood bad to feed? I read somewhere that it was. Soo much info lol.

Fish is only truely bad if you have a UTI prone cat ... If you have had vet visits for UTI IMHO avoid heavy fish

Nope no health issues what so ever. He does like the Blue Wilderness, that I am slowly switching over to. He was origionally on Friskies, which I want to get him off asap. He has had a little soft stool, which I figure is the new food, but so far he really likes it. He isn't a big canned food eater which I also want in his diet. I bought Natural balance, EVO, tiki cat and innova canned. He loves the Tiki Cat but it is like 2 dollars for a tiny can, so I reserve that for every once in a while. The Natural Balance he eats ok but usually won't finish the bowl which is a quarter of a can in the evening. I haven't tried the EVO yet so we will see. Is it good to rotate brands? The cans I will rotate, but I was wondering if I can do that with the dry every once in a while too.