A cat food question

[Pinot's Mom]

Elyse, your questions are just fine!

We have had three kitties. Two were raised and thrived on basic Purina Kitten Chow/ Purina Cat Chow. Our third you know quite well. Pinot was a shelter kitty. I have news for you regarding shelter kitty food, at least the shelters around here. They are SENT HOME with high end food. They are FED with whatever is donated. I found that out after Pinot was quite used to Hills Science Diet, which she was sent home with, when I went to donate food. They said any store brand is fine; I usually give the shelter Meow Mix or Friskies. Pinot is strictly a Science Diet kitty - that's her preference.

I think the majority of people who have switched their kitty's diet is due to a health issue. It all depends on your kitty. If Cassie is happy with her food, leave it be, she's fine. I'm quite sure you're doing the best for her. I hope this helps you.

[Freedom]

I fed Science Diet for 10 years, as that is what my vet recommended.

Guess what? SD is crap food! Hills makes huge donations to VMA, so vets recommend it. Vets generally get NO training in nutrition.

Once I got dogs, I got involved in the bichon forum; bichons are known for their food allergies. So bichon owners tend to spend a lot of time learning about foods. I was able translate that to the cat side of things. Note: there has not been as much research done on cats and foods.

I fed Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul kibble for a few years (2 or 3, I forget), and suddenly, I had NO MORE HAIRBALLS! Hairballs are NOT normal.

Then about 2 years back, I switched the whole house to grain free Taste of the Wild. No hairballs continued; and smaller poops as there is less waste. All the cats that were pudgy trimmed down, with no effort on my part and no ill effects to them. (They weren't complaining they were starving!)

In the past year, I've started some home cooking for them, and I now include grain free canned as well. Here is what happened: Sparkle was diagnosed w/ early stage renal disease last Fall; my vet said we could do sub Q fluids, or I could try feeding her some canned and, as she is very early stage, that may have the same effect. Er, wait a minute, "wouldn't she just drink more from the water bowl?" Well, it seems that cats are not geared to drink; they get more than 90% of the fluids they need from their prey (mice, moles, shrews, a bird here and there). Then why the heck am I feeding them only dry kibble?!

Commercial cat foods did not come on the market until the 1960's. Up to then, vets did not see over active thyroid in cats (I've lost 3 cats to this), renal failure, cancers. Cats ate what the family had, and supplemented it with prey. Also, cats are obligate carnivores; again, this means they got all the nutrients they needed from their prey. Cats (in the wild, ferals, untamed / undomesticated) do not eat grains in any form. They do get a small amount of DIGESTED grains from the stomach of their prey -- cats can not digest it themselves.

A good base to learn about commercial cat foods:
http://www.petfoodratings.net/cattable.html

There is a menu on the left. The link above takes you to CAT FOOD QUICK REFERENCE TABLE. You will also want to click on COMPLETE CAT FOOD LISTINGS.
(NB - do NOT use this table for dog foods if you also have a dog; it is not detailed enough. For dogs, refer to: www.dogfoodanalysis.com)


A good base for home cooking: THE WHOLE PET DIET by Andi Brown. I found it at my library; liked it so much, I bought a copy at Amazon.com. She provides recipes, and explains what each ingredient is for. I make the Chicken Spot's Stew and all 15 here go crazy for it!

The Whole Dog Journal found only 1 complaint with her book: she does not emphasize calcium enough. But if you follow her recipes, your pet does get what it needs for calcium.

Recently, I've been exploring raw feeding. I know I will never convert to it completely. But having the pet (dog or cat) crunch up some raw bones helps clean their teeth and prevent tartar naturally. I have been giving the cats raw chicken necks -- Tommy is absolutely WILD for them, he hee.

There are 3 supplements for cats eating a raw diet. One I have used for years is Barley Cat. I am still learning about the other 2, on a raw diet forum.

Hope this helps!

[cassiesmom]

Sometimes I wish she could speak! Meow: I'm hungry! Meow: this food tastes awful! Meow: Got any tuna? Meow: I'd like bottled water in my water dish, please. Meow: Just where the heck do you think you're going, human?

Edited to add: Freedom, interesting findings on this chart! I'm not surprised at where the supermarket brands fall (one *) but I AM surprised about Science Diet and Iams! Yikes! I'm scared of Iams anyway after losing my cat-nephew Churchill to their contaminated product.

[columbine]

I switched to grain-free food because Smudge was having urinary and allergy problems. Grain raises cats' urinary pH and makes it harder for them to dissolve minerals in their urine, so they get crystals; and many cats are allergic.

Choosing a dry food was easy, because he loved the first one I tried (Indigo Moon by Solid Gold). He's pickier on wet food, but will reliably eat Natural Balance Limited Ingredients. (He needs to get at least some wet food for me to mix in his meds & supplements, and to help get more water into him.)

Love, Columbine

[katladyd]

If you want to make sure your cats get enough water in their diet, try getting them a fountain. I did this and both of mine now walk over to the fountain and help themselves to a drink all the time! It is filtered water so you know it is good for them.

[columbine]

I got Smudge a fountain and he was scared of it. But he drinks happily from a glass bowl in the living room, just not a steel bowl in the kitchen.

Love, Columbine

[krazyaboutkatz]

Great thread idea Elyse. I used to feed all of my cats Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care dry and I some of their canned as well. Then later on I stopped giving them any canned which was a very bad idea on my part. When I had Cirrus he develped crystals and he had to have the PU surgery. A while later Storm also developed crystals and needed the PU surgery. Of course my vet back then recommended Hills C/D Presciption diet which has horrible ingedients. I later changed vets but I was still feeding a presription diet of Royal Canin S/O dry and canned. It was a little better than the Hills but not much. I was told that I could feed this to everyone without any problems.

Well my problems began with Starr. He started having severe diarrhea and Pearl started breaking out on her chin and lips. I had actually fed both Starr and Pearl Innova Evo dry and the regular Innova canned when they were kittens and they did well on this food. I tried feeding the rest of my cats the regular Innova dry and canned but after a while Storm got more crystals so I was forced to feed everyone the Royal Canin S/O again because Storm would refuse to eat his food if the others ate something else.

I changed vets again when my current vet didn't really know what else to do to help Starr. At first my new vet prescribed Hills ZD diet which also has horrible ingedients. He didn't seem to like it and he didn't do well on it. She later suggested that I try Innova Evo which is grain free. She also told me that Storm could also eat it as long as I he got plenty of canned food too. This is when I started feeding everyone Innova Evo dry and canned.

I noticed a huge difference in their energy levels, stools, fur, and ever since Storm's been on a grain free diet he hasn't had any more urinary problems. Although Pearl's problem is supposed to be not food related, I really do think that it is. It seems that as long as she's eating a dry food that is very high in protein like Innova Evo or Wellness Core then she doesn't seem to break out any more. After the Natura Products were sold to Proctor & Gamble I really didn't trust what they might do to Innova Evo so I decided to try another grain free food. I tried Nature's Variety but it was very expensive and over time my cats got sick on this food and they also stopped liking the canned food.

When I adopted Alani & Blaze they were eating Natural Balance Chicken & Green Pea dry so I eventually changed all of my cats diets to this along with the canned. They liked it but I noticed that they weren't doing as well on it because it didn't have as much protein and it had many more carbs. The kittens were also having diarrhea and mushy stools. Pearl also broke out again. I then decided to try Wellness Core dry and the core canned. They all loved the dry but not the canned. When I tried the grain free Wellness canned they all loved it and this canned food has also helped Storm to stay regular in the bm department. Before this even though he was eating canned food, he would still sometimes become very constipated.

After a while Alani & Blaze started having mushy stools again so I knew that I would have to change their diet but I didn't want to change my four adult cats diets because they loved their food and they were doing very well on it. I knew that grain free didn't seem to work for the kittens so I looked at a bag of Chicken Soup For The Soul and I liked the ingredients so I bought a small adult formula bag. I mixed it together with the Wellness Core and they were still having issues. When I was at the pet store again, I looked at the ingredients of the adult dry compared to the adult light dry and I noticed that the light had more protein, less fat, but more fiber. This is exactly what my kittens needed. Now I also feed them the adult hairball canned and so far so good. Finally nice well formed stools.

You need to learn to read ingredients and try to avoid ingredients like corn, wheat, meat by products, dyes, BHT, BHA, and ethoxyquin. I think that most of the higher premium foods are now eleminating ethoxyquin as a preservative. Although the higher premium brands will cost more, you will feed your cat less so the food should last longer. I was also told that the Wellness canned food is very easy for a cat used to a grocery store food to switch over to. I don't know why though. I know that this is a lot of information for you to take in. Good luck with your new diet search.