I Have Some Feeding Questions!

[lavender_skiess]

Hello! A little about my family
I have a 1 year old female Sphynx and I just adopted a 7 month old, male regular hair cat (lol) last Tuesday. Both have been spayed and neutered, so no problems there. I am feeding them Merrick Purrfect Bistro Grain-Free Kitten Recipe (3755 kcal/kg or 387 kcal/cup ) for dry food and Fancy Feast canned (I'm trying more affordable options for now since my girlie has become a little picky so she stopped liking her Blue Buffalo wet food..)

For my Sphynxie girl:

• 7.68 pounds; I think she's getting a little bit of a belly!
• Free-feed dry (was on an unlimited amount but now 2 handfuls daily) + half of a 3oz can 2-3 times daily
• She has a fast metabolism due to her high activity and the fact that she needs more food to regulate her temperature

Now that she is 1 year old, I am looking to transition her to adult dry food and to cut down on the amount of food she is getting overall.

My questions:
1. Any good quality adult food you recommend? Should I stick to the same brand? I had her on Orijen and she did amazing on it. It is a little pricey though.
2. How much should she be getting for dry food in a day? Meals versus giving her what she should have in 1 day and leaving that out to free-feed?
3. How much and how often should I be giving her wet food?

For my Tuxedo boy:

• 7.5 pounds; the vet says he is a great weight!
• Free-feed dry (2 handfuls total daily) + half of a 3oz can 2-3 times daily

He did not like dry food when I first adopted him but he's starting to eat it now that I do not refill his dry food when it's gone.

My Questions:
1. How much should I be feeding him in terms of dry food? The dry food contains 3755 kcal/kg or 387 kcal/cup.
2. I'm paranoid about him developing urinary problems due to dry food. Should I be feeding him dry food at all? All wet food + dry-wet combination for male cats?
3. Is that a good amount of wet food to feed him?

Thank you so much...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know I have a lot of questions

 

[ashekitty]

Hi!
Welcome to TCS!

I can’t answer all of your questions, but I can answer a few.

My sister has a sphinx, and I can tell you that boy is a black hole. He eats twice as much as her other cat that has hair.

Although this DEFINITELY is not for every cat, the average calorie intake daily is 20 calories per pound of cat. So if your cat is 9 pounds, you’d feed her 180 calories a day. This can help to start, and you can adjust as needed. For your Sphinx I would say even 35 calories per pound.

As for a good dry food, I’d check out American Journey on Chewy.com. It’s their own brand actually, and it’s a great price with really good ingredients.

Some people don’t feed their cats any dry food due to the lack of moisture and higher carb content, but I think it’s okay if you also have some canned food. Also having a good quality dry food is obviously very important. I mix the dry food for my cats with water so that they get some extra moisture. The only problem with that is they have to eat the dry food in one sitting because if you leave out the food mixed with water it can develop bacteria.

Good luck!

 

[duckpond]

I feed dry, and two wet meals per day. With dry i have not found a less expensive brand that i like, to many carbs in my opinion. Mine like Orijen, but i do think they gain weight if they eat much of it. They love Farmina, the pumpkin formula especially, but its hard to find, I order from their website, it is not cheap. Farmina is the favorite thing for 2 of my boys, i don't free feed it, just a bit as a mini meal, or they will over eat. I do free feed Dr. Elsey's very low carb, lower than most canned foods i have found. Everyone loves it too, and no one seems to over eat or gain weight on Dr. Elsey's. It is expensive, but a bag last a long time, they don't eat so much, i guess because of the high protein and low carb.

I do also offer wet food twice a day. I buy a lot of different brands, Weruva, Tiki cat, against the grain, Merrick backcountry, Earthborn, fancy feast and some Friskies shreds . These are some of the brands my cats will consistently eat. I try not to let them get use to only eating one or two foods, if the store is out of stock for a while, or the company changes the formula, or discontinues it, that can cause problems. We live in a small town and not many options so i do order online a lot.

Water is very important, which is why I do feed some wet every day. I also have several different styles of water fountains around the house, and a few water bowls. I change the water often, and i use filtered water from the refrigerator like we drink. I think cats drink more with fresh filtered water. Some of mine prefer the fountain, some prefer the wide bowls, so i offer both.

 

[zoocat]

. You said you feed a lot of brands including Tiki Cat, Against the grain, and Weruva. I just wondered how often/how much of the fish/seafood varieties you feed. My guys love all the Against the Grain flavors but because of all the posts that indicate fish should be limited, I only feed maybe two 3oz cans a week (split between two cats so one can/cat/week) ——just looking for more opinions. Thanks

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi - your furbabies are lucky to have you!
I don't get as specific about things as you do, but along with the other great comments you're getting, here are a couple of thoughts.
First and foremost, it's what they'll eat - sometimes you'll end up giving them something that's not so great in your estimation.

Second, some ingredients to watch out for in both wet and dry; salt/sodium, carrageenan, and super scary menadione - try and stay away from any food that has that. If one of the two simply demands it, a Milk Thistle supplement (with no additives) should help with liver support. There are other ingredients that are problematic, however noted in the next;

Three, if you find several foods you can rotate and combine with both of them, you'll be way ahead of the game on several counts. You won't get backed into that awful corner of the manufacturer changing the recipe/formula and the cat simply won't eat anything else but the old recipe. Also, foods from multiple manufacturers gives a better chance of their systems being able to deal with the glutens, starches and proteins.

What I ended up with for my Big Guy is mostly wet food, some free fed kibble and some store bought frozen raw.

A fourth thing, you might consider tracking their weight over time, with a bathroom scale. You want to be able to lightly feel their ribs but not see them.
And, thank you for being such a caring cat person!

 

[duckpond]

I try to feed more of the other proteins, not as much fish. that being said i do have a fish addicted cat who wont eat much wet food unless it has at least some fish in it. I do stick with the better brands only, when it comes to fish, normally only weruva, Earthborn Holistic, some Tiki and some against the grain. you can tell by looking at these foods that it is cuts of fish, not a ground up mash that may be bone and other parts of the fish, who can tell what it is? I feed more fish that is probably recommended, but only the few brands i consider to be better, and no fish that is pate, if i cant tell what it is i don't feed it. I normally feed a Fish based food for breakfast, they get a bowl of Dr. Elseys' the chicken flavor left out at all times, and then i put down a wet food for dinner that does not have fish most of the time. Others may disagree on this, but it works for us, the vet is always happy with them, and he said he sees nothing wrong with feeding a quality fish food to them this way. No fresh fish, or human food fish, cat food only so it has the vitamins and minerals they need.

 

[duckpond]

lol.... i just put a photo of my fish loving cat up as my avatar. she also loves to get on top of my kitchen cabinets, always amazes me how they can jump

 

[Furballsmom]

duckpond I LOVE that look on her face!