Cat Food Questions

~Chameleon~

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

She wasn't fed dried food as main meals, she got a handful every morning til I fed her some wet cat food. A combination of dried food, cat milk and being over weight all contributed to her condition.

Oh right, so why tell people feeding a dry diet is bad for their cats then?

There are plenty of good quality dry diets available for cats, many of which are far superior and healthier than feeding highly processed meat/wet food. I should imagine it was a combination of factors that caused your cat's diabetes, particularly if she was overweight and being fed a diet of highly processed meat/biscuit, plus cat milk!

I'm assuming here, that the "dry food" you were offering was the likes of go-cat/frisky/other treat type biscuits? These are no where near the same as a good quality dry diet, there's just no comparison

clairewp

My kittens are very fussy and will only eat whiskas dry food and wet food that is pate type but i do give them fresh fish and cooked meats when i do them . They don't like any pouches though.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Oh right, so why tell people feeding a dry diet is bad for their cats then?

There are plenty of good quality dry diets available for cats, many of which are far superior and healthier than feeding highly processed meat/wet food. I should imagine it was a combination of factors that caused your cat's diabetes, particularly if she was overweight and being fed a diet of highly processed meat/biscuit, plus cat milk!

I'm assuming here, that the "dry food" you were offering was the likes of go-cat/frisky/other treat type biscuits? These are no where near the same as a good quality dry diet, there's just no comparison

check out feline diabetes forums and you will see why I'm informing people that dry food is bad.

At the end of the day, you are the cat's owner, so it's up to you what you feed it. I'm just offering valid/valuable info that might save a cat's life.

* I did say it was a combination of factors in my cat's case, but this isn't the same for every cat obviously.

JCD_Capulet

I feed my cats IAMS dry cat food. I buy two diferent types suitable to their own ages (senior and junior) they love it! As soon as I'm home with the shopping they're in the carrier bags chomping at the bit to get to their biscuits. OH! And I buy it from poundland! 250g bags for a quid, £1.50 cheaper than asda

the_devil_made_me_do_it

The carbohydrate in dried food is also addictive to cats.

CGG

Tesco's have a current offer on the Whiskas pouches. The boxes of 12 are £2.09.
Offer ends 5/2/08.

JCD_Capulet

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

The carbohydrate in dried food is also addictive to cats.

No offence, but if dry food was so bad for cats then very specialist companies like IAMS wouldn't be making it. I'll stick to my vets advice on feeding.

sc6_2

My cat used to eat Iams dried food exclusively until she had three bouts of cystitis close together. My vet told me he had seen this so many times with Iams that he had kept a database of cats he had treated. He had sent the info to Iams but said he had never had a response from them. He said he was up against a big money making firm and all he could do was advise cat owners whose cats presented with this condition not to use Iams. This was a couple of years ago and she has not had a recurrence since she was switched to wet food ( with occasional biscuits as they are good for her teeth). I cant remember what the vet said it was about Iams in particular - i think it was something to do with crystals forming in the urine and it related to Iams and not other dried foods. As other people have said the main problem is with cats not drinking enough.

Just thought I would offer some support here. Obviously if your cat is lucky enough not to have been affected you will think Iams is great - I thought it was the perfect food until she got ill - convenient and not smelly like wet food. But seeing her suffer when she was ill was not pleasant at all and switching was the right response for our cat.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

JCD_Capulet wrote: »

No offence, but if dry food was so bad for cats then very specialist companies like IAMS wouldn't be making it. I'll stick to my vets advice on feeding.

IAMS is a HUGE or certainly part of a HUGE corporate company, who like other corprate companies who also make cat food, are in it for the pure profit end of. They don't care one bit about cats or dogs for that matter, they see the big £ signs. Don't kid yourself. + I'd move vets if your vet is seriously advising you to feed your cat on dried food. Obviously, your vet is taking a cut of the profits somewhere along the line.

Anyway, you can take my information and use it any way you please, however, from experience, I certainly won't be going back to dried food personally.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Just to add.. it's a misnomer about dried food helping cats teeth. The dried food gets caught in the gum line and remains there leading to gingivitis.

Please take time and search for feline diabetes websites, all the info is there. These sites also cover other cat problems related to feeding dried food. Cats are carnivors, they are not built to take carbs and veg matter. They are ideally supposed to be fed a raw meat diet; however, many of us don't realise this until it's to late. At least wet food is a decent substitute.

I have no gain in condeming dried food, I only want to advise people of the serious risks.