Feeding a hungry cat!!

welsh_mummy

Today we took home a 3 year old female rescue cat and was advised by the foster carer that although she is on the thin side (post kittens), she is a really good eater and will eat anything.

We have started with dry food (go cat) and the bowl is already empty! So looking for advice regarding the best food to feed a hungry cat and is wet or dry food (or a mix of both) the best to feed her.

Thanks in advance x

balletshoes

mine is 1, he gets one bowl of wet mixed with dry in the morning, and this gets topped up with dry once later in the day.

my cat is a good eater, he'll try anything, at the mo he's on butchers classic wet (in tins) and Tesco dry biscuits.

if your cat has just had kittens she may be hungrier now than usual for her, so she may be a bit of a bottomless pit!

pawsies

Don't feed Go Cat it is one of the worst ones (and unfortunately one of the most advertised...). As a general rule avoid anything that is well advertised (mostly Purina/Mars).

I prefer Wet food and would go for Natures Menu or Applaws or something with a high meat content. They are carnivores.

Or feed raw if you can face it.

Dry food wise I would go for Burns or Applaws, even Harringtons (not as good quality but decent for the price).

http://www.catinfo.org/

scaredy_cat

i feed my Giz Butchers Classic tin - from Mr T or PAH - he can get though 1 tin in 2 days and he also has down PAH own brand cat biscuits - Seriously Good - these are down all day as he's a grazer and will come and go to his food bowls.

Paulaviki

My cats are very greedy hungry, they share a sachet of wet food morning and night and then have a bowl of biscuits out at all times. They just have supermarket brands as its too expensive otherwise but they are both very healthy so it's obviously not doing them any harm!

skintchick

We adopted a stray. He is very greedy. The vet said it was the fattest stray she had ever seen, and he is to have only two wet puches a day. I do also put biscuits down but he doesn;t really eat them. We usually buy Waitrose own food but sometimes Tesco if we shop there. You don;t need to buy brands.

inkie

Cats are crafty and will sit there pleading with you to be fed all day... Measure out what is needed for her weight and then make sure they get that. We give ours a breakfast and a tea, and then save some for overnight. I'd avoid Go Cat. on the advice of our vet, we feed James Wellbeloved. Hope that she settles in and that you enjoy your new additional to the family

paddypaws101

If she was a stray, or poorly fed in her previous home and then went on to feed a litter of kittens, she is probably 'out of condition'. For now I would not limit her to a proportion of her body weight but feed her as much as she wants until she has filled out again.
I too would avoid Go cat and try to feed a majority of good quality wet food, look at brands such as Bozita or Animonda Carny on https://www.zooplus.co.uk Applaws or Encore dry foods are much better quality than Go cat, and she may even enjoy top ups of tinned oily fish, chunks of raw chicken thigh or wings and any scraps of raw meat from your own meals.

rising_from_the_ashes

I would also allow her to eat her fill while she builds up her condition again - kittens take a lot out of them & esp if not in the best of health / conditions when they had them

Wet food is much better for them - zoo plus that Paddypaws has linked to is fantastic

You will also find they generally eat less of the higher quality foods so the costs aren't that much more - and can work out less - than sm branded stuff:)

If you do want to feed a little dry have a look at the grain free Porta 21 on zoo+ is good & both my (very fussy) cats will eat it - smells horrible to me but if they like it I can live with that!

welsh_mummy

Thank you to everyone who replied, made a quick trip to mrT's to buy a few pouches/tins and dry food to see what she likes. Also gave her a wee bit of salmon from our dinners tonight which she liked.

Our concern is that she isn't drinking enough, have tried plain water and a milk/water mix which she did have a wee drink from. Is there anything else we could try?

scaredy_cat

try the cat milk you get in the supermarket.

i found my cats liked to drink out of mugs or glasses rather than their bowl!