food?

**sooby707** · 07-31-2006, 09:46 PM

what is the best raw or commercial and if commercial what brand is the best. also what type of food do you absolutly do not feed to your cat.

**TopCat3** · 07-31-2006, 10:47 PM

I absolutely would not feed my cats raw minced meat nor factory farmed chicken. I have fed them corn fed free-range chicken, but they've gone off it.
Mostly they eat some tinned salmon or mackerel or sardines or Fancy feast Royale along with Hills science diet Furball Senior and Royal Canin Renal for the older cat with kidney failure. With her it's been a question of letting her eat whatever she wants as her weight loss has been an issue. But since winter she has been eating more dry food which is calorie rich and wears a nice warm coat to save her expending calories keeping warm and she has started to put on a bit of weight.

I've tried all the raw chicken wings thing and the home-made with rice and what have you stuff and they just won't go near it!

**mrspunkysmom** · 08-01-2006, 12:27 AM

My two females would eat raw, but I also fed them good dry food and some canned food. I also cooked food for them. Cooking thoroughly and cutting the meat very small (and cooled) will have less of a chance of bacterial infection for your kitties than raw food. Childhood cat Tillie got cooked liver, cooled, and diced. (no teeth). I tried giving her a hunk of raw once and got that look. Twice when I didn't cut the cooked meat. Now who was in control?

I had looked at some raw food recently (brand forgotten) and it did have ground bone meal in it. Unfortunately, bone meal can cause kidney stones in cats with that tendency so I gave up on that for now.

I cook the fellas meat on occasion. A nice boneless fish receives applause. Albacore is a great treat too.

They eat better than I do.

**VTJess03** · 08-01-2006, 07:40 PM

I would absolutely avoid the cheapest food, of course (store-brand food for example).

What lifestyle does your cat have? Is it indoors all the time, or outdoors all the time, or some of each? Outdoor cats will supplement their diets with all kinds of things that they can catch, so a lower quality dry food might be OK for them. I've just moved and switched Sasha to Science Diet Hairball Control, since she won't be going outside anymore (we've moved to an in-town location, from a rural neighborhood) and I wanted her to have a little higher quality food because of that.

Also, I have heard that feeding primarily dry food is better for the health of teeth and gums, and wet food should be more like a treat. Maybe someone with a little more experience here could tell me if that's true or not.

**sooby707** · 08-02-2006, 06:53 PM

yes it true. dry food is better for their teeth and gums and wet IS more like a treat. i've always heard of giving them wet when thei sick

my cat Tiger is an indoor cat ALLLLLL the time lol. i kind of want to try raw for 1 day but im scared that his stomach may not beable to take it. is it ok for cats to eat raw egg?

**mrspunkysmom** · 08-03-2006, 07:51 AM

I have heard that Salmonella resides in the egg white, which is why we have to cook the egg white thoroughly.

Raw is good, but it doesn't hurt to cook it for them. Just let it cool and cut it up for them. Giving them big hunks brings out some nasty wide (oops, wild) tendencies. Mine wouldn't know how to hunt anything other than crickets at this point, so I'm not kidding myself about them surviving in the wild. However good meat is always better than the high corn content of most dry foods.

You could always buy some squirrel or rabbit at the supermarket. That is at least closer to their natural food source than cow, chicken, or deer. Sams is a great hunter of bugs, but I can't see him bringing down a deer.

The fellas are pampurred and that's that.

Anne

**sooby707** · 08-03-2006, 07:35 PM

i know i heard the same thing about eggs but when i saw how many dogs were eating raw egg i thought maybe its not so bad for animals

the only thing that my tiger "hunts" are "moving" plastic bags. he's hilarious.

thanx for the info on cooking the egg maybe ill try it.

**Freedom** · 08-27-2006, 06:43 PM

In the past 10 years, I have had 9 different cats. Currently, I have 7. I have always used Hill's Science Diet. There are many varieties, I think I have had them all at some time or other depending on age, weight loss needs, etc. The only ones they won't eat is the hair ball control version. I guess they don't like the size and shape, so I give them petromalt hairball rememdy once a week.

The cats are healthy at their vet visits, their coats are shiny, they are active, so I feel I have good results with this food.
Freedom