Dry Food with Minimal Fillers

Hey all –

I need to put the cats on a dry food for a couple of long weekend trips. I have someone that is stopping by once a day after work to feed wet, and scoop boxes, but they’ll need dry for their other meal. I’m planning on buying this timed feeder, so hopefully the cat sitter can just fill it up and set the timer for morning every day.

They’re on all wet/raw right now, and I had to cut out their last “snack” kibble (Merrick LID Turkey) due to a potato sensitivity in one cat. I’m trying to find a dry or air-dried food with the most minimal fillers possible. My male gets pukey, and while I’m 99% sure it’s potatoes, I’d rather just eliminate as many non-essential nutrients as I can. He seems to have an extra sensitive digestive system. They’re on Merrick LID canned and Primal Freeze Dried right now.

Here’s the hard part: The dry food can’t contain any potatoes, duck, grains, corn or rice.

I’d rather it not contain peas, but I’m more flexible on that one. I also try and stay away from fish except as an occasional treat.

I know there’s no perfect food out there, but can you think of one that comes close?

I’m currently looking at:

Wellness Core Air Dried Original – looks good, not a ton of ingredients (Problems: 3^rd Ingredient chickpeas – filler. Also skim milk?)

Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet Turkey (Problem: 2^nd/3rd Ingredient Peas & Tapioca - fillers)

Orijen Cat & Kitten – Probably the best? (Problems – contains fish [4^th], also peas, but those are down on the ingredient list.)

I also looked at Ziwipeak Air Dried, and it looked great, but it’s super expensive, even to feed for just a few weekend trips. Price isn’t usually an issue with me, but yikes.

Is there anything out there that will work? Some super fabulous dry food? I know my standards are little crazy, but I’m trying to make this as easy on the sitter as possible, and if his tummy is upset, he can puke several times a week. And it's usually on my cream chairs.  I’ve finally got the puking under control, but I need to be able to leave my house occasionally. 

Thanks in advance!

Have you looked at Instinct Ultimate Protein (chicken)? It has tapioca but I believe it's a small percentage of the over formula. It's working well for our extra sensitive kitty.

Although Orijen has fish, it's not that much, I know on the bag (maybe you can find a screenshot somewhere?) it lists the % of each protein in the formula.

I feed both Orijen and Ziwipeak air dried as a snack for my cats that eat raw/wet as their primary meals (but several are kittens so they eat a LOT). My cats like both, although I think they probably like Orijen the best but ZP is more like "raw" so I keep it in the mix. 1 bag of ZP would last one cat a decent amount of time based on their feeding guidelines, but Orijen is a better bang for your buck, and ZP isn't loved by all cats because its more like little jerky meat pieces not actual kibble. Orijen RR has fish farther down on the ingredient list, but it's more red meat based so I don't know how your cat would do with that, and it's more expensive. I personally don't have any issue with the fish in Orijen because they have pretty high standards for their food quality. 

ftmba said:

 
Have you looked at Instinct Ultimate Protein (chicken)? It has tapioca but I believe it's a small percentage of the over formula. It's working well for our extra sensitive kitty.

Although Orijen has fish, it's not that much, I know on the bag (maybe you can find a screenshot somewhere?) it lists the % of each protein in the formula.

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I did look at Instinct Ultimate Protein but tapioca is the 2nd ingredient, so I decided against it. Cat with a really sensitive stomach to anything that's too starchy. Thanks for the recommendation though! 

missmimz said:

 
I feed both Orijen and Ziwipeak air dried as a snack for my cats that eat raw/wet as their primary meals (but several are kittens so they eat a LOT). My cats like both, although I think they probably like Orijen the best but ZP is more like "raw" so I keep it in the mix. 1 bag of ZP would last one cat a decent amount of time based on their feeding guidelines, but Orijen is a better bang for your buck, and ZP isn't loved by all cats because its more like little jerky meat pieces not actual kibble. Orijen RR has fish farther down on the ingredient list, but it's more red meat based so I don't know how your cat would do with that, and it's more expensive. I personally don't have any issue with the fish in Orijen because they have pretty high standards for their food quality. 

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I just checked their feeding guidelines and it's not as bad as I thought. It says 1.7 oz per cat per day, or .85oz per serving. So a bag would last for 16.5 individual meals. That's not as bad as I though. I saw the 14 oz, and figured it'd last like 4 days. I'll see if the cats with eat it. I will be bagging individual servings for the sitter though, or I can see it being gone in 2 days.   Is the texture like Pure Bites treats or more chewy?

Yeah, they're super weird about kibble so I had to try like 4 different types of kibble before I found one they would eat. And then that one had potato so it's officially out. They tend to prefer turkey/chicken as opposed to red meat. But I'm sure they'd be fine with fish for snacks and the occasional weekend while I'm out of town. I'm just super paranoid. 

Paiger8 said:

. I will be bagging individual servings for the sitter though, or I can see it being gone in 2 days. 

 Is the texture like Pure Bites treats or more chewy?

Yeah, they're super weird about kibble so I had to try like 4 different types of kibble before I found one they would eat. And then that one had potato so it's officially out. They tend to prefer turkey/chicken as opposed to red meat. But I'm sure they'd be fine with fish for snacks and the occasional weekend while I'm out of town. I'm just super paranoid. 

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It's more chewy, but it sort of depends because each batch is different. The beef it a little thicker and more 'fat' while the lamb and venison are more square thin flat pieces. Orijen seems to be really well liked by cats in general. Even my most picky cat loves Orijen but snubs everything else. 

I'm also working on a plan to feed my other cats for 24 hours while we travel out of state next month to take one of the older cats to a specialist for radioiodine treatment. I just ordered some auto feeders to test out before our trip but my plan is to feed more kibble while we're gone, but I'm also testing out an auto feeder for wet food too. 

Out of curiosity, which ones did you end up ordering? They come in handy. I went through 3 PetMate LeBistros when I fed all dry. I gave up on those eventually. The first one worked for years, and then a power surge took it out. 2nd one lasted 6 months, 3rd lasted a couple months. I might just have terrible luck though.  

If I needed a dry one for an extended amount of time, the Petnet Smartfeeder looks really nice. But I just couldn't justify it for a couple weekends a year, so I ordered the 2 compartment Cat Mate to try this time. 

Paiger8 said:

 
I did look at Instinct Ultimate Protein but tapioca is the 2nd ingredient, so I decided against it. Cat with a really sensitive stomach to anything that's too starchy. Thanks for the recommendation though! 

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NV did a piss poor job marketing the food unfortunately.

It is true that tapioca is the 2nd ingredient, but the product is marketed as having 95% protein from chicken, has a relatively short ingredient list for kibble, only 2 proteins (mostly chicken, slight amount of FD turkey, no fish, etc), all pluses for sensitive tummies. Overall carbs are slightly better than Orijen but worse than ZP.

We tend to look at ingredients lists like this:

Protein 1 (30%), Protein 2 (20%), Protein 3 (15%), Other ingredient 1 (10%), etc

But it's entirely possible that they can also look like this:

Protein 1 (90%), other ingredient 1 (5%), etc

NV should slap a % next to chicken (as Orijen does for their proteins), since they're banking on the chicken content of the food.

Paiger8 said:

 
Out of curiosity, which ones did you end up ordering? They come in handy. I went through 3 PetMate LeBistros when I fed all dry. I gave up on those eventually. The first one worked for years, and then a power surge took it out. 2nd one lasted 6 months, 3rd lasted a couple months. I might just have terrible luck though.  

If I needed a dry one for an extended amount of time, the Petnet Smartfeeder looks really nice. But I just couldn't justify it for a couple weekends a year, so I ordered the 2 compartment Cat Mate to try this time. 

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I ended up going with Petsafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed for kibble and the Feed and Go Smart Pet Feeder for wet food. I found this site really helpful to compare feeders. They're both very pricey and i debated whether or not to go this route but I'd rather pay more for a reliable product than something that either my cats can break into or fails when we're gone. They have high reviews so I'm hopeful that they'll be worth the money.  I have several cats so I need something reliable that can handle multiple feedings. I looked at the Petnet feeder too, but it had pretty poor reviews overall and several people said it couldn't handle different kibble sizes. 

ftmba said:

NV did a piss poor job marketing the food unfortunately.

It is true that tapioca is the 2nd ingredient, but the product is marketed as having 95% protein from chicken, has a relatively short ingredient list for kibble, only 2 proteins (mostly chicken, slight amount of FD turkey, no fish, etc), all pluses for sensitive tummies. Overall carbs are slightly better than Orijen but worse than ZP.

We tend to look at ingredients lists like this:
Protein 1 (30%), Protein 2 (20%), Protein 3 (15%), Other ingredient 1 (10%), etc

But it's entirely possible that they can also look like this:
Protein 1 (90%), other ingredient 1 (5%), etc

NV should slap a % next to chicken (as Orijen does for their proteins), since they're banking on the chicken content of the food.

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Whoa, that's good to know. I just saw 2nd ingredient Tapioca and said nope. They should really market that better.

Paiger8 said:

Whoa, that's good to know. I just saw 2nd ingredient Tapioca and said nope. They should really market that better.

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I should add our girls have eaten Orijen, NVI UP, and ZP. I don't really think you can go wrong with any of them. They loved ZP at first but got tired of it quickly. The lack of interest is actually good in a way, since they only eat it if hungry and save their appetite for Raw/canned. As mentioned, because of it's calorie content, a little ZP can go a long way. Orijen and NVI are both eaten with gusto.

I actually did a cost per 100 calories at some point and I had this (based on 15 lb Orijen, 10.5 lb NVI Up, and the 14oz ZP bags):

ZP: $.72, NVI UP: $.30, Orijen $.24

Using 5 lb bags for Orijen/NV it looks like:

ZP: $.72, NVI UP: $.36, Orijen $.29

ZP is the only dry food we're sure doesn't cause tummy issues for our girls. Orijen was the first thing we fed after we got them, we were changing so many things (they were on RC kibble/canned before) it was hard to tell which issues were caused by what. NVI UP we haven't fed long enough to really know, but so far so good.

missmimz said:

 
I ended up going with Petsafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed for kibble and the Feed and Go Smart Pet Feeder for wet food. I found this site really helpful to compare feeders. They're both very pricey and i debated whether or not to go this route but I'd rather pay more for a reliable product than something that either my cats can break into or fails when we're gone. They have high reviews so I'm hopeful that they'll be worth the money.  I have several cats so I need something reliable that can handle multiple feedings. I looked at the Petnet feeder too, but it had pretty poor reviews overall and several people said it couldn't handle different kibble sizes. 

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We considered these and also Pet Feedster but ultimately went with Petnet SmartFeeder. We're getting our Petnet today actually, the main reason we went with it is because we got it through Best Buy (easy return if it's a dud or if we just don't like it) and we liked the phone integration. If it fails/jams it gives you a notification on your phone. I believe it also gives a notification for any feeding.

ftmba said:

 
We considered these and also Pet Feedster but ultimately went with Petnet SmartFeeder. We're getting our Petnet today actually, the main reason we went with it is because we got it through Best Buy (easy return if it's a dud or if we just don't like it) and we liked the phone integration. If it fails/jams it gives you a notification on your phone. I believe it also gives a notification for any feeding.

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I'd love to hear how to like the Petnet. I love the feeders that have smartphone capabilities too. 

missmimz said:

 
I ended up going with Petsafe Healthy Pet Simply Feed for kibble and the Feed and Go Smart Pet Feeder for wet food. I found this site really helpful to compare feeders. They're both very pricey and i debated whether or not to go this route but I'd rather pay more for a reliable product than something that either my cats can break into or fails when we're gone. They have high reviews so I'm hopeful that they'll be worth the money.  I have several cats so I need something reliable that can handle multiple feedings. I looked at the Petnet feeder too, but it had pretty poor reviews overall and several people said it couldn't handle different kibble sizes. 

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Thanks for the links. Definitely report back if they live up to expectations. I just found out my pet sitter has a weekend trip scheduled the same time I do this summer, so I may be looking for something more heavy duty for a 48 hour period.

I love the Feed and Go Smart feeder for the webcam feature (I'd totally love to creep on my cats during the day) but I'd need 2 of that one. The Petsafe Healthy Pet Simple Feed would be super nice for kibble. I saw on the Amazon reviews that someone just put a big tray underneath it so it's easier for cats to share. One of mine is a food hog, and would sit and not share the bowl. 

I did pick up some Orijen Cat & Kitten kibble last night and they liked it right away. I'll keep letting them snack on it for a few weeks to make sure no one is sensitive to it. I'd be super embarrassed if the cat sitter had to deal with puking or bathroom issues.   

Paiger8 said:

 
Thanks for the links. Definitely report back if they live up to expectations. I just found out my pet sitter has a weekend trip scheduled the same time I do this summer, so I may be looking for something more heavy duty for a 48 hour period.

I love the Feed and Go Smart feeder for the webcam feature (I'd totally love to creep on my cats during the day) but I'd need 2 of that one. The Petsafe Healthy Pet Simple Feed would be super nice for kibble. I saw on the Amazon reviews that someone just put a big tray underneath it so it's easier for cats to share. One of mine is a food hog, and would sit and not share the bowl. 

I did pick up some Orijen Cat & Kitten kibble last night and they liked it right away. I'll keep letting them snack on it for a few weeks to make sure no one is sensitive to it. I'd be super embarrassed if the cat sitter had to deal with puking or bathroom issues. 

 

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I have a lot of cats that will be sharing these feeders (7 of them to be exact) but they're all litter mates and share well so I think it should be okay. I may need to buy another Feed and Go i'm not sure. I decided to start with one and see how it goes. I will def report back in case others are interested. 

Really impressed with the Petnet. I could see how it'd be a problem for multiple animals - the feeding bowl is fairly small, and the electronics are connected to it - but it's perfect for us. No idea on durability yet but it seems sturdy enough.

The ap is pretty smooth, you can set up times there it auto feeds, and times when it just reminds you and then you confirm a feed. You can also manually dispense food at any time.

ftmba said:

 
Really impressed with the Petnet. I could see how it'd be a problem for multiple animals - the feeding bowl is fairly small, and the electronics are connected to it - but it's perfect for us. No idea on durability yet but it seems sturdy enough.

The ap is pretty smooth, you can set up times there it auto feeds, and times when it just reminds you and then you confirm a feed. You can also manually dispense food at any time.

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Paiger8 said:

 
Both of those videos are marked as private. You may have to change the settings to "public" if you want them to be seen.

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Thanks for the heads up, hopefully they work now. Was trying to show how the feeding bowl is fairly small, might be problematic for cats that don't share well.

Another + is it's quiet. Can't be heard from a room over.

Big minus in that it's apple only atm. Supposedly an android ap has been in development. We control it through wife's phone, otherwise wouldn't have been able to use it.

ftmba said:

 
Really impressed with the Petnet. I could see how it'd be a problem for multiple animals - the feeding bowl is fairly small, and the electronics are connected to it - but it's perfect for us. No idea on durability yet but it seems sturdy enough.

The ap is pretty smooth, you can set up times there it auto feeds, and times when it just reminds you and then you confirm a feed. You can also manually dispense food at any time.

Click to expand...

What kind of kibble are you using in it? I mix kibbles that are different sizes so I wondered if it would work for my needs. I haven't set my kibble auto feeder up yet but I'm going to test it out in the next couple of days. 

missmimz said:

 
What kind of kibble are you using in it? I mix kibbles that are different sizes so I wondered if it would work for my needs. I haven't set my kibble auto feeder up yet but I'm going to test it out in the next couple of days. 

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Have only used NVI UP so far.

I'm not entirely sure how well it'll work mixing kibble, the setup asks you to scan in the food you use (barcode) and asks you what portion of the bag you put in the hopper (perhaps trying to track how full it is?), presumably they're intending for one food at a time. It's probably something we should test during our return period. That being said, mechanically I don't understand why it wouldn't work.

Nala has grown quite attached to her automatic feeder