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which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 2:46 pm
by vanilla
Was wondering what you fed your cat? Supermarket brands like Felix/ Whiskas or the expensive stuff like Lily's Kitchen/ Natures best.

What is the best food to give? Does it make the cat live a healthier and longer life? Or is there no benefit?

Would really like to hear what you feed your cat be it a moggy or a pedigree.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:25 pm
by Antonio
I started giving them supermarket brands, but after one year of this kind of food I went for something more expensive because I thought that a higher price would return a higher quality and not always it's this way.
Shortly before my cat Lola was diagnosed with CKD I used to fed them with Almo Nature, because I felt reassured by the fact that I could recognise the content of a can, same brand for the dry food.
When Lola started needing a renal support I changed to R/C Renal wet and dry and only 5 years later I chose Trovet Renal S/O wet and dry.

The other cat, which is healthier, had to follow the menu changes every time but she never complained too much.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 5:54 pm
by Kay
Neither of mine will eat any of the better quality wet foods, and only like the jelly or gravy from Felix or Sheba - nor will they eat fresh meat or fish

Gourmet pate is the only wet food they eat up, and I doubt it is good quality, but they will eat better quality dry food so I have to settle for that

Zooplus do quite a few trial packs of non-supermarket foods, so that could be a good place to start

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:10 pm
by alanc
Most of the time the wet food I feed Tilly, my pedigree Maine Coon is Thrive (various types, but mainly Tuna, Chicken breast and Chicken breast and Liver), Gourmet Gold Pate (Chicken and Fish varieties , mostly) and Sheba Fresh Choice. As she is a big cat, she usually gets one of each for dinner. She also has Royal Canin Maine Coon dry food (large kibbles for large jaws). She started eating Thrive after her bout of Pancreatitis a bit over a year ago, when I had to tempt her back to eating. However, I am far from convinced of the necessity of routinely feeding expensive food, but what Tilly wants, Tilly gets!
In contrast, the 3 rescued Moggies I had at various times before buying Badger and Tilly, were quite happy to exist on Whiskas or Felix for most of their lives (Sally did go over to cooked Haddock in her last two years). As they all made it to their mid-late teens, must have been good enough.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:53 pm
by Janey
I have one resident cat and care for a few ferals, they all get the same. I buy a mix of all foods really, Felix, some pouches they prefer to others, they seem to like the fish duos and the meat loaf. They also like some Whiskas, usually fish ones. They seem to like all the Gourmet, pouches and pates. They like some Supermarket brands too and Classic occasionally, with them all they get bored though. So I try them all to see what they like. I think it’s pointless giving them foods they aren’t keen on because it would just get wasted, and if I didn’t give them anything else they would be miserable. I also alternate their foods so they rarely get the same thing twice each day so they get a good variety and don’t get bored. They also have some of what we have some days. I buy a mix of dry too, Whiskas pocket ones, Go-Cat (I dare say!) because they like it a lot, Harringtons, Purina, Brekkies, any really but I don’t buy the very dear stuff just occasionally. They also get some treats but don’t like many of them, they seem to like some Dreamies and some Dentibit type treats. Regarding does better food give them a better life, not sure, but we have a couple of ferals that are nearing 18 years now. they’ve been here since kittens and have eaten like that all their life (they eat at 2 of my neighbours as well and have pretty much the same food). They’re all moggies, we’ve never had pedigree cats.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2017 7:16 pm
by Ruth B
Felix As Good as it Looks is our mainstay, with the occasional tin of Gourmet Gold Pate or pouches of Gourmet Pearl thrown for a change. One of my youngsters does seem to have a bit of a wheat intolerance in wet food so I stay off the Sheba, which when I checked all seemed to contain wheat and even the Encore which I used to get as an occasional treat seemed to contain it. As far as dried food goes it is Purina One Adult all the way. I have tried other makes and normally just end up throwing it away. The also tend to get a meal of cooked meat every few days depending on what we are having or what I can pick up cheap at the supermarket.

At the moment mine are all moggies, but when we had the Ragdoll he was fed exactly the same as the moggies and lived to a grand old age of 16 which everyone said was a good age for a Ragdoll.

At the end of the day I just feed them what they will eat (with in reason, they might want steak or chicken every day, but they don't get it). I have thrown far too much cat food away to worry about it

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:05 am
by Didi
Over the last few months I have come to the conclusion that the best food is whatever food the little blighters will eat !!! Or maybe that's just me with my little fluffy ball of fussiness and stress :D
He is SUPPOSED to be on a urinary diet to prevent crystals what he is actually on is much the same as he always has Purina furball dry and Sheba wet with a side serving of dry urinary thrown in for good measure

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:18 am
by bobbys girl
My lot get a similar mix to Ruth's cats - mainly Felix AGAIL and Gourmet (the meat not the fish) Purdy and Grace get a few prawns for breakfast (long story) and sometimes a tin of our tuna (in spring water) but on the whole they don't like fish. EXCEPT they all like James Wellbeloved (dry) fish flavour - go figure! Tommy loved MEAT in almost any form, they all love gravy. :roll: We have also discovered they like Coshida tins but only the Poultry ones. It seems they are not alone. The Poultry flavour is always the first to sell and several times I've had to go through several trys of food to find any.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 11:59 am
by vanilla
Same here. All my cats were on supermarket brands. I had never heard of these 'posh' brands before, didn't even know they were available! Tried the Lily's Kitchen one for my cat with cancer as he's going off his food. First time he ate loads of it. Result I thought, something he could eat! Next day he turned his nose up at it and didn't touch it. He ended up eating Whiskas!

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:50 pm
by Crewella
My lot get a wide range, from supermarket brands to some of the posher brands (much of it donated to the rescue I foster for so I don't get a choice, though staples tend to be Butchers and Felix AGAIL), and all are older so a couple get prescription diets, but for all I do try to feed a wide range and never the same thing twice in a row. I try to keep the cereal content of their diet down, but overall I think variety gives balance.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 7:57 pm
by Didi
Crewella wrote:My lot get a wide range, from supermarket brands to some of the posher brands (much of it donated to the rescue I foster for so I don't get a choice, though staples tend to be Butchers and Felix AGAIL), and all are older so a couple get prescription diets, but for all I do try to feed a wide range and never the same thing twice in a row. I try to keep the cereal content of their diet down, but overall I think variety gives balance.
I always thought that cats liked to stick with one food and changing it could cause tummy problems? But then I always believed some cats were just fussy eaters but my vet reckons they aren't not convinced though Bilbo seems to be a fussy blighter

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:02 pm
by Crewella
If a cat is only used to one particular food and then it changes, yes it can cause problems, but all of mine are used to something different every night, and don't seem to suffer. Tha majority of my gang are also ex-strays, so Lord only knows what they've been used to when they arrive here! :D

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 8:59 pm
by Janey
Mine get different each meal too (see above post). They love the variety and are used to it. When I took my cat to a cattery last year for a few days and took her favourite foods, they looked at me gone out when she had a different pouch for each meal :D I also took some round to my neighbour next door for the ferals, although she gives them some food too, and there was a bag of different brands and flavours so they had what they were used to.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:28 pm
by LittlePenBigHeart
Unfortunately, most supermarket brands are extremely low on the nutrients cats need and very high on sugars, grains, cereals, etc, so we avoid them like the plague. Things like Whiskas, Gourmet, Sheba, Felix, etc are all the equivalent of us eating KFC or McDonalds for every meal.

Did you know that there are no regulations on cat food, beyond that they must contain a minimum of 4% meat derivatives? If you look on the back of any supermarket brand cat food, you'll see it says '4% min. meat derivatives'. That means there's that percentage of meat BUT it can come from any part of the animal at all (testicles, beak, etc), and it can be as processed as they like, meaning most of the nutrients that were left in that minute amount of food has probably been processed out.

In general, cats CAN live perfectly healthy, happy lives eating this diet in the same way a person can smoke 20 cigarettes a day and live to be 90. But to set them up for the best health they can have, you're better off giving them a food that's grain free, cereal free, and high in meat, or at least a food that's as close to that as possible.

One of the best non-raw foods you can give a cat is Canagan, which is 60-70% real meat, grain free, and contains all sorts of 'proper' ingredients to support your cats wellbeing. It IS expensive but you feed cats according to nutrients, not portion size, so you actually feed them less per meal than you would of a low-meat food. If you don't want to spend that much, you can go for Cheshire Cat (an excellent, UK-based company), or for dry foods something like More or Orijen (Orijen is Canadian so more food miles than More, Cheshire Cat or Canagan but high in nutrients). If you still don't want to spend that much, there are other higher meat products that are worth trying, such as Hi-Life or Applaws.

Right now, one of our cats is experiencing problems with his tummy so he's eating cooked fresh meat (beef, lamb, etc. No chicken), but the other two have a mixture of that, Canagan and fish. Seems to be rather popular.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2017 10:54 pm
by booktigger
LittlePenBigHeart wrote:Unfortunately, most supermarket brands are extremely low on the nutrients cats need and very high on sugars, grains, cereals, etc, so we avoid them like the plague. Things like Whiskas, Gourmet, Sheba, Felix, etc are all the equivalent of us eating KFC or McDonalds for every meal.

Did you know that there are no regulations on cat food, beyond that they must contain a minimum of 4% meat derivatives? If you look on the back of any supermarket brand cat food, you'll see it says '4% min. meat derivatives'. That means there's that percentage of meat BUT it can come from any part of the animal at all (testicles, beak, etc), and it can be as processed as they like, meaning most of the nutrients that were left in that minute amount of food has probably been processed out.

In general, cats CAN live perfectly healthy, happy lives eating this diet in the same way a person can smoke 20 cigarettes a day and live to be 90. But to set them up for the best health they can have, you're better off giving them a food that's grain free, cereal free, and high in meat, or at least a food that's as close to that as possible.

One of the best non-raw foods you can give a cat is Canagan, which is 60-70% real meat, grain free, and contains all sorts of 'proper' ingredients to support your cats wellbeing. It IS expensive but you feed cats according to nutrients, not portion size, so you actually feed them less per meal than you would of a low-meat food. If you don't want to spend that much, you can go for Cheshire Cat (an excellent, UK-based company), or for dry foods something like More or Orijen (Orijen is Canadian so more food miles than More, Cheshire Cat or Canagan but high in nutrients). If you still don't want to spend that much, there are other higher meat products that are worth trying, such as Hi-Life or Applaws.

Right now, one of our cats is experiencing problems with his tummy so he's eating cooked fresh meat (beef, lamb, etc. No chicken), but the other two have a mixture of that, Canagan and fish. Seems to be rather popular.
Out of curiosity, why do you give them cooked meat rather than raw? Aren't you losing nutrients?

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:30 pm
by vanilla
Where do you buy these brands from LittlePenBigHeart ??

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:52 pm
by LittlePenBigHeart
booktigger wrote:
LittlePenBigHeart wrote:Unfortunately, most supermarket brands are extremely low on the nutrients cats need and very high on sugars, grains, cereals, etc, so we avoid them like the plague. Things like Whiskas, Gourmet, Sheba, Felix, etc are all the equivalent of us eating KFC or McDonalds for every meal.

Did you know that there are no regulations on cat food, beyond that they must contain a minimum of 4% meat derivatives? If you look on the back of any supermarket brand cat food, you'll see it says '4% min. meat derivatives'. That means there's that percentage of meat BUT it can come from any part of the animal at all (testicles, beak, etc), and it can be as processed as they like, meaning most of the nutrients that were left in that minute amount of food has probably been processed out.

In general, cats CAN live perfectly healthy, happy lives eating this diet in the same way a person can smoke 20 cigarettes a day and live to be 90. But to set them up for the best health they can have, you're better off giving them a food that's grain free, cereal free, and high in meat, or at least a food that's as close to that as possible.

One of the best non-raw foods you can give a cat is Canagan, which is 60-70% real meat, grain free, and contains all sorts of 'proper' ingredients to support your cats wellbeing. It IS expensive but you feed cats according to nutrients, not portion size, so you actually feed them less per meal than you would of a low-meat food. If you don't want to spend that much, you can go for Cheshire Cat (an excellent, UK-based company), or for dry foods something like More or Orijen (Orijen is Canadian so more food miles than More, Cheshire Cat or Canagan but high in nutrients). If you still don't want to spend that much, there are other higher meat products that are worth trying, such as Hi-Life or Applaws.

Right now, one of our cats is experiencing problems with his tummy so he's eating cooked fresh meat (beef, lamb, etc. No chicken), but the other two have a mixture of that, Canagan and fish. Seems to be rather popular.
Out of curiosity, why do you give them cooked meat rather than raw? Aren't you losing nutrients?
Honestly, because my husband picks up the meat from the supermarket and I worry that they'll get food poisoning!

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 7:53 pm
by LittlePenBigHeart
vanilla wrote:Where do you buy these brands from LittlePenBigHeart ??
I get them from Pets Corner. :)

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:04 am
by booktigger
I didn't think they could get food poisoning because of how their digestive system works.

Re: which cat food???

Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2017 6:38 pm
by vanilla
Do you mainly feed wet food or dry food? Or maybe a mixture of both?