I have 3 large male cats. We feed Wellness or Merrick canned and I supplement with Instinct Ultimate Protein freeze dried raw coated dry for cost. If we did all canned, it would easily be over $300 a month. Any suggestions on the least offensive ingredient wise dry cat food you would recommend?
I feed my cats Taste of the Wild dry food, and I leave it out free choice so they can eat when they want. I also give them a little canned food every morning, and they supplement their diets with prey that they kill. I’ve had many cats over the years, and I’ve found that some of them can’t tolerate dry food that has grain in it–they get diarrhea. And sometimes a cat won’t like what the others will eat. My suggestion–see if you can get some samples of various dry foods from the pet store, or buy small packages to determine what your cats like. And look for foods that are grain free.
I have a cat that in her earlier life, kept getting cystitis so I eventually got her off all dry food. Fast forward to now (15 y.o. and hyperthyroid) and I have been having trouble with her appetite and getting her to eat enough wet food to keep weight on her. I tried a couple dry foods and have ended up with Essence. It claims to be 86% animal protein ingredients…the one I feed is guinea fowl, duck, turkey and chicken. Protein is 40%, fat 20%. It is small pellet like kibble which my girl who is missing a lot of teeth can eat easily. She only gets maybe an ounce a day but her weight has stabilized and so far, no hint of cystitis.
I get it at a specialty pet food store. Yep, $$$ so for 3 big boys, it might be cost prohibitive. A 4lb bag lasts me at least 45 days. Seems to be a really nice food though.
Susan
I was really happy with Holistic Select but they just discontinued that whole line so I’m back on the hunt. When we are foster-free we spend around $3/day but right now my foster kittens are running me $6/day alone in wet food so Im eager to integrate some dry to reduce some expense. Looking forward to hearing suggestions.
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I feed Purina grain free cat food. My cats have done well on it over the years. I liked hound and gatos canned but they changed the formula or something. The last case had chewy chunks my cat would leave and he typically eats everything.
Orijen, maybe? I’d look for as few non meat ingredients as possible, and then add water and feed in meals. It’s not just the carbs that are harmful but the lack of water.
If you down grade the quality in the wet food, does that make it more palatable financially? It’s often said that the worst wet food is better than the best dry food.
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Uh that last sentence doesn’t make sense.
Im not a huge help since my kitty is eating pretty low quality barn cat dry food which she’s been eating for years. Orijen or acana could work but expensive.
P.
It does when you realize that the moisture content is the big deal with wet food.
Friskies is often recommended as a budget wet food, over $$$ dry foods.
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i have my male on merrick grain free purrfect bistro imited ingredient. the only thing i’ve considered changing him to is merrick back country raw infused. i like merrick because i haven’t had any recalls for it and i’ve had lots of issues with various other grain free foods being recalled often.
We just switched to Iams to try since my cat recently got tired of Purina Indoor, which she had eaten for years after I could no longer find Whiskas at the store. So far she is eating the Iams between canned-food meals.
She is 15, has always had dry food for free-choice eating, and at our last visit our vet told me “She’s doing great; keep doing what you’re doing.”
Happy with that.
I’ll re-word what Simkie meant- “The worst canned food is better than the best dry food.”
I try to remember this when switching foods.
It does somewhat. They like Fancy Feast pate. It just seems like there should be a quality dry but there is not. I think the Instinct 95% seems to be the best I have seen. I swear I could feed a small horse for the same cost as high quality canned for 3 boys! lol
I totally feel your pain–we do 100% wet for five cats. I don’t even want to think about the $$$!!
Thanks Marla, totally missed the typo, even after rereading several times!!! 🤦
Have fixed.
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My barn kitty refuses to eat anything other than garbage Meow Mix. I have repeatedly tried to get her on a healthier diet but she refuses anything that is not shaped like drumsticks, steaks and fishies and has assorted coloring/dyes. She does not even hunt mice - hence her WBK title. WBK = Worthless Barn Kitty. When it comes to being a mouser, anyway. She wears that title with great pride and is still going strong at 13 years old. She leaves the mousing duties to the terriers and the local bird life is safe and sound around her.
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I was pretty sure I knew what you meant but was racking my brain thinking I was being totally dumb! Lol
P.
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The two cats I had that lived the longest were Lark and his sister Muff. They lived 18, and 19 and 1/2 years apiece. They ate Meow Mix and loved it. The 3 I have now, get a 7 oz can of Friskees to split 3 ways, and a big scoop of Purina Indoor which they seem to love. They all seem happy and fit. But they always want more.
This is the biggest issue. There are tons of dry food they love but I can’t find one they tolerate just well enough to free feed. They gobble it all down then come running anytime I am near the feeding room. It wasn’t that big of an issue with the canned but they crave the dry.
do you have to free feed? Can’t you just morning and evening? Do they have a weight problem?
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My guys get canned Fancy Feast AM & PM, and have free feed of Instinct dry. They like it but don’t love it so between 6 cats, they go through approximately 3 cups dry per day (well six cats and whatever they drop off the table to feed the dog lol). I can’t not feed dry food- my MIL lives with us and if don’t buy them decent dry food, she buys them crap and feeds it to them even despite the many fights we’ve had about it. Good quality dry at quantities I set is my best compromise.
