Kitty Diet for Life

teach92651

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Hello All,

I lost my two beloved Siamese babies last year to renal failure. They both primarily ate the dry MAX CAT for most of their lives. Bear, the blue point male, lived to be 14 and Mitzi, the chocolate point female, 16. In a couple of months I am getting two Siamese kittens, and I want to give them the best diet available.

I have been reading extensively, and it seems as if Nutro Kitten Food is a good product to begin with. What about wet food? Is it important for good health? I have read that it gets more moisture into their diets.

Does anyone have suggestions about other brands? Is Science Diet better? Flint River Ranch? Iambs? Old Mother Hubbard? There are so many to choose from, and I would appreciate any advice!

I want to ensure against FLUDT and CRF to the extent that I can. At what point is it important to cut back on their phosporus intake?

Thanks
 

jen

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I can only give general advice but I will still try to help. Definately feed them wet food. All dry diets are not usually a good idea. It gives them more water intake as cats usually don't drink enough of it. Science Diet is no good, too many grains I believe among other things. You want to stick to food that is low in corn and has meat as the first 2-3 (or more) ingredients. Avoid by-products and red dyes.

The other foods may be okay, check out the ingredients. If any have by-products dont buy it and if any have corn as the first or second ingredient don't buy it.
 

pat

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I am sorry for your loss of your two kitties to crf (chronic renal failure). If you've never visited this site, it's wonderful - www.felinecrf.org

I think of key importance is the quality of protein fed, so as Jen said, no by-products, no dyes, and I'd go for a premium dry that uses quality proteins, if possible I'd consider a more wet food than dry diet as yes, the extra moisture is good for them. Consider using a pet water fountain to encourage water intake too.

I would get a baseline set of kidney values done by the time they are 10, and at that time, discuss monitoring phosphorous content of the foods you are using.

Here is one page from the site above that discusses possible causes of crf and flutd, I think you'd find it interesting to read.
http://www.felinecrf.org/causes_of_c...#dry_food_diet
 

reddicequeen

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I use both wet and dry cat food from healthy pet net because Remy my ragdoll has a sensitive stomach. I started feeding him this food because the kittens and adults can eat the same food. Everything else makes him have diarrhea. You should read ingredients and compare.
http://www.healthypetnet.com
 

moggiegirl

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I think it is useful to switch to a nutrient dense highly premium dry food like Innova if you have to feed your cat dry food because I can feed less dry food now to complement their canned food. If the cat doesn't have to eat as much dry food to get the nutrition he/she needs and you know it's a high calorie food anyway, then the portions of dry can be a lot smaller than the wet. I know a lot of cats won't eat large portions of canned food at once. Rosie for example would only have to eat a 1/3 of a cup of dry Innova a day to get the nutrtion she would need from just dry. Because I feed wet food also I only give her 1/8 of a cup of dry food unless she doesn't eat her wet food but usually she's pretty good about that. The more fillers a dry food has and lower it is in calories and less nutrient dense it is the more dry food the cat will need to eat if it doesn't eat enough wet food. More dry equals less water and less hydration. Besides animal based protein and more of it is always better than too much plant matter. If Innova is too rich California Natural is a good one too.
 

jlphilli

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I too recommend feeding wet food as a part of the diet. As far as dry food, I am not a big fan of Nutro (or Science Diet)....I would recommend Royal Canin, Natural Balance, Eukanuba, Innova, and Spa Select (made by Blue Buffalo) dry foods.
 

sharky

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California natural by Natura
Natural choice by Nutro
Solid Gold
Innova
Evo
Roayl Canin( read )
Sensible choice
Evangers
Premium Edge

I also strongly recomend canned as 50+ % ... currently I am battling one to eat canned and the other eats raw and canned


Foods I wont touch
Science diet \\
Eukanuba
Iams
 

catitudes

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I only feed dry food overnight. There are only two dry foods I will buy:

Innova Evo
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct.

The carbohydrate levels of these foods are 6-7%, which means it is closest to the level of carbs a cat consumes in nature. Most dry foods on the market are between 25-45% carbs. I have never heard of cats in nature ripping through corn and wheat fields when hungry.

In the daytime, I only feed low-carb canned, without meat by-products or corn.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Catitudes

I only feed dry food overnight. There are only two dry foods I will buy:

Innova Evo
Nature's Variety Raw Instinct.

The carbohydrate levels of these foods are 6-7%, which means it is closest to the level of carbs a cat consumes in nature. Most dry foods on the market are between 25-45% carbs. I have never heard of cats in nature ripping through corn and wheat fields when hungry.

In the daytime, I only feed low-carb canned, without meat by-products or corn.
My vet highly recommended Raw Instinct ... Zoey likes it with her Natural choice( she wont eat it alone) .... The dog likes the dog version too and the coupons are great
 

shadowbaby

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I was thinking about trying the raw instincts, but there sure is a load of ingredients in it, which sort of turned me off.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by ShadowBaby

I was thinking about trying the raw instincts, but there sure is a load of ingredients in it, which sort of turned me off.
It doesnt read as good as Evo but my vet suggested it and I got a few samples and all three ( yes dog too) liked it ... I may not like some ingrediants but none were on the OH No dont feed list ... Zoey didnt have a bit of loose bm s so it must be good for the insides
 
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