S/O What is your favorite cat food?

[essnce629]

Title says it all!

We just got a new cat (3 yo purebred Siberian) last month and when we got her they said she had been eating Purina dry cat food. I immediately switched her to Orijen and she's taken to it fine.

Growing up, I had a cat for 13 years that ate super cheap grocery store wet and dry food and ended up obese and with diabetes and urinary problems because of it most likely. I don't want a repeat of that so I won't buy any cheap foods with grain in them ever again.

I've started researching foods and the two books I'm reading say raw would be ideal and a high quality canned food would be second best, because of the high moisture content.

I've noticed that our cat does go poop every day, but that it's usually multiple hard little stools. I'm thinking because the moisture content in dry food is so little, maybe I should switch to canned food. Everything I've read says that in the wild, cats rarely drink water and get most of their water from their food. I've noticed that my cat doesn't drink water normally-- she dips her paw in it over and over again and licks it off. I doubt she's getting enough water to make up for the low water content in the dry food.

So what does everyone feed their cats?

[Philly Mom]

We have a diabetic cat and a regular cat. Our vet says cats need dry food for their teeth and nutrition. We use a diabetic dry food. For wet food, our vet thinks fancy feast are the best with least fillers, this includes fancier brands. She also says that real food actually does not give a cat enough nutrition.

[KLD313]

I don't have a cat but I've done a lot of food research and read many books by top holistic vets (Pitcairn, Bob Goldstein, Marty Goldstein). Everything I've ever read about cat nutrition says to never feed a cat dry food. Yes, raw is ideal for a cat. A good quality wet food is the next best thing, just like you've said. Mainstream vets no very little about pet nutrition because they just push the food sold to them which is cr@p. If I were you I would switch to canned.

[fedoragirl]

We always fed our cats Natural Balance wet and dry cat food. It was the most affordable option for us but it was a big step above the generic cat food brands.
I researched all the cat food companies and found Wellness and Natural Balance to work well for us. We bought cases which were cheaper.
We have had recurrent problems with urinary blockage and that can be life threatening so we now feed canned food only. We also noticed the hard BMs and switched to canned. Cats are not very good about drinking water.
I also read that a tspn. of apple cider vinegar in their water helps with a host of things so w do that when I can remember to add it.

[kdeunc]

We have three cats, one of whom has severe food allergies. The only thing he can eat is Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck limited diet. They all eat the same thing and get wet and dry.

[Momof3Labs]

My cat (new to us, about 7 months old now) eats only canned. I use either Wellness chicken or turkey; he likes the seafood flavors too but the beef seems to give him loose stools.

A friend of mine did extensive research into feline diets (her cats are her kids, she has more time for this than me!) and wrote it up on her blog here:

http://meowmeowmom.wordpress.com/about-feline-health-and-nutrition/

[eagle]

for the record, i dont eat cat food either.

[DietCokeLover]

We used to use Iams dry. But 17 year old cat has kidney issues now, so we use a prescription dry specially formulated for renal failure.

[eagle]

i do have a cat though. here is what i do: i dont feed him canned/retort pouches except on occasion, on the order of once or twice a year. ill buy my cat a pouch of something random. he always loved that wet stuff.

but he lives on a diet of dry food. i go to the grocery store and buy one or two bags of food that meets this criteria: the first ingredient must be meat. wheat, corn or rice can be in the kibble, but it must not be the first ingredient.

i am always able to find a bag that meets this requirement. i am not brand loyal and from those that make the cut, i buy the cheapest.

[KDsMommy]

I feed our 9 month old cat Iams dry kitten. Now reading this thread has opened my eyes a bit. I need to do some research on this.

[fedoragirl]

Iams is not a brand I trust at all. Hills Science Diet is another one that is glorified by vets and I don't know why when all the research shows that their ingredients are just not right and especially not at the prices they charge.

[Mali]

I feed our cat Wellness Core grain free dry food. She had previously been on the vet prescribed food for being overweight, but she was constantly starving and would puke after every meal because she was bolting down her food. We were splitting her food over 4+feed times per day but it was still happening.

After I changed her to the Wellness Core she immediately stopped having issues with the puking after meals, I was able to reduce her food intake to the recommended level because she wasn't starving, and she has that spread over 4meal times a day.

The net result is that my poor fat indoor/outdoor cat went from 16.88lbs to 11.47lbs in just about a year and a half with no other changes in her habits. We're all happier because she doesn't cry about food and we don't have to worry about always watching where we step. :)

We occasionally give her the Wellness Core grain free wet food, but that's usually only when there's been too much going on at the house (parties or major work being done) and we need to convince her to come back out from hiding under the bed.

[kaharris83]

My cat (new to us, about 7 months old now) eats only canned. I use either Wellness chicken or turkey; he likes the seafood flavors too but the beef seems to give him loose stools.

A friend of mine did extensive research into feline diets (her cats are her kids, she has more time for this than me!) and wrote it up on her blog here:

http://meowmeowmom.wordpress.com/about-feline-health-and-nutrition/

After lots of research we switched our cats to Wellness Chicken & Turkey too from dry food 3 years ago. They have never been healthier. Gorgeous coats and lots of energy.

[kaharris83]

I don't have a cat but I've done a lot of food research and read many books by top holistic vets (Pitcairn, Bob Goldstein, Marty Goldstein). Everything I've ever read about cat nutrition says to never feed a cat dry food. Yes, raw is ideal for a cat. A good quality wet food is the next best thing, just like you've said. Mainstream vets no very little about pet nutrition because they just push the food sold to them which is cr@p. If I were you I would switch to canned.

:yeahthat: Dry food is awful for cats and grains aren't part of their diet in the wild so bad for them too.

[ang79]

We have three cats, one of whom has severe food allergies. The only thing he can eat is Natural Balance Green Pea and Duck limited diet. They all eat the same thing and get wet and dry.

This sounds like our cats! My oldest cat was having litter box issues and the vet thought it might be food allergy. He wanted us to do a Hills prescription diet, but after research I started w/ the NB Green Pea and Duck. This cat loves the dry kibble, and my vet said there is no difference between the two, that the dry shouldn't make him sick, but it does, he pukes up the dry stuff in chunks. So he only gets dry when we are out of town for the weekend and have to leave food out for the cats. And the cats all eat out of each other's bowls, so they all get the same thing. And if I give one flavor too much they get bored of it and don't want to eat it. I try to stay away from fillers like corn, etc. and the allergic cat can't do anything chicken or turkey, or he pukes, and its hard to find food w/o chicken or turkey! We do a variety of Natural Balance Duck, Venison, California Naturals Venison, Natural Instincts Rabbit and sometimes Lamb, and every so often I'll throw in something with beef, but too much of it makes him sick again (he seems to do OK with it every once in awhile, just not every day). Oh, I give them a little fish only maybe once or twice a week as I read that fish can cause urinary blockages in males, so I don't give it more than that. The fish and beef flavors are usually from Wellness, Evo, Merricks, or the Berkley and Jensen small cans (equivalent of Fancy Feast), as its cheaper and helps balance out the budget of the more expensive stuff. And I always add a bit of extra water to the wet food, to ensure that they are getting enough water and they also seem to like it better this way. I try to shop around at places like Wag.com, Chewy.com, and Petfooddirect.com to get the best prices when they run sales or coupons, as all this fancy wet food for three cats is getting very expensive!

[athompson]

I had no idea.
I'm ordering new food tonight for our sweet kitty.
If I feed her 1/4-1/3 cup of dry food per day now, would a 3 oz. can of Wellness Core, twice per day be okay?

[kaharris83]

I had no idea.
I'm ordering new food tonight for our sweet kitty.
If I feed her 1/4-1/3 cup of dry food per day now, would a 3 oz. can of Wellness Core, twice per day be okay?

Wellness is more calorically dense and a little goes a long way since it isn't full of fillers. Our 12lb male eats 2.8oz/2x a day he's 8 years old and moderately active. Our 6lb female eats 1.8oz/2x a day she's 6 years old and much more active. I figured out how many calories they were eating of the dry food and compared that to Wellness. My vet also told us how many calories they each needed.

[inmypjs]

We've switched our cats to an almost all wet food diet, due to the high moisture content. My understanding is that a cat's thirst drive will never direct it to drink all of the water that it really needs, and that in the wild cats get a very high percentage of their moisture from their food. Wet food best mimics these qualities. We've had 2 previous cats have kidney disease, and they were both on a high quality dry food. I do think inadequate moisture can lead to kidney problems. I've read of cats who started to have these problems, were switched from dry to wet food, and had great improvement. I did most of my research on catforum.com - and those folks basically say that the worst quality wet food is better than the best quality dry.

We feed either Trader Joe's canned wet food, or EVO. I prefer the Trader Joe's for the single serve cans and convenience, since we have a TJs nearby.

[essnce629]

For those of you that are feeding Wellness canned cat food-- is it just "Wellness" or "Wellness Core?"

I picked up 2 small cans of Wellness Chicken and Wellness Turkey at WF's right now, but they seem to have a lot of filler fruits and veggies in them-- carrots, sweet potato, squash, zucchini, cranberries, and blueberries. I don't think a cat out in the wild would be eating all of those fruits and veggies. They didn't have any Wellness Core at the store. Does that have less fruits/veggies? I read somewhere that it has potato.

I found this description about Wellness Core:

"Wellness has redefined the world of grain-free cat food! We have developed an increased protein diet with 20% more protein than traditional Wellness canned cat diets to support lean muscle mass. We combine 5 quality protein sources with over 80% meat to satisfy the palate and biology of cats, who are obligate carnivores."

So it sounds like Wellness Core may be better since it's more meat/protein.

I came across this other brand that was mentioned and got high reviews on another website. Hound & Gatos. All their canned cat food is made from 100% meat protein, no fillers from plant protein. There's no fruits or veggies in any of their canned food.
http://houndgatos.com/cat-products.aspx


I found this website that lists all the high quality cat foods:
http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/

[athompson]

Wellness is more calorically dense and a little goes a long way since it isn't full of fillers. Our 12lb male eats 2.8oz/2x a day he's 8 years old and moderately active. Our 6lb female eats 1.8oz/2x a day she's 6 years old and much more active. I figured out how many calories they were eating of the dry food and compared that to Wellness. My vet also told us how many calories they each needed.

Thank you! I just ordered a case of Wellness Core indoor formula canned cat food from Petbest.com.

[kaharris83]

For those of you that are feeding Wellness canned cat food-- is it just "Wellness" or "Wellness Core?"

I picked up 2 small cans of Wellness Chicken and Wellness Turkey at WF's right now, but they seem to have a lot of filler fruits and veggies in them-- carrots, sweet potato, squash, zucchini, cranberries, and blueberries. I don't think a cat out in the wild would be eating all of those fruits and veggies. They didn't have any Wellness Core at the store. Does that have less fruits/veggies? I read somewhere that it has potato.

I found this description about Wellness Core:

"Wellness has redefined the world of grain-free cat food! We have developed an increased protein diet with 20% more protein than traditional Wellness canned cat diets to support lean muscle mass. We combine 5 quality protein sources with over 80% meat to satisfy the palate and biology of cats, who are obligate carnivores."

So it sounds like Wellness Core may be better since it's more meat/protein.

I came across this other brand that was mentioned and got high reviews on another website. Hound & Gatos. All their canned cat food is made from 100% meat protein, no fillers from plant protein. There's no fruits or veggies in any of their canned food.
http://houndgatos.com/cat-products.aspx


I found this website that lists all the high quality cat foods:
http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/

I feed my cats regular Wellness. In the wild they di get the fruits, veggies, berries as tgats what their preys diet consists of. Birds, mice, etc eat those things and that's how cats fulfill their nutritional requirement for those. When I researched 3 years ago it was recommended not to feed your cats the high proin Wellness Core type foods in a daily basis. That may have changed as I haven't researched it for a few years but we have been happy with the regular grain free chicken and turkey Wellness.

[wifecat]

Our cats eat Wellness Core dry food.