Cat Food - coat health?

[rugbygirl]

I have two indoor cats, both 8 years old, spayed females. Both at a healthy weight.

One has had some dandruff on her back for a while, the other has never had any issue. Both seem to have healthy coats and check out healthy at their vet visits. Teeth in good shape. No medical issues.

I’m interested in recommendations for a dry food that might help clear up the dandruff. My vet kind of rolled her eyes and said that I could try a lot of brands, but that cat foods were not exact science…it’s hard to even tell what’s in most of them because of lax labelling standards. So I decided to try recommendations instead.

For reference, I live in Western Canada and it tends to be very dry here. Wet food isn’t something I’m very interested in trying, for a variety of reasons.

[GoForAGallop]

I’d honestly probably just dose her with fish oil and call it good.

I feed Taste of the Wild to both my dogs and cats and everyone has great coats and teeth, but I have no idea if it’s available in your area or not.

[Justmyluck]

I feed Proplan and my cats coats are phenomenal. The long haired one has a greasy coat and dandruff prior to my switch.

[rugbygirl]

Fish Oil eh? She’d probably like that. That solution has the benefit of not having to change the food for the other cat. Who objects STRENUOUSLY to any change in her lifestyle…

I’ll check and see if we can get Proplan, the dandruffy cat does sometimes look a bit greasy.

[Jhein12]

I would add fish oil and I don’t recommend Pro Plan. If she has dandruff it could either be the weather or a sensitivity to grain. Cats are carnivores and do not do well on grain based foods which is what Purina bases its foods on- lots of corn. Corn isn’t beneficial to cats. If you won’t do wet (but you really should because cats don’t drink enough water to help their urinary tracts) then at least do a high quality grain free food with a good meat content. The first 3 ingredients should be meat. Not byproduct either. I’m not sure what brands are in Canada but here are a few good brands that do not have grains:

Natures Variety Instinct
Acana
Ziwipeak
Orijen
Wellness CORE

The greasy tells me this may be a food issue. I see a lot of bad coats with dogs and cats in the grooming salon I work at. Always those animals are eating what I would call a poor quality food. However, some pets do great on this garbage! But not all.

[Justmyluck]

My cats were one super high quality food before and I had coat issues. I also tried many of them when I was going through chronic cystitis with my cats. None of those independent pet food companies test their products with food trials. Products like Hills and Purina do food trials to ensure their food does indeed benefit the pet. I have had several cat speciality veterinarians recommend Proplan. Which is a diet that veterinarians make no money on, FYI. Don’t believe all the hype.

[rugbygirl]

I am pretty sure that we can get Acana, and I think that I’ve seen Nature’s Variety here as well. Not sure about the other three, but I can look into them. Sometimes the formulations are different in Canada than in the US though.

She sometimes looks dandruffy in the summer and winter, and our house has controlled humidity…which is why I am thinking it may resolve with food, as opposed to being weather related.

ETA: Justmyluck, that’s kind of what my vet was getting at…that I could try all sorts of “extreme measures” with respect to food, but that since my cats are healthy and in good weight…their food was largely not a concern. I just know that with my horses, sometimes a particular ingredient had a big impact on coat appearance, and so was hoping there’d be a stellar recommendation for cats too! I hadn’t thought of “supplementing” the cats though, so the Fish Oil is definitely something I’ll try.

[Jhein12]

Unless veterinary training is different in Canada, in the USA it is not focused on holistic health or nutrition. Instead it is more focused on treating conditions with medication and not really with diet. Most vets near me recommend really awful foods or think that different dog food makes no difference in the dog’s/ cat’s health. Anyone who knows basic carnivore nutrition would know that grain and vegetables are of no use to a carnivore. Like feeding a snake an apple. Those brands are huge. The testing they do benefits them. It is like Monsanto testing GMO foods! Just do what works for your animals though. If their stuff works, great.

[rugbygirl]

Small animal vets here do study nutrition, but the extent of their knowledge largely depends on personal interest. The vet I take the cats to stocks several types of high-end food, but doesn’t “push” any particular brand.

[Jhein12]

[QUOTE=rugbygirl;7380627]
Small animal vets here do study nutrition, but the extent of their knowledge largely depends on personal interest. The vet I take the cats to stocks several types of high-end food, but doesn’t “push” any particular brand.[/QUOTE]

Thats a good sign that they stock a variety and not just one brand. Give something else a try but expect to wait at least a month before seeing a difference. For the pickier cat what you need to do is get her to see the new food as food. She may not recognize new smelling things as edible. This is common with cats. Put something she loves on it- tuna juice, parmesan cheese, crumbled liver treats, crushed up original cat food mixed with water and poured on. Anything to get them to at least taste it. When I switched my cats to prey model raw they looked at me like “what is this hunk of crap?” Haha. I just sprinkled the liver treats on the meat and they took off. Now their coats are great, their poops are less frequent and small, and my previously obese cat is at a normal weight. All is well.

[alto]

@rugbygirl;7380591

I am pretty sure that we can get Acana, and I think that I’ve seen Nature’s Variety here as well. Not sure about the other three, but I can look into them. Sometimes the formulations are different in Canada than in the US though.

If you can get Acana, you can get Orijen - both are Champion Pet Food brands (Alberta company).

I had a dandruff kitty for years, vets just wrote if off as her dry skin, switched to Orijen - no more dandruff, much happier kitty

Present kitty is raw fed, she considers the Nature’s Variety to be emergency rations only.
Nature’s Premium is worth trading in your mice :lol:

[rugbygirl]

LOL, I live in Alberta, so I guess getting Orijen should be no problem!

Now that I am looking into this, I have learned that Pedigree pet food is a subsidiary of the Mars corporation. All kinds of interesting trivia to be learned about pet food…

[Louise]

I feed Orijen as my dry food and both the cats and I love it.

However, I do want to mention, that if you ever decide to add some wet food into their diet, Proplan does have a “Classics” line that is grain free. It’s what I’m using right now, simply because my two picky cats are turning their noses up at everything else, and, believe me, I’ve tried all that are available.

[Jhein12]

[QUOTE=Louise;7380990]
I feed Orijen as my dry food and both the cats and I love it.

However, I do want to mention, that if you ever decide to add some wet food into their diet, Proplan does have a “Classics” line that is grain free. It’s what I’m using right now, simply because my two picky cats are turning their noses up at everything else, and, believe me, I’ve tried all that are available.[/QUOTE]

With that you can get another wet food of the same meat as the pro plan and mix a tiny amount with the pro plan. They will most likely eat it. If they do then gradually add a little more of the different wet food. Thats how I always got my cats to eat a different wet food brand. It worked every time. If that won’t work you can try dropping a piece of the wet food on “accident” and see if they run and take it, crumbling a favorite treat on top, or crushing the orijen and putting that on top.

[rugbygirl]

They will eat a very small amount of wet food…but between the two of them, they won’t eat a complete portion. It’s like they want to save it? Even the tiniest cans go bad before they finish them. That’s why I haven’t persisted with a wet-food/scheduled feeding plan…they seem very happy to pick at kibble all day, so we leave it out for them.

Since the Orijen is apparently made here, I think it might be a good choice to try first.

Since the main thing with wet-food seems to be moisture, what about wetting the kibble?

[Louise]

[QUOTE=Jhein12;7381019]
With that you can get another wet food of the same meat as the pro plan and mix a tiny amount with the pro plan. They will most likely eat it. If they do then gradually add a little more of the different wet food. Thats how I always got my cats to eat a different wet food brand. It worked every time. If that won’t work you can try dropping a piece of the wet food on “accident” and see if they run and take it, crumbling a favorite treat on top, or crushing the orijen and putting that on top.[/QUOTE]

Old cats, Jhein. The two picky ones are 15 and 17. They have a pattern. They will eat one kind of food for a while – months or years. Then, they quit and I have to find something else. They were eating Core quite happily for a long time, but now they are turning their noses up at it (right after I just received two cases of it from Chewy.com, of course.) I’m out of brands, just about. If they’ll eat the Pro Plan, and I stick to the grainless varieties, they’re happy, and that makes me happy.

[rugbygirl]

One thing I am slightly concerned about, with these “boutique brands” is that my cats ARE really creatures of habit. The smaller brands seem to change their packaging/formulations/options really frequently. They are more trend-based.

I think that sometimes animals don’t so much go off a feed that they previously enjoyed, it’s more that what’s actually IN the feed is changed by the manufacturer.

This may not be a real concern, but it is kind of in the back of my mind.

[Jhein12]

[QUOTE=rugbygirl;7381491]
They will eat a very small amount of wet food…but between the two of them, they won’t eat a complete portion. It’s like they want to save it? Even the tiniest cans go bad before they finish them. That’s why I haven’t persisted with a wet-food/scheduled feeding plan…they seem very happy to pick at kibble all day, so we leave it out for them.

Since the Orijen is apparently made here, I think it might be a good choice to try first.

Since the main thing with wet-food seems to be moisture, what about wetting the kibble?[/QUOTE]

I think wetting the kibble is a good idea if they will tolerate it. Sometimes wet food has a higher meat content as well, but so does Orijen.

[gypsymare]

Proplan would be like upgrading from Mac and cheese to hot dogs.

It’s not hard to figure out what’s in cat food. The labels should be clear. First ingredients should be whole named meat, not byproducts. Whole chicken, Fish, etc. NO CORN, NO WHEAT, NO SOY.

Wellness Core
Innova Evo
Wellness regular
Innova regular
Taste of the Wild

[rugbygirl]

Labelling SHOULD be clear, sure, except that it’s not the law in Canada and so manufacturers have no obligation to be truthful on the ingredients list.

Hence why I was interested in real experiences. Reading labels isn’t hard, but it’s important to realize as a pet owner that the product is not necessarily “as advertised.”