Help with Australian cat food choices

Must add have no problem with fish, but I don't want everything with fish in. I would get sick of eating fish two times a day every day lol. Pet barn for me is too far to drive it's like 45 minutes away. Living in the country here and takes 10 minutes to get to woollies here to go shopping local iga 5 minutes too expensive to do normal shopping.
Pet barn would be a monthly shop for me lol.
I am very lucky my boy will eat anything and I mean anything, he is a garbage guts lol.
He will look on the table after we finish our dinner for scraps lol.
Tried all the felix ones, they good for the fact of the jelly but it's the fish for me, not something I would give all the time. He has been eating them fine and they are ok.

Am trying to mix it up with brands for my boy.
He has had th vip grain free beef and kangaroo one and the turkey and chicken.
Fancy feast ones mainly Chickhen or turkey ones but seem to have pork in most of them if not all, dunno why?
Trying the dine ones in the tray at the moment.
Wanted to try holistic select and welleness when. I get to pet barn lol.
Looking at the gourmet delights, only problem is fish lol.
Have nothing against fish here, but I want to know what am giving him. Would rather he has Chickhen or turkey than fish. But they don't seem to have fillers etc.

Would love to try him with rabbit and duck too.
Can't win on all accounts it seems.
But I figure if I give him fish sometimes like once every few days at most, give him mainly Chickhen, turkey, beef, or lamb for the most part and try and give him jelly rather than gravy and limit cereals to same. My boy was a little overweight at 6.1 kilos when we got him form RSPCA he is down to 5.4 know and looks a lot better. I need to watch his food intact. So trying my best to keep it mainly meat based.
I am not against certain brands but just trying to do what I think is best for him.

He will eat pretty much anything and not picky eater so am blessed in that way. But just want to give him a wide choice cos you never know what shops will sell , as they change brands sometimes and what do you do if your local shop stops selling the ones you cat likes. At least I figure this way if someone ever has to look after him if we way on holiday he can eat what ever they have around and not cause any problems if that makes sense? As long as it not rubbish or something toxic.

First one is when we brought him home like two days later and the others are now. I think you can see that he has lost weight putting him on wet food. When RSPCA had him when first in feb come in he was 6.5 kilos, when we brought him home he was 6.1 kilos which was March. And now is 5.4 and been that weight for like a month know. He is a bigger cat, vet say bigger than a Maltese and can vouch for it as my parents have a Maltese and he is bigger. Someone said on here he might be have a bit of Norwegian forest cat in him. I think he is healthy weight know, but dunno what you think??
He has been eating felix, fancy feast and vip grain free. And know trying dine. He has felix treats and app laws treats from time to time.

Came across this website has a few of the American foods
http://www.naturalpetstore.com.au/cat/wet-food/

@Rose2015 sorry! I try to get on here daily but I just don't quite manage. I don't mind the mixing of the museli exactly but I know my fuss pot won't eat it (he's in the dining room right now ignoring his Wellness chicken pate with slivered duck slices in sauce on top and crunching away on some leftover Royal Canins, ugh!). I wish it was cute! Little horror "buries" anything he doesn't like! I have those photo's of my Tilly for you too. Just have to find the right thread to post her size! I've had a spanner thrown in the works. 5 days of diarrhea from Tilly (this is the 5th time in the 9 months or so we've had her) and blocked anal glands (sorry! TMI!) twice in the last 2 weeks. My vet suspects she may have an allergy, possibly to..............chicken! ARGH! I'm currently investigating whether or not it's at all possible to import a limited ingredient diet here from overseas. Wellness do one for dogs, but not for cats My vet said turkey is out if I choose a limited protein too, it's too similar to chicken. For now though she's had some antibiotics and we're seeing how we go with a simplified diet. If she gets sick again I don't know what I'll do. For now they're having Minced Chicken Wellness (i've run out which is why the one with duck) but it's only going down every so often and Hills Ideal Balance. Sadly I NEVER have to throw out fancy feast!!! I don't know why. Wellness smells nice-ish, like chicken. Fancy Feast smells like cat poop.

The holistic select has been a bit more miss than hit unfortunately. They sent me a pretty huge bag (2.4kgs!) which I am very grateful for, but I can only give it to Jasper (although both were turning their noses up at it little turkey's). At the rate he's eating it it's going to take a year to get through. One thing I can say about the Royal Canin is I rarely throw any of it out........... every healthier natural one I've tried I've had to. If you want me to send you some or something let me know! Happy to share! How's your baby going with it?
@Cuddlemum I have IBS too. It ruins my life. You have my empathy. Seems my Tilly might have it as well (for some reason I can't adopt a cat that's healthy!)

Supermarket wise I let mine have Chicken in Gravy Fancy Feast but it has grains.

VIP is fish free and grain free (mine won't touch the turkey and the beef is more miss than hit)
Dine in the trays is grain free (be careful with the new chicken slices, they have grain, but most of the others don't)
Purr from Coles is grain free (I really like that one but Tilly gets really sick every time I give it to her, they're mostly fish but there is a plain chicken one. Get the tin, not the sachet, it's not a complete diet in the sachets).
Applaws chicken (again not complete)
Coles do a homebrand chicken and vegetable, small can, like the Purr, again not complete.
Safcol/Gourmet delites do a chicken one but I can only get it at Petbarn. Mine won't eat it. It's only about 90c a can though.
There's a brand, I can't remember what it's called, but it's in a flat sardine can looking tin and they do a chicken one in broth (again, mine won't touch it), the rest are all fish
The new Dine in the sachets if you steer clear of the one packet that has salmon has tapioca starch I think or cornflour but no grains. My boy loves it (but it stinks!). Tilly won't touch it.

Petbarn:
Weruva do a couple of chicken one's. One in a can (fowl ball) and one in a packet (chicken and pumpkin)
Holistic Select (ALL pate')
Wellness, I'm ignoring the carrageenan. I figure it's the best of a bad bunch available here. 
Hills Ideal balance, it does contain DL-methinione (or something along those lines) which I first read had been linked to cancer in animals, but then I read further and other studies suggested that it's not the one that is used in pet food that is the problem. I keep the chicken one in rotation because it's not terrible otherwise and they eat it (usually).


I have to be honest. Mine have done really well at times when eating Royal Canin dry combined with Hills I/D wet, Royal Canin wet and a tub of Applaws at night. Maybe we're all overthinking it :/

PS. Your boys weight looks fine to me! He's gorgeous!

@Tobilei  Oh noooooo! Poor babies! I feel terrible for them, poor Tilly and Jasper! How on earth did Jasper get a blocked anal gland (i'm chuckling a little). Oh bummer, shame about Holistic Select. But great to hear Royal Canin suits him well - that's fantastic at least it's SOMETHING that suits (it's not terrible either, so don't feel guilty). Seems like most pets will have to go onto Hills or Royal canin at some point for short term, so it's a good thing that he already likes it. Poor poor Tilly and how frustrating for you   Could you try a raw diet, even a premade one just for the interim? Or will that unsettle her even more. Does your vet have any suggestions for her yet?

@Cuddlemum  Your boy is GORGEOUS! what a lovely fellow xox. He;s a big boy, but not fat, just looks healthy. Adorable!

It is hard at times with cat food, thanks for the info of the list you give. He eats fancy feast, VIPs and felix at moment and slowly with the dine. Was very helpful. It can be rather overwhelming with the choice sometimes, just want what is best for them.

Try and keep to jelly ones but has th gravy ones, but his poop stinks lol, guessing it's the wet food lol. When he was on hills it didn't stink so much lol.

He gets poo stuck on his backside sometimes, sometimes is comes out fine then the last bit a little sloppy and sticks to his but then have to wash it. Then like yesterday he had a poo then must of sat on it and my daughter noticed he like a cow pattie on his fur lol, tried to take it of with wet towel and only made it worse so had to give him a bath as it was messy lol. In the three months we have had him he has had a bath once a month. I write everything down what he eats etc and can't find anything that points to a trigger of a food making it stick to his butt. I guess it's just him and his fluffy butt and something that just happens with cats with long hair. He kinda medium fur. But has fluffy pantaloons hahahaha. Anyone else have the problem with this? It's not all the time sometimes I can wipe it off, it's not every week either maybe once every two weeks at the least sometimes might be a whole month. As I said it's not all sloppy and only like that sometimes. I understand when trying new food it can do that but sticking to his but is the problem as it's messy. Wonder if he would like a sanitary trim lol, they look kinda funny.


I want to try brands from pet barn at some point. haven't tried Royal canin , but funnily enough our vet endorses the dried one. So might try it, he had the hills light dried, but has a lot of stuff in it.
He is a fluffy boy. And love him to bits thanks ladies. I think all cats are cute though [emoji]128512[/emoji].

Cuddlemum said:

It is hard at times with cat food, thanks for the info of the list you give. He eats fancy feast, VIPs and felix at moment and slowly with the dine. Was very helpful. It can be rather overwhelming with the choice sometimes, just want what is best for them.

Try and keep to jelly ones but has th gravy ones, but his poop stinks lol, guessing it's the wet food lol. When he was on hills it didn't stink so much lol.

He gets poo stuck on his backside sometimes, sometimes is comes out fine then the last bit a little sloppy and sticks to his but then have to wash it. Then like yesterday he had a poo then must of sat on it and my daughter noticed he like a cow pattie on his fur lol, tried to take it of with wet towel and only made it worse so had to give him a bath as it was messy lol. In the three months we have had him he has had a bath once a month. I write everything down what he eats etc and can't find anything that points to a trigger of a food making it stick to his butt. I guess it's just him and his fluffy butt and something that just happens with cats with long hair. He kinda medium fur. But has fluffy pantaloons hahahaha. Anyone else have the problem with this? It's not all the time sometimes I can wipe it off, it's not every week either maybe once every two weeks at the least sometimes might be a whole month. As I said it's not all sloppy and only like that sometimes. I understand when trying new food it can do that but sticking to his but is the problem as it's messy. Wonder if he would like a sanitary trim lol, they look kinda funny.


I want to try brands from pet barn at some point. haven't tried Royal canin , but funnily enough our vet endorses the dried one. So might try it, he had the hills light dried, but has a lot of stuff in it.
He is a fluffy boy. And love him to bits thanks ladies. I think all cats are cute though [emoji]128512[/emoji].

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Awww precious possum and his poop problems! Hhhm, is his poop hard or sloppy, and can you catch him in the process of 'eliminating' to see if he's straining? I noticed my little one would get constipated on complete grain free and they were hard and sticky pieces, so maybe see if he needs a certain type of fibre (small amount of good grain isn't terrible). Also check the size of his litterbox, sometimes if it's too small, they struggle with pooping correctly, and especially if he's a big boy he may have trouble in a small box.
He is very gorgeous though, yes I agrees, all cats are gorgeous xox

Rose2015 said:

 
@Tobilei  Oh noooooo! Poor babies! I feel terrible for them, poor Tilly and Jasper! How on earth did Jasper get a blocked anal gland (i'm chuckling a little). Oh bummer, shame about Holistic Select. But great to hear Royal Canin suits him well - that's fantastic at least it's SOMETHING that suits (it's not terrible either, so don't feel guilty). Seems like most pets will have to go onto Hills or Royal canin at some point for short term, so it's a good thing that he already likes it. Poor poor Tilly and how frustrating for you   Could you try a raw diet, even a premade one just for the interim? Or will that unsettle her even more. Does your vet have any suggestions for her yet?

@Cuddlemum  Your boy is GORGEOUS! what a lovely fellow xox. He;s a big boy, but not fat, just looks healthy. Adorable!

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Ugh, it's Tilly who keeps getting the blocked anal glands! The last time she shot it out all up our vets arm! Dear goodness THE SMELL!!!!!!!!!! I am thinking about putting her on some raw kangaroo. She really liked it, I'll just have to feed them separately because it makes Jasper vomit a whole lot I have those photos of Tilly for you, I just have to go find the thread now!

Cuddlemum said:

It is hard at times with cat food, thanks for the info of the list you give. He eats fancy feast, VIPs and felix at moment and slowly with the dine. Was very helpful. It can be rather overwhelming with the choice sometimes, just want what is best for them.

Try and keep to jelly ones but has th gravy ones, but his poop stinks lol, guessing it's the wet food lol. When he was on hills it didn't stink so much lol.

He gets poo stuck on his backside sometimes, sometimes is comes out fine then the last bit a little sloppy and sticks to his but then have to wash it. Then like yesterday he had a poo then must of sat on it and my daughter noticed he like a cow pattie on his fur lol, tried to take it of with wet towel and only made it worse so had to give him a bath as it was messy lol. In the three months we have had him he has had a bath once a month. I write everything down what he eats etc and can't find anything that points to a trigger of a food making it stick to his butt. I guess it's just him and his fluffy butt and something that just happens with cats with long hair. He kinda medium fur. But has fluffy pantaloons hahahaha. Anyone else have the problem with this? It's not all the time sometimes I can wipe it off, it's not every week either maybe once every two weeks at the least sometimes might be a whole month. As I said it's not all sloppy and only like that sometimes. I understand when trying new food it can do that but sticking to his but is the problem as it's messy. Wonder if he would like a sanitary trim lol, they look kinda funny.


I want to try brands from pet barn at some point. haven't tried Royal canin , but funnily enough our vet endorses the dried one. So might try it, he had the hills light dried, but has a lot of stuff in it.
He is a fluffy boy. And love him to bits thanks ladies. I think all cats are cute though [emoji]128512[/emoji].

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Jasper had this problem a bit. Soft stools if they're not regular can just be a food change if you've fed him something he doesn't normally eat (like a roach or a bug or a lizard!). We used to give Jasper a hygiene trim with my old bikini trimmers (one's I dont use before anyone thinks eeew!!! ) I held him, the husband did a quick ziiip up the rear floofy end and no more dirty bums Does he get any dry food at all? Grain free makes mine too firm but others with fish seem to make them soft (actually fish tends to make a lot of cats soft).

It is overwhelming, I'm just going for balanced as I can manage and trying not to drive myself insane with it. For now I've settled on Royal Canin dry (for now Skin and Coat and Oral Care but I think I'll go with a mixture of sensitive and light adult in the future maybe with oral care from time to time) and then Wellness chicken minced for wet, royal canin sachets and a little fancy feast every few days with some raw thrown in (or I might try just Tilly on raw roo as I mentioned above if this doesn't work out). Mine definitely get smellier on supermarket food, although they did well on Applaws chicken (but I can't feed it alone or they get constipated). I honestly prefer Royal Canin over Hills, so do my cats and so do most of the vets in my area for some reason. Hills is harder to get. Royal Canin do a light version too, it says 17% less calories or something

Tobilei said:

Ugh, it's Tilly who keeps getting the blocked anal glands! The last time she shot it out all up our vets arm! Dear goodness THE SMELL!!!!!!!!!! I am thinking about putting her on some raw kangaroo. She really liked it, I'll just have to feed them separately because it makes Jasper vomit a whole lot I have those photos of Tilly for you, I just have to go find the thread now!

Jasper had this problem a bit. Soft stools if they're not regular can just be a food change if you've fed him something he doesn't normally eat (like a roach or a bug or a lizard!). We used to give Jasper a hygiene trim with my old bikini trimmers (one's I dont use before anyone thinks eeew!!! ) I held him, the husband did a quick ziiip up the rear floofy end and no more dirty bums Does he get any dry food at all? Grain free makes mine too firm but others with fish seem to make them soft (actually fish tends to make a lot of cats soft).


It is overwhelming, I'm just going for balanced as I can manage and trying not to drive myself insane with it. For now I've settled on Royal Canin dry (for now Skin and Coat and Oral Care but I think I'll go with a mixture of sensitive and light adult in the future maybe with oral care from time to time) and then Wellness chicken minced for wet, royal canin sachets and a little fancy feast every few days with some raw thrown in (or I might try just Tilly on raw roo as I mentioned above if this doesn't work out). Mine definitely get smellier on supermarket food, although they did well on Applaws chicken (but I can't feed it alone or they get constipated). I honestly prefer Royal Canin over Hills, so do my cats and so do most of the vets in my area for some reason. Hills is harder to get. Royal Canin do a light version too, it says 17% less calories or something

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Yeah my boy will eat moths and cockroaches from time to time. He will eat anything, we have a budgie and he Molts and sometimes he has been known to eat a feather or two, little ones that is.
Dry food I give him has been treats like greenies and felix treats. I got some vip treats to try him on.
Also got to pet barn and going to try him on some wellness, holistic select and weruva cats in the kitchen brand. But that will be over a months or more. I tend to introduce new flavours every few days. Sometimes longer. Say try a new one Monday morning next might be Friday so usually a few days between. Depends on if I am busy or if at home I case he gets the trots or any reaction etc.
he eats fancy feast at moment and felix. And introducing dine flavours slowy. Trying to stick with ones that don't have fish and cereal fillers. I am wanting a mixture and thinking he might need some dry. Have yo tried the vip dry? I might give that a go. Fish will be more once every so often.

His breath a bit stinky, he was checked in March And has mild dental disease but said don't need to do anything, but I brush his teeth every few days to help .

Have a lot am thinking about with his diet and health. I brush him everyday and clip his nails and brush teeth has had a few baths. He has revolution I use so know am more focused on his food in put and his out put lol lol.

Cuddlemum said:

Yeah my boy will eat moths and cockroaches from time to time. He will eat anything, we have a budgie and he Molts and sometimes he has been known to eat a feather or two, little ones that is.
Dry food I give him has been treats like greenies and felix treats. I got some vip treats to try him on.
Also got to pet barn and going to try him on some wellness, holistic select and weruva cats in the kitchen brand. But that will be over a months or more. I tend to introduce new flavours every few days. Sometimes longer. Say try a new one Monday morning next might be Friday so usually a few days between. Depends on if I am busy or if at home I case he gets the trots or any reaction etc.
he eats fancy feast at moment and felix. And introducing dine flavours slowy. Trying to stick with ones that don't have fish and cereal fillers. I am wanting a mixture and thinking he might need some dry. Have yo tried the vip dry? I might give that a go. Fish will be more once every so often.

His breath a bit stinky, he was checked in March And has mild dental disease but said don't need to do anything, but I brush his teeth every few days to help .

Have a lot am thinking about with his diet and health. I brush him everyday and clip his nails and brush teeth has had a few baths. He has revolution I use so know am more focused on his food in put and his out put lol lol.

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How is your little one going? Have you tried pre made barf as an option? You may need yo look into the calories etc to see if you're happy with it, I give my cat a Barf style kangaroo patty 1-2 times a week for variety ( so that it's a balanced meal) along with meaty bones and her other food. Would it be an option to try? Quite natural in its ingredients too, so no fillers etc.

Tobilei said:

Ugh, it's Tilly who keeps getting the blocked anal glands! The last time she shot it out all up our vets arm! Dear goodness THE SMELL!!!!!!!!!! I am thinking about putting her on some raw kangaroo. She really liked it, I'll just have to feed them separately because it makes Jasper vomit a whole lot I have those photos of Tilly for you, I just have to go find the thread now!

Jasper had this problem a bit. Soft stools if they're not regular can just be a food change if you've fed him something he doesn't normally eat (like a roach or a bug or a lizard!). We used to give Jasper a hygiene trim with my old bikini trimmers (one's I dont use before anyone thinks eeew!!! ) I held him, the husband did a quick ziiip up the rear floofy end and no more dirty bums Does he get any dry food at all? Grain free makes mine too firm but others with fish seem to make them soft (actually fish tends to make a lot of cats soft).


It is overwhelming, I'm just going for balanced as I can manage and trying not to drive myself insane with it. For now I've settled on Royal Canin dry (for now Skin and Coat and Oral Care but I think I'll go with a mixture of sensitive and light adult in the future maybe with oral care from time to time) and then Wellness chicken minced for wet, royal canin sachets and a little fancy feast every few days with some raw thrown in (or I might try just Tilly on raw roo as I mentioned above if this doesn't work out). Mine definitely get smellier on supermarket food, although they did well on Applaws chicken (but I can't feed it alone or they get constipated). I honestly prefer Royal Canin over Hills, so do my cats and so do most of the vets in my area for some reason. Hills is harder to get. Royal Canin do a light version too, it says 17% less calories or something

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I agree so VERY overwhelming, it seems the USA Has a much better variety in terms of high quality cat food. I've even emailed a few companies and they said they cannot import the wet food in because of strict bio laws. How is little Tilly going with her 'problem'? Poor darling. BTW do you get the Royal Canin in gravy or in jelly? Just curious to try it. Do you know what the jelly actually might be? I'm wondering if it's the gluggy binding gum.
Oh, I've also seen a few other brands in case you're curious to research a bit more. There is Earthborn Holistic (canned cannot be importe, only the dry) and Artemis (although limited range is imported again!).

BTW, I started Facebook group called Cat Food Chat if you're interested. It's only very small at the moment, but thought it would be fun/interesting to set up. Here is the link if you're keen :lol3: it's a closed group so hopefully no spammers https://www.facebook.com/groups/976027975822540/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Wait, kangaroos are edible?! Or is it just a name.

Smile123 said:

Wait, kangaroos are edible?! Or is it just a name.

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Haha yes, but you need to make sure it's human grade and good quality. Sometimes pet food brands will use questionable quality or add sulphur to the kangaroo meat which is bad. Kangaroo is not necessarily a mainstream food for humans, but increasingly popular with pet food meat as it a lean meat.
Here is a link for the Barf style patty that I give in addition to canned food for my cat. I've liaised with the company to find out the quality and sourcing of their kangaroo, which is actually very good. Link is http://bigdogpetfoods.com/raw-food-for-cats/kangaroo/

:nod:

And here I've been thinking they're endangered :lol3:
On the ingredients it does say garlic and that's poisonous to cats so is it safe, have you had any issues with it?

Smile123 said:

And here I've been thinking they're endangered :lol3:
On the ingredients it does say garlic and that's poisonous to cats so is it safe, have you had any issues with it?

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They are not endangered, certain wallabies may be. However since kangaroos are a native animal, they are still respected.
Re: the garlic, I questioned this with the company, however the garlic amount is very very small, enough to provide health benefits to the cat but not to the extent that it's toxic. I had my hesitations however after googling a bit on holistic cat foods, there is the notion that a very very tiny amount of garlic is beneficial (and i mean TINY amount). Does that help?

:nod:

Yes, I'll consider feeding it after the current bag of food is fed.

Sliding on in, as I'm another Aussie (QLD) who tore her hair out trying to find the right food for her baby!!

Completely agree that our American friends are really spoilt for choice when it comes to food variety - totally jealous, particularly if you are trying to resolve an issue that everyone swears [this food] fixed for them but you just can't get it in bloody Australia! LOL

My Willow (Ragdoll who is just over a year old) had soft stool ever since we got her, and tests were able to determine that she was all fine on the parasite front; the vet and I pretty much came to the conclusion that it must be food related.

My God, let the odyssey begin! We tried so many foods (all spaced out of course); prescription, grain free, different proteins - I felt so sorry for my baby.

I am one of the people who have found success with Ziwipeak, both canned and air dried foods. Previously, attempts to give Willow wet food resulted in poo explosions - this poor kitty had so many baths. However, with the Ziwipeak her poop had finally gotten to the stage where it's manageable - not perfect, but certainly better than what it was.

I buy Ziwipeak from Petusuals and signed up to the VIP program so there is a small discount. It's certainly more expensive than other cat foods, but to me it's worth it's weight in gold

Rose2015 said:

How is your little one going? Have you tried pre made barf as an option? You may need yo look into the calories etc to see if you're happy with it, I give my cat a Barf style kangaroo patty 1-2 times a week for variety ( so that it's a balanced meal) along with meaty bones and her other food. Would it be an option to try? Quite natural in its ingredients too, so no fillers etc.

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No haven't tried barf patties, at moment am limited on funds but will maybe try it, just a little worried about the raw meat side of it.

Cuddlemum said:

Have yo tried the vip dry? I might give that a go. Fish will be more once every so often.

His breath a bit stinky, he was checked in March And has mild dental disease but said don't need to do anything, but I brush his teeth every few days to help .

 

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My boys breath is stinky. Always has been. His teeth have been checked too but they're okay (due to be done in a few months but they don't have the issues that the breath he has suggests he should have! I have tried the VIP food. My cats love it. Petfoodreviews said it was full of questionable meat and they do use soy but so does Royal Canin. Meat digest is pretty disgusting but even Black Hawk use that (if you google that don't do it while eating!) Applaws has better reviews than the VIP. I used to love the Kangaroo and Beef VIP dry because it didn't contain chicken meal but now it's listed on the ingredients. I emailed the company for an ingredients list and they didn't list chicken meal. When I messaged them back to clarify the discrepancy they didn't get back to me. My boys favourite was the turkey and cranberry one. It does seem to make them thirstier though for some reason (same with Black Hawk).

Rose2015 said:

I agree so VERY overwhelming, it seems the USA Has a much better variety in terms of high quality cat food. I've even emailed a few companies and they said they cannot import the wet food in because of strict bio laws. How is little Tilly going with her 'problem'? Poor darling. BTW do you get the Royal Canin in gravy or in jelly? Just curious to try it. Do you know what the jelly actually might be? I'm wondering if it's the gluggy binding gum.
Oh, I've also seen a few other brands in case you're curious to research a bit more. There is Earthborn Holistic (canned cannot be importe, only the dry) and Artemis (although limited range is imported again!).

BTW, I started Facebook group called Cat Food Chat if you're interested. It's only very small at the moment, but thought it would be fun/interesting to set up. Here is the link if you're keen

it's a closed group so hopefully no spammers https://www.facebook.com/groups/976027975822540/?ref=ts&fref=ts

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Awesome! I shall go and join!! Tilly is doing okay for now. So far hasn't blocked back up on what they're currently eating Fingers crossed it was a twice in a lifetime thing for her! I get the Royal Canin in Jelly. Mine don't like the gravy much in that one (even though generally they're gravy addicts, if I could buy cans of gravy they'd probably be happy!). The gravy is really thin and watery and doesn't look nice. The jelly isn't the same as supermarket jelly, it's a bit runnier. I did email Royal Canin (I'm sure they just love me there!) for full clarification on ingredients when Tilly got sick and they use cellulose and gums (possibly carrageenan, I don't know, that wasn't clarified).

Thank you for the continued research! Earthborn contains fish (ack!) and so does Artemis although both are very good foods! Mine refused to eat the Earthborn, it's teeny tiny balls like wellness is. I haven't tried Artemis because of the fish thing but if they ever get rid of the fish I'll get a sample for sure! It sucks that they won't/can't import the foods here

Maybe we should all get together and start our own cat food company!!!

Smile123 said:

And here I've been thinking they're endangered

On the ingredients it does say garlic and that's poisonous to cats so is it safe, have you had any issues with it?

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Dr B's barf doesn't contain garlic and is similar (not exactly the same, I do recall reading somewhere that the other company stole his recipe or something-not sure if I have that correct full disclaimer-and then he had to change his to avoid a lawsuit or something).

Nightwriter said:

Sliding on in, as I'm another Aussie (QLD) who tore her hair out trying to find the right food for her baby!!

Completely agree that our American friends are really spoilt for choice when it comes to food variety - totally jealous, particularly if you are trying to resolve an issue that everyone swears [this food] fixed for them but you just can't get it in bloody Australia! LOL

My Willow (Ragdoll who is just over a year old) had soft stool ever since we got her, and tests were able to determine that she was all fine on the parasite front; the vet and I pretty much came to the conclusion that it must be food related.

My God, let the odyssey begin! We tried so many foods (all spaced out of course); prescription, grain free, different proteins - I felt so sorry for my baby.

I am one of the people who have found success with Ziwipeak, both canned and air dried foods. Previously, attempts to give Willow wet food resulted in poo explosions - this poor kitty had so many baths. However, with the Ziwipeak her poop had finally gotten to the stage where it's manageable - not perfect, but certainly better than what it was.

I buy Ziwipeak from Petusuals and signed up to the VIP program so there is a small discount. It's certainly more expensive than other cat foods, but to me it's worth it's weight in gold

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I tried Ziwipeak cans. I LOVED Them (the idea of them). Sadly my cat did not. I tried all the flavours, more than once and every time they got buried and left to dry out I thought it might be the solution to all my problems though and then when I got Tilly I wondered if the New Zealand Lipped Mussel being seafood might cause her issues (boo!).

I'm glad you've got Willow under some kind of control. My vet has me adding 1/4 tsp per day of psyllium powder to Tilly's food to help keep her poops firm. It might be worth a try if you haven't already (slipper elm can work in the same way).

Cuddlemum said:

No haven't tried barf patties, at moment am limited on funds but will maybe try it, just a little worried about the raw meat side of it.

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Raw is fine for most cats, start slowly, keep an eye out for constipation, the premade patties contain a fair amount of bone