Confused about what to feed

I have a 6 or 7 month old cat that I adopted a month ago. The woman who had fostered him had been feeding him fancy feast. Before I got the kitten, I decided to do some research on cat nutrition to make sure I fed him correctly. My old cat (RIP) always had a weight problem and I think that was due to me not knowing any better originally and giving him dry food freely. Anyway, I decided the new cat, Magnus, should get mostly wet food, with a very small amount of kibble just so if I was ever going to be late for a feeding I could leave out some kibble for him and he'd eat it. I work from home so this is normally not a problem. So after searching I decided to feed him cans of Blue Buffalo Wilderness formula as well as Wellness cans. The small amount of dry kibble was also Blue Buffalo duck formula. He gets six ounces of wet food a day (split up into three feedings), with just a very small amount of kibble as a snack). 

Magnus has been wolfing down the food and has a shiny coat and is a good weight. His bathroom business seems good and everything seems in order.

I just brought him in for his vet checkup to get a second distemper shot and just to introduce him to the vet and make sure everything is OK. I had been going to this vet for years and I really like him so I don't think he's a bad vet. Magnus had gained one pound  in the month I had him and the vet said he looked great and was a perfect weight and everything looked good. He asked me what I was feeding him and when I told him he shook his head and said that they weren't good brands (because they were high in ASH) and that many cats got crystals from them. He said he's seen a lot of people feeding the natural diets to their pets and their urine would have almost like a sediment in it. He recommended Science Diet and said that is what he has fed all of his cats and they do well on it.

I've read conflicting stuff about Science Diet but I don't think my vet is lying to me and trying to peddle me their stuff if he didn't believe what he said. 

So now I'm confused....

redvelvetone said:

He recommended Science Diet and said that is what he has fed all of his cats and they do well on it.

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Unfortunately the vast majority of vets really don't know the first thing about feeding cats. Their "education" in nutrition comes from the pet food manufacturers themselves (mainly Hill's, Purina, or Royal Canin), so the bias is pretty blatant towards feeding and stocking their vet clinics with those brands. I would continue feeding your kitty as you have been and ignore the vet on this one. Don't let him bully you into changing.

Thanks for your response Sugarcatmom

I do like my vet and generally trust him but I had heard what you mentioned above about Hills and vet schools. Though my vet has the experience of seeing animals come in and seeing what their urine looks like from their diets. I have no education in this matter and reading stuff on the internet does not make me an expert on anything I don't want to accidentally do the wrong thing and give my cat crystals. At the same time, I really like what I've read about Wellness and some of the other higher end natural foods. How do you check for Ash or Magnesium levels in a food?

Does anybody here know what brands are supposed to be good for that, but also have good ingredients?

Other stuff I've read basically say if you give your cat canned foods (wet) they are much less likely to develop crystals. Is there anything else I should look for specifically?

Also I should mention I had started to supplement a with a couple of cans a week of Trader Joes wet food as the ingredients seemed nice and they were really cheap compared to Wellness and Blue Buffalo.

redvelvetone said:

How do you check for Ash or Magnesium levels in a food?

Does anybody here know what brands are supposed to be good for that, but also have good ingredients?

Other stuff I've read basically say if you give your cat canned foods (wet) they are much less likely to develop crystals. Is there anything else I should look for specifically?

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The supposed ash/magnesium link to FLUTD is out-dated (another reason why I wouldn't listen to your vet when it comes to food). Here's some more current info on that subject:

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/KnowledgeBase/knowledgebasedetail.aspx?articleid=147#anchor8

redvelvetone said:

Also I should mention I had started to supplement a with a couple of cans a week of Trader Joes wet food as the ingredients seemed nice and they were really cheap compared to Wellness and Blue Buffalo.

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I'm a big fan of rotating between different brands and flavours. Helps prevent nutritional imbalances and avoids the cat getting addicted to only one food.

See in these situations, vets suggesting a food change for an obviously healthy animal, is when I just smile and then continue what I'm doing. 

I second everything SugarCatMom has already said. The vast majority of vets get their "nutritional training" spoon-fed directly from the same companies for whom they sell products. More and more veterinarians, however, are beginning to research the topic on their own, and coming to vastly different conclusions.

There's nothing at all wrong with what you're feeding (although I would just get rid of the kibble completely, especially if your kitty has reached optimal adult weight and you don't want him to gain any excess). You could, however, add a few more varieties to your rotation - this will keep your boy from becoming fixated on any one product (a problem if they change or stop producing it) and protect him from potential quality control issues by diluting their impact. Since cats can develop hypersensitivity when continually exposed to the same proteins or ingredients for extended periods, it will also help prevent food intolerance issues (and the associated diarrhea and vomiting).

Dr. Hofve has a great article with even more reasons for rotating foods: Switching Foods.

Look for canned products that are low- or no-carb (low or no grains, fruits or veggies) and have a high percentage of a named meat (i.e. "turkey" instead of "poultry"). In addition to Wellness, Natural Balance and Felidae both have grain-free varieties, and Nature's Variety Instincts and Evo 95% meat products are all grain-free. A "grain-free canned cat" search on petfooddirect.com will yield a veritable cornucopia of options, and you can conduct a side-by-side analysis of the ingredients and nutritional profiles.

Feline-nutrition.org has a nice article on deciphering pet food labels under their Nutrition section that offers additional insight into choosing different products.

Best regards!

AC

Thanks everyone for your advice. I appreciate it. I think I am going to continue what I am doing and just  monitor his bathroom habits to make sure nothing happens. I'll also switch in a few more varieties of the high end foods as per your suggestions as well. Currently I have been using all different flavors by Wellness (their CORE brand) as well as teh kitten wilderness formula by BB (and the Turkey and Chicken Trader Joes cat food).  But I think I can probably take him off of Kitten formula completely at this point (which the vet also said).

Thanks again.

Here is a photo of Magnus from a couple of days ago.

Awk! Lynnette - he's GORGEOUS!!!

Auntie Crazy said:

Awk! Lynnette - he's GORGEOUS!!! :heart3:

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YES - Gorgeous boy !!!!!!!!!! What beautiful eyes.:love:

Thanks very much. I think so too but I am biased

Magnus was a feral kitten that was rescued by a cat group, and I adopted him from them. (They originally called him Goldie, because of his eyes, but I thought he looked more like a Magnus). His brother, mother and father all still live outside though. The group had originally caught the mother, Magnus and Bleu (who looks just like Magnus except is a blue-grey color), but Magnus was the only one who seemed to adoptable as he was more socialized than the others apparently. They had to re-release the others once they got them them neutered and up to date on shots. They are hoping they can eventually maybe socialize Bleu (a lady is apparently feeding him and taking him inside when it's really cold out, but he's still semi-feral.). I saw pics of the mom and the brother, and they are all really beautiful cats; it's such a shame they are living outside. The mom is longhaired and mostly black but with some white paws and a white chest and chin. The brother is also long-haired and a blue-grey color, and I am told the father is big and all black (also long-haired).

He is a very handsome kitty, indeed.  And, as to your questions about how to tell how much ash is in his food, it should say on the food lable, under Guaranteed Analysis.  I just checked several of my cans of different brands, and all but one had the ash content.  For point of reference, I quickly looked up the ash content in Science Diet canned adult food and it was 2%.

What a beautiful meezer!!! FWIW, My horse's stall neighbor's owner is a small animal vet. She said that all of the nutrition education she's had she had to do most of it on her own.  Now she's really dedicated so I imagine she's really done her research on the subject but I doubt many vets are that dedicated.  Foxy's vet (she is my horse) and I had a discussion about pet nutrition once. He said he left all of that up to his wife.  Now he's a large animal vet so I wouldn't necessarily expect him to know much about dog and cat nutrition but I would think he might have a bit of knowledge I can pretty much agree with what everyone else has posted.

Thanks Mike

Also I thought Meezer was for Siamese cats? I could be wrong! I didn't know what a moggie was until recently either lol.

A lot of people use it to mean Siamese, but I believe it comes from the German Miez(e) or Mies(e), which is simply the equivalent of "kitty" and has been in use since at least the 18th century and is derived from meow (miauen). That's how our half cat Miezi got her name. Her sister is Kedi (Turkish, and thought to be the origin of "kitty"). Miezi's original owners weren't very imaginative when it came to cats' names.

Cool, thanks for the history lesson. Yeah I know what you  mean but unorginal cat names. I know when we adopted, lots of the cats had temporary names like "princess" or "mittens" or something and our kitten's name was Goldie. I asked the rescuer if he knew his name yet as I wanted to change it as it just didn't seem to suit. Luckily he only had his temporary name for about a week so he didn't know it yet so we could change it. I still don't know if he knows his new name yet though. He looks at me when I call him but I think it's just my tone of voice because I could be saying anything. I'll have to keep repeating his name until he "gets" that it means him.

I like the names Miezi and Kedi, they're cool. Thanks again

redvelvetone said:

Also I thought Meezer was for Siamese cats? I could be wrong! I didn't know what a moggie was until recently either lol.

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LOL... it is.  I use it out of habit.  I have 2 Snowshoe cats and just got into the habit of calling them all meezers   Sorry for any confusion. 

jcat said:

A lot of people use it to mean Siamese, but I believe it comes from the German Miez(e) or Mies(e), which is simply the equivalent of "kitty" and has been in use since at least the 18th century and is derived from meow (miauen). That's how our half cat Miezi got her name. Her sister is Kedi (Turkish, and thought to be the origin of "kitty"). Miezi's original owners weren't very imaginative when it came to cats' names.

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Hey thanks jcat! I did not know all of this.  Learn something new every day

Hey I just was looking at the Authority cat (wet) food put out by PetSmart. I picked up a few cans as they were inexpensive and the ingredient list seemed good. Does anybody here have any negative or positive feedback on Authority?

Currently I've been doing wet cans of Wellness CORE, Trader Joes cat food, and a little Blue Buffalo wilderness forumula. I also just started trying out Nutro MAX. Wellness is the main one I use but I do supplement with the other brands so he has variety. I also have a dry cat food of Blue Buffalo wilderness but he only gets a very small amount of that per day (like maybe 20 kibbles). I know people here say dry cat food is bad, but I need him to eat a little of it in case I am ever not here to do his feedings exactly on time. (he gets three feeding times a day - 5.5 oz of wet food per day plus the small amount of kibble mentioned earlier). I figure as long as he is getting water, that small amount won't hurt him.

Magnus has a huge appetite and pretty much wolfs down anything I stick in front of him. He only got picky with this one cat food can I happened to have (it had a lot of veg in it) and he kind of ate around the veg. (I went to a different pet store that day and they didn't have my usual brands). So I didn't get that kind again.

The other thing is he always acts like he's starving. Does this calm down over time? I know he was a feral, and he is now 7 months old, so still growing. But seriously he licks his plate clean, hunts for crumbs and is looking for more every time I feed him. (don't get me wrong, I am so glad he is not picky, plus it's nice to see an animal want to eat and enjoy it's food. One of the worst things when my last cat had cancer was having him stop eating. It was so sad.)