# What do YOU feed your cats?



## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Wanted to find out what everyone feeds here, see if there is one food that people feed the most. Please tell me dry/wet/raw etc, and what brand/formula. Thanks!  

Right now my 3 cats get Solid Gold Dry, for 5 months, and then Felidae Dry for 5 months and I keep rotating like that.
About ever 2-3 days they will get wet foods I have some left over Natural Balance and Felidae canned foods, but their new staple canned food will be Wysong Rabbit once the others are all gone.

They also get fed RAW food once in a while, whenever I have it.


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## susieb8020 (Aug 25, 2003)

I feed my two kitties Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul dry food and Innova wet food. I put down about a 3/4 cut of dry food per day and they split a can of the wet food in the mornings. My older kitty, Madison, is a small cat who weighs 9 pounds. The vet says she is overweight, so I started buying the light version of these two brands. Bottom line, while they are both rather pricey, they are excellent for the kitties and they love them both. I had issues with Madison digesting Friskies (stinking poo stuck to her all the time and inevitably all over my carpet :roll: ), not eating dry food at all and not drinking. Since switching them to these brands, both kitties are healthy, have more energy and very shiny coats. Hope this helps.

Susan


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## Aonir (Aug 18, 2003)

My dogs and cats both get Purina. But I'm considering changing over to Candae or Wellness if I can find it. Not sure if they have it for cats yet..


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## susieb8020 (Aug 25, 2003)

Aonir,

I give my cats wellness dry food too. While they don't like it as much as the Chicken Soup, if I left only the Wellness out they would eat it. As a frame of reference, if I left out any other dry food, they would rather starve than touch it. I'm not kidding... it's been fun figuring out what they will eat :? , anyone need about 10 bags of opened cat food? I tried giving it to the SPCA, but they wouldn't take it b/c it had been opened. I can understand that since I obviously look like a murderous psycho peddling cat food...


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## Aonir (Aug 18, 2003)

Susie, I know exactly what you mean! I had the problem with my kitten, Oreo! When we got him, he was on IAMs, but he liked Purina better. Which is good, because I hate Iams, but I still have that bag in my kitchen! It's been there for months, and I need to throw it away.


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Aonir: Yes they do have Wellness for cats, they do have "Canidae" for cats too, only it's called Felidae (hence the one I feed.) 


Honestly, the more "expensive" foods, aren't always really more expensive.
Cats will eat MORE of a low grade food, then they would of a high quality one on average. So here, with us I will give you an example. 

Over a period of 3 months I can spend...

$27.18 - Frisky's/Purina/Meow Mix, etc
$30.00 - Felidae/Wellness, etc.
$24.00 - Solid Gold 

The Solid Gold is one of the best foods, and over 3 months it STILL cost less then the low grade brands.
Take into account the gas money I need to go out and buy 3 bags of the low grade food instead of just one trip for the Felidae. PLUS the higher grade food is just better for them, you will have a healthier cat in the long run, and fewer vet bills as they get older.


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## opokki (May 5, 2003)

Mine are currently eating dry Innova (recently tried a small bag of Healthwise which they liked also) and I split a large can of Innova, Wellness or Eagle Pack canned between the 6 of them daily. Ocassionally I pick up a few cans of Active Life...which I think is there favorite but is too pricey to feed daily. I also rotate brands inbetween using Innova.


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## TheLuckySeven (Aug 25, 2003)

I switched all seven cats from Purina cat chow to Nutro Max Adult - Salmon flavor. The senior cat is also on Nutro Max canned as well, but I am looking for a better alternative. 

It took me so long to switch over because I thought it would be a huge expense with there being seven cats and all. But they eat less of the Nutro than they did on the Purina. The bag lasts longer and over the course of a few months (if you buy the large bags) - the Nutro isn't much more expensive than the lower-grade foods. You can bet I am kicking myself for not switching before now!


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## kittygirl04 (Jul 8, 2003)

Nutro Natural Choice (dry). I give them the soft Nutro food in the packets sometimes for a snack.  AngelZoo is right, my cats seem to eat less on the Nutro than they did on MeowMix. I guess it didn't satisfy them completely.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

I feed my cats dry food Royal Canin. At the moment all of them eat RC Kitten since I have four kittens, one lactating cat and a very thin domestic shorthair. When I don't have kittens the two cats eat RC Indoor.


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## Maleke (Jul 2, 2003)

I feed him Nutro Natural dry food. He loves it!


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## tanyuh (Jun 7, 2003)

I started feeding them Natural Balance Premium dry food about 6 weeks ago (switched from Iams). It is amazing how great their coats look and how bright their eyes are and how much energy they have, even though they don't seem to eat very much of it. I'm very glad I switched and they seem to like it too. I also give Samhain cooked chicken whenever I eat it and a tad of tuna whenever I eat that, too. Sometimes they get wet food for a treat but seldomly. Oh, and Samhain also likes goldfish (not the creatures, the CRACKERS!)


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Tanyuh: Your cats eat less of the Natural Balance because it has better ingreidents and more quickly fills up there tummie.

It'd be like us eating a nice steak, compaired to a rice cake, which one do you think will fill you up faster and with a smaller amount.


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## Zalensia (Aug 25, 2003)

at the moment my queen/babies are on iams kitten, pebbles is on science plan adult (only coz it was 3for3 at work so i baught a load of it) but i do give them wet food once a week, usually felix, and occasionaly froozen minched fish of lamb


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## Audrey (Aug 18, 2003)

dry food = Hill"s Sience plan : kittens, natures best kittens, adult and hairball controll
wet food = they're very picky with wet food, for now: Gourmet gold, Felix, ( they hate whiskas and iams :roll: )
And i used to buy them beaf, but now with Demi being around, it's almost impossible to handfeed the 2 other cats, Demi wants it all!!


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## Veda (Aug 30, 2003)

Dry Felidae


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## Ariel (Aug 27, 2003)

Kibbles 'n Bits


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Ariel: *scratches head* you feed your cats DOG food?


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## Ariel (Aug 27, 2003)

At least that's what I thought we fed them... My mom buys the food and I never really pay attention to which brand.


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Do you mean Kit 'N Kaboodle by Purina?


Just for the rest of you here's a run down of the first 5 ingredients.

Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, chicken by-product meal, beef tallow.


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## Ariel (Aug 27, 2003)

I don't kow... But we get meow mix sometimes too.


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Here's Meow Mix's run down for those who don't know about this food.

Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal, beef tallow.


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## Ariel (Aug 27, 2003)

Angelzoo:


My goodness... you know alot about cat food. Do you make it or something?


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Ariel: No just repeated times over the years I have looked at the ingredients for such foods, it's sort of engraved into my head. 
That and the readily availble information you can find on the internet!

I'm actually working on making a Cat food chart, seperate ones for both wet/dry foods. I've made one for ferrets already


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## garfield (Aug 2, 2003)

my cat wieghs about 4 1/2 pounds (full grown). I give her about a 1/4 cup of iams dry food and a half a can of wet fancy feast, the sliced meats at around 5 or 6 pm. If she eats it all (she doesn't always) then she gets another 1/4 cup of dry the next morning. She is so tiny, so I feed her whatever she will eat. Funny though, I have to put it into her bowl in small amounts, other wise she doesn't eat it. I think it gets stale. Good luck.


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## kittygirl04 (Jul 8, 2003)

Ok, I started feeding my 3 cats Nutro Natural Choice, which is definitely a huge step up from Meow Mix, which is what they used to eat. I didn't know any of this cat food stuff until I came here in July. Well, after reading some posts, I hear that there should be at least 2 meats in the top 10 ingredients and no corn. So, I got Natural Balance and only 2 of my cats will eat it. Kitty and Sophie like it and choose it over Nutro, but Kittygirl turns her nose up at it. She is a picky cat anyways, she won't eat any human food--except she likes Frosty's from Wendy's. (I know...it's chocolate--I only give her a few licks.) Well, I am a cat fanatic and want my babies to eat the good food, so I saw a trial size bag of Chicken Soup cat food for $1.99--I bought it to see if they would all agree on that because I don't want to buy 2 different types of food if I don't have to. Well, they all turned their noses up at it. I was surprised at the prices--Chicken Soup was around $8 something for 6 pounds and Nutro is $8 something for 4 pounds. I believe Chicken Soup is better quality than Nutro?? Well, I don't have to worry about that anyways, cause they don't like it. 
But, what do I do--buy the 2 separate foods (Nutro and Natural Balance) to make all 3 of my cats happy? I don't want to force any of them to eat what they don't like. I'm so confused. :roll: Well, Sophie and Kitty were fine with the Nutro before, so should I just buy it and have them all eat it? Then I will feel like I am not giving them the best food. Maybe I am just making too big of deal out of this and need to stop worrying. :?


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## opokki (May 5, 2003)

Well, IMO.....find one food that they all like. If Nutro was liked by all of them then use Nutro. You can find the "best" food out there but it won't do any good if the cats won't eat it. Nutro is good enough,IMO.
Over on another board they actually were calling the Chicken Soup food "kitty crack" :lol: because so many peoples cats seem to go nuts for it...so Im suprised that none of yours liked it. Guess every cat is different.
No matter which food you choose.....you will usually find at least one person that disagrees with your choice so don't drive yourself nuts over it :wink:


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Kittygirl:

A very important thing to remember, is to feed what your cats will actually EAT. lol, not every cat will like the same foods, just the way it is, my cats turned there noises up at Natural Balance, they would only seem to peck at it at meal times, go figure. 
It was actually hard for me to get them on to the more "natural" foods if you will, the transition that is. 

What I sometimes had to do was give them the proper mix of old food and new food, and just offer that same amount until they finally got hungry enough and just ate both brands of kibble, after that they would gladly except their bowls of only the new stuff. 
It can be tough to change there diet, because they do taste different (I know, because I try all of my cats dry foods). Grocery stores, and other highly known name brands use a lot of flavor additives, so that your cat will eat their food, a lot of the more natural foods like Natural Balance don't use things like that... so it's kinda like saying... well I'd prefer the taste of ice cream over wheat bread, but we KNOW the wheat bred is better for us. 

I don't know if you've ever owned a keet, but sometimes you have to almost starve those poor things for days before you can get them to accept a new diet, and that's just the way it is.

I don't think there is anything wrong with only feeding Nutro, and I also think it's fine to feed both natural balance and nutro, who knows your other cat might come around some day and start eating the NB too!


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## Aonir (Aug 18, 2003)

I feed my cats/dogs Purina. BUT I am going to switch them to Wellness next time they need food... (enough to mix and switch for a week.)


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## Lori (Jun 8, 2003)

Cats are so different. My previous cat would eat any cat food you put in front of her. Velvet is so picky. I have fed her Science Diet since I got her and that is all she will eat. She was on something different when I get her and I tried to slowly switch her over. She proceeded to pick the SD pieces out of the bowl and leave the rest behind! 
I know from what I have been reading that there are better choices out there than SD, but I tell ya, that is all this cat will eat. But she is beautiful, healthy, bright eyes and soft, thick fur. So I am happy.


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## Majicou (Jun 7, 2003)

Wet food: Paws, sometimes KitEkat and Felix
Dry Food: Paws Complete Dry Food


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Majicou: I am not familure with the Paws food line, care to post the ingredients for me? 

Lori: Cats certainly do have strange habits, we all know this hee hee. My Asim and Isha when I got them as kittens, they were first fed SD, they stopped eating it after a month, so I switched them to Iam's (at the time I did not know what a horrible company this was, it was before ther merger with P&G, but during when they changed their food formula with out warning, and many animals got sick from it, including mine.)
At any rate, they only ate the Iam's for about a month before they stopped. 
But they seem to be really darn happy with both Felidae and Solid Gold!


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## Holly (Aug 11, 2003)

Science Diet Kitten dry food


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## comiskey (Sep 10, 2003)

Mooser, er, I mean, Mouse liver. Frozen. On a stick.


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## Cthulhu (Aug 7, 2003)

My kitten also is dining on Science Diet, Nature's Best. I have read a few negative comments about Science Diet--which seemed like it was all the rage a few years ago when I had another cat--but kitten likes it and looks great.


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## Lori (Jun 8, 2003)

Cthulhu said:


> My kitten also is dining on Science Diet, Nature's Best. I have read a few negative comments about Science Diet--which seemed like it was all the rage a few years ago when I had another cat--but kitten likes it and looks great.


Same here! It's all my cat will eat and she looks beautiful.


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

hee hee SD is still a big "rage", because it's a very commercialized food 

It really goes along with... "If it's on TV, it must be true." :lol: 

If the high quality food lines bothered to advertize up the ying yang, and had the current publicity that SD has, they would all put foods like SD out of business. 

*waits for the day* :roll:


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## kitkat (Sep 22, 2003)

I feed my cats special cat food from the vet by Science Diet ID since one of my cats Sugar has a sensitive stomach and easily throws up if it doesnt go well with her stomach. I mix it with ProPlan, the only other cat food that she has not thrown up. I also feed them a 3 oz. canned food by Fancy Feast or ProPlan every other day in the morning so they get about 1 1/2 oz. each when they get the canned food.


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## Cthulhu (Aug 7, 2003)

> It really goes along with... "If it's on TV, it must be true."


So, it's a Science Diet conspiracy? Perhaps you were being facetious, but I've pretty much sworn by SD for years and have had no cat problems. Or is the thinking "if it's popular it must be bad"?


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## Toria (Aug 9, 2003)

Tillie loves the science light diet food and seems really healthy from it. Also I give her some canned food either felix or M&S food, small quantity though as she's on a diet.
Please can someone tell me if the Veterinary Hills brand of the science diet here in the UK is the same as the science diet in the USA? I only hear good things about it over here.


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## opokki (May 5, 2003)

Toria, the labeling is different. Im not sure if the formula's are different too but pet food regulations vary from country to country as far as I know.

Here are the ingredients for SD Nature's Best with chicken from the UK website:
Ingredients 
Chicken (minimum Chicken 32 %), Chicken and turkey meal(minimum Chicken and Turkey combined 42 %) , ground rice, maize gluten meal, ground maize, animal fat, digest, dried whole egg, dried beet pulp, potassium chloride, dehydrated carrots, dehydrated peas, calcium carbonate, DL-methionine, choline chloride, salt, dicalcium phosphate, oat fibre, vitamin E supplement, iron oxide, taurine, mineral/vitamin mix:ferrous sulphate, zinc oxide, vitamin C supplement, niacin, mixed tocopherols, copper sulphate, thiamin, vitamin A supplement, beta-carotene supplement, citric acid, calcium pantothenate, manganous oxide, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, rosemary extract, calcium iodate, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement, sodium selenite, biotin, vitamin B12 


Here are the ingredients for SD Nature's Best with chicken from the US website:
Ingredients 
Brewers rice, corn gluten meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), turkey meal, dried egg product, chicken, ground wheat, peas, carrots, dried beet pulp, chicken liver flavor, L-lysine, DL- methionine, oat fiber, taurine, iron oxide, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid, minerals (potassium chloride, calcium sulfate, salt, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), rosemary extract, beta carotene, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin A supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (a source of vitamin C), niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement). 


BTW, you have the advantage of them labeling and giving the minimum percentage of meat in the formula. In the US they are'nt labeled like that and most manufactures here are not willing to give that info. The labeling on the Natures Best for the UK looks great but for the US it doesnt look so great. Im wondering if these are the same exact products but with different labeling or if they are completely different formulas? Anyone know?


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

In the US, the ingredient which is most plentiful in the bag, can, or whatever the package- has to be listed first. Obviously, the UK version is the better of the two! I'm really disappointed that the company is making what appears to be an inferior product for cats in the States!


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## opokki (May 5, 2003)

I was just comparing the nutrients between the US version and the UK version and the nutrient levels are similar but differ slightly....the calories also differ so Im going to guess that No, the SD in the US is not the same product as the SD in the UK.


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## Toria (Aug 9, 2003)

Thank you for answering my question Opokki and Jeanie.


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## Holly (Aug 11, 2003)

I changed Dagda from SD to Nutro Natural. It's doing wonders for her and she loves it! I know it's not the best out there, but it's the best kind I could find. She's happy, I'm happy. So hooray.


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## yayi (Sep 20, 2003)

Canned tuna in water, Fancy Feast (salmon/seafood their fav), broiled fish,chicken or beef, and dried food like Friskies. <<))


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

Yes, it's true what Jeanie says, but there is one catch, the way the ingredients are listed on the bag are the percentages BEFORE the cooking process (re my chicken vs. chicken meal post.)

I wonder if it is still the same way for that in the UK too.. hmmm.


Cthulhu: You must excuse me I am always extremely sarcastic! It's madening to talk to me or read what I say unless you know my character. 

What I am saying is that yes, the general public does think foods like SD and Iam's are great, because they can afford to pay for millions of commercials to run on virtually all channels every day, multipul times per day. So those foods are all people hear of, somet think it is the only food out there. 
So similarily they do get the mentality of "If it's on TV, it must be true." Perhaps you have never heard that expression before?


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## Cthulhu (Aug 7, 2003)

Actually, Angel, I never see an Iams or SD commercial on t.v. SD was recommended by our vet many years ago and I decided to use their products again when I recently adopted our kitten. Advertising or not advertising should not be the issue; nutrition should be. I would place no higher value on a product because it is not advertised yet I believe some folks believe that brings an air of authenticity or "prestige" to a product.


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## AngelZoo (Aug 24, 2003)

cthulhu:

*jaw drops* :shock: 

Do you not own a TV, or do you live in another country that just doesn't broadcast such materials? 

I really, can not believe you have never seen a commericial for SD, Iam's or even Eukanuba! lol.

SOME vets recommend SD (talking non perscription) alllll the time, because their nutrition course in college is sponsered and taught by Science Diet of course.  
So they will tell them to believe, whatever they want them to believe. And the sad this is, all to many vets never question that teaching, or recieve futher teachings from labs outside of the SD market. And in return a dr's. patients never questions the say of that vet dr. 
Except for a select few, whom have attemped on their own to learn otherwise.
There are a few vet dr's. here and there whom have, and I highly commend them for taking the time to learn repeatedly even after they have become a vet dr. 
The Dr. I work with at our practice, knows all about different brands and general nutrition for cats and dogs, we endorse Waltham and it is sold through us, but when it comes to non perscription diets he recommends other higher grade foods then SD and Iams, because he knows better. 

I'm not saying you are wrong to feed SD, every food will work differently on every pet, and what works best for the pet is what really matters. 

You know... it's funny, I've been giving help on advice for food for years now, but there's always a handfull of strangers here and there who question what I recommend and why, but now that I work at a vet. EVERYONE instantly takes my word, no questions asked... simply because of the association I make with working at a Pet Hospital... much like my thinking of people who believe anything that's on TV.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

I have digital cable and have never seen an SD commercial, only Eukanuba on the Eukanuba Dog Show and the commonly advertised brands such as Purina and Meow Mix, etc. Don't worry about people being so naive as to think that someone becomes an expert on nutrition because he has worked for a vet for a few weeks! After many years of experience, of course, employees would pick up some knowledge. 

The best we can do right now is to share what we have learned through our vets, our experiences, consumer sites which compare various brands and by reading labels carefully. Soon, catman has told us, there will be an unbiased product comparison available to us. I'm looking forward to that! 

Do you have documentation that SD pays student vets' tuition in nutrition courses? If so, please post it so that we don't cause the site owner any legal problems. It's best to quote a source to avoid libel. It might be wise to post a link instead of quoting- for the sake of accuracy. If that is true, it would be quite scandalous, and, in my opinion, unethical. However, I never found it difficult to question a professor during my college career. The professors encouraged questions--even challenges. Good professors consider that an indication that you are capable of thinking for yourself. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.


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## Cthulhu (Aug 7, 2003)

Angel

I guess I would give no more credence to your opinions because you work in a vet's office than I would to a commercial. If you *were* a vet I probably would consider what you're saying more strongly, and I have enough confidence in my experienced vet (no spring chicken her, no pun intdened). I certainly am not saying you are wrong. However, writing it off as a manufacturer's conspiracy with the vets of the US sounds a bit paranoid. I would appreciate some sources of information--book, Internet, magazine--which can substantiate the claims I have seen here. 

Perhaps we can agree to disagree.


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