Food Question

[Kitty Peon]

What do you feed your cat? How often do you change the flavours of her food? Do you keep feeding her the same things day in and day out or do give her a little bit of variety. I'm wondering if my Cleocatra gets bored of her food. Do you guy's think it's a possibility? I know I sound crazy and panicky but Cleo's my first and only child.
Thanks.

[Fuzzy317]

Our cats are free-fed Nutra Max Cat dry, and about twice a month they get a treat of Fancy Feast canned food.

None of our cats will eat the Fancy Feast tuna flavor, but they gobble down the other flavors (my dog will eat them too if we are not careful.......LOL)

Changing flavors is okay for us, but our Rosie gets gas really bad , when we switch (by accident) to another dry brand. I don't think they get bored with the food, they are still eating it.

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Recently adopted by 3 cats: Jackson , Rosie , Fluffy , a dog: Eli , some fish , and my fiancee: Lynn (Vi Co Bi)

[catwoman]

Ever since I started my cats on Science Diet's Adult Hairball Formula (a dry food,) they turn their noses up at anything else, including wet food. Now, if it only seemed to help the hairballs ...

[Logan]

There are a million answers for this one, just like dog food. But I agree with Spencer, the higher quality food, the better. I will tell you though that Mimi lived on Purina Kitten Chow for years before Butter came along and she did just fine. I just knew that Butter didn't need the extra calories from the kitten food, so I had to make a switch. One thing I have learned about buying the "premium" foods is that they don't eat nearly as much, so you don't have to buy it as often. I think its because their systems use so much more of the food rather than it just "passing through". Don't mean to sound gross, but its the truth, with dogs and cats. Butter and Mimi are eating BilJac that I buy at Petsmart. And my dogs eat Flint River Ranch food that I order over the internet. Flint River Ranch also makes cat food, which I am sure is good. I just haven't tried to switch them since they seem to be doing so well on the BilJac.

Many, many animals have done very well on Purina products, and if you have to do the "grocery store" thing, I think Purina or Iams are good choices. My cats love a taste of canned food too, and they will not eat Iams canned food at all. So, they get the occasional can of Fancy Feast, or Nine Lives, but the bulk of their eating is the dry.
Good luck with your decision. It is SO very confusing, isn't it?

[This message has been edited by Logan (edited June 21, 2001).]

[kgeorge]

I give Sundance a mix of Science Diet Hairball formula and Royal Canin (only available at PetCo.com or their store) Sundance loves both and as mentioned in an earlier post he doesn't eat as much.

[4 feline house]

KP-

It sounds to me like the gist of your question is should cats get a variety - for most cats the answer to this would be no. Not all, but most cats will become finicky if their food is constantly changed. Unless she is turning her nose up at what you are giving her, or unless she has to go on a therapeutic diet, or unless the brand she is getting becomes unavailable for some reason, don't switch. An occasional treat is fine, but the meal should remain the same.

[AvaJoy]

I feed my children dry Science Diet Hairball Formula which they both love, and also supplement with Whiskas wet food, switching flavors everyday. I stack the cans in my cupboard so that the flavors are repeated on a weekly rotation. I tried the premium canned foods, but they seem to prefer the Whiskas for some reason only known to them. They don't drink much water that I notice, so I feel that by offering the wet food it helps to keep them hydrated. This may be outdated, but the theory that males are more prone to urinary problems if restricted to dry food sticks in my mind. My FelV+ boy potentially will have his share of medical woes, so I try to avoid any additional complications. My senior female is healthy and I hope to keep her that way . . . for as long as possible.

[4 feline house]

I have a funny story about cats and food - or maybe it's cats and the fact that they are such creatures of habit:

We have three bowls for the cats in the kitchen, one in the middle for water and two on the sides for food. However, they never drink water out of the bowl on the floor (they use those big white porcelain water bowls instead) so the middle bowl has always been empty. For whatever reason, yesterday my son decided to fill all three bowls. Last night, everytime I got up to go to the bathroom (several times-kidney disease ) the cats followed me into the bathroom, rubbing my legs and meowing, like they do when we've forgotten to feed them. I ignored them becuase I knew they couldn't have gone through all three bowls. This morning when I got up and went into the kitchen I saw why they were starving. The middle bowl was still overflowing, but the two side bowls didn't have even one kibble in either one! So they thought they were out of grub!

[ July 16, 2001: Message edited by: 4 feline house ]

[shais_mom]

When Jodi gave me Kylie, she bought me Cat Chow to keep her on familiar groun. I have been giving her 1 tsp on canned food mixed with her dry food about every other day or so. She just stinks when she eats just that! I have Iams hairball formula for her but haven't tried it yet until she is done with the cat chow. I also bought Whiskas Savory nuggets, which she tolerates, and I bought Friskies semi-moist food today and I will only give her half a bag with her dry food. I am constantly on a quest for the right food for her, I searched forever for the right dog food and am very happy with what I found.
I found Royal Canin at Pet Supplies Plus, just didn't try yet.
I love reading topics about dog and cat food keep the comments coming!!

[TheAntiPam]

I noticed that one of my cats has VERY stinky poo when I give her any moist food. This is a major problem in the litter box area, which is also the human's litter box (bathroom). Based on what I know of human digestion, extra smells in the bathroom means something is not being digested quite right.

Since both cats seem to eat and live healthy with the premium dry food (Iams) I have given up on adding any moist food. A lick or two once in a while of some tasty human food is all they get extra.

Just so you know, I've been using the same dry cat food for 7 years, and none of my cats has turned me in to the food police!

[shais_mom]

I think I found some cat food that Kylie likes dry!! Just bought it today!!
I wanted the Royal Canin hairball formula but they didn't have a trial size of it so I bought the Royal Canin Special 33 For Sensitive and Fussy cats. The first ingredient is Chicken and the next is Rice Flour. I dumped what was left in her dish and put a little bit of her food in the bowl and she jumped up and started eating it right away!!! Normally she turns her nose up unless she has the tsp of canned food or moist food mixed into it. Of course when I went on vacation and had someone coming over and feeding her she ate just the dry food, but as soon as the new mom aka SUCKER came home she started meowing for the additives. I am trying to get her off of that b/c of the smell of the litter box when she eats the canned food. whew!!!
I also bought some trial size nutro that is complete care. Which is supposed to help with less shedding, fewer hairballs,cleans teeth, freshens breath, easy to digest for sensitive stomachs, and improve skin and coat!!!
I get so excited when my finicky pets eat their food!!

[cr7clark]

I know what you mean when you say that the cat box stinks after our babies have eaten wet food....Bo's poops really stink after she eats Fancy Feast, especially the seafood varieties. I think it's because wet food is fresher...haven't we noticed that about ourselves? Just remember the last time you went to a good restaurant and ate a big steak, didn't YOUR poops smell worse???
Anyway, Bo enjoys Science Diet Adult Feline Maintenance dry food and gets 1/3 cup in the morning and evening. She gets the Fancy Feast on Sunday mornings as a treat, and boy do we change the box on Sunday afternoons!

[4 feline house]

Bosmom! That's an interesing observation!

[shais_mom]

I know when I read that yesterday, I had to laugh out loud. You either have to deeply love your animals like we do or work in the medical profession to talk like that!!
I am an xray tech and it is know that "you might be an xray tech if you eat popcorn out of an emesis basin!" Of course I have never done that but I have observed people using an enema bag as a beer bong!!! Now that was interesting!!!

[ September 22, 2001: Message edited by: shais_mom ]

[AvaJoy]

Originally posted by SpencerTheLion:
<STRONG>...almost forgot about your Felv+ kitten. Is everything well? Hope you don't take offence, but I would try to avoid getting him around the other kittys - know that's hard .</STRONG>

Thanks for asking . . . Meeshe is doing just fine, and he is growing up to be long and lean; when I pick him up he is solid muscle, and heavy! Lily is heavy but flabby due to her age, AND the fact that I have switched canned food from Whiskas to Fancy Feast. She cannot get enough of it!! I noticed her appetite was dropping off where Whiskas was concerned, so thought I'd try it and looks like I have created a monster. Meeshe likes it as well, and both fortunately still love their Science Diet dry food. Not to worry . . . they are never allowed in the same room together, and have their own bowls and toys. They never come in contact with each other, although they have been known to do some hissing and posturing at each other through my French doors.

[ September 16, 2001: Message edited by: AvaJoy ]