Wet cat food?

vk2003 · 18 October 2009 at 6:34PM

Sorry for the long post - I thought I would set the scene before asking my question...

I have 2 Burmese neutered male siblings.

They are gorgeous!

We feed them twice a day; In the morning Ren gets dried food , and Stimpy gets wet food. Neither will consider eating the other type!

Their evening meal consists of a mixture of rice and fish made fresh by us (but frozen in batches and defrosted as required. Occasionally if out of this, they will get canned tuna, or fresh deboned chicken (roasted rater than raw). Unfortunately we can't ramp up the amount of fresh food we make from a time and freezer space perspective.

For breakfast, Stimpy quite happily eats Whiskas pouches and Ren has been eating Hills Science Plan.

The mistake I made was to start reading on the 'net about dried foods, and discovered that Hills and most other of the main brands of dry food are not actually that good for a cat. So we switched to Orijen died cat food for Ren's breakfast which is apparently much better. He wolfs this down, and it really seems to be suiting him...

However, I have had much greater difficulty finding a better quality wet food for Stimpy. Can anyone suggest something appropriate for him please?

Little_Chicken · 18 October 2009 at 6:37PM

Hi - I give mine almo as it's 100% meat. It comes in pouches too. I buy it in bulk from zooplus. HTH

lowis · 18 October 2009 at 6:52PM

Applaws, Almo Nature, Nature's Best - even the Waitrose wet cat food seems pretty good - it even looks good enough for human consumption!

please also read up about the safety of cats eating tuna prepared for humans (i.e. tinned). if the tuna forms a regular part of your cat's diet then it could cause more harm than good. I did a lot of reading recently about diets and i am sure i saw this mentioned in a number of places.

x

Belisarius · 18 October 2009 at 7:08PM

HiLife is £4.99 for 12 100g pouches and is 60% meat. Available in Sainsburys & Morrisons, and probably other places, too. I feed this.

Spearmint · 18 October 2009 at 7:17PM

For wet food we are currently feeding a mix of natures menu (71% meat) and hi-life (60% meat) pouches

robert_harper_2000 · 18 October 2009 at 9:57PM

Almo seems to trump them all - Chicken Breast 75% Protein 20%
Applaws - 75% Chicken Breast Protein 14% - also gelling agents in Seaweed.

I think it is down to Almo using free range chickens, seems to give them the edge on the quality.

Another new one is Schesir looks quite good, but abit mushy.

Hilife does have a decent meat content but use Tapioca which is just a cheap filler.

Natures Menu again good amount of meat but not sure about the EC permitted antioxidants, various articles suggest it allows them to use questionable perservatives without listing them. I might email them to check what it means to them.

Fire_Fox · 18 October 2009 at 10:10PM

If finances are an issue you might try Pets at Home Purely (50% meat), Feline Fayre from Asda or Home Bargains (packaging cheap but 60-70% fish) or Hi-Life from Home Bargains. Are you making sure the home prepared evening meal is complete by adding a mineral supplement and/ or bonemeal and fish and/or chicken oil? If not you will need to, and also check the morning wet food is complete as many are complementary and it only seems to say in tiny writing!!

Good to hear Orijen is working for you, I am about to switch Noah onto it. What differences have you noticed over the Hills?

paddypaws101 · 18 October 2009 at 10:24PM

Try some raw!! Chicken necks, wings, hearts and giblets. Look at info on BARF diets online, check out local Halal butchers for offcuts which they give away for pennies, or free.

supersaver66 · 19 October 2009 at 1:21AM

I'd also say Hi-Life, Natures Menu and feline fayre which is great as you can buy 4 pouches for £1 in Asda therefore 12 pouches only £3 and its a good quality food!

Spearmint · 19 October 2009 at 9:57AM

robert_harper_2000 wrote: »

Hilife does have a decent meat content but use Tapioca which is just a cheap filler.

Natures Menu again good amount of meat but not sure about the EC permitted antioxidants, various articles suggest it allows them to use questionable perservatives without listing them. I might email them to check what it means to them.

I was under the impression that Tapioca was one of the 'least bad' fillers and there isn't a huge amount of it in the food so assumed it was ok

I did not know that about Natures Menu as like you say none are listed in the ingredients, the only thing i wasn't sure about in it was 'sugars'

I did lots of reading on food and thought i'd chosen well, have i not?

Fire_Fox · 19 October 2009 at 12:32PM

Spearmint wrote: »

I was under the impression that Tapioca was one of the 'least bad' fillers and there isn't a huge amount of it in the food so assumed it was ok

I did not know that about Natures Menu as like you say none are listed in the ingredients, the only thing i wasn't sure about in it was 'sugars'

I did lots of reading on food and thought i'd chosen well, have i not?

Hi-Life does seem to be one of the best and it is a complete food. Arguably BARF - as long as it's well balanced - is the daddy especially if you are willing to feed baby chicks and rat pups. But many of us don't have the time or stomach for it! Tapioca, and indeed any carbohydrate, behaves the same in the body as sugar once it has been broken down.

From there on down there does seem to be a sliding scale of quality: I would not dispute Robert Harper's suggestion that Almo and Applaws are the best BUT they are both complementary not complete so you couldn't feed those alone. Secondly they work out to about £8 a kilo, whereas Hi Life is under £4 a kilo - which you choose therefore depends on your budget.

My experience in human nutrition would say the body is forgiving to a point, there is no difference in terms of health outcome between a good quality natural diet and an excellent natural diet. Unless you are a professional athlete you don't need to be obsessive, whereas a diet of junk and processed food causes damage visible or not. I can't imagine it's not the same for cats: you aren't feeding Go Cat or Whiskas biscuits (kitty corn flakes!) so don't beat yourself up.

Wet cat food?

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