What type of food do you feed?

[humcat]

My 10 indoor adult/mature are on commercial canned/wet; they get about 70% Wellness Grain-Free Turkey & 30% Friskies Turkey Pate (it fluctuates a bit depending on my finances)...they prefer the Friskies...go figure

 

They were on dry food until about 1 1/2 years ago when I finally got wise to all the problems & switched them to canned/wet.

I'm planning to get them (soon hopefully) on homemade raw (Dr. Lisa Pierson's recipe), but I still have a few issues to overcome (space/time/money).

 

[GoldyCat]

I feed mostly grain-free dry food, measured free feeding. Yes, a major concern is convenience, both mine and the cats'. My schedule is so irregular I can't feed at the same time every day. Some days they would be fed every six hours or so, and other times it would be 14-16 hours between feedings.

I give them canned food once a day, more as a treat than a major part of their diet. It averages about 2 Tblsp per cat, but they don't share equally. I have one cat who will nibble maybe a teaspoon then walk away to go eat the dry food. Another cat who only licks the gravy off the wet food, and won't even touch pate or anything that doesn't have gravy. Several cats eat their share and seem satisfied. Two cats and a new kitten race to see who can finish off the leftovers first. I think Hercules manages to get at least double his "fair share" every time. :creamper::Kitty Food::catguy:

 

[stewball]

Ditto with GoldyCat.

 

[lucentstreak]

The Kitty gets 1/4 grainfree Orijen dry left out through the day (doesn't finish it at all) and half a can (5.5oz) of grainfree wet (mostly Merricks' since that is the only affordable grainfree wet around here that I can afford) spilt into two meals.

 

[11201ny]

Felines Pride (commercial) raw.

 

[irinasak]

I feed wet at breakfast and dinner and raw in the afternoon.

Dry Food with Raw Boost

What is this? (I don't know what 'boost' is.)

 

[pinkdagger]

I think @oneandahalfcats is referring to Nature's Variety "raw boost" - http://www.naturesvariety.com/products/treats/instinct/boost/treats

 

[oneandahalfcats]

 
I think @oneandahalfcats is referring to Nature's Variety "raw boost" - http://www.naturesvariety.com/products/treats/instinct/boost/treats

Actually its this : http://www.instinctpetfood.com/prod...in-free-kibble-cat-food-duck-meal-turkey-meal, which is NVs Duck and Turkey Dry food with Freeze-Dried Raw Boost Chunks

 

[pinkdagger]

Ah, my bad - I thought you had another brand of dry that you just added the separate boosts into

 

[oneandahalfcats]

 
Ah, my bad - I thought you had another brand of dry that you just added the separate boosts into

It's not a problem. Dry Food with Raw Boost is rather vague

 

[angels mommy]

Angel has been on Rx Purina UR SO for almost a year & a 1/2 (due to the cystitis he had twice 2 yrs. ago).  I wanted to find a better quality food, that would still do the same for him, so I recently found something comparable w/ better ingredients at a local Natural pet food store.  I've been alternating it every other day w/ his RX food. I have 3 cans of the RX left, & when It runs out, I will replace it w/ this new food. 

(Then, I will probably get him a urinalysis done, just to check on things).  

 

http://davespetfood.com/product/restricted-diet-magnesium-phosphorus-pork-dinner-cats/

Plus's are he loves it, & it's a lot cheaper!  

He get's one can a day, 1/2 for breakfast, & the other half for dinner.  (I still mix in water from the PUR filter , .....just to stay on the safe side!) 

 

He also get's some treats, usually twice a day or so, afternoon & before bed at night. 

 

[11201ny]

 
Angel has been on Rx Purina UR SO for almost a year & a 1/2 (due to the cystitis he had twice 2 yrs. ago).  I wanted to find a better quality food, that would still do the same for him, so I recently found something comparable w/ better ingredients at a local Natural pet food store.  I've been alternating it every other day w/ his RX food. I have 3 cans of the RX left, & when It runs out, I will replace it w/ this new food. 

(Then, I will probably get him a urinalysis done, just to check on things).  

 

http://davespetfood.com/product/restricted-diet-magnesium-phosphorus-pork-dinner-cats/

Plus's are he loves it, & it's a lot cheaper!  

He get's one can a day, 1/2 for breakfast, & the other half for dinner.  (I still mix in water from the PUR filter , .....just to stay on the safe side!) 

 

He also get's some treats, usually twice a day or so, afternoon & before bed at night. 

Beautiful cat. Hope it all works out. Be skeptical of the Rx Purina UR SO. One of their statements is that the cat should eat dry food to increase the need to drink water (additionally). As far as I know, this is part of what causes the condition in the first place - dehydration caused by a dry food diet.

 

[Norachan]

I'd love to be able to feed them all just good quality wet food, but with a colony of 20+ to care for it's just not possible.

They get one meal of wet, one meal of good quality dry and medium price/quality dry to snack on over night. (So as I can get some sleep.)

They also hunt quite a lot, so there are mice, birds and lizards in with that too.

 

[11201ny]

 
but with a colony of 20+ to care for

How does one acquire a colony of 20+?

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

my snick will be 14 years old in august. she has CKD, IBD, idiopathic hypercalcemia, and is/was borderline diabetic when blood work was done in may (we usually have blood work done every two months, and july 12th is our next appt). i would love to switch her over to a home cooked diet, but with her medical issues and given that she's an extremely picky eater i've decided not to push her (or push my luck, since she's eating well currently). plus i don't want to add any stress for snick -- she has enough stress from her vet appointments.

i serve snick grain-free canned food, many times with crumbled freeze dried protein treats sprinkled over it. she does get about 1/8 cup of grain-free dry food mixed with about an equal amount or so of freeze dried protein treats each day, though snick rarely eats all the kibbles.

 

[Norachan]

 
How does one acquire a colony of 20+?

It was already here when I moved to this area about four years ago. I brought one cat, The Mu, with me and found that as the neighbours had been putting food out for the strays for years there were plenty of other cats around too. I live in a very rural part of Japan so cats are encouraged as they keep the mice out of the rice and corn fields.

Actually the colony was bigger when I moved in as none of the cats had been spayed or neutered. I started doing TNR, re-homed as many of the kittens as I could and some of the original cats and kittens have died.

So now I feed around 20 and my neighbours feed around 10 of them. They've all been fixed though, so hopefully the colony won't get any bigger.

 

[angels mommy]

 
Beautiful cat. Hope it all works out. Be skeptical of the Rx Purina UR SO. One of their statements is that the cat should eat dry food to increase the need to drink water (additionally). As far as I know, this is part of what causes the condition in the first place - dehydration caused by a dry food diet.

Thanks!
He only eats the wet, (UR, SO) canned food for this reason. He hasn't had any dry food in a yr. & 1/2.  Plus, as I said, I also add water from the PUR filter into his wet food,  just to stay on the safe side. 

(but even when he did get some dry, he would drink water. His cystitis was caused from stress, so I also keep a feliway plugged in now). 

 

[sweetpea24]

My older, CRF cat, Schweppie, gets a variety of canned since he is the pickiest cat ever.  He gets 1/2 can 3 times a day.  I rotate a bunch of foods: Wellness Turkey or Chicken, Natural Balance limited ingredient diets (Salmon, Chicken, Duck, Venison), Go!, Holistic Selects (Salmon, Chicken & Lamb), Hills (I/d, k/d, g/d, a/d), Royal Canin Senior Consult.  He doesn't love the rx foods but I stick them in the rotation occasionally.  I will feed the Senior Consult dry or Hills t/d when he is being extra stubborn.  He has to eat so I'll give him whatever and then give him extra subcutaneous fluids.

My younger cat, Little Guy, gets Go! Fit and Fresh kibble - 1/8 cup twice a day.  He also gets a variety of canned (1/4 can twice a day) - Go! Nature's Variety Instinct, Pride, and Homestyle stews, Almo Nature, Weruva (which is getting harder to find now).  I give him Purebites treats or Orijen treats occasionally. And whatever Schweppie eats because he usually steals from poor old Schwepster.  I will forgo the dry if he eats Schweppie's food to try and keep his weight in check.  I do not want a fat cat.  I'm fat enough.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I feed my cat a combination of wet and dry food, more wet than dry.

 

[wildhoneybee]

I was feeding Applaws dry with a can of wet split between the 2 kitties each day.  I'm just in the process of switching them over to Almo nature - 2 meals of wet a day and 1 of dry.  Partly because Almo nature wet is complete food instead of complementary meaning that I can feed them more.  And partly because amazon have stopped doing the Applaws on the subscribe and save deal!