# Best Dry Food For An Outside Cat



## Duffin (Aug 19, 2011)

Hey everyone so Its be about a week since Cinder has wandered in to my yard and he seems very happy to have a place where he knows he will get a meal.

Right now I am feeding him some mewow mix that a friend donated us. But I was wondering what dry kibble would be best for an out side cat. 

He still hunts ( caught him with a mouse this morning  [Good Cinder!]), and will occasionally get raw. (Turkey and chicken necks, chicken leg quarters, scrapes that out butcher gives us for the dogs like alligator and deer)

I am on a limited budget but I would like to provide him with a decent dry kibble for him to be fed.

I was looking at ingredients in a few foods last night and some of them had more corn in them then dog food!! I was disgusted for cats everywhere.

Any suggestions would be great!


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## Huge2 (Jan 28, 2008)

1st suggestion. Don't feed him dry food. Wet is far better.


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## Duffin (Aug 19, 2011)

While wet may be better the ants getin to it super fast, I have tried giving him wet and he just doesnt like it. And lastly dry food in general is more convenient for my house hold. He likes raw, but I cant do raw all the time I need a decient kibble for him for those times.

Thanks again for that suggestion but please I am looking for suggestions on *dry* kibble.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

It's a matter of trial and error, but if Cinder is catching some of his own, he might prefer a good brand, or he may not. I think Mewow may be down the line but he's eating it,eh??. A shelter donated bag of Science Diet was eaten by my stray, but not preferred. Purina Friskies dry seems to be acceptable. I get a 'come on, you can do better than this' look with the Fancy Feast dry. Whiskas dry left from the days when I had Zenobi (otb) was accepted gratefully. 

Slightly upmarket from a pet store is Evo, but Missy, while she likes it sometimes prefers the Friskies. (Other times she can't make up her mind.)

Crows will eat dry left out, but most often won't come near a cat. Racoons will also take food left out overnight. 

Good luck with your new friend. :kittyturn


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## yellowdaisies (Jan 25, 2011)

Aw, I love black cats.  Kudos to you for helping this one out! 

One good, corn-free, inexpensive food for the quality is Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. One of our cats eats it, enjoys it, and does very well on it. Both of our cats like it. It's about $10-$12 for a 6 lb bag. The only drawback is that it's sometimes hard to find. Here's the website: Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul : Products : Cats check out the store locator and see if it's available near you. We're lucky because our local independent store sells it. If you can't find it in a store, it's on amazon: Amazon.com: Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Dry Cat Food for Adult Cat, Chicken Flavor, 6 Pound Bag: Pet Supplies


Merrick Before Grain is also great, and it's grain free (hence the name), but it's pricier (though much cheaper than some!), 6 lb bag for about $16. It's more widely available, though - Petco has it.


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## MinkaMuffin (Apr 1, 2011)

Authority is a decent brand that doesn't cost very much at all. You can buy it at petsmart.


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## Duffin (Aug 19, 2011)

Thank you all for the suggestions so far! I will be looking in to many of these brands. And to the person who said in the end its all a buch of trail and error with the food, that is so ture.


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## 6cats4me (Apr 30, 2011)

I live in an area (Florida) with a huge ant population. A trick I found to keep the 
ants out of the food for the ferals was to place the food dish in a shallow pie pan filled with water. 

You have to change the water every day since it gets mucky and evaporates fairly quickly in our hot 
climates, but it does keep the ants out of the food very effectively.


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## scottd (Jun 28, 2011)

I personally feed "Wellness Indoor Health". I pay usually $28 to $35 depending on if I have a coupon or if there's a sale for 12 lb bag.

It seems expensive at first but it lasts quite a while as you don't need to feed near as much as the crap from the supermarket. As a rule of thumb, I put out 1/4 cup 3 times a day. If she has food left (and she usually does), I pour it in my cup when measuring. Once she's settled in the new house, I will definitely start the inclusion of wet food.

It looks like Blue Buffalo's "Spa Select" line is pretty good. It's $33.99 at Pet Smart for a 15lb bag currently without any coupon.

You can generally contact the company and they will send you coupons which is nice if you're like me and like to save as much money as possible. 

I've read that isn't good to switch up dry food often as well. When you do change, you need to do it slowly over a week or two slowly decreasing the old food and increasing the new food. I did it over 10 days using 90% old/10% new on the first day, 80% old/20% new on the second day, and so on. A sudden change apparently causes stomach problems.


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## Ritzpg (Dec 7, 2010)

If you plan on adopting Cinder or making him an indoor cat, I'd give him the best dry food you can afford. The ones mentioned are good. For wet food, try one with gravy, only because it seems to have more moisture than pate.
I feed around eight feral/stray cats every day, so cost is my primary consideration. They like MeowMix and Friskies and of course gobble down any of the higher end food that my own cat rejects. They do not like PetCo's house brand (Authority, Sophistcats). And they don't like supermarket brands (Giant, Safeway); even street cats have their preference.
And, yeah; yesterday I noticed I was also feeding the neighborhood RACOON. In broad daylight. Step away from the animal.....


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