Survey? What food do you feed your cats?

I feed a mixed diet.

It's hard to calculate the exact ratio of dry to wet since I free feed my cats their dry food but it works out pretty close to 60% dry and 40% wet.

Dry = Nutro Natural Choice Indoor mixed evenly with Nutro Max Indoor

Wet = All flavors of Nutro Natural Choice and Nutro Max. Flavors include chicken, lamb, venison, duck and fish. Fish is fed every 3rd feeding or about twice a week.

The feral cat eats much more wet than dry so I feed her more cans of wet than I do my indoor cats. The Feral eats the same brands but the ratio is more like wet = 80% to dry = 20%. Same fish rule applies.

For treats I give feline Greenies, catnip, live petgrass and sometimes other dry treats but they love the Greenies best. They will not eat soft cat treats at all.

Free feeding doesn't make you a bad pet owner. As long as your pet is in good condition, then there's no problem. However, it does become an issue when, for example, one brings their cat to the hospital and when asked if their appetite is ok, the owner doesn't kniw because they free feed. Otherwise, do what works for you.

Little Guy gets go! Natural dry- 1/8 cup plus 1/4 can of a variety of canned - Nature's Variety Instinct, homestyle stews, weruva ( all flavours), almo nature (any flavour) - twice a day at 8 am & 8 pm.

Schweppie has crf and gets 1/2 can three times a day at 8 am, 4 pm and 12 am. He gets a variety as he will not eat two cans of the same food in a row- Natural Balance limited ingredient foods (salmon, chicken, duck & venison), hills k/d, royal canin renal lp, holistic selects ( turkey & barley, duck & chicken, lamb & chicken.), wellness (turkey, chicken) and occasionally almo nature or weruva when he refuses to eat any of the above (I know they are not appropriate but he has to eat!). I sometimes put a bit of the go! kibble or k/d kibble on top to get him to eat. I just tried merricks cowboy cookout cuz he's starting to tire of his selections. he didnt like it. I'm not a big fan of merrick but will occasionally give him the before grain in turkey.

50% Wet, 50% dry...with the exception of Sybil who gets 100% dry because she won't touch anything that comes in a can.

My guys currently get Blue Wilderness dry. They used to get Eukanuba, but I finally got fed up with the lousy ingredients and astronomical price. They're doing much better on the Wilderness - more energy, better coats and Wendel's even losing a bit of weight.

For canned they get the Blue Spa Select. Main reason is that they eat it and it doesn't upset Freya's stomach.

I worry a little about the single brand feeding, but it's such a challenge to find things Freya will eat that don't make her sick, so I try to stick with what works.

I free-feed estimated 1 cup Buffalo Blue dry a day (he doesn't eat it all a day, so it's less than a cup)

and twice a day, I give 25% of 5.5 oz can of Science Diet Culinary Creations. It used to be half a can, but he no longer finishes it and I am giving less to save more. In process of looking for new food for him to like and eat more of.

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate all the responses I got.

I'm happy to report that my boys have been eating 3x canned food per day since I posted the survey - like Willowy said, I just started feeding it, and they already recognize the sound of the can opening and come running!

I feed a 15 lb bag of TOTW mixed with a 20 lb bag of 4Health from Tractor Supply. I have 10 cats, so I have a really hard time feeding wet food, simply because I can't afford it. But I put 1/4 cup in each of the 10 bowls in the morning, then another 1/4 cup in each bowl at night. So they're "free fed" kind of, but not really because it's measured.

Cats are strict carnivores and don't need grains. I've tried different brands of raw, frozen meat (pet foods) but they don't seem to like it. I think raw meat would probably be the most natural diet for cats. Once in a while I'll get a can of tuna, shrimp, chicken and mix it together for a treat. I feed them food below, dry. I leave a bowl out for them and they nibble whenever they are hungry:

Taste of The Wild Rocky Mountain Feline Formula

http://tinyurl.com/tasteofthewildpetfood

* For All Life Stages
* Grain-Free
* Roasted Venison & Smoked Salmon
* Optimal Amino Acids
* Digestive Support System
* Antioxidants
* Omega Fatty Acid Blend
* Berry Blend
* Taurine
* Tomatoes
* No Corn, No Soy
* Chelated Minerals

The other thing my cat LOVES is bee pollen. I get that at the health food store and grind it into a powder in my coffee bean grinder give him a 1/4 teaspoon of the powder. He licks it right up! It's very nutritious!

Cats like to nibble on grass. So I got some tiny, potted wheat grass and I place a few of the plants in different rooms and they nibble on the grass.

Awesome thread. Its nice to know that other cats are as picky as mine. Sometimes I think it just can't be possible...but it is. We are normal!

One of mine gets about 60% Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain dry and then 40% wet - I have tried every brand out there with her and the only one is willing to eat on a regular basis is the Fancy Feast classic chicken pate. We are trying to eventually go all wet.
The other one eats about 10% Taste of the wild dry and 90% canned mostly Dave's chicken or turkey. I also buy whatever grain free wet is on sale to she gets a variety.

I used to feed Wellness dry but it's not grain free and it's double the price of Taste of the Wild.

I feed mostly wet food to my cat( Friskies and fancy feast).

I feed 80% wet and 20% dry.

Wet food is Wellness and Felidae (Our eldest cat LOVES that stuff). When I get low on food and can't get out, I will throw them some Friskies wet food.

Dry is only cheap Whiskas. Just to give them a bit of crunch.

We have one cat and she eats half a tablespoon of dry today, and that's her afternoon and midnight snack. It's Wellness CORE or Merrick Before Grain (chicken).

The rest of her diet is canned and we're still experimenting with pretty much all premiums. She won't eat too repetitive a menu, so we have a long list of things we offer.

Wellness, Merrick Before Grain, Merrick Five Star, Natural Balance, Soulistic, Blue, sometimes Innova and Nutro. I might've even forgotten some. She won't touch anything that contains quail and venison and we never feed any fish cans (or dry) at all.

Originally Posted by Ms. Freya

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I worry a little about the single brand feeding, but it's such a challenge to find things Freya will eat that don't make her sick, so I try to stick with what works.

Click to expand...

I come across a lot of people that have that same issue Ms. Freya. Cats crack me up. They are just like people when it comes to their food. If I put anything with turkey as an ingredient into 'Bitz bowl she looks at me like I'm poisoning her. So I try to avoid buying any wet with turkey as a protein source because she won't eat it

With two senior cats, one with struvite crystal issues, the meal plan has gotten pretty simple in comparison to earlier.

Jamie gets dry (his preference) "urinary food" for breakfast: Hill's c/d, Royal Canin S/O and Eukanuba Struvite on alternate days. Miezi eats a number of brands, but mainly Orijen and Acana. Both get the only canned they like for dinner: Almo nature and Applaws, both of which are just meat and/or fish in spring water. Some flavors have carrots or cheese added for variety.

100% wet-- Hills SD canned

We switched to Blue Buffalo...here's the story, hope it's not too long, but I think it's a good one.

We were feeding our boys Purina Indoor. For many years. Phoenix, our oldest, was overweight, always has been. At close to 20lbs. He'd been on Science Diet before R/D for weight. But it's soooo expensive. Almost 20 bucks for a 4lb bag.

Anyways...we started talking about how these boys are like our kids, they are family, and they deserve a better food and a change up since they'd been eating the same food constantly. So we went to petsmart and picked out another Purina food. I forget which but it was supposedly healthy. I got to the checkout and asked the girl at the counter about it, if she thought it was okay. She read the label and said 'no, this is not good food. First ingredient is Chicken biproduct, and when biproduct is the first ingredient, it's a no, no.'

We went to the back where the cat food was and the Blue girl was there. We had a nice discussion about Blue, and the benefits. For us it was nice because there was this really healthy food that costs a lot but is indeed healthy. It would give them what they needed without worrying about what was possibly going into their system, and they had different flavors for the boys. This way they wouldn't get sick of it.

Well, the boys eat less now. They get fuller faster and leave food in their bowls. From a cup (ish) down to 3/4, sometimes less depending on the day. Phoenix's weight went down to 17.8 lbs last time we checked. It's been about a week. And they LOVE the food. It's been such a blessing. We got them the Chicken and Rice first and once that is done we have Salmon for them next. You're going to spend about $35 a bag on it but they're going to enjoy it, be healthier and happier. And why shouldn't they be.

Blue Buffalo = full of win!!!

My boy eats 100% dry because wet food (in any brand) makes him really ill.

Blue Wildnerness Chicken is his dry

(I also give him pumpkin and grass daily)

I have two kitties, Oscar is my 2 yo male. He is really healthy although he could probably stand to lose a pound lol. he weighs in at about 14 pounds. Kattie is my 7 yo female. She is 10 pounds and a good weight for her size. She does have issues as she has allergies and I have to avoid Duck in her diet as it makes her itchier. She is also a megacolon kitty. She is managed now almost exclusively with diet and miralax twice a week. This is opposed to being on lactulose twice a day and still getting backed up. Long story short, the vet had her on Hills W/D for extra fiber which was the opposite of what she needed.

They are fed twice a day of both dry and canned
Dry food is a mix of grain in and grain free. I rotate between the higher quality brands like Blue Wilderness, Wellness, Before Grain, Felidae, Taste of the Wild, Acana, Orijen, Blue Spa Select, Solid Gold, ect. There current mix is Before Grain Chicken mixed with a little Acana grasslands and Wellness Indoor Health for the grain in food. They really love acana and Wellness the best. Next month I will get TOTW, and Blue Spa Select probably as I have some coupons. They get an 1/8 of a cup twice a day of this.

Canned food is a 1/4 of a 6.5 oz can in the morning then 1/2 a 3 oz can at night.
Canned foods vary and some of the not so good are in the mix, but it is canned and they like it so I feel it is better than nothing.They currently like Fancy Feast, Friskies, Blue Wilderness, Avoderm, Merricks, Whiskas, Nutro Natural Choice and Max Cat the chunks in gravy is their favorite, Fussie Cat, Tiki Cat, ect. They get a fish flavor twice a week as I have no uti issues, but the rest are mostly chicken, turkey, beef, venison ect. I avoid duck because of the allergies in my female cat.

Thanks for the continued responses!!

We feed Leiki Royal Canin Siamese 38 for her dry food. Her wet is a mix of pretty much whatever is on sale - usually Friskies (it goes on sale at work every 8 weeks, 3 cans for 99 cents, so I stock up), and Royal Canin varieties. We still have some kitten food left over (wet), so she gets that every once in awhile too - she's just over a year now.