Cat Food

I have been trying to get my cat's on a grain free diet. I just haven't found anything they like yet. I recently bought a sample bag of Orijin regional red, and they loved it. I then bought the 6lb bag and they gobbled it up. So I buy them the really big bag for like 80 bucks, They won't go near it. Even the neighborhood feral cat won't eat it. The only difference I could find was the bigger bag is vacuum packed. Has anyone else had this problem?. Is there any tasty grain free food out there? All they will eat is Purina. I have spent so much money on foods they won't eat and like a bad mother I give in and give them what they like. I don't want the poor little things to starve. I give them some wet food as a treat; however my vet doesn't want them on wet food at all.

Why doesn't the vet want them on wet food?

Can you return the food to the place where you bought it? 

I feed Orijen (as a snack only) and i typically only buy the small bags because kibble goes stale quickly and because its highly processed I want to keep buying the freshest food. It's possible because the bag is bigger the food is older, thus they don't like it. 

I think Orijen is excellent kibble, but you should really try and feed at least 50/50 wet and kibble, but more wet if possible. I would be very concerned about trusting any vet that doesn't think a cat should eat wet food. 

He thinks it's bad for them, One of the cat's I adopted from a shelter behind his office had tummy issues and he blamed the wet food. Turns out she had giardia. There are two vets in the clinic an older vet about to retire and one that just graduated. She's the one that finally diagnosed her. Both of the vets are against wet food though. They said the water and fat from the wet food is bad. I still give them fussy cat chicken and tuna a few times a week as a treat. 

I don't think I can return the food because my tortie ripped the bag. The little stinker managed to get into the pantry before I opened it .I threw the bag away and put in a container.

 He's old school. He has 7 cats and feeds his Friskies because it's the only one they all can tolerate.

missmimz said:

Can you return the food to the place where you bought it? 

I feed Orijen (as a snack only) and i typically only buy the small bags because kibble goes stale quickly and because its highly processed I want to keep buying the freshest food. It's possible because the bag is bigger the food is older, thus they don't like it. 

I think Orijen is excellent kibble, but you should really try and feed at least 50/50 wet and kibble, but more wet if possible. I would be very concerned about trusting any vet that doesn't think a cat should eat wet food. 

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I agree. Please do some of your own research on wet food...it really is much healthier.

Thanks for the advice.

It's actually the opposite...the water and the fat are quite healthy for them! There's absolutely nothing wrong with feeding a wet food diet to your kitties.  You don't have to feed dry food just because your vet said so.

Cats naturally have a low thirst drive and derive most of their moisture from their prey. When a cat is on an exclusively dry food diet, they have to consume a lot of water in order to offset the dryness of the kibble. Studies show that cats on exclusively dry food diets take in only about 50% of the liquid that cats are exclusively wet food diets do, even if they have constant access to fresh water.

A lot of cats get urinary tract issues, especially neutered male cats, because of the structure of their urinary tract. The saying "Dilution decreases pollution" is very true! Cats who are chronically dehydrated are at fair higher risks for urinary tract infections and urinary blockages. I can think of multiple people who lost male cats to urinary issues, while feeding primarily dry. One lost their cat to a urinary blockage and one to a urinary tract infection. Urinary issues can be very costly to treat and the cat may not survive at all. Renal failure is one of the more common reasons for the demise of elderly cats, because dehydration stresses cat kidneys.

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/why-cats-need-canned-food-2/

One of the other issues with kibble is that it tends to be higher in calories and it's common for cats to overeat it and get obese, especially when it's left out for free feeding. Another thing that some vets are noticing is that many diabetic kitties go into remission after dry food is removed from their diet and they are placed on a low carbohydrate wet food. The high carbohydate load of dry food is something that many cats have difficulty processing.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/diet.htm

I also was told by someone at a vet's office that a dry food diet was healthier. So I fed grain free dry food for awhile to my young healthy kitty. 

I adopted an elderly obese, dehydrated, and constipated kitty and realized that something needed to change for him to be healthy. After research, I got him off the dry food and onto low carbohydrate canned food. One year later, he is in amazing health. He's not dehydrated or constipated and he's gone down to a trim and healthy weight. I later switched my younger cat after realizing the benefits of urinary tract and kidney health for him. 

I long ago found another vet who I liked better, and who's very supportive of and happy for my cat's health improvement on a wet food only diet.

Best wishes on whatever you decide to do.   

I couldn't agree more with the other posters about wet food being healthier than dry food: all the health issues that @Crazy4Strays mentions are pretty commonly linked to dry food. I have to admit that, like @missmimz, I wouldn't trust a vet who recommended only dry food.

Our vet, who's a cat specialist, recommends high-protein, low-carb, grain-free wet food only, to help prevent health issues. Switching our cats from dry food to canned food without grains or potato after we adopted them helped straighten out one cat's stomach issues.

However you decide to feed your cats, good luck... and do ask if you want/need more food recommendations!