Cat Food

PatrickO

PatrickO

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Ok, there's a dog food thread, so I'm allowed to do a cat food one :lol:

Does anyone know of a good quality cat food that doesn't cost the Earth.
When I look at the ingredients of normal cat food it seems to have about 8% meat and 92% cr*p.
Is there some cat food which has got real food in it?
 
We have a pedigree Norwegian Forest Cat.
He eats Royal Canin dry food. We usually get 3 kinds : Maine coon, fit and indoor longhair.
If we buy 4kg bags of each then it will last for 6months.
We do exercise him every evening, after that, he gets half a can of tuna in either brine or water. Once every week or so give him wet cat food as it is a junk food.
If I cook beef, he gets some of it rare.
He loves rare rabbit but it is hard to get.
 
4kg bag costs only £23 online so not much and it lasts ages.

You have to remember that there are 2 kinds of cats: wolfers - will eat all you give him at once(can become fat fast), and pickers-will eat only when hungry.
Our is picker

We use www.zooplus.com for food as service is great and prices are good as well
 
Ours likes the Lidl own brand chunks with gravy. Seems to be a mix of meat/derivatives and cereals. Comes in packs of 12 pouches with 3 each of turkey/lamb, veal/turkey, salmon/crab and beef. This gets fed to her "on demand" on a constant bed of Iams dried food and there's always a bowl of water for her.
She would like to supplement this diet with fresh bird but the bells we've fitted to her collar have rather curtailed her hunting.
Dad used to feed her a similar diet but with Hills dried food and Felix pouches (and no collar so more fresh killed meat!) but she seems to throw up less on what we feed her. (She tends to wolf her food if we feed her more than a teaspoon or so of wet food at a sitting, hence the little and often approach!)
IIRC, the dried food is a formulation for "middle aged" cats and also helps with hairballs.
 
As for tuna...don't buy John west no mess one...it is salty as hell!! I love tuna and that was too salty for me not to mention cat
 
I usually give mine proplan. 10KG sack is about £40 or so delivered from GJ Titmuss. They've got chicken and the salmon in that size. They have more varieties in the smaller 3KG size.
 
Our cat has Iams. She doesn't like it, but its that or starve!
 
Now Pritchards...he loves them in tomato.sauce :) again only as a treat:)
Mix beef with one and some sauce and he will eat it all and walk away happy :)

There is brand Bonzita. They make good quality wet food used by many cat breeders and it does not cost fortune
 
PatrickO said:
Is there some cat food which has got real food in it?
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Well Patrick there is where I live, a never ending supply of Mice and shrews that live in the woodland right next to our house :thumbs: There is a Butchers section in our local Radco which is a cooperative store, he has a freezer filled up with all sorts of stuff for cats and dogs. Funnily enough I asked him about Lites, as this was something my Mum used to feed our cats years ago. It is highly rich and nutritional so must only be given is small amounts and not on a daily basis. He did say he could get me some as and when I needed it.
 
Gary Coyle said:
Always let our neighbours feed our cats
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:lol:

When ours first came into the family (she was Mum and Dad's before they both died and we took her on), she got caught out. M&D were having a cuppa with their neighbour when her (neighbour's) cat flap went. In walks Maisie, straight up to the cat's bowl only to be chased out by Mum! She (cat) was a repeat offender until she moved after Mum's death at which point she had to find a new donor! She doesn't wander quite as much here and certainly isn't boss cat, although she will chase any visitors away from "her" garden!
 
Cat food full of meat? Mice or birds????
 
I will not feed my cat dry food after reading about WHY it is so bad. Even the worst wet food is better for their health than the "best" dry!

www.catinfo.org

Cats are obligate carnivores ie they are designed to eat only meat so a raw meat diet is the healthiest, but it is difficult to feed a raw diet unless you are willing to put the effort in. Some cat foods are better than others, some are shocking if you actually read the ingredients.


Heather
 
our cat will only eat Iams. Have tried her on wet, other dry, all sorts of meat.. she doesn't want to know. (Oh and she comes in from the garden to use her litter tray and then goes back out!')
 
I use Butcher's Classic, most supermarkets stock it. Doesn't contain any grains (which the cats don't need but cheap foods are packed with). It's about £2.70 for 6 tins.

Dry food I use Porta 21, it's ~£30 for 10kgs which lasts my 3 about a month.
That's on zooplus.co.uk and is also grain-free
 
Tigger.ufo said:
Even the worst wet food is better for their health than the "best" dry!
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Even though cheap wet foods are packed full of carbs?

I think the main thing to watch out for when feeding dry is that your cat gets enough water. Mine are indoor cats and love their water fountain, Dylan's there now in fact.
 
Tigger.ufo said:
I will not feed my cat dry food after reading about WHY it is so bad. Even the worst wet food is better for their health than the "best" dry!

www.catinfo.org

Cats are obligate carnivores ie they are designed to eat only meat so a raw meat diet is the healthiest, but it is difficult to feed a raw diet unless you are willing to put the effort in. Some cat foods are better than others, some are shocking if you actually read the ingredients.


Heather
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Its a cat, you want to see what goes into the crap you eat what they call food, i worked in the food industry for 13 years and you would be amazed.
 
Tigger.ufo said:
Even the worst wet food is better for their health than the "best" dry!

www.catinfo.org
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I don't agree,sorry.
Our cat on dry food is doing really good. My parents cat on dry is really healthy.

Don't want carbs? Where is the cat going to get them from? Carbs=energy.
Still don't want carbs? Raw meat diet it is...

Urinary problems come when you spade/castrate your cat. Not always but that's main reason specially with boys...

All wet food is in my opinion classed as junk food for cats. Especially cheap brands like whiskas etc. Full of different E and salt.

Give mine some of that and he will need to be washed after he poops (long hair cat and wet poo don't come along;) ) it messes up his stomach. At least he is used to be washed and jumps to bathtub straight after toilet visit :)

But then again, your cat, your diet. Every cat is different.

And everyone knows what's best for his cat! All depends on what he was raised on. !!!
Drastic diet change is bad...
 
spike241 said:
Even though cheap wet foods are packed full of carbs?

I think the main thing to watch out for when feeding dry is that your cat gets enough water. Mine are indoor cats and love their water fountain, Dylan's there now in fact.
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YES!

If your cat only has dry food he will be dehydrated (even though you think he drinks lots) as cats do not have a thirst drive.

Please take the time to read the link I gave which explains a lot. I have lost two cat early because of kidney problems, both of which drank from water fountains.

Yes, of course better quality food is better for them but it is more important that they get enough water.


Heather
 
I did read the link and a lot of it is crap.

The three key negative issues associated with dry food are:

1) water content is too low

2) carbohydrate load is too high Mine is grain-free so very few carbs, many wet foods have a lot of carbs

3) type of protein - too high in plant-based versus animal-based proteins Mine isn't, probably is in cheaper foods but check the ingredients

I definitely noticed a massive change in my cats' after I switched to dry food. They look so much healthier.
I will occasionally give them wet food (I recommended Classic earlier) but I wouldn't touch most wet foods.
 
Tigger.ufo said:
YES!

If your cat only has dry food he will be dehydrated (even though you think he drinks lots) as cats do not have a thirst drive.

Please take the time to read the link I gave which explains a lot. I have lost two cat early because of kidney problems, both of which drank from water fountains.

Yes, of course better quality food is better for them but it is more important that they get enough water.


Heather
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Sorry heather but that article is sensationalist scaremongering at best. A lot of sweeping generalisations and assumptions, very little in the way of fact. Just one example is:


Taurine is one of the most important nutrients present in meat but it is missing from plants. Taurine deficiency will cause blindness and heart problems in cats.
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This assumes that there is not taurine in dried cat food, this is certainly not the case with decent quality dried cat food.


BTW, ours are fed Chudleys, 2,000mg 0f taurine per Kilo and no cereal.
 
fabs said:
S

This assumes that there is not taurine in dried cat food, this is certainly not the case with decent quality dried cat food.


BTW, ours are fed Chudleys, 2,000mg 0f taurine per Kilo and no cereal.
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I agree, but it's worth checking the label before using a product to make sure, because taurine deficiency can have serious consequences. Cats can't synthesise taurine from other amino acids the way other mammals do, and normally get it from the flesh of their prey.
 
rhody said:
Do cats actually eat the birds they kill or do they just kill birds for the sake of it?

(Serious question)
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Sometimes, but not always, and their preferred prey seems to be rodents in any case. They kill because they're predators, and cats are probably closer to their wild ancestry than any other domesticated species.
 
MartynK said:
I agree, but it's worth checking the label before using a product to make sure, because taurine deficiency can have serious consequences. Cats can't synthesise taurine from other amino acids the way other mammals do, and normally get it from the flesh of their prey.
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Agreed but that's what you should do with any pet food, dry or wet, if you want to ensure they're getting the correct nutrition.
 
Both of ours are well healthy, they have wet food and a small bowl of dry for them which they take as and when. Also as mentioned they have a supply of live food in the form of rodents and such like. Oddly enough in the 5 yrs we have lived here and the feeding station which I have set up in the garden, I have never seen either of them with a bird :shrug: and have only ever found one Wren which was brought in the house and was still alive.
 
spike241 said:
Sometimes they eat them, sometimes they bring them back as presents for their slaves :)
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MartynK said:
Sometimes, but not always, and their preferred prey seems to be rodents in any case. They kill because they're predators, and cats are probably closer to their wild ancestry than any other domesticated species.
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Many thanks spike and Martyn - much appreciated
 
Tigger.ufo said:
I will not feed my cat dry food after reading about WHY it is so bad. Even the worst wet food is better for their health than the "best" dry!

www.catinfo.org

Cats are obligate carnivores ie they are designed to eat only meat so a raw meat diet is the healthiest, but it is difficult to feed a raw diet unless you are willing to put the effort in. Some cat foods are better than others, some are shocking if you actually read the ingredients.


Heather
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Thanks for that Heather. It has really made me think again about cat food.
I was especially impressed with the information that although a cat may be doing ok in the short term with dry food, in the long term they will get increased health problems.

I had never heard the term "obligate carnivore" and the implications it has for cat diet.

It was also very interesting to hear the difference between dog and cat dietary needs. I.e. dogs can digest plant proteins, but cats can't.

Also was shocked that most cats on a dry diet will suffer from chronic dehydration as they will not drink enough water to make up the difference.

I'm going to need to have a total re-think about how we feed our cats.
 
both of our last two cats had renal failure, it was hereditary. They were fed on wet food with a small handful of dry biscuits mixed in. Funnily enough the specialist diet food they were given because of it was a dry biscuit. One of them lived for another 8 years after diagnosis, almost unheard of as they usually only survive a year at most once it starts
 
Ive got a 19 year old tom with renal failure. Hes been on Royal Kanin renal for a while but he doesnt really seem to like it. Vet gave him 6 months to 2 years.
As he's not been eating right for a few days I thought sod it and got him some 100% tuna stuff yesterday. That went down ok not a scrap left in the bowl.
Also he's on ear drops which I tried to apply yesterday evening. He's till giving me the sorrowful, one ear droopy skew-whiff look this morning.
Bleedin animals.
 
DorsetDude said:
Also he's on ear drops which I tried to apply yesterday evening. He's till giving me the sorrowful, one ear droopy skew-whiff look this morning.
Bleedin animals.
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Could the ear problems / tinnitus have been caused by your neighbour's wind chimes perhaps?
 
No, but the neighbour's future farmer Gileses could probably be a direct result of a WCE (wind chime enema!)
 
Our cat is very happy with 'Felix Doubly Delicious', Go Cat complete biscuits and recently he's gone onto 'Go Cat Crunchy & Tender' biscuits. Couple that lot with Activia strawberry yoghurts, catnip and Dreamies and he's one very contented (and quite large) cat. He spends most of his time, when not eating, sleeping in any cardboard box he can find.
 
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