Alternative to Iams catfood

Sunnyday

Hi everyone,

i`ve just managed to post a question on the wrong thread after doing a search so i`m moving it over here on a new thread and i would be grateful of any help.

I`ve recently done some reading and after being suitably horrified i`ve decided to boycott all Proctor & Gamble products, thankfully i don`t use many but one of the things that i do use is Iams catfood.

My little black cat is obsessed with the ocean fish flavour, she has plenty of wet food but for her teeths sake i want her to have something hard and biscuity too IYKWIM. She has been eating this stuff for years and turns up her nose at any other biscuits :rolleyes:

Soooo does anyone have any suggestions for a replacement, she loves really fishy things and i have less than zero chance of her eating a complete dry food - wouldn`t want her to actually but does anyone have any suggestions please?

I would be interested to hear if anyone has sucessfully weaned their cat off Iams and in particular this flavour and if so what did they eat instead.

Thanks

SD

Fire_Fox

The bad news is 80% of pet food is produced by four companies with a shocking ethical track record: Nestle (Purina, Felix, Go Cat), Mars (James Wellbeloved, Whiskas, Royal Canin), Proctor & Gamble (IAMS, Eukanuba) and Colgate-Palmolive (Hills). :eek: The good news is that there is no evidence that kibble keeps teeth clean, in fact many vets recommend raw bones such as cheap chicken wings to do this task!

If you want a fishy kibble you might try Orijen Six Fish (75% fish) or Fish4Cats (70% fish). If you want super-duper ethical companies then Arden Grange Ocean Fish (26% fish) or Burns Ocean Fish (35% fish). Arden Grange and Burns do free samples. :money: Noah loves Orijen and refused Burns (he isn't normally fussy). Best thing to do is slowly mix the new food into the old food, changing every few days maybe 10% then 20% then 30% etc.

sarabe

I use Franks http://www.franksprogold.co.uk/

I used to have a boarding cattery and it was by far the most popular dry food with the cats.

Sunnyday

Hi Fire Fox,

thanks so much for this information, i shall go and see what i can find locally over the next couple of weeks and do as you suggest and change over gradually. She dosent eat much of this stuff but i`ve given all my cats some kind of biscuit over the years and they`ve all had fantastic teeth even when they were in their late teens so i assumed i was doing the right thing.

I`m interested in the chicken wing idea but i know that she will eat the whole bone and maybe even try to eat it whole and choke if she does chew through and eat a sharp piece i`m a bit worried about the consequences so whilst i like the idea i probably won`t put it into practice.

I may try a bigger bone and see if she gnaws at it - something like a beef bone but i will need to keep her seperated from the dogs whilst she tries it, i can see bone wars breaking out otherwise

I appreciate to time that you`ve taken to provide some great information.

Thanks again

SD

spike7451

Sunnyday wrote: »

Hi everyone,

i`ve just managed to post a question on the wrong thread after doing a search so i`m moving it over here on a new thread and i would be grateful of any help.

I`ve recently done some reading and after being suitably horrified i`ve decided to boycott all Proctor & Gamble products, thankfully i don`t use many but one of the things that i do use is Iams catfood.

My little black cat is obsessed with the ocean fish flavour, she has plenty of wet food but for her teeths sake i want her to have something hard and biscuity too IYKWIM. She has been eating this stuff for years and turns up her nose at any other biscuits :rolleyes:

Soooo does anyone have any suggestions for a replacement, she loves really fishy things and i have less than zero chance of her eating a complete dry food - wouldn`t want her to actually but does anyone have any suggestions please?

I would be interested to hear if anyone has sucessfully weaned their cat off Iams and in particular this flavour and if so what did they eat instead.

Thanks

SD

Try this range;
http://www.petsathome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?freeText=purely&x=34&y=14&storeId=10551&catalogId=10601&langId=-1
The one below is big thumb sized pieces of fish in jelly!! Daisy loves it & will scoff the whole tin in one!And,it smells like fish too.
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/purely-adult-sardine-cutlets-in-jelly-tin-156gm-14733

paddypaws101

As Fire Fox says....current opinion is that kibble does not really help teeth all that much, although I have to say I am still struggling with this as part of the wet versus dry debate. Raw bones are perfect to clean their teeth, she will not swallow it whole and can actually crunch up the small bones in wings or chicken necks quite easily. I do not think a beef bone would be a good idea....the bigger weight bearing bones ARE more likely to splinter and cause problems.
Try getting some Thrive dehydrated fish treats to entice her to eat a wing, sprinke the powder on the chicken so she gets the aroma!

giantmutantbroccoli

http://www.fish4dogs.com/Categories/Cat-Shop/Complete-Food.aspx

Fish4dogs do a catfood, they're a very friendly company. I got some samples from them and ordered a few toys and some food, it all arrived that week and there were extra samples as well! I don't know how well cats like the cat food, but my rats loved it and it smells very fishy

Sunnyday

Ok having spent a while reading even more about this i`m coming around to the chicken wing idea, is it the whole wing that is fed or just the tips?

Are they easily available to source and freeze in bulk as i don`t shop too often but don`t have masses of storage either, DH and i have just had a discussion about feeding small whole fish (sprats) too, and the debate led us through a bit of a weird discussion there, a bit unexpected really but i have lots of things going around in my head atm now.

All of it is helpful though and as our cat was semi wild when we got her from the rescue i think that out of all our animals she would adapt the best.

Keep the ideas coming - my poor brain hasn`t done as much work as this for a long time

Thanks

SD

Fire_Fox

Sunnyday wrote: »

Hi Fire Fox

I`m interested in the chicken wing idea but i know that she will eat the whole bone and maybe even try to eat it whole and choke if she does chew through and eat a sharp piece i`m a bit worried about the consequences so whilst i like the idea i probably won`t put it into practice.

I may try a bigger bone and see if she gnaws at it - something like a beef bone but i will need to keep her seperated from the dogs whilst she tries it, i can see bone wars breaking out otherwise

SD

Noah does eat most of the chicken wing bone - as he would in the wild - and it was very strange to see the first time! If you prefer to give a larger bone try a chicken thigh or drumstick, apparently huge bones like beef can crack teeth as they as so hard. Alternatively you can give much smaller bones than a wing, like a chicken carcass with all the small ribs in. These are so tiny and soft they just crunch right up.

There are loads of YouTube videos of cats growling when they are given raw meaty bones so I would think you would be right about bone wars!! :eek: The dog can have raw bones too, assuming he is a larger breed of dig I think they can have the larger bones such as beef but I am definitely not a dog expert so may be corrected on that one.

Rev

Also check out applaws. Cereal and grain free like Orijen. Pretty much the same as yourself I realized how horrific Iams is and took them off it. They did well on James wellbeloved, but then they're owned by mars so wanted them off that too. They point black refused to eat arden grange and burns, but they love Applaws. I've also heard great things about fish4cats.

Although if you're happy for her to have just a wet diet, I'd do as firefox suggested and try her with raw chicken wings. You know exactly what she's eating then, and it'll do the trick with her teeth.

Sunnyday

Also would like to say thanks to the peeps who have posted links to the petfood sites, all have been bookmarked for later reading, some of these look good.

SD