Grain-free or quality cat food

Hi all, I was just wondering what's the best food out ther . Preferably grain-free, I'm curious what you furparents are feeding your kitties. If you could put the brand and how long your cats have been on it. My kitty I'd about 8 months old. When we first got her she was on Purina kitten chow but we switched her to Taste Of the Wild because I started becoming more knowledgeable about nutrition for kittie . She had a lot of tummy problems from parasites from being a stray and all, and after all that cleared up she had diarrhea and after many vet visits, many wasted meds that she didn't need, we found out the food was the culprit. We switched her to blue buffalo kitten food, and all the amazon reviews were good, but I read a post back in 2013 on here about BB causing crystals?! Now I know every cat is different but that still freaks me out. She's been doing great on it, no diarrhea or anything and I also have her on wet food for hydration, but like I said the crystals freaked me out. Is it all BB brands that are causing this? Once she turned 1 we were gonna switch her to BB Freedom (Grain-free) but I'm wondering if I should switch to something else. BB is the most affordable quality food, I can't buy 30$+ 7lb bags So please list your foods! Thanks guys

I personally feed my cats "4 health" from Tractor supply" its grain free and is comparable to taste of the wild but for about 10$ cheaper a bag. I wouldnt say its the best for its the best for the price

I'm currently feeding my adult cats Purina Muse it's new at my Petsense store I've also seen it at Petsmarts website. My cats eat the Charmed with Chicken recipe. They love the taste of this cat food. It has chicken as the first ingredient chicken meal as the second. It's about $17.99 for a 4 lb bag.
I also feed them 1/2 a can each of Friskies Indoor canned cat food in gravy each morning.

I would go with grain free wet only if she is prone to crystals and stomach problems.

galatashdev said:

Hi all, I was just wondering what's the best food out ther . Preferably grain-free, I'm curious what you furparents are feeding your kitties. If you could put the brand and how long your cats have been on it. My kitty I'd about 8 months old. When we first got her she was on Purina kitten chow but we switched her to Taste Of the Wild because I started becoming more knowledgeable about nutrition for kittie . She had a lot of tummy problems from parasites from being a stray and all, and after all that cleared up she had diarrhea and after many vet visits, many wasted meds that she didn't need, we found out the food was the culprit. We switched her to blue buffalo kitten food, and all the amazon reviews were good, but I read a post back in 2013 on here about BB causing crystals?! Now I know every cat is different but that still freaks me out. She's been doing great on it, no diarrhea or anything and I also have her on wet food for hydration, but like I said the crystals freaked me out. Is it all BB brands that are causing this? Once she turned 1 we were gonna switch her to BB Freedom (Grain-free) but I'm wondering if I should switch to something else. BB is the most affordable quality food, I can't buy 30$+ 7lb bags

So please list your foods! Thanks guys

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The best food for your cats is A) one that they will eat and B) one you can afford

Taste of the Wild isn't a bad food and neither is the 4 Health from Tractor Supply Company. Are they the best? No but they are far from the worst and if that is what your cat likes and you can afford it, go for it. 

You mentioned that your cat is also eating wet food. What is the ratio of wet to dry? If someone is on a budget and feeding both, we generally advise a higher quality dry and a lower quality wet if you have to make a choice between the two. 

My cats are on a 90% wet diet. They do get dry food but it's not a main part of their diet. It's more used as a topper for the wet food. I have 3 very picky eaters.    Sometimes they will chow down at mealtimes, other times, they will look at the food like it was just scraped out of the bottom of a dumpster. I have to keep a wide variety of wet foods in their rotation because of this. They do not get the same food 2 meals in a row. You can't do this on an all dry diet. 

The dry food that they currently eat is Orijen Cat & Kitten which I personally believe is the best dry food out there. Is it inexpensive? Not at all but I feed it because A) it's VERY high quality B) They like it and C) It's affordable to me because as I mentioned, it's mostly used as a topper so a bag lasts me a lot longer than it would someone who feeds dry as a main part of the meal. You won't find this food in big box pet stores. It is only available online and in specialty pet stores.

I personally think that Blue Buffalo is overpriced junk. 2 of my cats refused to touch it (this is the canned- not the dry). My Henry ate it and then proceeded to give it right back to me.    I would choose  4Health or Taste of the Wild over BB in a heartbeat. 4Health also has a line of canned grain free foods that are good  quality too. They are also reasonably priced at .69 for a 5.5 ounce can. Depending on where you shop, it's not much more than Friskies and comparably priced to a 3 ounce can of Fancy Feast at a lot of stores. 

Another grain free dry that I'd recommend is Merrick's Purrfect Bistro. This is available in Petco and online from Chewy.com and Amazon.com

http://www.chewy.com/merrick-purrfect-bistro-grain-free/dp/49263

You can also get Taste of the Wild from Chewy

http://www.chewy.com/taste-wild-rocky-mountain-dry-cat/dp/34263

Here's a link to the Orijen. As you can see, it's a lot more expensive than other brands but it is very good food

http://www.chewy.com/orijen-cat-kitten-dry-cat-food-15-lb/dp/45857

Nature's Variety Instinct makes very good food. Price wise, they are in between the Merrick and the Orijen. You can find this food at Petco and Petsmart and you can often find coupons on their website

http://www.chewy.com/natures-variety-instinct-grain-free/dp/102893

My kitty has been eating Merrick for about 2 months now. She really likes it and she has not had any stomach problems with it (and she has a VERY sensitive tummy) We also have been dealing with back to back parasites due to her mom and dad being feral outdoor kitties. Before this we fed Halo and that messed up her stomach worse than Iams did, so stay away from that! Lol.