Suggestions for Dry Food?

[stewball]

@pinkdagger

i don't have the choices you have in America. Most of our wet foodc ones from abroad so I don't know how good they are. They love ON.
I've just checked my pet shop's computer, forgotten the word, and he has meow mix, fancy feast and ftiskies classic pate. They prefer gravy as do I. I feel there's more liquid than in the pate.
Could I have your advice. I thought fancy feast was rubbish! Please help.

 

[thehistorian]

The dry food I use is Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken formula or Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit formula. I have tried a lot of different foods (both wet and dry) with my girl and so far the dry food that has worked the best is Nature's Variety Instinct. For her wet foods I rotate the following: Fancy Feast Classic pâtés, Nutro Natural Choice pâtés, some big cans of Nature's Variety Instinct pâtés, and Merrick pâtés here and there.

Each cat is an individual - what works best for my girl may not work best for yours. You are going to have to do a lot of trial and error to figure out what will work for her and what she likes. Basically expect to waste a lot of money.

 

[stewball]

The dry food I use is Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken formula or Nature's Variety Instinct
Rabbit formula. I have tried a lot of different foods (both wet and dry) with my girl and so far the dry food that has worked the best is Nature's Variety Instinct. For her wet foods I rotate the following: Fancy Feast Classic pâtés, Nutro Natural Choice pâtés, some big cans of Nature's Variety Instinct pâtés, and Merrick pâtés here and there.

Each cat is an individual - what works
best for my girl may not work best for yours. You are going to have to do a lot of trial and error to figure out what will work for her and what she likes. Basically expect to waste a lot of money.

Are pates as wet as chunks in gravy?

 

[ruaryx]

Hi, I just transitioned my kitty to all wet but when I fed dry I fed Wellness Core which is grain free.  It can be quite expensive though.  I've heard that foods with more proteins are more efficient in keeping your cat full so they actually eat less though, which evens out the price.

As for pates, it is my personal experience that they have less gravy than other textures in general. Some people actually see this as a good thing as there are a lot of unnecessary calories in gravy.  However you can add some water to it to create your own gravy if your cat likes that.  One of my cats turns her head up at any water, while the other happily eats anything.  Good luck!

 

[ruaryx]

As for the Wet vs. Dry debate, I think that people should feed what they can afford or what is possible for their schedules.  I think that it is much better for a cat to get any kind of food regularly than for a cat to be left at a shelter because people can't afford the best food.  

 

[bonepicker]

Stew, most gravy foods are higher in carbs, which you do not want (still better than dry) which is carb loaded. Stick with pate and add some spring water to make it a little more mushy.

 

[chromium blues]

Some foods, like Truluxe are in broth - what do you think of that?

 

[pinkdagger]

@pinkdagger

i don't have the choices you have in America. Most of our wet foodc ones from abroad so I don't know how good they are. They love ON.
I've just checked my pet shop's computer, forgotten the word, and he has meow mix, fancy feast and ftiskies classic pate. They prefer gravy as do I. I feel there's more liquid than in the pate.
Could I have your advice. I thought fancy feast was rubbish! Please help.

Fancy Feast and Friskies aren't bad, but I've read more cats have gotten stomach upset or sickness with Meow Mix (though haven't tried it with my cats to experience it first hand). A lot of people here feed Fancy Feast Classics/pate because it's affordable and grain-free, so for its price, it's not bad at all unless you take issue with byproducts. The foods that are in gravies or broths do have a bit more moisture - from what I've read off the labels I've fed my cats, gravies tend closer to 82% moisture whereas pates are closer to 78%; however, this is moot for me because I water down all my cats' meals anyway. I would personally prefer to pay for a good pate, and then add my own water for free than pay for the flavourful moisture they add (which to thick then broths, like @bonepicker mentioned, they do add more carbs).

 

[stewball]

I can't get fancy feast classic. Jjust plain and I've tried it and it didn't look nice. It wasn't pate but with gravy and the jelly looked yucky.

 

[ankitty]

I can't get fancy feast classic. Jjust plain and I've tried it and it didn't look nice. It wasn't pate but with gravy and the jelly looked yucky.

It's not the best canned food, but grain free one is low carbs, and good enough. Otherwise, canned only diet can get very expensive. 

 

[stewball]

At the momemy I'm feeding them an Italian wet food called OK. They love it.
I can't get the American food here.

 

[maureen brad]

It might help to put some fortiflora on top of the wet food. Your vet will have it but it is MUCH cheaper to order through Amazon. That stuff will entice a cat to eat anything. Dr. Pierson also says that sprinkling Parmesan cheese on a new food will do the same. I think someone mentioned Temptations trteats can be smashed up and sprinkled on a new food.

I feed 100% raw now,that has been great for my cats but if you want to stay with canned there is a food 'Wild Calling' which is reasonably priced and reading the back of the can I can see that it is the closest thing to raw I have found in a canned food. They having a wide variety of proteins- Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Beef, Rabbit, Salmon, Buffalo to name a few.

 

[thehistorian]

Are pates as wet as chunks in gravy?

I personally think they are wetter than chunks in gravy, but again, that depends on the brand of food and subjective opinion of both human and cat. 

 

[stewball]

My boys eat every thing. Their dry and wet.
A few days ago their dry food bowls were empty and they both told me.

 

[mservant]

@Jessica Marsh  If you think the Purina might be triggering some kind of allergy then a good place to start might be checking out what ingredients are different to the food you gave previously.  The look for a food with as few ingredients as possible, and not including the new ones your cat is getting in the Purina.  It might be hard checking out initially but worth trying: whether it is wet or dry you go for.

I feed a 100% dry diet to Mouse due to his getting prescription  food but even if I try to get him to taste wet food he won't touch it.  I'm thinking maybe he associates the wet food with when his mouth was painful and he got really sick.  I up his protein intake as much as I can with the Thrive freeze dried fish snacks as I would prefer he got more protein, but he looks very healthy and his coat is in brilliant condition despite any worries about dry food.  If his gums get inflamed and infected he is a very poorly cat so I'm not going to risk that by altering his diet unless I have to.    

 

[2cats4me]

 
Hi. My cat was on science diet perfect weight for a few months. Her coat got shiner and healthier, then we moved away for 2 months and she stayed with my dad. Maybe its stress, maybe its the food, but she started losing her hair. Her big fluffy tail is now like a rat tail. Poor thing. She seems itchy too. Dad switched her to Purina naturals 2 weeks ago. Im not a fan of Purina, so I want to switch her to something more hypoallergenic. Shes been to the vet recently too, and had a clean bill of health.

What food does your cat love? There are so many choices!

My cats eat 50/50  kibble & can..

 In the morning  they eat  Young Again 50/22  kibble  ,  afternoon and evening they each get  can of Fancy Feast Classic ..  I have to   add one full can of hot water to a can and split between them,this is the only way they will eat it ..