Cat food advice

michbright

I'm looking for some advice on what to feed my two cats, please

I have 2 beautiful British Shorthair cats who are just over a year old and are eating Whiskas dry food at the moment, which I feel very guilty about. They have had James Wellbeloved and Proplan in the past but for financial reasons, we had to stop that. We are now able to get them something decent again and I am really after some advice as to what to feed them. I really don't want them to go to the cat farm in the sky too early because I haven't fed them properly.

By way of background, I had a very much loved British Shorthair who died of an embolism very suddenly last year at the age of 6. We were devastated as we'd had her since my DD1 was only 9 months old. Anyway, we didn't ever give much thought to what we fed her and, as a result of her death, I've tended to spoil our new kitties quite a lot, hence the reason for trying to find the best food possible for them.

Both cats have hip dysplacia and one is on a supplement for it, so something good for joints would be good, and one (not taking supplement) seems to have a sensitive tummy as she sometimes throws up whole chunks of food.

I've looked at Royal Canin, but am confused as to whether I should continue with a purely dry diet or introduce some wet food into their diet as well. If so, what should I feed them?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

suki1964

Why do you feel guilty about your cats enjoying whiskers and appearing to thrive on it?

Theres a lot of snobbery when it comes to pet food - I can be just as guilty, but at the end of the day i would feed what I could afford and what my pet enjoyed and thrived on. My last lad would only eat pedigree. I felt like I should only shop for it under the cover of darkness and tried miserably to get him off it. At the end of the day it suited him and suited my pocket so I fed it to him

michbright

Thanks for your reply and I can totally see where you're coming from with regard to food snobbery.

I feel guilty because they don't look as healthy as they did when they were eating the other foods and my one cat has started being sick, which she wasn't before we switched foods. They are my 'babies' and I want what's best for them .

It's not about food snobbery for me, it's about the fact that they don't actually seem to be thriving on this food.

When I was a child, we had a Maltese who was fed on whatever was cheapest and she lived to the ripe old age of 17, so I know food doesn't always play a part in our pets living longer.

suki1964

michbright wrote: »

Thanks for your reply and I can totally see where you're coming from with regard to food snobbery.

I feel guilty because they don't look as healthy as they did when they were eating the other foods and my one cat has started being sick, which she wasn't before we switched foods. They are my 'babies' and I want what's best for them .

It's not about food snobbery for me, it's about the fact that they don't actually seem to be thriving on this food.

When I was a child, we had a Maltese who was fed on whatever was cheapest and she lived to the ripe old age of 17, so I know food doesn't always play a part in our pets living longer.

I didnt realise they werent doing well on the food, that wasnt clear from your OP

A lot of the "premium" foods actually work out as cheap as the main stream ones because you dont feed so much

I feed my dog Arden grange and mentioned to my cat owning friend how well my lad was doing on it and she put her cat on it. Her cat was one that was HUGE and always hungry and really wasnt a walking advert for health but within months had totally changed into a sleek slim line feline.

But then Im biased to Arden grange
http://www.ardengrange.com/Pet-Food/all-cat-foods.asp

rising_from_the_ashes

I agree there's food snobbery around but we do the best we can with what we've got. However, if you're aren't doing well on what they're being fed then it's time to look for something else.

For dry, mine get Royal Canin and they both do fantastically well on it.

It can seem expensive on first look but if you shop around you can get the costs down a lot:

I used to buy 2kg bags from the pet shop which worked out at £8.50 / cat / month.

Recently, I've bought a 10kg bag & also got 4kg bags on BOGOF both online - this has brought the cost down to £3.50 / cat / month - probably cheaper than feeding "cheap" food from the supermarket.


There are big "arguments" about whether an all dry, all wet or mix of the two is best and everyone will have their own opinions on this.

Personally, I also feed wet in the morning & evening - I like the interaction with the cats, it lets me see them eating close up (so I could spot any potential problems) and also makes giving medication (if it's ever needed) a lot easier!

krlyr

suki1964 wrote: »

Why do you feel guilty about your cats enjoying whiskers and appearing to thrive on it?

Theres a lot of snobbery when it comes to pet food - I can be just as guilty, but at the end of the day i would feed what I could afford and what my pet enjoyed and thrived on. My last lad would only eat pedigree. I felt like I should only shop for it under the cover of darkness and tried miserably to get him off it. At the end of the day it suited him and suited my pocket so I fed it to him

I "thrive" on takeaways in the sense that I enjoy them and externally seem to be a healthy young adult, but I bet if I ate just takeaways for years, it would soon take its toll on my body. It's not snobbery, it's science - cheap foods contain cheap ingredients so the body does not get as much out of them. Cats are obligate carnivores, i.e. not omnivores, so a diet with 4% or so actual meat in it can't be that good for them.

OP, I think your best bet is to look at the ingredients of available cat foods. Not everything at a premium price is a premium food. Basically you want something with as high a meat content as possible and less cereals/bulking fillers (e.g. vegetables). As for wet/dry, I know it is quite debated but I believe having some wet food puts less of a strain on the kidneys, personally if I had a cat I would feed it a mix of the two.
Another option to look into could be raw feeding. However, I know cats tend to be fussier than dogs so it's usually a case of letting them decide if they want to eat raw, rather than deciding that you'll feed it to them! My mum's moggie shows quite an interest in the dog's raw dinners but I know some people have tried it and found the cat hasn't shown enough interest in every aspect of the diet (e.g. will eat meat but not bones or organs) to make it a balanced diet.
I imagine a raw diet would have benefits in terms of the natural glucosamine in bones helping with the hip dysplasia, the lack of grains etc. would help the sensitive tummies, and the moisture and digestibility of raw meat would benefit the kidneys, but you will need to do the research to make sure it's balanced.
Otherwise maybe look at the ingredients in brands like JWB, Burns, Orijen, Fish4Cats, Applaws to name a few that might be worth trying. I agree that a good quality food may work out a bit cheaper by having to feed less, e.g. Fish4Cats dry food, for medium to large cats the range goes from 30-70g a day. Picking the middle figure of 50g, that's 100g a day so a 7.5kg bag may seem expensive at £38 (includes delivery) but that will last 75 days - so 2.5 months, only about £15 a month for both cats. I don't know how much you're spending on Whiskas at the moment but that price doesn't sound too unreasonable to me.

michbright

Thanks for all the replies. It's certainly given me something to look into.

I'm inclined to go for either Royal Canin or Applaws at this stage, as well as some wet food. The cat who takes the supplement every day is actually quite good and sits in front of her bowl waiting for her tablet every morning, so no struggle there.

Will have to look around to see which is most cost effective

Fridaycat

There are many things to take into account.

The reason why people advocate a mixture of wet and dry is because cats generally are not programmed to drink much water - dry food has around a 15% moisture content on average, whereas with wet it is 70-80%.

Whatever you decide to feed them, you then need to consider whether or not you need to feed them a grain-free diet. This is thought to be healthier for cats as they don't eat grains in the wild, and is also usually good for cats with digestive problems or sensitive stomachs.

Applaws and Orijen are good grain-free dry foods that have around an 80% meat content.

If you don't need to feed grain-free, then I find with my 5 that Royal Canin is always a winner. They do many different varieties and I have not yet come across one which my cats won't eat or which they get bored of.

In terms of wet food, there are also grain free options - Grau, Smilla, the new James Wellbeloved pouches - you need to read the labels on websites such as Zooplus.

I would not advise feeding the tinned Applaws as a wet option, other than an occasional treat, as it is a complementary food rather than a complete one.

When feeding any new food, it is important to remember to introduce it gradually into your cats diet. Don't just finish off the old food and put the new one down at the next meal time. Their tummies need to adjust correctly, so gradually mix ever-increasing amounts of the new food into the old, until you are completely onto the new.

There is a common misconception that I have seen posted on these and other boards, that Whiskas, Felix etc wet food contain only 4% meat content. This is incorrect. The actual reality is that if a food is labelled as, for example, "Lamb", the minimum amount of lamb required by law is 4%. The rest of the meat is made up of other meats (generally poultry) and by products. Whiskas, Felix etc are not clear on the overall percentage of meat in their products, but then neither are Royal Canin or JWB.

Overall, I would advocate feeding a higher quality diet. Of my 5 cats, 2 are Bengals who do have sensitive tummies and 3 are moggies, one of which is quite fussy. Mine are fed Royal Canin dry in the morning (they have had Orijen in the past, but are now bored of it) and Grau Grain Free in the evening. I also feed Bozita wet food from time to time, though it does give one of the Bengals loose stools, and my next order from Zooplus is going to include some Smilla.

h007

you have already been given alot of good advice here.

i would echo the advice of feeding some wet food so your cats are getting enough moisture in their diets - this maybe why they are not doing so well on the whiskas dry. you will just have to find one your cats like which is sometimes easier said than done!

as for a good dry food i can reccomend james well beloved as this is what i am feeding now and my cats are very well though abit overweight

but i do plan to change over to applaws when my jwb stash has ran out as i prefer the idea of 80% meat and no grains as fillers. also they apparently will need to eat less of it too.

cjmumto2

I feed Burns Pet Nutrition which is completely pure, it contains brown rice but no wheat/corn, alot of animals seem to thrive on it. I pay 8.50 for a 2 kg bag and she eats 70grms a day. I feed half a pouch of wet in the evening, just to ring the changes.