Purina Cat Chow 24/7, as in all the years past other than what they can steal from us. Have never had an issue with any cats and they live to be 20 ish. Had up to 9 cats never less than 5.
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I hadn’t thought of doing that, I’ll give it a try, thank you!
Our house cat is a former throw-away that someone ditched on the road when she was barely a kitten - and yes, pregnant.
Her experience of being starved I think has meant that she is very food focused, gulps it down and pukes it up immediately. Even if I keep a full dish of kibble out at all times for her. she is still frantic to be fed - more.
She seems to do well on IAMS for sensitive stomachs, and doesn’t seem to throw it up as often.
Canned food is another matter. She is desperate to eat it for about one or two small tins, and once I go out and buy more, won’t eat it, and prefers the dry. I’m standing in front of the cat food aisle pondering: shreds? pate? this flavour or that ? I wish I could find something she liked.
Luckily we have voracious barn kitties, who eat whatever | buy for her.
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Aw you feed your barn kitties raw as well? 
That’s really nice!
So many barn cats I’ve personally encountered get fed the cheapest dry kibble full of corn for protein while great research goes into what they feed their horses. At least they get fed though.
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But was cat just cracking the skull like a nut to get to the juicy insides?? 
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I use a steel bowl and a hammer head (broken off handle) with a convex rounded surface, and press down carefully to crush the kibble. It takes a couple minutes to get the job done. A few intact kibbles get missed, but that doesn’t seem to matter as long as most are in smaller pieces. If I was smart, and owned a coffee grinder, I might try that. It seems to make a difference with the puking situation.
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Happily crunching the whole damn thing…crunchy on the outside, chewy on the middle just like a Tootsie pop, apparently 
And all this was happening up on the counter next to her food bowl … and all the supps I was mixing in to grain… 
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Purina Kit n Kaboodle kibble and Wal mart- Special Kitty wet food. It is what they like.
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Do you know what the best part is about our conversation.
Is that the mouse is a raw food and a protein, which is what cats are obligated to eat. And said kitty choose a raw, species appropriate meal over her food bowl of cat food. 
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Mine get Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers. I call it diet cat food. One of the girls tends to be heavy. They get Cat Chow as well. They used to get the Naturals version, but the price went up.
The barn cats demand Meow Mix. Trainer tried feeding them better food and they had none of it. The older cat harassed him for weeks when the food was changed. They ate the food, but harassed him, none the less. Finally one day, he stopped at Dollar General picked up some Meow Mix and all was good in the world. The cats find their own protein.
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I like to feed something I can purchase either locally or online; I never like being stuck with only one option or the other.
I recently acquired 2 kittens and I don’t know if if it’s just where I live or what, but almost no one sells kitten food! Not the big box stores, not the farm stores, and even the pet stores are really limited in what they carry.
So they are getting Fancy Feast kitten in chicken and Turkey and a little bit of Purina One+ Kitten formula kibble as a boredom breaker between their wet food meals so they don’t drive me crazy. It’s pretty much the only thing available locally. 
Is kitten food not a thing anymore?
Grismerelda was an opportunistic kind of girl, mouse, kibble, cricket, it was all food.
And I preach the obligate carnivore gospel for cats, but I’m not gonna lie, I’m not going to throw food away, and after 8 years of ordering whole ground rabbit from hare today (highly recommend them) and spending way too much of my time to get them to eat it, I opted for another option because cat opinions are infinite but money is not. Grismerelda (barn cat who adopted me) is no longer with us, but I’m here to tell you that the current home crew has an excellent track record for capturing protein on the catio, but they are 0 for 5 cats on the consumption of said protein
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I think it was a victim of the supply chain. I foster moms and kittens for the humane society and there was definitely a time where it was hard to find it for them. Then shortly after that litter I got my new Maine coon kitten was feeding him purina one grain free kitten. No problem until the end of his kitten stage, so it seems like it was hit or miss fit a while, sounds like not much has changed
We feed raw meat + TC feline. Often it’s venison, gifted beef, or when they were really lucky, elk trimmings. When Costco pork is on sale we do that too. By my math, it’s cheaper than daves/wellness or nulo wet food on sale that we had been doing, but only because of the hunting and farming connections. Both of our cats were a little unsure of it at first, though they are totally crazy about it now. I usually prep a large batch and thaw out pre-portioned “pucks” as needed.
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Thank you, NancyM. I was thinking about this this morning (before I read your response) and was thinking an old coffee grinder - I have one in the barn that I was using for flax seeds - or the Jamie Oliver technique of putting what needs to be bashed in a ziplock bag and whacking/rolling them with a rolling pin.
Whatever it takes, eh?
I didn’t even think about it being gone due to supply chain issues. Thank you!
My 19 year old cat had to be euthanized over the summer. His preferred foods were really hard to come by the last months of his life. But I didn’t even think about that being related to the lack of kitten food available.
The outside farm cats get Walmart brand el cheapo. Yes, I know it isn’t the greatest, but on the other hand, they also supplement with Fast Food, so I figure their diet has special supplements.
Indoors, I feed Taste of the Wild. I had a hard time finding a food that agreed with Pharaoh. Not that he’s picky, but he’s allergic to quite a bit. Taste of the Wild doesn’t give him itching fits. Of course, since it’s impossible to feed one cat of seven a different food, they all eat Taste of the Wild dry. They get an occasional can of Taste of the Wild as a treat, but it’s not daily. I do track urination on the males (who conveniently like to hop in every day right as I’m cleaning litter boxes and go) just to make sure they are doing okay, but nobody has any difficulties there.
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Sheba, Fancy Feast, Wellness, Canidae. All wet food for my 4. One male has crystals, in spite of ‘best quality’ kibble + wet food, so all dry food had to go. Because I have 4 and prescription food is so expensive, I opted to try doing ‘just wet’ and see how he did with it. So far, so good.
The barn cats are ferals. Once in awhile we catch them “in the act”, lol, but they do a good job of hiding. Their food is always gone each morning, and I see evidence of them eating during the day (the bowl of food has gone down). They aren’t “mine” but somehow I’m the one who’s ended up buying their food. The BO buys whatever is cheapest. Me, I just can’t stomach the idea of giving them a diet made up of corn and more corn. I buy the best quality kibble I can afford, and hope I’m not also feeding the possums, rats, raccoons. Safeway makes a decent one - Open Nature. I also use TSC I think it’s 4 Health or something.
With cold weather upon us I have a feeling they’ll be eating more. I have some cans of wet food that mine will not touch, so I think I will take them to the barn.
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I had a cat when I lived in an apartment in a building with hit-or-miss rodent control 
He had a Special Hunting Cry that signaled a catch.
Then he’d bring his treat to our bedroom to enjoy under the bed 
I learned to levitate out of bed when I heard The Cry of Victory, to shut the bedroom door so we didn’t hear that CRUNCH! next 
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I’ve…never? fed baby cats kitten food. I don’t do puppy food for the dog, either! Especially since you’re doing mostly wet, you can feed em whatever. 
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Mine caught a mouse yesterday and delivered it, looking hugely proud of himself, to me in front of my favorite chair. I got it away from him before he decapitated it. A dead mouse is bad enough. A headless dead mouse is too much.
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