Favorites - What are you currently feeding? Or would you feed if you feed Can, Dry & Raw food?

wimama · Jun 24, 2013

What are your favorite can, dry and commercially prepared raw foods that you feed your cats? Favorite Flavors? Why do you choice those brands & flavors? What was your reasoning?

And if you don't feed a certain type of food, please still comment on what you would recommend or what would be your choice in that category for others who chose to feed it.

My head is still spinning with all the options for feeding our new 4 month old kitty. Looking through this forum, I see there are quite a few others like me who are new to the forum and confused on what to feed their cats. In light of the latest round of recalls everyone's favorite choices may have changed, so I thought this would make for a helpful post for both me and all the other newbies like me on here.

We only got our kitty about a week ago, but so far these are our current front runners:

Can Food: Trader Joes Chicken & Turkey, Merrick

Dry Food: Our kitty came home on Science Diet Kitten. Since I started feeding can food, the dry food is now between 5-10% of her diet. I am thinking of offering some Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken dry food for her to nibble on while we are at work. I am feeding her can typically about 4 times a day at this point. She is good about coming to the kitchen to ask for her food.

Raw - I have looked at both the Stella & Chewy's Chick, Chick, Chicken and Honest Kitchen. I am thinking of offering the Stella's nuggets as snacks especially before bed, because she doesn't always eat the can I offer at before bedtime.

wimama · Jun 24, 2013

Ok, what if I simplify this post to what food do you feed and why?

I myself learn a lot from reading through other people's decision making process.

andrya · Jun 24, 2013

l've gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. l used to feed kibble. Then l switched to "higher end" canned. Then commercial raw. Now l feed homemade raw, home-cooked, and occasionally canned.

For cans l was feeding:

Merrick's Cowboy Cookout (looks great on the catinfo chart)

Weruva (3 flavours)

Tiki Cat (once a week since it was fish flavours)

Wellness Core

Wellness grain free

EVO cat and kitten (they still get this occasionally)

Go!

Blue Wilderness

and they got, and still occasionally get, Fancy Feast pate and 2 Friskies flavours

For commercial raw l started them with Nature's Variety medallions. The dog got them because the cats hated them.

Moved to Boldraw. They would eat this when it was "hidden" in their canned food.

Moved to Carnivora, same result.

They love LOVE homemade raw and cooked food. But still enjoy their canned as a change.

andrya · Jun 24, 2013

l should also say, l'm in Canada. lf l could have sourced Rad Cat or Hare Today, l would have tried those.

pinkman · Jun 24, 2013

I feed raw now, but before I was feeding mostly canned food. I educated myself with cat nutrition before I got my cat so whatever I bought/made had to be grain-free for the most part.

Present:

Stella & Chewy's Freeze-Dried Turkey (raw, I think the ingredients look pretty good for a commercial freeze-dried raw)

Ground mutton mix (raw, wanted to try a new protein)

Ground chicken mix (raw, this is what I started out with)

Ground turkey mix (raw, another one I started with)

Ground rabbit mix (raw, a starter protein for me again)

Ground duck mix (raw, new protein I've been working with)

Frankenprey chicken (raw, I want to start incorporate franken and chicken is easy to source)

Past:

Wellness Turkey Formula (canned, this was the first Wellness cans I tried, easy to source)

Wellness Chicken Formula (canned, fed this less often than the turkey, still liked by the cat, easy to source)

Wellness Beef and Chicken Formula (canned, only on occasion because I was weary about beef before, it's also easy to source)

Wellness Healthy Indulgence Chicken and Chicken Liver (pouched, on occasion as a treat)

Wellness Healthy Indulgence Turkey and Duck (pouched, same as above)

Wellness Healthy Indulgence Turkey and Chicken (pouched, same as above)

Merrick Grammy Pot Pie (canned, cat got tired of Wellness so I wanted to venture out other brands)

Trader Joe's Turkey and Giblets Formula (canned, uber cheap, not grain-free but I like the price and quality ratio)

Weruva Steak Frites (canned, was trying to venture other brands but was not well liked)

Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau (canned, this was my favorite canned food but I wish there were more protein choices)

ANCIENT (lol):

Triumph Turkey Formula (canned, this is what our cat came with for canned food)

Spot's Stew Chicken Formula (dry, this is also what our cat came with)

Orijen Cat and Kitten (dry, I used it after the Spot's Stew ran out for treats)

katluver4life · Jun 24, 2013

So glad your looking for the best nutrition for your kitty!

Ok, so I too now feed mine raw, but they OCCASIONALLY still get some canned here and there. Evo or Natural Balance. (Only ones they'll eat now)

My old canned list looked pretty much like those above.

I also get my raw from Hare Today, but do throw in some Natures Variety raw for some variety. Primal once in awhile. I do this for the different proteins without having to buy too much if they don't like it. I have a small freezer. My cats hate S&C. They are also starting to eat some raw chunks of chicken, and my oldest male likes lamb.

WHEN they ate dry it was Evo or Wellness Core.

My decision to go raw was based on the frustration of constantly having to read ingredient lists on cans and websites before buying them something new. My cats are terribly picky eaters and I had to constantly try SOMETHING else to keep a good variety in their diet. Recalls, questionable ingredients, BPA free cans, carrageenan, ect, the list was giving me a headache lol. Raw kept looking better and better and is now made so easy to do for our cats. And I got lucky that my cats took to it quite quickly! I feel like they were saying...well it's about time you figured out what we wanted!...lol

I got mine off dry immediately after learning the dangers of dehydration for mainly my male cat. I once lost a male to blockage and never, till coming to this site, knew why.

So that was my decision process.

lilin · Jun 24, 2013

I started my kitty on commercial frozen raw. I'm using both Primal and Nature's Variety and mixin' up the meat type for variety. Since most of these foods have relatively high fat to protein ratios in your average batch, I like to keep rabbit as a consistent staple, which has very low fat and high protein. Just makes the over-all diet more balanced, in my opinion.

My kitty is not too far away from her roots. Her favorites are feathered and long-eared (i.e. things she could actually kill herself). She kind of likes the beef too, but she's not a fan of any fish or venison.

I was lucky; she was super easy to transition, despite being an adult cat. She was on dry and canned both when I adopted her. As soon as she came to mine, she was on canned only. And then when I felt comfortable with the research I'd done, I started mixing in raw. The very first day, she picked out all the bits of raw food, and left behind all the canned. I was really surprised how easy it was.

I just had to give her canned food, because just as I was running low, a storm knocked out the power in most of the city, and the stores that carry raw aren't re-stocked yet. She wasn't very happy about it.

I went with those brands for a couple reasons.

I know a lot of people distrust it, but I feel very good about HPP treatment of meats, which both those companies do. I think Stella and Chewy's does too. II just don't believe that a fresh kill immediately consumed is the same thing as butchered meat that's been skinned and exposed to air and people for days or weeks. HPP makes me more comfortable.

Along a similar vein, these companies all test every batch for contaminants. It's not released unless it tests negative.

And finally, they're both AAFCO approved. Say what you want about AAFCO (I certainly don't think it's necessarily the gold standard of animal nutrition), but at least it means that I won't wind up with something that has, for example, zero taurine, or hardly any protein, or whatever.

I never feed dry. I have never fed dry since I became an adult and decided my cats' diet. I think it's way too hard on their kidneys. No matter what kind of dry food you get, that will always be true. Cats are just not driven to drink a ton of water; they're supposed to be getting it from their food, and they don't with dry food. It's not worth the "convenience." And besides, feeding canned or commercial raw or freeze dried is not that hard. It's really not. It takes maybe 3 minutes a day total.

pinkman · Jun 24, 2013

Lilin,

You're very lucky that your cat doesn't like fish! Mine still craves for tuna on occasion... That said, I also forgot to mention that I also fed Tiki Cat's Tuna and Chicken (Hookena Luau) as a treat once in a blue moon. I still have some just in case my cat loses her appetite.

I too, started with raw with Primal (Turkey Formula, forgot to mention this too.) I honestly don't mind HPP, I believe S&C are HPP'd but I also feed non-HPP food (my mixes.)

maewkaew · Jun 25, 2013

Mine eat :

Raw Frozen: Natures Variety Instinct venison patties ( I originally got that for my cat with IBD who has gone to the Bridge now. but it turned out the other cats loved it so they are still eating the venison) , They have decided they don't like the NVI raw chicken, though.

Canned: Merrick - Cowboy Cookout, Grammys Pot Pie. occasionally another kind like Turducken or Surf & Turf (but i don't feed them much fish so that is not frequent) Merrick Before Grain -- mostly the Chicken & Quail ( unfortunately this is being discontinued which is disappointing as it is one of their faves)

By Nature: Chicken & Chicken Liver

occasionally some Wellness Turkey , or NVI Rabbit

Dry: I don't feed much dry but I do have some NVI Chicken that I give as more of a snack.

All of these are "All Life Stages" that I have fed to both cats and kittens.

One of these days I may get ambitious and try making homemade raw to cut down the cost. but they do love that NVI venison.

melesine · Jun 25, 2013

My kibble addict that refuses all wet food is eating Before Grain chicken dry food

The other cats all eat Fancy Feast classic Chicken feast, tender Beef feast and classic Turkey and Giblets feast cans because it's grain free, doesn't have carrageenan and I can get it at a reasonable enough price that I can feed 6 cats on it ( well 3 cats and 3 kittens). Amazon Subscribe and Save with the 15% discount has been a real help.

They also get raw chicken hearts and other home prepared ( well preparation consists of cutting it up) raw meat.

Honestly, if I could get my cats to eat full time raw I would be thrilled.

There isn't one commercial cat food out there that I consider perfect. I wish the Fancy Feast had less liver. I've fed Evo 95% and Before Grain 96% but they both have carrageenan as does Wellness which I've also fed and the price of the BG canned is outrageous for what is in it. I could just cook chicken and add taurine for 1/5th the price. Plus both are very high in fat for the cost. I've also fed Weruva which in general I consider a good food but the price is outrageous considering the low calories in their food. My cats lost weight on it which was not a good thing as they are already at very good weights.

The commercial raw almost always have veggies in them as a binder in them, Nature's Variety has clay in it too. And I don't think ground food is the best for them either.

wimama · Jun 25, 2013

Lilin said:
I started my kitty on commercial frozen raw. I'm using both Primal and Nature's Variety and mixin' up the meat type for variety. Since most of these foods have relatively high fat to protein ratios in your average batch, I like to keep rabbit as a consistent staple, which has very low fat and high protein. Just makes the over-all diet more balanced, in my opinion.

My kitty is not too far away from her roots. Her favorites are feathered and long-eared (i.e. things she could actually kill herself). She kind of likes the beef too, but she's not a fan of any fish or venison.

I was lucky; she was super easy to transition, despite being an adult cat. She was on dry and canned both when I adopted her. As soon as she came to mine, she was on canned only. And then when I felt comfortable with the research I'd done, I started mixing in raw. The very first day, she picked out all the bits of raw food, and left behind all the canned. I was really surprised how easy it was.

I just had to give her canned food, because just as I was running low, a storm knocked out the power in most of the city, and the stores that carry raw aren't re-stocked yet. She wasn't very happy about it.

I went with those brands for a couple reasons.

I know a lot of people distrust it, but I feel very good about HPP treatment of meats, which both those companies do. I think Stella and Chewy's does too. II just don't believe that a fresh kill immediately consumed is the same thing as butchered meat that's been skinned and exposed to air and people for days or weeks. HPP makes me more comfortable.

Along a similar vein, these companies all test every batch for contaminants. It's not released unless it tests negative.

And finally, they're both AAFCO approved. Say what you want about AAFCO (I certainly don't think it's necessarily the gold standard of animal nutrition), but at least it means that I won't wind up with something that has, for example, zero taurine, or hardly any protein, or whatever.

I never feed dry. I have never fed dry since I became an adult and decided my cats' diet. I think it's way too hard on their kidneys. No matter what kind of dry food you get, that will always be true. Cats are just not driven to drink a ton of water; they're supposed to be getting it from their food, and they don't with dry food. It's not worth the "convenience." And besides, feeding canned or commercial raw or freeze dried is not that hard. It's really not. It takes maybe 3 minutes a day total.

What do AAFCO and HPP stand for? I am new to all this lingo.

What would be the optimal mix of protein sources? (If you kitty ate them all that is.)

Right now my goal is to expose our kitty to a variety of different foods and flavors, so that she doesn't get picky. I also want to develop a rotation of a few brands to minimize effects of any potential recalls. I am thinking of offering dry or freeze dried/dehydrated raw during the day while we are at work. Our schedule varies but the kitty usually gets 3-4 meals of can food a day. When she is bigger I plan on the dry food or dehydrated/freeze dried raw food to be a treat only, but often enough to keep her eating it to give us options for when we have a pet sitter. I am not opposed to a raw diet, but I am hesitant at this time. We just made the switch from primarily dry food and a small amount of can that we feed our previous cat, to primarily can food with this kitten. I have a 21 month old daughter who likes to be helpful and tries to feed the kitty by carrying the dry food kimble to the kitten in her hands. So far she doesn't mess with the can food, but still the though of potential bacteria in raw food scares me because the baby still puts her hands in her mouth a lot. We do wash her hands plenty but I want to safe guard my toddlers health and life is super busy right now with work and young kids. Can and maybe eventually prepared raw seem like better options. I want to hold off on raw until my daughter is older though.

Keep the comments coming. Love reading through all this!

peugeot206 · Jun 25, 2013

I feed a wide variety of food and I feed 100% canned.

Here's what I feed now:
- Performatrin Ultra Chicken, Turkey
- EVO for cats and kittens (chicken and turkey)
- merrick's chicken pate and turkey pate (used to feed cowboy's cookout and grammy's potpie but they changed formula it's no longer as good as before)
- Authority Chicken Pate and Turkey + giblets
- GO! chicken turkey and duck
- Tiki cat all the chicken flavor
- hounds and gatos rabbit

vball91 · Jun 25, 2013

Quote:

wimama said:
What do AAFCO and HPP stand for? I am new to all this lingo.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is a voluntary membership association of local, state and federal agencies charged by law to regulate the sale and distribution of animal feeds and animal drug remedies. AAFCO nutritional guidelines are the generally accepted standards. You will see this on pet food labels. "Nutritionally complete" means the food meets AAFCO guidelines.

HPP means High Pressure Pasteurized which some raw food manufacturers use to address the bacteria concerns.

wimama said:
Right now my goal is to expose our kitty to a variety of different foods and flavors, so that she doesn't get picky. I also want to develop a rotation of a few brands to minimize effects of any potential recalls. I am thinking of offering dry or freeze dried/dehydrated raw during the day while we are at work. Our schedule varies but the kitty usually gets 3-4 meals of can food a day. When she is bigger I plan on the dry food or dehydrated/freeze dried raw food to be a treat only, but often enough to keep her eating it to give us options for when we have a pet sitter. I am not opposed to a raw diet, but I am hesitant at this time. We just made the switch from primarily dry food and a small amount of can that we feed our previous cat, to primarily can food with this kitten. I have a 21 month old daughter who likes to be helpful and tries to feed the kitty by carrying the dry food kimble to the kitten in her hands. So far she doesn't mess with the can food, but still the though of potential bacteria in raw food scares me because the baby still puts her hands in her mouth a lot. We do wash her hands plenty but I want to safe guard my toddlers health and life is super busy right now with work and young kids. Can and maybe eventually prepared raw seem like better options. I want to hold off on raw until my daughter is older though.

It's good to expose your kitty to different foods, and a rotation is good as well. Please go to www.catinfo.org to read more on feline nutrition. Wet food is much better for cats than dry.

As for exposing your daughter to potential bacteria issues, I would be just as concerned with letting her handle dry kibble as I would raw honestly. Most recalls have been for dry food contaminated with bacteria.

mschauer · Jun 25, 2013

I very, very, very strongly urge you to put a stop to this. Dry foods are notorious for being laden with bacteria. Most pet food recalls are for dry foods found to be contaminated with bacteria. Please put the kibble someplace where your daughter can't get to it.

wimama · Jun 25, 2013

Don't worry I don't allow my DD to play with the food. She just gets into it, but thankfully over the last few days she seems to be losing interest in it. After several months with no cat in the house, the new kitty's food was a novelty to her. I thoroughly washed her hands afterwards each and every time. She was just trying to mother the kitty by chasing the kitten down with kimble telling her to eat. I have let her give the kitty her can food plate a few times and have been teacher her how to play with the kitty. Our last kitty was sick for quite some time and not very playful. I do discourage her from playing with the cats food and teacher her more appropriate ways to interact with the new kitty. We chose the kitten we did because she was so comfortable around everyone in our family including my DD. The kitten is more than happy to play with DD.

I also have no plans on continuing to feed dry food once she is past the stage of wanting to eat every few hours. She is 4 months old now. When can I cut her down to three meals a day? I feed the kitten can food in the morning, lunch time if home, after work/dinner time and bedtime.

lilin · Jun 25, 2013

wimama said:
What do AAFCO and HPP stand for? I am new to all this lingo.

What would be the optimal mix of protein sources? (If you kitty ate them all that is.)

Right now my goal is to expose our kitty to a variety of different foods and flavors, so that she doesn't get picky. I also want to develop a rotation of a few brands to minimize effects of any potential recalls. I am thinking of offering dry or freeze dried/dehydrated raw during the day while we are at work. Our schedule varies but the kitty usually gets 3-4 meals of can food a day. When she is bigger I plan on the dry food or dehydrated/freeze dried raw food to be a treat only, but often enough to keep her eating it to give us options for when we have a pet sitter. I am not opposed to a raw diet, but I am hesitant at this time. We just made the switch from primarily dry food and a small amount of can that we feed our previous cat, to primarily can food with this kitten. I have a 21 month old daughter who likes to be helpful and tries to feed the kitty by carrying the dry food kimble to the kitten in her hands. So far she doesn't mess with the can food, but still the though of potential bacteria in raw food scares me because the baby still puts her hands in her mouth a lot. We do wash her hands plenty but I want to safe guard my toddlers health and life is super busy right now with work and young kids. Can and maybe eventually prepared raw seem like better options. I want to hold off on raw until my daughter is older though.

Keep the comments coming. Love reading through all this!

Association of American Feed Control Officials, and High Pressure Pasturization.

The dudes who say what minimum nutrition needs to be, and a way of killing bacteria by exposing it to extremely high pressure (doesn't affect nutrients, and organic approved).

Like I said, I like to make sure rabbit is one of the a staples in order to get higher protein and lower fat in her overall diet. But otherwise, mostly poultry. If she liked fish, I wouldn't be opposed to giving it as a treat, but it's not the best in terms of a regular feed.

In my opinion, you are making kitty feeding time more of a hassle than it needs to be.

I think the best time to establish routine is as soon as you can. I feed twice a day. That's it. For kitten this age, three times a day may still be a good idea, but you can break it down to twice a day in a couple months I think.

Kitty will not starve if they go a work day without food. It's actually good for them to be empty for a couple hours. Helps keep their metabolism and immune system nimble. You NEVER want to starve a cat, but defined meal times help define their day, and you can use it to your advantage for things like play time and regulating their sleep. Kitties benefit from routine.

And this also makes everything easier for you if you switch to raw. You can't leave the bowl down forever. You have to take it away after 30 minutes or so, because it's raw meat exposed to open air.

The first few times, this may mean you throw away some food, but kitty will learn. Mine learned in about 2 days. You can start doing this with regular wet food. Once the kitten is on twice a day feeding, start with taking it away after an hour. Then 45 minutes. Then 30.

And that ALSO makes it easier for you to keep your daughter away from it. If the bowl is only down for half an hour, it's a lot easier, because you don't have to be forever-vigilant.

vball91 · Jun 25, 2013

Lilin said:
I think the best time to establish routine is as soon as you can. I feed twice a day. That's it. For kitten this age, three times a day may still be a good idea, but you can break it down to twice a day in a couple months I think.

While I agree with you that a routine is good, if you are at all concerned about urinary healthy, I would try to feed at least 3 times a day. There is a well-known phenomena call post-prandial alkaline tide which refers to the fact that urine pH will become more alkaline after eating a large meal. Struvite crystals form in alkaline urine. Therefore, it is better that cats eat multiple small meals throughout the day to help keep the pH in a normal range and prevent alkaline spikes.

lilin · Jun 25, 2013

vball91 said:
While I agree with you that a routine is good, if you are at all concerned about urinary healthy, I would try to feed at least 3 times a day. There is a well-known phenomena call post-prandial alkaline tide which refers to the fact that urine pH will become more alkaline after eating a large meal. Struvite crystals form in alkaline urine. Therefore, it is better that cats eat multiple small meals throughout the day to help keep the pH in a normal range and prevent alkaline spikes.

I had never heard of this just from number of meals per day. Is this a concern for kitties who are eating moist foods only and don't have urinary risk factors?

vball91 · Jun 25, 2013

Lilin said:
I had never heard of this just from number of meals per day. Is this a concern for kitties who are eating moist foods only and don't have urinary risk factors?

It's hard to say. My understanding is that the magnitude of the alkaline tide is directly proportional to the size of the meal and to the acidifying or alkalinizing components within the meal. So the fact that you are feeding moist, meaty meals which is a naturally acidifying diet is good. The fact that you are feeding 2 bigger meals in one day vs. multiple smaller meals is not as good. How those offset each other, I really don't know. If you are really curious, you could get urine pH test strips and test for yourself. Ideal urine pH range is 6.0 - 6.5. If the urine pH goes to 7.0 or higher, then the risk of struvite crystals forming is higher. The urine pH spikes about 4 hours after a large meal.

lilin · Jun 25, 2013

vball91 said:
It's hard to say. My understanding is that the magnitude of the alkaline tide is directly proportional to the size of the meal and to the acidifying or alkalinizing components within the meal. So the fact that you are feeding moist, meaty meals which is a naturally acidifying diet is good. The fact that you are feeding 2 bigger meals in one day vs. multiple smaller meals is not as good. How those offset each other, I really don't know. If you are really curious, you could get urine pH test strips and test for yourself. Ideal urine pH range is 6.0 - 6.5. If the urine pH goes to 7.0 or higher, then the risk of struvite crystals forming is higher. The urine pH spikes about 4 hours after a large meal.

Thanks, I'll look into this.

The tricky part is figuring out when I could feed a third meal. I work in a 24 hour industry, evening shift. So I tend to be up for about 3 hours before work, and 3 or 4 hours after. May have to retool my schedule a bit to make that work.

But, I am hoping to get a more normal-hour job soon. Working swing is hell on the biological clock.

Favorites - What are you currently feeding? Or would you feed if you feed Can, Dry & Raw food?

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