"Natural Balance-Ultra Indoor-Chicken Meal Brown Rice"

Hi.

I,m just wondering if it okay to add warm-hot water to her feeding dish,just before feeding,to soften her food??

  Since we bought it,she doesn,t want to eat,and i think its too hard for her teeth.She use to be on "Hills Science Diet Light",but it turns out that "Hills" uses chicken by products,and thats garbage for cats.At least thats what the pet valu manager said to me.

Thanks much !

You can add warm water if she eats it quickly in one sitting. It can't sit wet like that or it will grow bacteria fast and make her sick. It's just as easy to feed her wet and that's even better for her.

Hi and Welcome to TCS!   

Yes you can add the warm water.

I do that and let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

If she doesn't eat it all in one sitting, you can reduce the serving size

to an amount that she can eat all at once.

GREAT decision to replace the Science Diet.  

Innova Cat & Kitten and Blue Buffalo Wilderness are a few other good Dry food options. 

I would not recommend adding water to dry food. Feed canned instead.

Hi,and thanks for your reply,and to the others as well.

I will look into the brands you suggest.

I,ve also just heard  good things about 

http://ripleesranch.com/

What soft canned food would you recommend that is reasonably priced,and good for my 10+ yr old female indoor cat?

We tried "Natural Balance",but its kinda pricy for a month long supply.

One last question:

Are the "Innova",and "Blue Buffalo" (in your opinion),softer than the "Natural Balance Ultra Indoor"?

Thanks again.

I'd be inclined to agree with Otto on the canned food being better than dry,

but personally I don't have the time or money to feed exclusively canned,

which is why I do the dry with water for some meals.

In my opinion, most of the canned foods at Pet stores are too expensive,

so I buy mine through PetFoodDirect.com

They have an "AutoShip" program that can be changed or cancelled at any time,

easily online without any penalty. But I use that program because it gives you an additional

15 or 20 % off most foods.

I buy Innova Cat & Kitten cans there -

around $16. for twelve 13 oz cans,

and I store the leftovers in a plastic container in the fridge.

Then when it is time to feed, I just add a little warm water.

Also, I get By Nature 95% Chicken and/or Turkey.

They are around $11. for twelve 6 oz cans.

You will need to order at least 3 cases (or 2 plus a bag of dry) to make the discounts large enough

to justify (or offset) the shipping charges. Overall, it is still much cheaper

than buying from a Pet specialty store.

If these are not in the budget,

I feed "Friskies Poultry Platter" to my Garden and Feral Kitties.

It is not the "best" food available, but I think it is the best one at that price.

I usually pay between 45 and 50 cents per 6 oz can.

PetSmart has "their version" of Poultry Platter that is almost identical to Friskies

and it sells for 40 cents per can in my local PetSmart stores.

Oh, about the dry foods being "softer" than Natural balance -

I have never tried NB dry, so I cannot say for sure.

However, Innova sems to crumble easily, making it easy to chew.

Another more affordable Dry option is "Evolve" which is available at PetFoodDirect and some WalMarts.

(I have another thread with more info on that food.)

The reason I mention it is that it "crumbles" fairly easily as well, again making it easy to chew.

(This one also softens nicely in warm water.)

Blue Buffalo sounds hard to me (when I hear the kitties munching it)

but the pieces are quite small, so they can easily eat it without chewing anyway.

Thanks.

Great Info!

My "PetValu" dealer says she will refund my money for the "Natural Balance"

She will also give me some dry samples of "Performatrin"

I hope it works because we only have 3 cans of "Natural Balance" left,and she liked "Performatrin" before.

What do you think of "Performatrin"/

Thanks a lot ! bye for now.

It looks like performatrin has a lot of corn. Evo chicken and turkey is one of the healthier dry foods. I think they carry it at Pet Valu.