Cat Food Questions

emmahip

Hi guys - this is my first post but I feel really strongly about this.

We used to give our cat a diet of half the recommended daily amount of Iams and a pouch in the evening. From about 18 months old poor puss had no end of problems from severe cystitus to excessive vomiting (often even for a cat!).

Many visits to the vet produced nothing but huge bills! We switched from the standard Iams to the furball control one and this helped the vomiting frequency but Cystitus seemed to occur more often. I asked if it might be the Iams but was told no.

Changed to a vet recommended by a friend and first thing he said was "no more Iams!" - it is full of salt and lots of other undesirable additives. He recommended replacing the Iams part with James Wellbeloved which we did straight away - puss has had virtually no problems at all since (this was about 6 years ago).

Having since read all the articles that are out there I am shocked that so many people still buy this vile stuff. If you want the best for your pet please don't buy it!

milkydrink

I said (& I still think it is) THE BEST the supermarket sell.

But I wouldn't feed it to my cat.

But if someone wants to buy supermarket food for their cat, then its the best they do in the supermarket.

Yes of course the pet shop preimum ones are far better, but some people will not or can not pay that.

redmel1621

I hope someone could point me towards the right info please.....

I recently bought my two kittens the Whiskers Kitten pouches and on the side it mentions how many sachets to give a day, it also gives an amount for combined dry/wet feeding. Does this mean combined with a dry complete food or is it referring to a biscuit mixer (which I couldn't see in shop anyway).

Obviously it is cheaper to feed on dry complete food, but I have also read that cats can suffer dehydration as they don't tend to drink much water so by feeding them meat it ups their water intake.

So if I was to feed them a meal or two dry food and one meat, would it be a good idea to give them the evening one as meat. This might encourage them to come home too.....

Mel x

bulchy

I feed my cats a mixture of dry and wet food. They get James Wellbeloved dry, which they absolutely love, and I use 1 tin of classic cat food, or a tin of tuna or a poached chicken breast a day. If I ever have to buy a different dry food, they tend to eat more wet food, so I try to stick to the JWB. You can get a sample of JWB from the website, just google James wellbeloved cat food, sorry I dont have the link.
Sue


Just re-read your post. When I first started to let them out, I used to keep the meaty meal for later in the day, to encourage them to come home, seemed to work just fine. Also, I never fed them before letting them out in the beginning as well, another ploy to make sure they came home.

Fen1

Some important things to remember with kittens/cats:

1. If they are great hunters they are going to have a naturally high protein diet. If you then feed them standard tinned food there is a risk of them getting too much protein which puts a strain on the kidneys. Please talk to your vet about low protein foods if they are hunters.

2. Try to give them water rather than milk, as the above reason.

3. The pollen on lilies is DEADLY to cats. Never bring lilies home that still have pollen-stamens attached (make sure the florist takes the stamens off in the shop rather than risk bringing any pollen into the home). Dig up and destroy any lily flowers in your garden.

redmel1621

bulchy wrote: »

I feed my cats a mixture of dry and wet food. They get James Wellbeloved dry, which they absolutely love, and I use 1 tin of classic cat food, or a tin of tuna or a poached chicken breast a day. If I ever have to buy a different dry food, they tend to eat more wet food, so I try to stick to the JWB. You can get a sample of JWB from the website, just google James wellbeloved cat food, sorry I dont have the link.
Sue


Just re-read your post. When I first started to let them out, I used to keep the meaty meal for later in the day, to encourage them to come home, seemed to work just fine. Also, I never fed them before letting them out in the beginning as well, another ploy to make sure they came home.

My mum has just given me a whole bag of this in trial size sample bags, but it is all adult She works in a pet shop, I will keep it for when they are old enough to have it.......

Mel x

Emmacw

I've just got 2 kittens and sent off for the kitten care pack from Whiskas as well as a free (large) sample from Purina One.

The Purina One (kitten) food recommends you moisten the kibbles whilst they are young and gradually make it less wet as they get older.

My 2 kittens are nearly 11 weeks now and they have wet pouches for brekkie, lunch and dinner and then leave dry food down overnight. Its always gone by the morning.

I alternate between the Whiskas pouches and Asda's own (much cheaper!) and the Purina One (freebie) dry and Asda's own.

Water is always next to their food as well.

I haven't got as far as letting them out yet as their 2nd injections are not for another 10 days but plan on letting them out on am EMPTY stomach to encourage their return.

Good luck.

Emma

Jet

Having been to the vets yesterday with my cat and having been diagnosed with possibly a digestive problem, I thought I would post what my vet told me.

He has said that he has never seen a cat with a bladder problem that wasn't fed on either Iams or Go Cat.

He said if he had a cat, he wouldn't feed it either of those brands.

He recomended Purina (which I've seen in the supermarkets I think) or of course, the Hills science plan.

prudencekitten

My 11 year old boy cat was diagnosed with diabetes nine months ago. Thank God, he is thriving on a daily insulin injection and a regulated diet of Hills M/D biscuits (high protein). When researching the condition on the internet, I came across a yahoo group on feline diabetes. One contributor shocked me by saying how common a condition diabetes is in cats compared with years ago. She said this was attributed to the large number of cats fed on dry food, the equivalent of feeding kids on cereal for every meal, as it consisted of cereal with a meat-flavoured coating. She called it "diabetes in a bag". Apparently the very best food for cats is ... mice. Some of the contributors to the forum made up their own special food with all sorts of meat, feathers etc ground up together. They say wet food is best for cats, but my vet recommended the Hills M/D biscuits because they made the diabetic less hungry (voracious appetite and thirst being a symptom to look out for as well as peeing on a Niagara scale).

shanni

There's a lot of info on the internet about how modern cat and dog food is so full of rubbish and ultimately leads to poor health and premature death. I know people who swear by cheapo food and others who wouldn't touch it.

The ideal food for cats is raw meat...chicken wings and offal, yet this alone will not give them sufficient nutrients.

I feed my 4 cats on a 2 different types of dry (Iams and Go-cat mixed up) and a variety of pouches. The tins are a false economy as they won't eat it once they've been opened. I buy Natures Menu pouches http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk/cats/ wet food as it contains 70% meat compared to the 4% meat 'derivitives' in the others. Whiskers, Felix and supermarket brands are simply flavoured cereal with additives. Having said that, I feed mine a mixture of all the above to keep them excited and a varied diet. My one boy gets cystitis if fed dry food alone, it is awful to see him crouching around the house trying to pee. Some cats just don't drink enough so they need the moisture from wet food. Male cats are more prone to cystitis than the girlies and a timid, anxious cat will get cystitis from stress.

It is an easier life just feeding dry, I used to do it and for busy people out working all day, it saves a lot of bother. Wet food is hard work, messy and smelly. I guess it depends on cost and lifestyle. My 4 are my family so I don't mind spending them and putting in the effort of endless clearing up and bowl washing (I won't leave food down during the day because of flies). A lot gets wasted, at least 1 pouch a day goes down the loo or to next doors cat, but my choice to do it.

Tuna is a huge favourite with my cats too, but the salt is so bad for them and th high protein is too rich, they mustn't have it more than once or twice a month.