Cat food options

DebtHater

Hi all,

Just looking to change the cats foods about, they really arent taking to wet at all.

Got 2 females, will be getting a male kitten very shortly too, and the 2 females do not really like wet food, full stop.

We seem to be throwing more wet food away than they are actually eating, tried them on all sorts. Whiskas, felix, tinned, the only stuff they did seem to eat more of was the gourmet stuff. Then they started going through phases where they wouldnt eat jelly, then they wouldnt eat gravy....... doing my head in!

They tuck in well to the dry food. We give them go-cat at the moment, they love the indoors version of it. They will go back and forward all day and eat that, I witness both of them tucking into it. But, again today, I am looking at 2 full bowls of wet food. Untouched.

Both cats are happy and healthy, showing no signs of any problems. No problems with their litter, always the right colour etc etc. The younger one is a little bit slim, but I believe that she has filled out as much as she is going to, I believe she may have been the runt. The older one is just getting fat, so they are obviously getting what they need from the dry.

I have heard people saying that they have had problems on dry food, i.e health wise? I know the vets say to always give plenty of fresh water, which they always have access to anyway, but can anyone explain more into the pros and cons of a dry only diet?

What would you guys do in my situation? I dont want to end up starving them, but I also dont like seeing them waste the food that they do.

Money is a slight issue too, cant afford all the expensive stuff, but open to suggestions!

Also, slightly off topic, the youngest cat doesnt like being touched. Any one got any suggestions to make her a little more friendly? She hates her back legs being stroked, will growl and hiss when picked up, and she cant wait to get away from whoever has picked her up. HOWEVER, when she is in season, she is the most loveable cat ever and she wont leave you alone. Its just weird. The vet checked her over, said there were absolutely no issues or concerns, "just spend more time petting her". Any ideas?

Thanks all!

missmontana

All mine are on dry and perfectly healthy, I just treat them to a bit of tuna or chicken or oily fish every now and again.
If money is a bit tight, I give them Purina One Cat food, a bit better quality than go-cat but not as pricey as Hills Science and other such brands.

Try playing with her with one of those dangly toys on a stick, then you can get her used to being touched from a distance if you stroke her with that.

DebtHater

missmontana wrote: »

All mine are on dry and perfectly healthy, I just treat them to a bit of tuna or chicken or oily fish every now and again.
If money is a bit tight, I give them Purina One Cat food, a bit better quality than go-cat but not as pricey as Hills Science and other such brands.

What would you recommend for the new kitten? I'm not sure what he has been weaned onto, so I may just carry him on with whatever he is eating. However, I bought it for the wife and she is adamant that she wants it to have the wet kitten food, kitten milk, etc. Personally I didnt do that with the other two. What would you say?

Try playing with her with one of those dangly toys on a stick, then you can get her used to being touched from a distance if you stroke her with that.

We do that, and she plays well. She doesnt have an issue with being stroked, touched, its just when she is handled/picked up. She will tolerate it for about a minute, then the growling starts. If she isnt put down at that point, the claws come out. Generally, shes a lovely cat providing you stroke her between the ears. Anywhere else she just doesnt like it

HappyMJ

DebtHater wrote: »

What would you recommend for the new kitten? I'm not sure what he has been weaned onto, so I may just carry him on with whatever he is eating. However, I bought it for the wife and she is adamant that she wants it to have the wet kitten food, kitten milk, etc. Personally I didnt do that with the other two. What would you say?

Anything that they will eat will be fine. It depends on your budget. Supermarket food is fine but will probably be refused but if they eat it then why not. If they are liking Go-Cat and you like the price then continue with it. If they don't like wet food (which is mostly water anyway) then you don't have to give it to them especially if you are wasting most of it.

Rev

If you're looking to save cash. Change to a decent food.

Rule of thumb, if you can buy it in a super market, it's pants. There are exceptions (asda's toplife is 90% meat, feline fayre, hilife - all have good meat content) - the more meat in it, the less you feed.

Most brands have 4% meat and the other 96% is fillers that cat have zero use for. 4% meat for an obligate carnivore is absolutely ridiculous. The fillers come right out the other end. You feed more because it's got crap all meat in etc. Generally very bad value for cash.

Pets at home have their purely range, about 40% meat, not amazing, but a world better than felix, whickas, go cat. The do dry and wet and the feeding guide is much less than go cat etc because it has vastly more meat. Also, if you like by a b&m or home bargains they sell hilife pouches for 19p, 65% meat.

Mine refused to eat wet food for a while too, so I didn't feed them any for a week. Then put down some toplife, they wolfed it as they'd missed the wet food.

I feed two adult cats a grain free 80% meat diet for under £20 a month. I can't stand the way the likes of whiskas, felix, sheba, iams, gourmet etc completely rip people off. Premium prices for what contains VERY LITTLE nutrition. You say you can't afford the expensive stuff, yet you're paying through the nose for crap food.

DebtHater

Rev wrote: »

If you're looking to save cash. Change to a decent food.

Rule of thumb, if you can buy it in a super market, it's pants. There are exceptions (asda's toplife is 90% meat, feline fayre, hilife - all have good meat content) - the more meat in it, the less you feed.

Most brands have 4% meat and the other 96% is fillers that cat have zero use for. 4% meat for an obligate carnivore is absolutely ridiculous. The fillers come right out the other end. You feed more because it's got crap all meat in etc. Generally very bad value for cash.

Pets at home have their purely range, about 40% meat, not amazing, but a world better than felix, whickas, go cat. The do dry and wet and the feeding guide is much less than go cat etc because it has vastly more meat. Also, if you like by a b&m or home bargains they sell hilife pouches for 19p, 65% meat.

Mine refused to eat wet food for a while too, so I didn't feed them any for a week. Then put down some toplife, they wolfed it as they'd missed the wet food.

I feed two adult cats a grain free 80% meat diet for under £20 a month. I can't stand the way the likes of whiskas, felix, sheba, iams, gourmet etc completely rip people off. Premium prices for what contains VERY LITTLE nutrition. You say you can't afford the expensive stuff, yet you're paying through the nose for crap food.

Sound advice! I would like to know exactly what food you feed for the £20 a month, and where do you buy it from?

I'm finding it difficult to find a food that all 3 will enjoy and not waste - £20 a month surely is well within my budget for their food.

I didnt realise that the big names had a poor quality though...... maybe thats why the cats arent eating it :rotfl:

BitterAndTwisted

If your cats prefer dry food then that what I'd give them. You could give the Lidl one whch costs about £2 for 750 grammes which should feed one cat for about a fortnight. My boy Stanley has decided that that's all he wants despite being tempted with tinned and raw meat, which he won't touch.

Quite honestly, in this warm weather with all the flies about I wouldn't want wet food down for long.

Rev

The big names are terrible quality.

I feed this dry

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/applaws-natural-pet-food-applaws-cat-food-c-62_478_482/applaws-cat-food-with-chicken-dry-p-3025

I get the 7.5kg bag for £35, you feed the average 5kg cat 50grams of that per day. So the 7.5kg bag lasts me about three months (one of my cats is only about 3kg - the other about 6). Then I go to home bargains and buy 30 of the hilife pouches for £5.70. My cats have a pouch a day. Grab a couple of top life cartons at asda (these are massive and last me three days). So it costs me around about £20 to feed the two of them a grain free diet.

There's cheaper ways too.

Pets at home often have offers on their purely food, it's currently buy one get one half price. It's £6.99 for a 2kg bag. And again it's about 60-70g per day feeding guide.

http://www.petsathome.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?freeText=purely&x=0&y=0&storeId=10551&catalogId=10601&langId=-1

They also do offers like 48 pouches of natures menu for £23 (I've seen it cheaper in store too)

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/natures-menu-adult-cat-food-mixed-select-100gm-48-pack-14689

That has 70% meat, and on average the feeding guide says 100g for a medium cat, obviously if you're feeding dry too, you feed less.

I'm not being a food snob, I just HATE the fact that big companies fill a pouch with crap, label it cat food, and charge you a lot of cash for something that has very little nutritional value. All the while leading people to believe they're buying great food.

DebtHater

Rev wrote: »

The big names are terrible quality.

I'm not being a food snob, I just HATE the fact that big companies fill a pouch with crap, label it cat food, and charge you a lot of cash for something that has very little nutritional value. All the while leading people to believe they're buying great food.

It works though, I wouldnt have known any different until you explained it.

I was looking at Pets at Home last night, was thinking of getting a few bags of their own make, to see if they liked it. I noticed a guide on their site which states that wet and dry feeding is to be seen as a "treat" anyway.

So are there any actual pros and cons of a dry diet? Ive heard rumours about dry diets, but have any of them any truth?

Thanks for the links, will take a look at the food

Rev

DebtHater wrote: »

It works though, I wouldnt have known any different until you explained it.

I was looking at Pets at Home last night, was thinking of getting a few bags of their own make, to see if they liked it. I noticed a guide on their site which states that wet and dry feeding is to be seen as a "treat" anyway.

So are there any actual pros and cons of a dry diet? Ive heard rumours about dry diets, but have any of them any truth?

Thanks for the links, will take a look at the food

Yeah, I dry only diet can cause kidney problems in later life. Especially in male cats.

The purely is their own range too, and better than their silver bag stuff.

Here;s a link to two threats over at perforums, it lists a whole load of wet and dry foods, shows ingredients, price to feed per day etc. You can very clearly see the difference between good foods and bad foods.

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/112132-z-wet-food-cats.html

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/116753-z-dry-food-cats.html

Whiskas with it's 4% meat and animal derivatives costs about £1 per day to feed. Natures menu with 90% meat costs about 77p per day.

DebtHater

So what are the main benefits for you to feed your cats a grain-free diet?

I noted that the pets forum links you provided also made reference to topping up a dry diet with raw meat, would you suggest any raw meats that cats like best, or will they just like whatever we give?