Best cat food?

I was wondering what the best cat food brands are? I have three indoor cats. A long hair, a medium hair, and a short hair. My long-hair Ellie has a very senstive stomach  and is rather picky whenever I have tried to change her food it never ends well. On top of that she has a lot of hairballs since she has so much fur. My short-hair Oliver is on the heavy size as well.  I feel like they dont have the best food and want them to be healthier. Any suggestions?

Im in the uk and my Moggy has tried every brand going, shes finally settled on whiskas, she would have to choose the dearest one [emoji]128513[/emoji] I think its all about trial and error really, all my spare food has gone to the cattery so it hasnt gone to waste, the information on cat gffod/nutrition on the forum is very helpful as well.

Animallover9:

1. Are your cats generally healthy?

2. In which country do you live?

I have tried every brand out there...It is all trial and error. Find one that your cat likes. The best food is no good if they won't eat it.

I would go wet if you want them to slim down. My cats enjoy Merrick Pates and Whole Earth Farms Pate. The also enjoy Soulistic chicken dinner in gelee. All sold at Petco or chewy.com

There's no consensus on this, and it's been discussed a lot here as well as other places. You can find a lot of information by searching for old nutrition threads, and this is the site a lot of people like to post that covers the basics of why wet food is better for your cats:

http://www.catinfo.org/

I'm also going to be doing some more reviews soon, because I just went on a big "grocery shopping" for my Bud at PetSmart and bought a bunch of different varieties of food. The reason is that my cat is picky (only eats pate, for the most part), yet if I don't rotate flavors and brands regularly, he stops eating his wet food. He just gets sick of it, which I can understand, and TBH I have been rotating food since he was a kitten so that he has a wider palate.

At the same time, my cat is a big pain in the butt when it comes to "leftovers," so I buy those perfect portions when I can, and I use those plastic seals on tin cans to keep his food fresh. (In those cases I have to heat up the leftovers before giving them to him.)

Here's some food I've had success with:

- Sheba Perfect Portions - Sheba's a "grocery store brand," but notably it has real meat in its wet food, and Perfect Portions are the ones that come in two 1.3-oz little plastic tubs per package. Flavors are chicken, turkey, beef and salmon. YMMV, but my cat loves beef.

- Nutro Perfect Portions - Same thing as Sheba Perfect Portions, except with premium ingredients. Basically that means no "chicken meal" and that sort of thing. Not found in grocery stores, and is more expensive.

- Key Food Beef Pate - Again, my cat likes it when I rotate flavors. This is not the best or the healthiest, but it is a failsafe whenever he stops eating turkey and chicken wet food.

- Wellness - I just tried this for the first time. Bud did not like the chicken variety that comes in 3.5 oz cans, which kinda sucks since they're expensive. But now I know. He did, however, like the "two layer" Wellness that comes in combinations like duck and chicken.

- Science Diet - Not a premium cat food, despite the labeling. The only reason I bought this was because it was the only beef variety I could find in PetSmart. So far, not a hit with my cat.

- Blue Buffalo - I would rank this as the #1 cat food, at least for my little guy, but it is expensive.

Dry food:

- Blue Buffalo Wilderness - I always, always feed this since I got Bud as a kitten, and he was sickly. His coat didn't look good, he had a limp, and his feces were consistently watery. After feeding him a combination of quality wet food and BB dry food, he got much, much better within the first week, and was completely healthy within two weeks. As a 2-year-old, he has an incredibly soft, gorgeous coat. Is that a product of the food? I can't say for sure. But sticking to wet/wet/dry overnight has been a good balance for us. With dry food for his late night snack/overnight snacking option, he's content and doesn't wake me up at the crack of dawn for food.

Good luck!

Yes my cats are healthy for the most part. Ellie was just at the vet and got a clean bill of health she just has a sensitive stomach. Oliver has cat herpies but that dosent affect anything he will eat any and everything. I live in Nebraska in the USA. 

The problem with having 3 cats one has a sensitive stomach and is perfect weight, one also slightly has a sensitive stomach and is under weight and the third can eat anything and everything is rather over weight. and they are all 1 years old. My oldest will be two soon though. 

It's only lately that I have purchased more expensive wet cat food to add to my cat's rotation, and like Plan I include a store house-brand in my gal's menu.  I try to watch carbohydrate content to avoid it or keep it to a minimum in wet food.  She was nourished with kibble at the rescue center from which I adopted her, so we're on a wet and kibble schedule because she simply likes kibble. I believe that variety is the best way to avoid indifference to food and certainly it will help avoid boredom on your cat's part.  My gal gets food that's mostly muscle meat, but Meat By-products don't concern me because organs are protein and the liver contains a high amount of Vitamin A, which is an essential nutrient.

My advice is to avoid recipes that include gravy, which is usually made with wheat gluten.  At our home we keep a supply of the following brands/recipes:

Friskies Poultry Platter

Friskies Cat Concoctions Salmon & Liver

Fancy Feast Tender Chicken Classic

Fancy Feast Turkey & Giblets Classic

Fancy Feast Savory Salmon Feast Classic

Sheba Chicken Entree Pate

Sheba Turkey Entree Pate

Natural Balance Venison

Under the Sun Lamb

Whole Earth Farms Duck

Natural Value Sardine & Shrimp.

The best food is one that your cat will eat and that you can afford. It really is as simple as that. There's tons of food choices out there, some pretty cheap and some (A LOT) more expensive. My cats don't really have "expensive food" tastes. Oliver and Maple will eat pretty much anything, but there are exceptions. Pea-Pea is weird, she'll lick her wet food to death (so it needs to be pate usually) and then leave a bunch of it behind, which Oliver or Maple clean up for her. Oscar is picky as heck though. I bought some TikiCats food awhile back because it was on a sale like no other (about $6 for a 12-pack, which for that brand is insanely low) and he hates it. He sniffed it the other day when I served it as a treat and walked away.

So, they mainly get Friskies and Sheba.

Plan said:

 
There's no consensus on this, and it's been discussed a lot here as well as other places. You can find a lot of information by searching for old nutrition threads, and this is the site a lot of people like to post that covers the basics of why wet food is better for your cats:

http://www.catinfo.org/

I'm also going to be doing some more reviews soon, because I just went on a big "grocery shopping" for my Bud at PetSmart and bought a bunch of different varieties of food. The reason is that my cat is picky (only eats pate, for the most part), yet if I don't rotate flavors and brands regularly, he stops eating his wet food. He just gets sick of it, which I can understand, and TBH I have been rotating food since he was a kitten so that he has a wider palate.

At the same time, my cat is a big pain in the butt when it comes to "leftovers," so I buy those perfect portions when I can, and I use those plastic seals on tin cans to keep his food fresh. (In those cases I have to heat up the leftovers before giving them to him.)

Here's some food I've had success with:

- Sheba Perfect Portions - Sheba's a "grocery store brand," but notably it has real meat in its wet food, and Perfect Portions are the ones that come in two 1.3-oz little plastic tubs per package. Flavors are chicken, turkey, beef and salmon. YMMV, but my cat loves beef.

- Nutro Perfect Portions - Same thing as Sheba Perfect Portions, except with premium ingredients. Basically that means no "chicken meal" and that sort of thing. Not found in grocery stores, and is more expensive.

- Key Food Beef Pate - Again, my cat likes it when I rotate flavors. This is not the best or the healthiest, but it is a failsafe whenever he stops eating turkey and chicken wet food.

- Wellness - I just tried this for the first time. Bud did not like the chicken variety that comes in 3.5 oz cans, which kinda sucks since they're expensive. But now I know. He did, however, like the "two layer" Wellness that comes in combinations like duck and chicken.

- Science Diet - Not a premium cat food, despite the labeling. The only reason I bought this was because it was the only beef variety I could find in PetSmart. So far, not a hit with my cat.

- Blue Buffalo - I would rank this as the #1 cat food, at least for my little guy, but it is expensive.

Dry food:

- Blue Buffalo Wilderness - I always, always feed this since I got Bud as a kitten, and he was sickly. His coat didn't look good, he had a limp, and his feces were consistently watery. After feeding him a combination of quality wet food and BB dry food, he got much, much better within the first week, and was completely healthy within two weeks. As a 2-year-old, he has an incredibly soft, gorgeous coat. Is that a product of the food? I can't say for sure. But sticking to wet/wet/dry overnight has been a good balance for us. With dry food for his late night snack/overnight snacking option, he's content and doesn't wake me up at the crack of dawn for food.

Good luck!

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I've read horrors about Blue Buffalo food. On Amazon, there is a ton of people saying their vets told them this food caused their cat's urinary tract issues. Then there is the misleading practices they used to claim no byproducts when they actually had them. THey were sued and there was a big scandal. The owner of Blue Buffalo apparently is a douche. Look it up. I was about to buy BB for my cat and was so disappointed. Now I am looking for the best alternative to BB. 

I have several cats and some have special requirements when it comes to food, so I have to provide them with different diets. Unfortunately when you have multiple cats one food just may not fit all. My long hair cat that has urinary problems is on an all canned diet that is totally meat-based and he is fed foods that are formulated to keep urine  pH at desirable levels. And I have two cats that really prefer kibble. One of them still needs to lose some weight. So I can't free feed the cats.

When I choose cat foods, I want to get something that is clean and has quality ingredients and nutrition. And I don't want foods that have much added carbs or starches or fillers. I also don't generally feed cats fish as a main part of their diet. So I exclude foods that are primarily fish, and usually feed only poultry or red meat recipes-- beef they are picky about, but they usually really like poultry and lamb.

For dry commercial food Orijen and Acana by Champion Pet Foods are always ranked at the top. I've fed Acana to the cats that eat dry food and they have always really liked it. Recently in the US they changed their recipes, as they now have a food kitchen in Kentucky, and my cats didn't have an issue with the change. All of the formulas contain fish, though, which is unfortunate if you have a cat who can't have fish for whatever reason. At least for three varieties they aren't large ocean fish-- I avoid foods with ocean white fish, tilefish, and tuna and the like. The cat that became overweight and wasn't able to lose weight on this food easily, even with portion control, I switched to Nulo Freestyle Trim temporarily and it has helped her lose weight. I would have put her on a wet food only diet, but she didn't take to that... I may switch her to the Nulo duck and lentils indoor cat recipe shortly, as it has less fish in it.

Here are some canned food diets  that I have looked into and feed to my cats, excluding fish recipes:

Holistic Select*, Halo Impulse*, Hound & Gatos,  PureVita*, Fussie Cat*, Weruva (Paw Lickin' Chicken, Nine Liver, and Steak Frites specifically)*, TIki Cat*, Party Animal, Nature's Variety
*These are the foods I feed to my long hair cat who has issues, mostly Holistic Select. That food is also formulated for digestive health.

Nature's Logic is also a quality brand, for both dry and canned food, but my cats didn't really like it so much... Save for the sardine varieties, but I feed that sparingly.

My cats also like freeze dried foods and they are a good option if they are fed rehydrated:
Primal: Turkey Formula nuggets
Stella & Chewy's: Tummy Ticklin' Turkey, Chick Chick Chicken Dinner, or Duck, Duck Goose Dinner
Feline Natural: Chicken & Lamb Feast or Chicken & Venison Feast

For a lower cost cat food that is still a good quality I would look into Merrick and Whole Earth Farms. But I have't tried these, myself.

Also, look at pet food delivery websites to check out different varieties of foods and what's on sale to save money. I use chewy . com, but there are several sites to choose from.

When it comes to cat food you just have to research different brands and figure out what kind of food would be best for your cat. Contact companies and ask questions if you need to. Ask how much actual meat/eggs/liver etc. is in the food compared to carbs or lentils or peas. Figure out what preservatives and binders and fillers should probably be avoided. And, like, if your cat needs a food for urinary or digestion health, look at different foods formulated for that, specifically, and pick what you think is best. Hope this helps some and you are able to find a diet that suits your cats' needs.

deepsearch isaid earlier my 5 yr old female won't eat nothing but 9 Lives Meaty Pate' Chicken & Tuna and a 1/2 cup dry Meow Mix Original on the side which she nibbles on all day and night she is so satisfied

Imo 85%lean beef mince is the best for cats