Cat Food

[MARichards]

Hello! I'm curious as to what all of you feed your feline friends. I have two cats (they're two years old). I currently feed them two different flavors of Nutro brand dried food and they split a small can of canned food twice daily (morning and evening). One of my cats seems to like a particular flavor one day, but not the next. My other cat only likes the gravy. The bottom line is I am disposing more of the canned food than they're eating. My question is, is dried food enough or do they need nutrients from the canned as well?

Thanks for any input!

[Lerah021399]

Welcome to Pet Talk!! I would look under Cat Health...there are a few threads about cat food there.

[Denyce]

Welcome to Pet Talk!

Yes there is enough nutrients in the dry food for your cats. Mine only receive canned food as a treat at night. However, there is some interesting research done on the correlation between amount of moisture a cat intakes and kidney disease. Cats need a lot of protein to maintain good health. Yet this will wear out the kidneys. It has been shown that increasing the moisture intake helps the kidneys to flush in toxins that build in the body. Therefore they don't "wear" out as fast. I have found in my experience of different cats that the ones I hardly ever observed drinking water died of kidney failure at a younger age than the ones that drank quite a bit. Well actually one of my huge water drinkers died of intestinal cancer not kidney failure at all.

For the four I have now they mainly eat dry food. Royal Canin to be exact. I also have 2 Fresh Flow waterers which has increased their water intake dramatically.

Can't wait to see some pics of your cats!

Denyce

[MARichards]

Denyce, thanks for the information. I was unaware of the correlation between water drinking and kidney failure. I lost my best feline friend a year ago to kidney failure (he was not a good water drinker). Now I have another cat that doesn't drink a lot of water. I might look into one of these water flow devices. He seems to like fresh water. Thanks again.

[Randi]

Welcome to PT MARichards! Denyce gave you some excellent advice there. I'll only add that male cats has a tendency to get bladder problems - far from all, but still ...

To avoid it you can feed them food with low contents of Phosfor, Magnesium and Calcium. Hills C/D is one option.

There's no need to feed your cats wet food, they will thrive on dry food, but make sure to let them have access to fresh water at all times.

Good luck with them, looking forward to see pics - if possible.

[NoahsMommy]

Welcome to Pet Talk!!

Well....we have five cats and two of them need special food. Here's the breakdown:

Micah: Hills Science Diet Z/D (for Inflammatory Bowel Disease)

Olivia: Royal Canin - Lite

Noah, Noel & Basie: Royal Canin Indoor

We also have one of those water fountains and our cats love it. Its amazing how much more water they drink from that vs. a bowl.

[RedHedd]

AnimalSavers recommended several good cat foods when I adopted Mitzi and Mishi: Nutro, PetGold, California Natural and Innova as none of these are tested on animals. Hills, Iams and most of the others are tested on animals. In doing more research I've discovered that only the PetGold brand lists Chicken (not chicken "by products") as the first ingredient so that's what my fur kids are getting. Mitzi is on the light hairball formula as we're trying to turn her into a light hairball, instead of the round pudglet she is and Mishi is on the regular diet Chicken & Rice formula as he needs to put some meat on his bones. In fact both of them turned up their noses to the Science Diet Senior Hairball I'd had left over from Goldie.

Mitzi also likes treats which is probably how she got her voluptuous pudge.

I give my cats canned food only occasionally as an extra special treat. They really don't seem to care and are quite happy with their dry food; fresh water is always available or Mishi climbs into the bathtub and laps up water from the dripping faucet, the big goon.

[AngelZoo]

Well everyone else here has pretty much said what I would have said!
My cats get mainly a dry food diet, of Felidae. They get the occasional wet food (various brands, there is nothing good in this town), about every 3 days as a treat.
My cats however drink plunty of water, I know not all do.

Some of the best cat foods, which can also help prevent health problems from starting...

Felidae
Innova
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul
Evolve
Holistic Blend
Natural Balance
Nutro Natural Choice
Natures Variety
Pinnacle
Solid Gold
Wellness

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by MARichards
My question is, is dried food enough or do they need nutrients from the canned as well?

Tubby and Peanut have only had dry food their entire lives....until recently. Tubby is 17 and Peanut is almost 15, so I guess dry food provides them with everything they need.

I've recently started feeding them canned food as a treat. One of the small cans will last for at least 3 "treat times" since I don't give them that much of it.

Oh, and welcome to Pet Talk!

[PayItForward]

Welcome to Pet Talk

[Denyce]

AngelZoo

I noticed that you listed Wellness. I had my cats on this food for just over a year. I thought for a while I was happy with it. However, first one then a second cat started chewing off their hair...now the vet and I have pretty much determined that it is due more to stress and seperation anxiety rather than a food allergy. But then the 2 cats I have that needed to lose weight gained on the lite formula and the 2 that didn't need to lose any weight each lost a pound! For a 10 and 9 pound cat that is significant. Then my mom's cat started having lower urinary problems. A week ago I talked to a friend who has 9 cats...all of them on Wellness. Of those nine... SIX of them have been in for lower urinary tract problems in the last few months. I find that to be a significant number. I am still not ready to condem Wellness. I like the list of ingredients. Just my cats didn't seem to do as well on it. I asked at our Wiscoy pet shop which carries the upper end pet foods and the owner there really likes the Royal Canin. Since I have put my cats on it the two that lost the weight and had chewed off their hair have gained back the weight and the hair is starting to return. Although the regaining of the hair I believe is due to the anti anxiety medication called Clomicalm. But the weight gain I am very pleased with. The two that need to lose have at the very least stopped gaining and I think the smaller of the two has lost a small amount. She just looks a bit more curvy than round. Unfortunately our Kaliban still resembles a raccoon from the back end. But we are working on getting her more exercise. Ah well I am babbling again. Just thought you might like some anecdotal information on Wellness.

Denyce

[AngelZoo]

Denyce: I must say your reports are the first honestly negative ones I have heard about this food.

And no not every food will work or have the same results for everyone. It is a wonderful food going by the ingredients alone, it is one of the best. I know a lot of people who will swear by this food.
Really, the only negative thing I have heard about it was problems with gas in some dogs (including a dog i used to have)man that poor thing would fart! lol

About the lite diets, you need to be VERY careful when feeding those and research them. Often lite diets will have more fiber and a lot less protien, which is the opposite of what needs to happen, fiber if carbohydrates, that is what you want to get rid of, look for a diet that has 3% or less of fiber (most light diets have 5% and up!) And also a lot of the meat is removed and replaced with things like corn or grains, which doesn't provide for much nutrition. So yes be very careful whenever you switch diets like that.
I know the so called Science Diet light formula has like 6 or 7% fiber in it, so it's no wonder why people ask me all the time "how come my cat isn't loosing weight on this food!" lol

[Denyce]

I know. I swore by Wellness also. The clinic my cousin is a tech at recommends it. And I still can't really say that the Wellness is a problem. I just had a gut feeling that it wasn't working for mine.

[Felicia's Mom]

welcome to Pet Talk!

I feed my two cats Natural Balence and Nutro Natural Choice.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Welcome to Pet Talk. I feed my cats Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management Formula. Right now I'm feeding them a mixture of Felidae, Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Adult Formula and the Weight Management Formula. They really seem to like the Nutro food the best. I only feed them dry food now. I used to mix their dry food with wet food but decided to stop because they would have bad gas and sometimes the runs too. I also think it's better for their teeth. I also have a water fountain for them use. Sunny really loves it. The other two seem to still want to drink out of a regular bowl. I don't care as long as they continue to drink a lot of water.