What do you feed your ferals?

Hi all, I'm wondering what foods out there are the best combination of quality and price?   I had been feeding Purina One Beyond chicken/oat which is supposed to be a really good food.   A little spendy than some products less than others - I only have the one feral to feed.   Yet today I had been giving some as a treat to my indoor cats and my one with a sensitive stomach (Big Guy) clearly is made sick by this food.   Now Big Guy has reacted to other foods before but this level concerned me - so now I wonder whether the food was good or not and if Oscar is outside vomiting it up and I just can't see it.    So anyway, I'm thinking of making a change.   Maybe to a high protein food so that Oscar will need to eat less volume of it to get the nutrition he needs.

What do you all feed and recommend?

Oh yes, the big food dilemma.   I feed over 30 cats so my answer might be a little different than some others, but I'll give it a shot.

How the inside cats react to a food is a good indicator of the outside cats reaction as well. I used to feed the Purina one food, but some of the inside cats were throwing up quiet a bit and there was also a lot of waste in the litter boxes. I posted for help here on the forum, you might find this information helpful... http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244783/really-stinky-situation-on-the-home-front.

I can't tell you what in the food makes them throw up exactly, but the food has a lot of grains, which is not their natural diet, and one of the reasons there was so much waste in the litter boxes at our house. I switched to Diamond Active Cat, because I wanted to give them a better food, but the amount of rice in this food, the second ingredient, even though they stopped throwing up, there was even more waste and the smell was just awful.

Now I mix it up a bit with some Evo, even though it's pricey, it is a really good dry food without any grains. I also feed them Taste Of The Wild, not as pricey, and still a food with no grains. All of the cats, even the finicky ones love both of these foods and do really well on them. The food is pricier, but they don't eat as much of it to get satisfied. Less waste means less litter, and less eating means I can better afford the pricier food.

All of my cats inside and out, have shiny coats, healthy bright eyes and a great deal of energy, even the older ones. If you were to ask them what their favorite dry food is, hands down they would say Taste Of The Wild.

I get a fifteen lb. bag at an area feed store here, for a little over $30.00, but you could get a smaller bag for much less. The Evo will cost a bit more though. I know I will never go back to buying dry food with grains again.

For only one cat, can you just feed him what you feed your indoor cats?

I feed my ferals Purina Cat Chow or Purina ONE (depends what kind of price I can get on it) and Grreat Choice canned food. Not great but better than eating out of a dumpster. They're fat and shiny (winter weight/coats) so I guess they at least keep it down. The indoor cats get canned food only, but since my ferals don't have a feeding schedule I do like to keep kibble out for them all the time.

If feeding him what the inside kitties get isn't an option, a fairly decent mid-grade food that might work is 4Health (Tractor Supply's higher-quality store brand). Or Taste of the Wild if you can swing it.

I've never heard of Taste of the wild before, where do you guys buy it?   I just searched petco/petsmart websites but they didn't have it though they do have the evo (edited to add....nope they don't have it after all) which is higher end than I'd like to do since some raccoons are getting a bit of the food!   I estimate how much Oscar will eat in a day but there's still a little excess that the coons clean up overnight.

Purrrfectlycat, I will check out the link about the purina one trouble.   I'm not sure how big a conclusion to draw in my own case because Big Guy has mild IBD so he's going to have a bigger reaction to a food than a regular cat - he didn't have much maybe 1/4 of a cup.    I'm doing a training program Patches (who is indoor feral) to go into a trap regularly and wanted to put an interesting food in there and he runs into the trap and gobbles it up.  And 30 cats wow -  cost vs. quality really matters then!

And Willow, Big Guy and Patches (my two indoor ones) eat Royal Canin S/O because of his urinary issues - a few months ago he had a blockage and it was expensive and scary.   The vet says he'll need to be on the special food for life - some folks on the internet say with careful monitoring I could try getting him back on to a higher quality regular food.   Still not ready yet though.....anyway the feral kitty doesn't need the prescription food.    I'm glad to hear you had good luck with the Purina One - I figure it's such a major brand it has to be basically okay for most cats or they wouldn't be in business. 

I feed the outside cats canned food: Friskies Pate (no fishy flavors) and Fancy Feast classic formulas. When it's cold enough for food to freeze, I put out dry food for them: a mix of EVO and 4Health.

But if I were feeding just one, I'd give kitty the same thing I give the inside cats.

Thanks LDG, is there any reason you do canned preferentially for ferals?   Or is it just that it is is better in general for their health?

I do it because it's better for them than dry. This is also why I use the Friskie's pate and Fancy Feast classic. Both are (more or less) affordable, yet high protein, low carb. In winter, I'd use only EVO for the dry food if I could afford it, but in the cold weather they eat a LOT of food!

Oh - we also have a heated water dish out for them in cold weather.

I get Taste Of The Wild at Pet Supermarket, don't know if you have one in your area, and a feed store near where I live carries it also. I have to agree with LDG about the canned food. I don't feed any of the animals a strictly dry diet.  I feed the inside and outside cats raw, canned and dry at different times throughout the week. I also feed the outside cats Friskie's pate because of it's high protein content and can get 13oz cans for under a dollar.

I always feed the outside cats their dry in the am when the coons don't come out, and give them there raw or canned in the evening, which they eat so fast there is nothing left for the coons or anything else for that matter.

Many of the pet stores don't list everything on their websites, like Pet Supermarket, they carry the TOTW in the store but it's not listed on their site.
 

I find TOTW at Tractor Supply, also at an independent feed store. You can go to their website and find a store locator, but I don't know if it's a locator for all Diamond foods or just TOTW.

I am feeding 6 ferals.  I give them Cat Chow in the morning so they can nibble on that during the day.  Then when I see them at night I give them Friskies can food.  I have bought the large cans at Wal-Mart for $.94 a can.  I also try to buy the smaller cans whenI see it on sale at Petco and Petsmart.  I know that is not the very best quality for them but I figured it's pretty good.  They are all looking better than they did when they first showed up at my house. 

i feed my ferals fancy feast canned, only the classic pate ones, since the pates are not all that bad quality wise. i also give them some oven roasted turkey breast every day as a treat and with the upcoming holiday i bought them a little grilled salmon as a "present".
 

Right now we feed Special Kitty dry... for both indoor cats and the few ferals who still come our way. I know it's not the best food for them (we would love to feed raw) but we can get it free because our neighbor works at their factory and his cats won't eat it. He can bring home 26 pounds a week. My husband receives disability and it's our only income, so any extra money goes to litter. We were not planning on getting cats but all four of ours would have died if we didn't bring them in as the rescues are full and the shelter would give them 24 hours. So we do the best we can.

Thanks for sharing everybody!   I can only imagine the expenses in feeding and caring for a large number of cats - you guys are all heroes!   Sometimes I feel a little silly carrying on over my one little feral cat - who I pray to God remains only one cat, please, please, please - can ya tell I'm worried?    Thanks everyone for all the wonderful support and advice here.

Bastfriend said:

I can only imagine the expenses in feeding and caring for a large number of cats

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i am lucky that the number of cats in my colony is now small, but this time of the year, with the cold weather having set in, they eat enough where it seems like there are twice as many cats than there actually is!

the people that don't "get it" look at me like i have two heads when they hear that i buy them only canned food, as well as roasted turkey (all natural from whole foods) and occasionally grilled salmon. i look at it as a very fair trade - they get better health from canned food as well as so much pleasure from the turkey and salmon and i get so much pleasure from them. seems like a rather equitable deal to me.

Whaler said:

i am lucky that the number of cats in my colony is now small, but this time of the year, with the cold weather having set in, they eat enough where it seems like there are twice as many cats than there actually is!
the people that don't "get it" look at me like i have two heads when they hear that i buy them only canned food, as well as roasted turkey (all natural from whole foods) and occasionally grilled salmon. i look at it as a very fair trade - they get better health from canned food as well as so much pleasure from the turkey and salmon and i get so much pleasure from them. seems like a rather equitable deal to me.

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Wow Whaler, those are some pampered kitties indeed!   What do you give them for Christmas dinner?   Talking about roasted turkey some time ago the organic food type store near me served sliced organic turkey cooked Thanksgiving style and my cats went insane for that.   Gotta try that again sometime.   My indoor guys have sensitivities to fish so most of their old foods and favorite treats are out. 

And generally back to topic - since Oscar seems okay I'm going to let him finish the bag of Purina Beyond and track down some Taste of the wild to probably transition him to in a couple weeks.  That is if he's still having anything to do with me after getting TNR'd in a few days.  

Bastfriend said:

Wow Whaler, those are some pampered kitties indeed!

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nothing but the best for my crew . they have a hard life so i just want to make it as good as possible for them, they deserve it.

What do you give them for Christmas dinner?

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sunday night i bought 3/4 lb of the salmon as well as a little under 1/2 lb of roasted turkey. we started celebrating early, i gave them a little salmon first thing monday morning. today, on top of their regular canned food we are going to finish up the salmon (well they are, i am a vegetarian) and tomorrow finish up the turkey.

Talking about roasted turkey some time ago the organic food type store near me served sliced organic turkey cooked Thanksgiving style and my cats went insane for that.   Gotta try that again sometime.   My indoor guys have sensitivities to fish so most of their old foods and favorite treats are out.

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if you can afford to splurge every once in a while i highly recommend it. just be careful, only get plain roasted turkey - no herbs as there are lots that are not recommended for cats. also, if you do ever treat them to salmon it is crucial that it has been cooked/grilled. salmon poisoning is an infectious disease caused by a rickettsia that uses a parasitic fluke on salmon as a host.

And generally back to topic - since Oscar seems okay I'm going to let him finish the bag of Purina Beyond and track down some Taste of the wild to probably transition him to in a couple weeks.  That is if he's still having anything to do with me after getting TNR'd in a few days.  

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with the ones i have tnr'd they normally aren't around for a day after they return. but then they seemed to realize that getting three square meals a day provided to them is a good thing.

For two years I fed a colony of about 10 to 12 cats; now that I moved 25 miles away and feeding is less frequent, only six continue to come to my 'restaurant'  (another woman feeds them twice a week, I feed them on the weekends).  Lucky for me, I continue to see my favorite cats.  Half are formerly owned, abandoned; the other half, true ferals.

I feed Friskies; I can get it on sale at Pet Smart though sometimes my local grocery store has it cheaper.  I also leave out plenty of dry food, usually Friskies.

The cat did not like the supermarket brands of food and hated Whiskas.  They like Trader Joe's tuna flavored cat food, which is a good quality, especially for the price.  But most of the cats I feed are male, so I try to avoid fish based food.  I like Fancy Feast Classic a lot, wish it came in bigger sizes.

With the colder weather, the wet food freezes fairly quickly, hence the dry food.

Ritz said:

I like Fancy Feast Classic a lot, wish it came in bigger sizes.

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yeah, me too. certainly would help to keep my costs down a little.

With the colder weather, the wet food freezes fairly quickly, hence the dry food.

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i am lucky that my colony is located right behind my work so i can put out the food when they arrive and not worry about freezing. it is also great since it allows me to feed them multiple (3 minimum) times a day, so i don't have to worry about them going hungry. it has gotten to the point that everyone at work knows to open the back door slowly when they are going out since there probably is a cat right outside, waiting for daddy to bring them another snack. and when i say right outside i truly mean it, they will literally sit so close to the door that if you open the door a couple of inches you will hit them with the door.

I stocked up on Friskies tonight!  The PetsMart here has it for $.42 a can.  I bought several cases.  But I think the sale ends 12/30/12.

good deal!

i do love it when my local store has a sale. a few weeks back they had fancy feast on sale for $.50 and i basically wiped them out of all of the "classic pate" style that they had. the girl at the register had a look on her face like a deer in the headlights when she saw me come up with 2 shopping carts overflowing.