dry food question again... sorry!

Rev

emlou2009 wrote: »

sorry, i know the board is full of questions about dry cat food at the moment!

raw isnt an option for us as i have no freezer space to be able to buy it in bulk and cheap enough, i'm also just too plain squeamish to be able to feed the different bits they need, and good quality wet food pouches are way out of my price range, which leaves me only able to give mr kitty a decent diet through dry food!

I haven't read the whole thread so I apologise if this has been pointed out but petsathome do 48 natures menu pouches for £16, it's 70% meat so I believe its decent food (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) and sainsburys do applaws under the name of encore for about £3-4 for 6 tins. I have no idea what your budget is but maybe decent wet food isn't out of your price range if you buy one of those?

I feed my cats applaws dry and the encore wet from sainsburys. They were on JWB, but I decided to change since JWB are now owned my mars, I tried them on arden grange but they wouldn't eat it. So I got a small bag of encore from sainsburys and they wolfed it. Works out well for me since I get to feed them well on a budget. A big bag of applaws cost me £26 delivered.

emlou2009

an update!
i tried him on JWB and the smell was somewhat better, but no huge improvement in texture, and they ate twice as much as they do of applaws so it would work out very expensive to feed them JWB! have got samples on the way from arden grange, wafcol, burns and RC. knowing my luck the ticket will end up being wafcol, as that seems to be the hardest to source :rolleyes:
just to throw something else into the mix, i noticed hills do a "sensitive stomach" kitten food and am wondering if that might be worth a try, as it is easily found and at 30% meat rather than 20+% (or whatever JWB is) they might need to eat less to be fulfilled - the range sell it for around £11.20ish a pack, which is actually cheaper than JWB there!

~Chameleon~

emlou2009 wrote: »

an update!
i tried him on JWB and the smell was somewhat better, but no huge improvement in texture, and they ate twice as much as they do of applaws so it would work out very expensive to feed them JWB! have got samples on the way from arden grange, wafcol, burns and RC. knowing my luck the ticket will end up being wafcol, as that seems to be the hardest to source :rolleyes:
just to throw something else into the mix, i noticed hills do a "sensitive stomach" kitten food and am wondering if that might be worth a try, as it is easily found and at 30% meat rather than 20+% (or whatever JWB is) they might need to eat less to be fulfilled - the range sell it for around £11.20ish a pack, which is actually cheaper than JWB there!

It's worth a try but you really don't want to be chopping and changing food frequently as this in itself will give him an upset tummy so you won't know whether it's the food or the changing causing loose faeces.

I would recommend sticking at each one for at least a month to give it/him a reasonable chance of working, and don't forget to gradually switch the food over. Start with a tiny bit of new food mixed with what he's eating now and adjust it slightly each day until he's eating all new food by about day 10.

Fire_Fox

emlou2009 wrote: »

an update!
i tried him on JWB and the smell was somewhat better, but no huge improvement in texture, and they ate twice as much as they do of applaws so it would work out very expensive to feed them JWB! have got samples on the way from arden grange, wafcol, burns and RC. knowing my luck the ticket will end up being wafcol, as that seems to be the hardest to source :rolleyes:

just to throw something else into the mix, i noticed hills do a "sensitive stomach" kitten food and am wondering if that might be worth a try, as it is easily found and at 30% meat rather than 20+% (or whatever JWB is) they might need to eat less to be fulfilled - the range sell it for around £11.20ish a pack, which is actually cheaper than JWB there!

Let us know how you get on - Noah did not like Wafcol!! :rolleyes: Chameleon is right about chopping and changing, but I have been naughty with Noah's dry food - the wet has mainly been Feline Fayre and raw. He hasn't stunk regularly since he came off the JWB/ Felix combo, tho he stank the flat out and poo'd loads on First Class. No stink on Encore (Applaws) or Orijen or raw (no dry with that). I am wondering if it is rice that is the problem with Noah, as JWB and First Class are heavy on rice ....

emlou2009

i know chopping and changing isnt good, but it cant get much worse IYSWIM, and i'm giving them the full bag each time so plenty of time to adjust. bless the other one though, he is quite happy to eat anything and nothing seems to have any kind of effect on him, he is just plain normal, thank god!!

emlou2009

we have good news

we appear to be having some success with wafcol :T

solid poop, still veeery smelly, but its definitely agreeing with him more than anything else he's had yet! still not sure if the trigger is chicken or rice, but have got some burns samples to try with duck/fish and rice, so if he goes back downhill on that i'll know its rice thats the issue! i am so pleased!

Fire_Fox

Sorry if I have already said this but Orijen do a six fish version, AFAIK no chicken or rice, which might suit if you need a back up plan.

emlou2009

ooh didnt know about the orijen one, will add that to the neverending list! was planning on probably trying fish4cats next as the ingredients seem very similar to wafcol, being fish and potato based!

paddypaws101

Fire Fox...I was wondering if you could provide us with some kind of spreadsheet or formal analysis of the stink factor of various foods. Obviously the results would be subjective but I think it could be an interesting study. You could maybe include various factors such as...
a) Strength of stink
b) Longevity of stink
etc
You might find the Bristol Stool scale helpful in categorising stools produced, although terms such as 'Mr whippy' can also be informative.

sorry...just having a silly moment, not meaning any offence!

Fire_Fox

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Hmmm a qualitative research project, we'd have to add a variable for frequency ... I'd need a research assistant, I am such a technophobe that I struggle to master Excel! I can see the headlines now "the Gillian McKeith of the pet world".