What do you feed your cats? Options

[lynh]

The Maccas of cat food line is used by vets and pet stores in order to get you to purchase their much more expensive products. I also take part in forums in the UK and US, and believe me, this line gets used all over the world - almost word for word.

How on earth did cats manage to survive, and often live to grand old ages, when not so long ago none of these types of food were available?

My cats all have a diet which is approximately 50/50 wet (tinned and fresh) and dry. I feed them Friskies dry, and in the morning I add a couple of handfuls of Hills Prescription Diet t/d for their teeth, as none of them fancy raw bones for their dental health - and I dare anyone to tell me that my cats aren't well fed and extremely healthy.

[kittenmitten]

Of course you would know so much about it Lynh - I can see the difference in cats coat, teeth etc in having better quality food - if you want to feed your cats sh** Lynh go right on ahead and think what you want, which you will do anyway, particularly when it comes to anything I say, but I have seen what better quality food does for cats in bad condition, and how much damage foods likes Whiskas adult, Friskies etc does not only health, but with the amount they eat (as it is packed with filler and water and not nutrition), and also can cause crystals, make poos stink or cause digestive upsets. I have a certificate in animal nutrition, and believe me, do study the labels, I do not just buy into slogans or hype. I prefer to give my kittens the best nutritional start and giving my animals the best diet I can, rather than try to fix problems at the vet later from having created health issues with trying to save a few bucks. In spite of the food costing a bit more initially to start with, as the cats don;t go through it as quickly as supermarket cheapo food, it is actually far more economical and better for hem. I do also feed raw meat too.

[ChocolateDots]

In spite of the food costing a bit more initially to start with, as the cats don;t go through it as quickly as supermarket cheapo food, it is actually far more economical and better for them.

Agree cats do better on the higher quality foods, my sister used to feed her crew on Friskies, even Coles brand dry.
Once she changed to Royal Canin, added wet food and raw the cats are soo much better off. Better coat condition, over all health and litter trays are nicer too. The costs weren't too bad either since they do eat less of the RC than the old junk they had before.

[fleabag]

I feed my cats a wide variety, a mix of dries, Royal Canin Maine Coon, Optimum and Blackhawk, a mix of wets ..even Whiskas kitten on occassion cos my coonie loves it, based on specials, and a selection of people grade raw meats...variety is the spice of life..

[the1world]

i feed my cat CRISPY TROUT, KITTY FISHBALLS and CAT COOKIES

[lynh]

You don't buy into slogans or hype? Please.... spare me.

I've heard the Macca's line by people trying to push expensive and unnecessary prescription diets in two vet surgeries, two pet stores and this is the third forum.....


I would rather have six cats that I can afford to feed a healthy and varied diet, than one cat which I have to spend nearly the same amount of money on, for a dubious product.

Do some online googling.........There is a LOT of negative stuff out there in relation to these outrageously priced cat foods. Please note I am not saying these foods are harmful, but expressing the opinion that they are a waste of money, as in reality they are no better than the mid priced dry foods available in supermarkets.

[TheKittenCuppycakes]

We feed our cats a slightly varied diet, however, they mostly eat Hills Science Diet dry kitten food and they love it!! The only other thing they will tolerate is Whiskers wet food!

Hope I helped!

[hitcher]

I feed her Tuna Fish, its a Can fish, I like it too and she likes too.

[lynh]

Hitcher, if you are feeding your cat human quality tuna, please swap her to tuna cat food, as the human tuna does not have all the necessary stuff in it for cat health - taurine probably being the most important. I believe feeding cats human food or food not meant for them can result in health issues from malnutrition. You might like to try her on RAW chicken, beef or fish to give her a change.

[kittenmitten]

If you actually sat down and did the math, you would find that the so called expensive foods are not that expensive compared to your favourite supermarket food, as supermarket stuff is full of filler, so is NOT as nutritional. Since it is full of filler it does not cost as much to produce, so your ludicrous suggestion that the companies are ripping people off by not making other foods the same price - do you even understand economics. Cats will eat a lot more of it than the "expensive" foods, so in fact they are eating it faster, meaning you need to buy it more often, so it is not cheaper, it is just the gimmick that you are buying it in smaller amounts, probably once a week, rather than lager bags that last about 3 months

Perhaps the fact you are hearing that so often is actually because there might just be truth in it

[lynh]

A side by side comparison between Hills Prescription t/d and Friskies shows.......

The major difference is that the Hills contains 8.5% MORE fibre than Friskies.
Hills contains 6% MORE FAT!! Neither of those can be good.
Friskies contains roughly 3% less crude protein - not wonderful, but 3% isn't as huge a difference as the above differences - and I would rather have slightly less protein, which correlates with having significantly less fat.



At $3.60 per kg for Friskies as opposed to $16 per kg for Hills (these figures are an approximation based on the average prices available), there's no doubt in my mind that Friskies is >2x better value than Hills, and contains significantly less useless fibre and fat. (I just couldn't help the childish emoticon).

To anybody reading this, my only message to you in all of this is that spending big$$$$ does not necessarily = better. Feed your cats the food they like and that you can afford.

[Serena]

For goodness sake grow up and act like mature adults for once.

No wonder so many people come on here and only make one post and are never seen again.

[kittenmitten]

Lynh - you arent worth the time even bothering to reply to your 10 page essay but i do live tge fact you wasted so much time on it. Guess you think cats dont need fat in their diet then - guess that means anything they caught and ate in tge wild was on a diet and had no fat. Dont really care what you feed your cats though, this topic was about what was the best thing to feed and why. I have addressed that to anyone who cares enough about their cats to want to give them the benefit of a good diet as has many others who advocafe premium brands.

[Furrballz]

I would also like people to please leave their ego's behind when they go to post, as well. We are all here to help and assist each other, I thought!

My opinion and experience on this is this subject is that people need to look carefully at the ingredients listed on ALL food they give to their cats, as cats are carnivores and NEED as close to pure protein as possible. This means grain free or with minimum grain added in the dry and wet food you serve.

This is one reason why I feed alot of whole meats as raw beef, chicken, heart, liver and bones for calcium. The chicken mince we buy actually is minced up whole carcasses and we only feed tinned human sardines for the added calcium as well.

While premium dry food may be the best option in some cases, you still need to ensure that the first ingredient (which is the highest percentage in the food!) is meat or chicken, and not by-products or corn/wheat etc... on anything you choose for your loved cat.

[Mymphf]

Holy crap on a cracker Batman! I've had posts less insulting than those found here removed before!

I guess it all comes down to the moderator on at the time.

[ciggggg]

I feed Penny food...... she eats it... end of story... haha :P I feed her half 80g tin kitten Fancy Feast morning and night, and always have a bowl of "Dine kitten" dry food out at all times for snacking.

I have actually finally just ordered my first bag of Royal Canin - Persian though.

As Penny has a persian "like" face (cant rememebr the correct term lol), I'd like to see if changing to RC will make a difference for her. In particular the L-Lysene, to help eye boogers and add a little protection against the dreaded herpes, and hairball prevention and what not.

I dont mind paying a little extra if it has the potential to improve the quality of life for my pet. Everythings worth a try and every cat is different. Penny might hate it, or it may not make any difference what so ever, or it could have the opposite effect, who knows.

Everybody does what they feel is best for thier own cats, and thats all that matters :)

Here's another question: What is an appropriate age to start putting Penny on adult wet/dry foods? She turns 1 on 1st November.

[jaspersmum]

"The Maccas of cat food line is used by vets and pet stores in order to get you to purchase their much more expensive products. I also take part in forums in the UK and US, and believe me, this line gets used all over the world - almost word for word. "

The phrase "Maccas for cats" is very appropriate - it is exactly like that - the cheaper canned foods are full of fillers being cereals and grains and not good quality meats, cats are obligate carnivores and just don't need nor eat this much carbohydrates in the wild (even though our tribes are domesticated, it just converts to body fat which is not good for the cat) there was some controversy years ago that they were using downed cattle in canned pet meat and some of the manufacturers were using horse. Also a majority of the so called meat in the cheaper brands is actually by-products, not the muscle meat that people imagine is used. The test of any good canned food is to read the ingredient panel. The first three ingredients should be meat, meat and meat. May I suggest that you join the rawfood yahoo groups as they will educate you as to what is exactly in canned and dried food - I'm guaranteed that you won't like it at all.

The more expensive brands of dried kibble again reflect the better quality ingrediants used, and because they are better quality ingrediants and not fillers, you don't have to feed as much as the poorer foods and also what comes out at the other end is no where near as bad as well. I don't like dry food as it is basically a cooked food with oil sprayed allover it to make it palatable to cats - does anyone see cats eating kibble in the wild?


"How on earth did cats manage to survive, and often live to grand old ages, when not so long ago none of these types of food were available?"

It has only been since WW2 and the invention of the canning process that canned cat food became more popular, most cats before that lived off table scraps, what they could catch or had foods made for them - remembering that most cats were working animals not pure pets like we have today that wouldn't know a mouse if it walked up and bit them on the nose!

"My cats all have a diet which is approximately 50/50 wet (tinned and fresh) and dry. I feed them Friskies dry, and in the morning I add a couple of handfuls of Hills Prescription Diet t/d for their teeth, as none of them fancy raw bones for their dental health - and I dare anyone to tell me that my cats aren't well fed and extremely healthy."

Whilst I can appreciate what you are feeding with the supermarket dry food you are putting any male cats at risk for crystals and blockage due to the low quality ingrediants used. My own cats get dries but it does not make up a major proportion of their diet, they get a mixture of canned food (whatever I can afford from good quality to Aldi fish, a small amount of Royal Canin dries mixed varieties) and they get beef at night which is a muscle meat and is higher in taurine (which all cats need - if you have a look at the canned food the better ones have taurine added back in because due to the cooking it is leached out. If you cannot get your cat to chew through bones then either bash the heck out of them until they are basically pulp attached by the sinews and then feed or otherwise I suggest that you give them strips of meat as it is the shearing of the teeth into the meat that does the cleaning, whereas I believe the kibble when they crunch into is is just like us biting into sugar.

Also, cats should not be feed canned fish heavily as it does not give them the essential vitamins and minerals they need and they can become deficient in vitamin A or E? - again - cats do not live off fish in the wild.

When I did an introduction to vet nursing course the documents were all supplied by Hills, a pet food company who has a vested interest in educating vet staff to feed their foods - no original material at all. The only grain free dry food that I have come accross is Innova (via pets paradise), Artemis (who I don'think import into Australia any more) or Felidae. All of these are premium foods and whilt you are feeding one or two cats can be quite ecomomical but once you are feeding in larger numbers becomes too expensive.

Lyhn, I also don't see why you have to be deliberately rude to people, there are many people on the boards who have tertiary qualifications in their relevent fields so are more qualified than you or I, to go into the nitty gritty of their relevant area.

Ciggg, I would be transferring your furchild over onto adult food around now, I generally transfer at 9 months of age.

[lynh]

"I don't want this to become a big debate about what people should and shouldn't be feeding but I'm interested in what everyone feeds - raw, wet, dry, a mix? What brands? Why do you choose to feed the food you do?"


Above is the first post for this thread. It was not about "what is the best to feed and why" - get it right. And if I'm not worth replying to, why did you reply?

Anyway, I replied to this post as the OP requested. But because I made a perfectly reasonable, POLITE comment disagreeing with the "Macca's of cat food" comment, I was ripped to shreds by a certain person (see posts on 6th July). I didn't even know who had posted until much later!!

I have every right in the world to disagree with what anyone writes. This person could have ignored me, or agreed to disagree, but no, I get told that I feed my cats crap blah, blah and infers that I only disagreed with the comment because she made it. When someone is rude to me, I am rude back The cycle is never-ending because I like the last word, and obviously so does she.

I won't take that type of treatment from anyone, the self-proclaimed expert on everything, the person who makes it her business to put breeders down in this forum if she doesn't like them personally, and I won't be given a lecture by you, Jasper's mum, about other people's qualifications, when neither you nor anyone else here has the faintest idea what my qualifications may be!!

The moderator should have deleted the post following my post as soon as it was made on 6th July, and nothing would have happened.

Someone has gone through today and deleted the worst of the posts from the two of us, and because Jasper's mum has singled ME out for a smack, I look like the main offender, when I was the one who was attacked and was simply responding to a known trouble maker's rudeness to me, because she's chosen NOT to berate her. If you agree with her, that's fine, I couldn't give "holy crap on a cracker batman" hee hee :), but be fair with allocating your smacks, or don't do it at all. I think that's a reasonable request.

I can also recall a certain person advising a poster from the USA that rather than treating a feral cat with pyometra that it should be PTS. A person who actually cares about cats would NEVER advise that. THAT post should have been deleted by the moderator too, but no, this person gets away with posting horrific things, condescending and rude, and I'M THE ONE WHO GETS told not to be rude??

That post was ignored, by me and by the OP, and that cat was trapped, neutered (which was obviously part of the treatment for the pyo), given ABs, kept indoors for a month and was released and is now living a wonderful healthy life as a barn cat, and is no longer producing more kittens.

People who love cats should be talking about TN & R programs, not PTS.

Anyway, after having second thoughts about participating in a forum where the Mods don't do their jobs, and where it's obvious preferential treatment is given to some who seem to be able to post whatever they like, I will now officially bow out. Hooray says unowho!! Well, at least I can make her happy at last. I will join all the other people she's p'd off on the other forum and make some friends instead of more critics.

Note: Cats do need fat, of course they do, they just don't need the quantities the Hills company are giving them. I note that you ignored the fact that the Hills products have HEAPS more corn, wheat and other grains than other brands.

Sorry for the long post everyone. I hope it all gets through so perhaps you may at least know why I was uncharacteristically rude on this thread and doesn't get cut again to make me look like a raving lunatic. I apologise to those of you who have been offended except 4 unowho.

And always remember, unless you know that the person you are corresponding with is a vet, don't take anyone's word as gospel. The advice given here by all of us is just that, advice, it's not necessarily correct or beneficial to your pets.

[Mymphf]

TOTALLY OFF TOPIC REPLY HERE (but referencing the post above):

I'd like to give a gentle reminder that this forum doesn't have the moderator population of some others and the mods here are human and do actually have lives so it's inevitable that some things are going to slip.

Obviously (to me anyway) some posters could benefit in taking a breath after typing out their responses and having a re-read to see if their comments can be construed as inflammatory. Not having a dig at anyone in particular and I (especially) have been known in the past to let my feelings towards some be known to all and sundry.

The rules of this forum say, and I quote:

Please respect other people's feelings. It is ok to disagree with a person posting a message, but don't make it personal.

and

Any post which attacks or insults a person, or breeder, a cat club, either directly or by innuendo will have their post removed. Repeat offenders will be banned. We ask that you keep public gripes you may have with others off the Cats of Australia forums.

It's all well and good to pass on your ideals, experiences and suggestions - this is how we learn, but maybe we could cushion the blow a bit better than what has been seen in this thread.

[lotus]

In reply to the OP, here is what I find regarding different foods, what I feed and why I feed it.

With processed tinned and dry food you literally do get what you pay for.
Quality of ingredients is key, not just the actual percentages of fat, protein, sodium, etc.
I want the protein content in any processed foods that I use to to consist of first class proteins, ie real meat/chicken/fish, not byproducts of those or cheap premixes from China containing toxins and who knows what else (and these premixes are not uncommon). Some of the particular byproducts used and ground up into meat/fish meal or mixes would horrify many pet owners.
The differences between ingredients in premium foods versus cheap supermarket foods are very obvious on proper analysis. The ingredients are what they are, and most cheap supermarket food is just that. Cheap, and containing far too many cheap byproducts, premixes, fillers, colours, etc and not enough quality ingredients or real meat. That is why it is so much cheaper. You get what you pay for. Discussing this candidly with the nutritionists and marketing managers at the pet food companies concerned, something that I have done at length, confirms this, as does professional analysis. I also always read labels, as with food I buy for myself.

Most cats generally do far better healthwise, both short and long term, on foods containing better quality ingredients.
Just like humans do.
Here, my cats have a balanced, varied diet consisting of various raw human grade meats, yoghurt, grated cheese, chicken wings, necks, hearts, liver, giblets, other offal occasionally, human grade tinned tuna/sardines/mackerel in oil or springwater and some premium dry and quality wet (tinned/sachet) cat foods. The wet foods include premium brands and Dine Desire and similar.

I have bred, owned and fed enough cats for enough years to know and see the difference in quality between foods and how that affects the cats, as has my family, who have bred both cats and dogs since the 1930's (when the glut of processed foods fed nowadays was not available).
My cats' condition speaks for itself.

As with people, cats are what they eat, and most cheap supermarket food is effectively fast food for cats.
For that reason, I choose not to buy it, and recommend to those who do choose to use it to also include some fresh foods, at least occasionally, including raw meats (buy marked down meat or specials in bulk to freeze) and bones and some of the other foods I feed, and to perhaps mix the cheaper dry food with a better quality one, as a compromise where $ are tight.

Balance, quality and variety is important, as with people, and cats can still be fed very economically this way.

And not everything vets say, especially regarding diet, is necessarily "gospel"!

[jaspersmum]

Lyhn
I do not know why you took offence at my comment in my post I just pointed out that we have people from all walks of life on the forums and some are better qualified to speak about a particular subject. It would be like me talking about insurance because that is my job and I've been doing it for over 20 years. Also, the post was not aimed at you at all, just a general oversight about how we are educated into feeding our cats what the companies deem "best".