Canned food diet: high quality vs low quality & amout eaten

catpeople · Jan 15, 2016

My cats eat only canned food. Right now I have them on Friskies & they eat so much!
Is it true that they'd eat less on a higher quality canned food than on the friskies?
Any good recommendations that cats seem to like?

pompy · Jan 15, 2016

I fed my cat whiskas a few times in a pinch, but I don;t remember him eating any more (or less) than usual, I just remember it gave him unpleasant gas/poops. It's certainly plausible that they would eat less with a good food, but I don't have any experience with that personally. Hopefully someone else does...

For canned food, my favourite is Nature's Variety Instinct...it's a little pricey though. Wellness is a bit cheaper here and is also a pretty good food. I've seen a lot of people also recommend Weruva and Ziwipeak, but they don't sell these here so I don't have experience with them. In general you'd like to look for a food that has meat protein in the first few ingredients and no grains.

Also, welcome!

catpack · Jan 15, 2016

How much do your cats eat now? How much do they weight and are they at good weights or over/underweight?

We feed mostly Nature's Variety Instinct to our rescue kitties, as well as Wild Calling and Merrick. Most of our kitties that are on wet-only eat 5.5 or 6 oz daily. We do have on kitty that eats 8-9 oz daily; but, he is a muscular 16 lb Bengal mix.

catpeople · Jan 15, 2016

They are both at good weights.
My 8lb girl is eating 2 cans a day, which is 11oz.
My 15 boy is eating 3-4 which is 16.5oz to 22oz!
These portions maintain their weights, I tried cutting back but both of them acted so hungry & even lost some weight.

catpack · Jan 15, 2016

How old are your cats?

catpeople · Jan 15, 2016

They are both 3 years old, brother & sister.

catpack · Jan 15, 2016

Ok. So, not likely a health problem causing an increased appetite.

Then, I would suggest trying a few higher quality canned foods with them. Focus on high protein and low carbs.

Depending on what your cats like try the foods mentioned above (Nature's Variety, Wild Calling and Merrick) as well as...
Tiki Cat
Wellness/ Wellness CORE
Nulo
Hound & Gatos
Dave's

Just to name a few.

Here is a good article written by one of the members here and tells you how to calculate ingredients on a dry matter basis to get the true amount of protein, carbs, etc in canned food.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-compare-cat-foods-calculate-carbs-dry-matter-basis

Willowy · Jan 15, 2016

That's a lot of calories! Do they go outside? Are they neutered? Were they eating dry food before? If so, what brand and how much of that did they eat?

If you buy the 13-oz cans, they cost less per ounce than the smaller cans.

missmimz · Jan 15, 2016

If you can afford higher quality food there's no reason not to feed that over Friskies. I think Friskies is okay in rotation or if that's all you can afford, but if you can feed something with a higher meat content that's not a by-product there's no reason not to. You wont know if that's why they're eating so much unless you try.

I'd go with - Merrick LID, Nutro natural choice, Soulistic, or something in the more affordable category, 4health grain free.

ghiblithecat · Jan 15, 2016

Thanks for this post! It's a really good topic. I've been having lots of confusion deciding this myself. My cat is still under a year so he eats a lot. Also... ever since I introduced Sheba into the mix it has become his favorite over all of my other healthy favorite brands (probably besides Tikicat and Weruva). I am a graduate student who definitely has a tight budget. By tight, I mean that I really don't want to spend anything over $60 a month for my cat's food. I only have one cat by the way. NOW I know this may sound easy to do.... but not when you have a growing kitten that could easily go through 3-4 3.3 oz cans of food a day... not including raw.

I don't really mind byproducts as long as they are labeled (chicken, turkey, beef, etc). But when it just says "meat" byproducts.... I try to limit it. Ghibli loves Fancy feast classics for sure, but I don't really like the outrageous amount of phosphorus in each can. For this reason, my cheap go-to food is Sheba (it has much less phosphorus). The reason I try to also stay away from too much phosphorus is because it has been linked to urinary crystals in cats. Since I have a male cat (who I heard are more prone to them) I just don't want to take the chance.

I am still trying to find a higher quality, not too expensive food for Ghibli. I'm sorry, but anything over $2.00 for a 5.5oz can seems like too much for me. I need to also find some healthy foods besides Tiki and Weruva that I can feed him and that he likes. I recently tried Hound and Gatos, and he didn't like it. I am going to try the other flavors of H&G though before I decide to not include it in his rotation. Another great food that I feel like most cats like is Nutro Natural Choice. It's around $1 for a 3.3 oz can so about $2.00 for 6.6oz. I highly suggest Nutro Natural Choice.

chacam · Jan 15, 2016

My 8 month old miss kitty eats 1- 5.5 ounce can of natures variety instinct per day. I am in the process of trying to leash walk her. Mainly so she doesn't get fat she has been spayed.

image.jpeg

chacam
Jan 15, 2016

donutte · Jan 15, 2016

GhibliTheCat said:
Thanks for this post! It's a really good topic. I've been having lots of confusion deciding this myself. My cat is still under a year so he eats a lot. Also... ever since I introduced Sheba into the mix it has become his favorite over all of my other healthy favorite brands (probably besides Tikicat and Weruva). I am a graduate student who definitely has a tight budget. By tight, I mean that I really don't want to spend anything over $60 a month for my cat's food. I only have one cat by the way. NOW I know this may sound easy to do.... but not when you have a growing kitten that could easily go through 3-4 3.3 oz cans of food a day... not including raw.

I don't really mind byproducts as long as they are labeled (chicken, turkey, beef, etc). But when it just says "meat" byproducts.... I try to limit it. Ghibli loves Fancy feast classics for sure, but I don't really like the outrageous amount of phosphorus in each can. For this reason, my cheap go-to food is Sheba (it has much less phosphorus). The reason I try to also stay away from too much phosphorus is because it has been linked to urinary crystals in cats. Since I have a male cat (who I heard are more prone to them) I just don't want to take the chance.

I am still trying to find a higher quality, not too expensive food for Ghibli. I'm sorry, but anything over $2.00 for a 5.5oz can seems like too much for me. I need to also find some healthy foods besides Tiki and Weruva that I can feed him and that he likes. I recently tried Hound and Gatos, and he didn't like it. I am going to try the other flavors of H&G though before I decide to not include it in his rotation. Another great food that I feel like most cats like is Nutro Natural Choice. It's around $1 for a 3.3 oz can so about $2.00 for 6.6oz. I highly suggest Nutro Natural Choice.

WHERE have you seen the phosphorus levels in Sheba? I have been trying to find this out for quite some time now. Re: FF and it's phosphorus levels, the Grilled and Gravy Lovers versions have much less phosphorus than, say, Classic and Flaked. I've never heard of high phosphorus causing urinary crystals, interesting. I just know it's bad for CKD kitties. Btw, kittens need higher phosphorus! So not sure if you said you had a kitten (got a bit confused about that) but if you do, you want to feed it kitten food, which has the right amount of nutrients it needs. Lower phos is better after they are done growing.

ghiblithecat · Jan 15, 2016

Donutte said:
WHERE have you seen the phosphorus levels in Sheba? I have been trying to find this out for quite some time now. Re: FF and it's phosphorus levels, the Grilled and Gravy Lovers versions have much less phosphorus than, say, Classic and Flaked. I've never heard of high phosphorus causing urinary crystals, interesting. I just know it's bad for CKD kitties. Btw, kittens need higher phosphorus! So not sure if you said you had a kitten (got a bit confused about that) but if you do, you want to feed it kitten food, which has the right amount of nutrients it needs. Lower phos is better after they are done growing.

My vet! She suggested it as a cheap wet food to help prevent urinary crystals.

donutte · Jan 15, 2016

GhibliTheCat said:
My vet! She suggested it as a cheap wet food to help prevent urinary crystals.

Did she say what the phosphorus levels were by chance? I've been trying to find out the actual number.

Oh, and to try and stay on topic, I'm of the opinion that I feed my cats what they will eat. I buy a variety of foods, some better than other. Sara can't really have the "better" stuff, too much protein and/or phos in many of them. I got some of the higher-protein ones for the other four cats though (Sara gets fed in another room at that point). I recently bought a case of Weruva, Soulistic, Avoderm, and a few others. Avoderm and Canidae have not been big hits, so probably won't buy more of those after they're gone. They like the Nutro Max though.

I supplement with dry though, so don't depend 100% on canned.

ghiblithecat · Jan 15, 2016

Donutte said:
Did she say what the phosphorus levels were by chance? I've been trying to find out the actual number.

Oh, and to try and stay on topic, I'm of the opinion that I feed my cats what they will eat. I buy a variety of foods, some better than other. Sara can't really have the "better" stuff, too much protein and/or phos in many of them. I got some of the higher-protein ones for the other four cats though (Sara gets fed in another room at that point). I recently bought a case of Weruva, Soulistic, Avoderm, and a few others. Avoderm and Canidae have not been big hits, so probably won't buy more of those after they're gone. They like the Nutro Max though.

I supplement with dry though, so don't depend 100% on canned.

I am looking at the note she wrote me with different food brands and a number labeled "Phos" next to each brand. The number next to Sheba chicken pate is "1.02"

Here are some others she wrote with "phos" next to them. I wanted to let you know that I have no idea what these numbers mean, but I assume they are low since she wrote them? Hope this helps

Weruva (fowl Ball)- .89 Phos

Tiki cat (various flavors)- .89- 1.0 Phos

donutte · Jan 15, 2016

I can find the phos levels for a lot of the cat foods, just not Sheba. 1.02 isn't horrible, but still aiming for lower. That is something that is doable in rotation though for the "community" foods

ghiblithecat · Jan 15, 2016

Donutte said:
I can find the phos levels for a lot of the cat foods, just not Sheba. 1.02 isn't horrible, but still aiming for lower. That is something that is doable in rotation though for the "community" foods

Just curious, but what is your ideal yet realistic phosphorus level? What are some of the low phos foods in your rotation? If you don't mind me asking

I think the vet mentioned Sheba because she knew I was on a budget. Definitely not the lowest in Phos on the list but she said it was acceptable and probably wouldn't do any harm, unlike some other foods that are ridiculously high in Phos.

donutte · Jan 18, 2016

GhibliTheCat said:
Donutte said:

I can find the phos levels for a lot of the cat foods, just not Sheba. 1.02 isn't horrible, but still aiming for lower. That is something that is doable in rotation though for the "community" foods

Click to expand...

Just curious, but what is your ideal yet realistic phosphorus level? What are some of the low phos foods in your rotation? If you don't mind me asking

I think the vet mentioned Sheba because she knew I was on a budget. Definitely not the lowest in Phos on the list but she said it was acceptable and probably wouldn't do any harm, unlike some other foods that are ridiculously high in Phos.

Haha, that's a loaded question

I'll try to be brief but knowing me that won't happen :lol3:

I have some short-term goals and long-term goals with the phosphorus. I have kittens so when it comes to what I call the "community food" (which all the cats eat), I have to have a moderate amount of phosphorus, at least till they stop growing. For the short term, Sheba would work as I'm aiming for around 1%. I would love to see the full dry matter analysis though because I have another cat that is on a restricted-calorie diet, and recommendations of higher protein. So this food does have potential on the long-term with everyone but my CKD kitty. I feel the four non-CKDs in the morning, as well as a 2nd feeding just for Maple and Sara in the middle of the day (the youngin's have dry to tide them over till the evening feeding).

In the long-term for the community food, I'm looking for something around 0.6-0.8%. If there is any way I can keep Sara off phos binders, I want to do it. If we do have to go on the phos binders, so be it, but hoping that's not for a long time.

Canned food diet: high quality vs low quality & amout eaten

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