new cat--whats the latest on cat food?

[suz]

Its been a few years since i had to do this research so am looking for recommendations for feeding a young neutered male.
I know blockages used to be a huge problem. so vets were advising canned food.
Is that still the case?

What brands are now considered the healthiest and with the least risk of corporate misdeeds?

If there’s a current discussion i’d appreciate the link.
Thanks from me and soon-to-be-named kitty.

[Paks]

The current thing is grain free but vets don’t always support that. I like Royal Canin as they do breed specific foods and my cats or Thai origin all love the Siamese dry which is free choice is a ceramic slow feeder (they have to reach in and pull off kibble one at a time) In other foods I do like their canned for winter I’ve switched to the beauty and skin, helps with dry coats. I also use lotus the cats love the just juicy pork and weruva which is made in a human food processing plant. With mine they get mostly canned food with the kibble just being a free choice option to fill in when they are hungry.

Wet food is considered better because it gets more water into them and that decreases the likelihood of crystals forming. That is also why there is such a popularity with water fountains. Though my cats won’t drink form mine when it is running.

I would avoid Blue Buffalo. They have had extensive quality control problems and where what was on the label was not in the food.

[Obsidian_Fire]

I have had far too many cats go down to ‘pancreatitis’ which seems to be a catch-all term for ‘whatever your cat ate made him sick and now we can’t fix it’.

So. I feed alot of wet food and I buy stuff with the least amount of ingredients, grain free. Same with my dry food.

Currently feeding (wet) Nature’s Recipe, Tiki Cat Sardines in Lobster consomme, Natural Balance pouches. Those seem to be the favorites.
Dry food, I’m using Whole Earth Farms.

Best bet to search brands is Chewy.com

[wireweiners]

I’ve been feeding ProPlan urinary tract formula to all my cats for years. They do well on it. I also give a half can of Fancy Feast to each cat in the evening.

[Simkie]

Wet only is the way to go!

I feed Wild Calling and Hound and Gatos wet food and like both brands quite a lot (I buy on chewy.com!)

[DMK]

If you are on a budget, fancy feast classic is probably the best one out there.

In my compromise to feed good food, and bow to the whims of the Finicky One, mine get raw rabbit/chicken for breakfast and then fancy feast classic chicken with TOTW dry in the PM (1 can+a light 1/2 cup dry split between 2 Maine coons and 1 regular size cat). With the cost of the raw food, I just can’t justify feeding it as a total replacement (and am just uncomfortable enough about taurine deficiency over a long time) or feeding it with some $2+/day higher end food. So we really cover the spectrum from cheap to expensive in this house. But totally grain free!

[Rudy]

I feed Nutro Chicken and Liver or Turkey and Giblets wet food… 11 Oz per cat per day. Affordable, above average quality, and leaves my Sphynx with beautiful clear skin and ears. Plus it qualifies for Amazon Prime next day free shipping. Lol

[ASBJumper]

I was feeding my cats Wellness and EVO, but since it’s made in the USA it was pretty costly (though still affordable)… I’ve since found a Canadian-made alternative that’s also grain-free, it’s called Performatrin. My two cats love it.

They’re 13 and 16 this year and have had no health issues save for teeth (my older male only). My male had bloodwork done last year and the vet said everything looked great.

I also have fish oil capsules that I break open and drizzle on their wet food once or twice a week for the added Omega fatty acids. When I have time I also warm it up and add some water. Soooo much easier to get extra water into them when you feed only wet food!

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=DMK;8501334]
If you are on a budget, fancy feast classic is probably the best one out there. [/QUOTE]

Hound and Gatos canned chicken is quite reasonable. Used to be about a buck a day, but has gone up a bit–$1.30 now from Chewy’s. Some of the Newman’s Own is also about a $1/can.

I struggle with Fancy Feast…the food is okay, but a buck + a day? Just seems so spendy for byproducts.

[Louise]

I have finicky cats. They will only eat pate and are very selective about what brands they will eat, and what they will not. After much struggle, I have finally found two brands that they all will eat. I alternate them between Nature’s Logic Chicken and Wild Callings Turkey, both wet foods. Both are grain free and highly nutritious. Logic is horribly expensive, and I don’t like the fact that Callings is manufactured for the company by Evangers. But, I’m in the “beggers can’t be choosers” ranks and my cats do look and feel great so I’m sticking with what works. At night, they get a bedtime snack of Fromm’s, because I don’t feel like washing dishes at that time of night. My cat with kidney disease gets the dry Royal Canin kidney formula, because she won’t touch the wet, but your cat hopefully doesn’t have that problem so it’s not really an issue.

[Go_Fish]

Try to avoid any food with fish, fish oil or fish meal in it. Long term feeding of fish byproducts can affect the thyroid.

I never realized it, but fish is not a natural food for cats. We have fed fish to cats forever because cats love it. Trouble is, try finding ANY cat food with no fish byproducts of some sort in it. It’s difficult.

[Sugarwells]

[QUOTE=Go Fish;8501851]
Try to avoid any food with fish, fish oil or fish meal in it. Long term feeding of fish byproducts can affect the thyroid.

I never realized it, but fish is not a natural food for cats. We have fed fish to cats forever because cats love it. Trouble is, try finding ANY cat food with no fish byproducts of some sort in it. It’s difficult.[/QUOTE] Yes ^^^^^ this. Listen to Go Fish, and no fish.

[Perfect10]

[QUOTE=Louise;8501827]
I have finicky cats. They will only eat pate and are very selective about what brands they will eat, and what they will not. After much struggle, I have finally found two brands that they all will eat. I alternate them between Nature’s Logic Chicken and Wild Callings Turkey, both wet foods. Both are grain free and highly nutritious. Logic is horribly expensive, and I don’t like the fact that Callings is manufactured for the company by Evangers. But, I’m in the “beggers can’t be choosers” ranks and my cats do look and feel great so I’m sticking with what works. At night, they get a bedtime snack of Fromm’s, because I don’t feel like washing dishes at that time of night. My cat with kidney disease gets the dry Royal Canin kidney formula, because she won’t touch the wet, but your cat hopefully doesn’t have that problem so it’s not really an issue.[/QUOTE]

Louise, RC has reformulated their kidney diet. Have you tried that wet food? I believe they reformulated because cats wouldn’t touch the old renal LP. It now goes by letters and we have had success with it in our clinic.

[Louise]

[QUOTE=Perfect10;8503966]
Louise, RC has reformulated their kidney diet. Have you tried that wet food? I believe they reformulated because cats wouldn’t touch the old renal LP. It now goes by letters and we have had success with it in our clinic.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for taking the time to tell me that, Perfect10. However, this cat has only been on a renal diet for a couple of months and I did get a trial pack of all six of the new RC types. It was those wet foods that she wouldn’t touch. It’s really not all that surprising. This is a cat that I got as a stray from the local Humane Society at about the age of 12, and I’m willing to bet, partly because of the fact that she had excess skin everywhere, that whoever owned her previously had her on free choice dry and just let her weight balloon. It has always been a problem getting her to eat any kind of wet food. She loves all three dry flavors, so that’s what she gets because, as my vet is fond of saying, the best of foods don’t do the cat any good if they won’t eat it.

Sorry for sidetracking your thread a bit, suz.

[Kyrabee]

I feed my beautiful silky coated kitties a combo of commercial raw (RadCat) and canned. Funny thing is, they each have their own canned preference and won’t eat the others preference:lol: You know…cats:winkgrin:. I used to feed Fancy Feast classic for the canned but they both quit eating it with the usual gusto.

Right now Oscar gets a fairly new (to me) food called Nulo. It is grain and carrageenan free and has several varieties. It has pea fiber in it which helps him as he is somewhat constipated on the RadCat despite its added psyllium. Emmy gets Merrick Limited Ingredient. That is also a fairly new food. Both are pretty economical for grain free food. I pay locally $1.69 for a 5.5 oz can. Emmy has lost too many teeth to eat dry…she won’t touch it. Oscar would look like a blimp if he had free choice food so neither one gets dry.

I used to try lots of different brands but that was a real crap shoot as to whether they would eat it despite it sounding good to me. Now that I found some they like…that is what they get although I will vary variety within that food. Yes, my cats are spoiled.

Susan

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=Go Fish;8501851]
Try to avoid any food with fish, fish oil or fish meal in it. Long term feeding of fish byproducts can affect the thyroid.

I never realized it, but fish is not a natural food for cats. We have fed fish to cats forever because cats love it. Trouble is, try finding ANY cat food with no fish byproducts of some sort in it. It’s difficult.[/QUOTE]
proof? data? studies? or anecdote?

if true this will be problematic for my kitty - we suspect she has allergies to chicken, so where do you go if you can’t feed the two most scrumptious proteins in the world?

[sockmonkey]

Pancreatitis is not a “catch-all” term by any means. There are diagnostics, including blood work, x-rays, and ultrasound that can determine if this is the problem. It is actual inflammation of the pancreas. We don’t always know the cause - it could be diet, genetics, neoplasia, etc.

If most vets needed a “catch-all” for “your cat ate something” they would use gastro-enteritis.

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=beowulf;8504363]
proof? data? studies? or anecdote?

if true this will be problematic for my kitty - we suspect she has allergies to chicken, so where do you go if you can’t feed the two most scrumptious proteins in the world?[/QUOTE]

I don’t know if there’s PROOF, per se, but here’s a decent run down of the various issues:

http://www.cathealth.com/nutrition/ethoxyquin-mercury-and-pcbs-is-feeding-fish-safe-for-cats

I have a cat allergic to chicken and she’s fed Wild Calling buffalo. She also did great on Hound and Gatos rabbit. I’m thinking of trying her on beef.

Several options out there, but she is kind of pricey to feed!

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=Simkie;8504428]
I don’t know if there’s PROOF, per se, but here’s a decent run down of the various issues:

http://www.cathealth.com/nutrition/ethoxyquin-mercury-and-pcbs-is-feeding-fish-safe-for-cats

I have a cat allergic to chicken and she’s fed Wild Calling buffalo. She also did great on Hound and Gatos rabbit. I’m thinking of trying her on beef.

Several options out there, but she is kind of pricey to feed![/QUOTE]

thanks for the link Simkie! I may bounce foods off of you if we do not get any further with this cat and her mystery allergy. Vet said to just do a controlled diet as testing is expensive and inconclusive.

funny about the poster that said cats don’t naturally eat fish – could you imagine a herd of them taking down buffalo? :winkgrin:

[Obsidian_Fire]

[QUOTE=Obsidian Fire;8501122]
I have had far too many cats go down to ‘pancreatitis’ which seems to be a catch-all term for ‘whatever your cat ate made him sick and now we can’t fix it’.

So. I feed alot of wet food and I buy stuff with the least amount of ingredients, grain free. Same with my dry food.

Currently feeding (wet) Nature’s Recipe, Tiki Cat Sardines in Lobster consomme, Natural Balance pouches. Those seem to be the favorites.
Dry food, I’m using Whole Earth Farms.

Best bet to search brands is Chewy.com[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=sockmonkey;8504397]Pancreatitis is not a “catch-all” term by any means. There are diagnostics, including blood work, x-rays, and ultrasound that can determine if this is the problem. It is actual inflammation of the pancreas. We don’t always know the cause - it could be diet, genetics, neoplasia, etc.

If most vets needed a “catch-all” for “your cat ate something” they would use gastro-enteritis.[/QUOTE]

You are right, and I apologize and clarify. My post was reflective of my frustration of having had several cats get sick and all of them be diagnosed with pancreatitis. Yes, tests were done, it was not just thrown out there by my vet as some excuse.

Having one cat go down to it, fine. Stuff happens. But several? (4 to be exact). All of them indoor cats, well cared for. BUT. The only common thread would be their food. I mostly fed dry food, decent food but still the ‘local grocery store’ stuff.

So. Lesson learned. I did my research, listened to the current vet thinking, and put my cats on the most ‘cat friendly’ food I can afford to buy that they will eat.

As for the fish thing? OY. :eek: Mine get alot of fish but I also give them turkey, duck and chicken.