What do you feed your cat/s?

Poll

I am transitioning Hobo from a grain free all dry diet to an all wet diet.

Wet, dry and raw

I'm transitioning to 100% raw, but when we have several "off" meals in a row, I break out the canned food. No kibbles in the house.

Canned, I feed Friskies or 9Lives.

Dry, I feed Blue Buffalo Wilderness, any of the flavors.

Wet and dry.

Wet is Nutro Natural Choice and Nutro Max.  I also use other premium wet foods from time to time,  to change the flavor and texture for them.

Dry is Nutro Max Indoor Roasted Chicken flavor.  It is the only dry food they will eat.

Treat time is feline Greenies.

I feed wet and dry.

Dry and wet, but mostly dry.

Wet for one meal a day, 4 premium brands on rotation, almost always poultry, with tuna once a week. Also, 2.5 cups of Wellness Healthy Weight (kibble) per day, for all 7 of them. On weekends, Stella and Chewy freeze dry raw, rehydrated, for treats. But some won't eat this.

All of them willingly eat everything else. I weigh them monthly, or more often, to make sure they are getting the right amounts.

Robin

I'm transitioning from dry to Raw.  Used to feed Kirkland Premium dry, in days gone by until we had to go to a prescription diet.  Currently we are feeding Soulistic wet while in the transition phase.  (all the kitties love it, and it is totally grain free)  Apparently, it's the Petco brand of Weruva.  Next step...raw! 

If I could afford it I would feed my cats with raw meat only, but I have 11 cats, and for the moment 6 kittens.

We use Feline Porta Grain Free  as dry food and Feline Porta 21 as wet food.

Once a week we give them either chicken,fish, lam or beef meat.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but our vet told us that the 'raw diet' would have to start from the beginning of a kitten's life...and that we should not try and do it after when a cat is older.  He explained that it could build up toxins in the body that the body is not prepared to deal with.  That being said, we feed the 6 and 7 year olds two meals a day of wet food of the best possible quality available and then dry food to 'snack on' during the day and at night.  The 'baby' Felice, a Maine Coon cat (she's 1 year and 1/2) eats only fresh cat food, which is expensive, but she loves it.  The other two, Dulcinea and Esperanza are not even interested in the fresh cat food and won't even go near it. 

I would appreciate any comments. 

My best to all,

Fr. Gregg

fr gregg said:

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but our vet told us that the 'raw diet' would have to start from the beginning of a kitten's life...and that we should not try and do it after when a cat is older.  He explained that it could build up toxins in the body that the body is not prepared to deal with. 

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Complete and utter nonsense. Cats of all ages are commonly switched to raw. Mine were youngish but not kittens. The 4 of them were between 2 and 4 years old. I know of cats over 10 years old that were switched to raw with no problem.

I've heard about vets coming up with all kinds of nonsensical reasons to object to a raw diet but this is a new one!  

mschauer said:

Complete and utter nonsense. Cats of all ages are commonly switched to raw. Mine were youngish but not kittens. The 4 of them were between 2 and 4 years old. I know of cats over 10 years old that were switched to raw with no problem.

I've heard about vets coming up with all kinds of nonsensical reasons to object to a raw diet but this is a new one!  :lol3:

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My youngest cat is either 5 or 6 (no consensus on whether he was 3 or 4 when we rescued him); my oldest are going to be 10 this year. We are switching to raw - began in January this year. :nod: My holistic vet encouraged it, the other two conventional vets we work with are supportive. The one thing they all agreed on? The cats need to be on probiotics to ensure healthy gut flora. It is also suggested to use digestive enzymes, because with all those years of canned and kibble, their systems need some help with properly digesting the new diet.

...but when house cats get "lost," they survive eating garbage and hunting - not exactly bacteria or parasite-free.

Wet, dry and raw

Wet - Fussie Cat, Nature's Variety, Before Grain, California Naturals, Natural Balance L.I.D., Merrick, and Weruva

Dry - TOTW and Before Grain

I do the wet/dry combo to keep the cost a little more manageable.

Dry for 'grazing'... always Nutro Natural Choice Chicken.

Once a day they get a serve of Dr Bruce's Premium Choice wet food.. I think it's only available in Australia.. the main ingredient is roo meat, but with some tripe, barley grass, wholegrains, vit and minerals.  It is absolutely free of all the preservatives that the other pet meats are loaded with but don't have to mention on the label.

About once a week they get some baked chicken.. I can't do more that that as I'll only buy organic free range, and it's a real budget buster!

Chicken necks a couple of times a week.

And liver or "Green" treats every now and then (like when I've left them alone too long and I'm getting the cold shoulder)

Grain free wet only, a variety of brands and proteins, with most of them fruit and veggie free also. Schedule fed. No commercial treats.

For the Ferals: Something with REAL meat as the first ingredient (wet) and "4Health" Grain Free dry ($20. / 15 lbs at Tractor Supply.)

Indoor Kitties: (Wet) EVO Cat & Kitten, Wellness Chicken and Turkey & Salmon, Buffalo Wilderness. For their Dry food, I use Buffalo Wilderness and Wellness Core.

All of these are grain free. When the budget did not permit buying grain free, I used Innova Cat & Kitten wet and Blue Buffalo dry.

Whatever you do, at a minimum, please feed something with REAL meat as the first ingredient (not a by-product or "meal"), and skip anything that lists corn or any of its many variations (corn meal, corn flour, ground corn, etc...) Your Kitties will be much happier and MUCH healthier eating meat instead of corn. 

SevenWonders said:

For the Ferals: Something with REAL meat as the first ingredient (wet) and "4Health" Grain Free dry ($20. / 15 lbs at Tractor Supply.)

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4Health isn't grain free. . .I think it's a fine food but it does have grains. . .just saying. What affordable canned food did you find with real meat as the first ingredient?

I feed mine a dry mixture of TOTW, 4Health, Diamond Naturals Active Cat, Chicken Soup, and one other brand that varies (whatever decent food I can find for a decent price), Friskies canned, and raw (sometimes commercial--Nature's Variety or Nature's Menu--and sometimes just raw meat). I try to keep it heavier on the canned/raw food and only use the dry when I won't be home all day, or for a quick snack.

Willowy, thanks for pointing that out    you are absolutely correct!

I spent many hours this week researching foods for the indoor kitties' transition to Grain Free,

and I tricked myself... 4Health has no Wheat, Corn or Soy, but it does have Barley and ground rice.

I give my Ferals Friskies "Poultry Platter" and "Sea Captain's Choice" which both have real meat as the first ingredient. Not all Friskies varieties do however.

When I can afford it, I also mix in a little Innova Cat & Kitten. It is about $15.99 for a case of the large cans at PetFoodDirect on Auto Ship, which can be set or changed to as long as 6 months or even one year between shipments, and can also be cancelled at any time without a penalty.