Best dried food for a cat??

beks

Hi all

After a little bit of advice ....

after years of struggling to feed our 5 year old cat, I have decided it is time to try her on a complete dried food. She is the fussiest cat in the world and there is no wet food that I have been able to find which she actually likes and will eat every day.

She might eat them one day, but the next she just turns her nose up at it. I must spend a fortune on cat food - she will only ever eat the most expensive sort (the little tiny tins) but goes off them really quickly. I do leave them down but they end up getting flies in them and that turns my stomach!! _pale_ She has been like this ever since we got her and sister (RIP) when they were rescue cats (even the centre commented on how fussy they were).

She constantly nags me for food but as soon as I put the bowl down, she walks away in a huff!! I have also tried raw diet with no success, she looked at me with utter disgust when I put a chicken wing infront of her!!! However, she will eat most biscuits and will fill herself up on them and drinks huge amounts. I have recently taken her to the vets for blood tests as I was convinced it was either diabetes, thyroid or kidney problems, but they all came back clear. She is also slightly overweight (about 6/7kg now), sleeps ALL the time and has a anal gland problem.

With all the food that goes to waste, I think our only option now is to try a complete dried food. She currently just eats supermarket own brand biscuits with the wet food so I thought if I changed her to a decent, more expensive one then at least I know she might get more nutrients from there, I am wondering if not getting the right food is making her tired??!!

So what are the recommendations for complete dried food for cats? Unless anyone knows of any wet food which all cats will eat??!!!!
Obviously looking for a fair price but also want a decent one which wont make her pile on the weight either. TBH, anything must be cheaper than how we feed her at the moment with all the food going to waste (I have made many trips to the local cat sanctuary with the food she turns her nose up at lol). I did ask the vet but they werent really much help.

paulwf

It's amazing how fussy ex strays can be isn't it? How on earth they survived in the wild I don't know

Purina One is easy to get hold of and our 4 like it. You can get small sample bags (vets will also give you a free measuring cup which is handy as dried foods are more concentrated) and if she likes it work your way up to larger bags. This applies to all dried foods...a much larger bag is only slightly more expensive than a small bag so when you find the right one bulk buy. Some shops are also a good 25% cheaper than others so shop around.

Meowing Heads is another favourite of ours although harder to find and less size options. It is a more natural food with more meat content and less fillers so a good choice.

In the long term it sounds like you could do with a light food (Purina or Hills), but typically we find that our thin cats will eat it and the fat cats won't! They can tell the difference between normal and light but the trick is to do a 50:50 mix of normal and light, if you use Purina One and Purina Light there won't be too much of a contrast.

I know lots of people are going to post disagreeing with Purina but our 4 thrive on it.

paulwf

BTW 6/7 kg cats that sleep all the time...I know a few of those It's like a house full of sleeping bears here

zzzLazyDaisy

Royal canin do a wide variety of dried food. Mine has the one for sterilised cats (as they tend to put on weight) but they do breed specific and special needs foods (like weight control).

It isn't cheap but I check out the various on-line pet stores for offers, and go through topcashback for extra discount. I store it in an airtight tub and it keeps for ages, and my cat loves it.

You can get small packs to try from 'real' pet stores if you want to be sure before you order loads online.

Strangely, although he is fussy about wet food, he loves the little square cat food from aldi which is about 19p a tin, and their treat sticks which are about 90p for 10 (I think)

hth

laurel7172

Sounds like the best dried food is one she will eat! Start at the cheapest and work up from there.

spike7451

Pets @ Home 'Purely' range has to be one of the best cat foods you can feed puss! Orbit (rip) used to love it but Daisy prefers Whiskas,which is what she was fed in the Sancturary (ASSISI) where she adopted me!

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/brands/all-brands/brands-pqr/purely-cat-food-treats/

The chicken one is 40% Chicken meat,very little addatives & bulkers too.AND they are on offer at the moment!!!
TWO X 2kg boxes for a Tenner!
Brucey Bargain!!
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/purely-adult-complete-cat-food-with-chicken-2kg-14853

Main Flavour: Chicken (4%).

Suitable for pets of the following lifestage(s):

Adult 1-7yrs.

Suitable for pets with the following dietary requirement(s):

None stated.

Ingredient(s):

Fresh Chicken (min. 26% in the brown disc shaped biscuit), Poultry Meat Meal, Rice (min. 19%), Poultry Oil, Sugar Beet Pulp, Egg Powder, Fish Meal, Minerals, Meat and Animal Derivatives, Maize Gluten, Barley, Oats, Vegetables (Carrot, Pea, Spinach) Fruit (Citrus Pulp, Grape Pomace). Coloured with natural EC Additives. Total Chicken min. 40%.

Typical Analysis:

Moisture 8%, Protein 28%, Oils and Fats 16%, Fibre 2.5%, Ash 8%, Vitamin A 15500iu/kg, Vitamin D3 1250iu/kg, Vitamin E (a-Tocopherol) 80iu/kg, Copper (Cupric Sulphate) 18mg/kg, Taurine 1000mg/kg, Calcium, Phosphorus. Vitamin declaration is valid until best before date printed with batch number on top of pack.

Feeding Guide (approximate per day)

Small Cats (2-3kg): 25-40gm;
Medium Cats (3-5kg): 40-60gm;
Large Cats (5-7kg): 60-80gm.

Please always ensure that fresh drinking water is available.

When feeding for the first time introduce gradually over 4 days.

This information is provided as a guide only. Please refer to the product packaging for full details.

zzzLazyDaisy

Just wanted to say a big thank you for posting the Purely offer.

I was just about to start searching for the Royal Canin offers as I only have a couple of week's food left, so I've decided to try him on this instead as it is such a great price!!

:beer:

spike7451

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Just wanted to say a big thank you for posting the Purely offer.

I was just about to start searching for the Royal Canin offers as I only have a couple of week's food left, so I've decided to try him on this instead as it is such a great price!!

:beer:

You're welcome.

Does your puss like fish? (silly question I know...) Because the tinlets at the top of the page are basically pure fish in jelly! Orbit could demolish a tin in seconds! (and get it everywhere too!:rotfl:)

dannyjebb

From what I know and have heard about from our vet you need to give you cat a bit of a mixture of dry and wet food as cats can get kidney problems if they solely eat dry food.

On the buying side once you have found a dry food you are happy with then look and see if they sell it on petsupermarket...u get 10% off your first order and 10% cashback from topcashback. We got 10kg bag of royal canin Maine Coon for only £37 and then another £4 cashback. and its about £50 in other shops

Rev

If you want the best, it's Orijen, no questions. Check out independent reviews. It's widely considered the best kibble available. But it has a nice price to match. Agree with the above too, please don't feed your cat dry only, it's really not good for them.

Look for a food where the fist name ingredient is meat, the higher the better, cats are obligate carnivores. They need meat.

Mine are like yours with wet food, fussy little so and so's, they only thing they'll eat with any consistency is applaws wet, and then only the chicken and cheese and the plain chicken.

I've tried hilife, feline fayre, bozita, almo nature, natures menu, purely wet and every other high meat content wet I can find, trust them to like the most expensive. I'm trying to get them to eat raw, but having no success as of yet.

Have you thought of trying raw? Giving her chicken wings, prawns etc instead of tins.

Pets at home purely more meat and fish4cats are both high meat content foods at reasonable prices.

rita-rabbit

I like Burns (dried) - it's cheap & although some think it's not the best - high rice content - it's got no rubbish in it. You could do alot worse

Re: wet - my two were fine on 99% dried until the Tom got urinary problems. What about supplementing with Feline Fayre tins or sachets - this is excellent stuff & CHEAP (asda mostly). Or tinned pilchards ocassionally?

Trust me after changing Ms Fussy to 100% dried she will bite your hand off when you produce any wet in the future!