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Completely overwhelmed by cat foods

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  • paul2louise
    paul2louise Posts: 2,539 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    This post has opened my eyes. My cat has mainly been fed up to now on Felix, butchers or own brand tinned wet cat food. I have been supplementing this with dry food for her to graze on which has tended to be Go cat, whiskas complete or supermarket own brand. She is an active 9 year old tortie so has plenty of energy. I got invited on a trial for Proplan cat food. She really seemed to prefer it to the other dry foods she had been previously eating. She even will eat it if I don't give her wet food. So I cut back on the wet food to only 1/2 tin a day. She had her annual vacs and review and the vet said she had lost weight. I said she was eating more dry food and the vet said the dry food is sooo much better for her diet and teeth.
    So reading the posts above I am now very confused over what is best for my cat.
    She seemed to like the Proplan. I prefer to limit the wet food in the summer, flies etc. But not sure what is best to do
  • I said she was eating more dry food and the vet said the dry food is sooo much better for her diet and teeth.

    The thing is - I'm sure dry can have it's place at helping with their teeth as I know many people on a different forum who feed only wet and / or raw and some of their cats do seem to have a lot more dental issues than most of the cats I've known / had who have some dry

    BUT I would limit this to a few bits of kibble / day, say in a treat ball so it gets crunched properly and does help with their teeth

    The problem with dry though (which in many peoples eyes more than cancels out the good stuff) is that it's really, really hard for the cat to drink enough to stop them getting dehydrated - which may affect their kidneys long term :(

    If you feed wet am & pm with maybe a few bits of kibble left in a treat ball during the day, then they should be absolutely fine :)

    If you want to leave a meal for during the day - how about an auto-feeder. They usually come with an ice-pack to go underneath which should keep the wet fresh until lunchtime
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • paul2louise
    paul2louise Posts: 2,539 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    The thing is - I'm sure dry can have it's place at helping with their teeth as I know many people on a different forum who feed only wet and / or raw and some of their cats do seem to have a lot more dental issues than most of the cats I've known / had who have some dry

    BUT I would limit this to a few bits of kibble / day, say in a treat ball so it gets crunched properly and does help with their teeth

    The problem with dry though (which in many peoples eyes more than cancels out the good stuff) is that it's really, really hard for the cat to drink enough to stop them getting dehydrated - which may affect their kidneys long term :(

    If you feed wet am & pm with maybe a few bits of kibble left in a treat ball during the day, then they should be absolutely fine :)

    If you want to leave a meal for during the day - how about an auto-feeder. They usually come with an ice-pack to go underneath which should keep the wet fresh until lunchtime

    Thanks for that. I will keep offering wet food and then she can graze between meals on her dry food. She has plenty of access to water so hopefully she will drink enough. It seems harder to understand diet of your pets that us humans. At least I know what is good and bad and when treat becomes excessive. Just finishing a small glass of red wine.:beer:
  • anotheruser
    anotheruser Posts: 3,485 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    I started my two cats off on dry all day, wet as main meals in the morning and evening.
    I cut dry out all together without any hassle.
    The vet is fine with the cats, they are healthy as ever.

    Feed them a raw egg (I personally feed the yolk only) once a month (at least) as a treat/snack too. My "treats" are the Asda Tiger treats, but as they are on 70% raw at the moment then I don't mind them having un-healthy treats.

    Cut dry out for a month after the current bowl is finished and you will see no difference. Some people say phase stuff in and out, I just did it cold turkey with mine and they didn't seem to notice.

    Also, mine have access to water 24/7 but I have only seen them drink it once a year, maybe. Try adding a bit to wet foods in the summer to make it slightly runnier than it comes out the tin.

    You must remember though, cats will ALWAYS be hungry. If they're not, then something is wrong :P

    And Paddypaws101 knows what they are talking about as we both frequent another specialised cat forum - I would trust their advice over anyone in this thread.
  • Haffiana
    Haffiana Posts: 733 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    I don't get this dried food is good for teeth thing. If a dentist told you that eating Ryvita or rusks would clean your teeth would you believe it? Would you even bother trying it?
  • JellyBox
    JellyBox Posts: 241 Forumite
    100 Posts
    Ta for the advice here, our two are now loving the tins. They're still getting a small amount of dry between them, but it's part way there! I think we're going to keep them on the small amount of dry, but I have bought the Applaws, so it's a better quality of that too.
  • And Paddypaws101 knows what they are talking about as we both frequent another specialised cat forum - I would trust their advice over anyone in this thread.

    Not disputing PP advice / knowledge in anyway but I really don't think there is a need to be insulting to everyone else AND especially when there are likely to be others around who may also frequent the same forum you're referring to!
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • anotheruser
    anotheruser Posts: 3,485 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper I've been Money Tipped!
    Just to reply to the above, I am not trashing everyone else's advice... just saying I would trust theirs above anyone else because I know them from another forum where I have seen fantastic advice given to the most un-knowledgeable people I have ever read posts from on a forum.
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