Adopted a cat - didn’t realise food was so complicated!

Carrot007

GwylimT wrote: »

Royal Canin is very poor quality, some doesn't even contain any meat, cats are carnivores. So they advised you to avoid carbs and sold you a food thats incredibly high in carbs.

Dry isn't good for cats, as they have a low thirst drive. The average dry fed cat would need to drink 250ml of water per day to prevent dehydration. Neutered males are particularly prone to urinary problems when fed on a dry diet.

You need wet (or raw) ideally, look for at least 50% fresh meat and less than 10% carbs and no sugar. As a cheap food butchers orange tins fit that and are available in supermarkets.

Even asda smart price tinned is preferable to the best dry (thrive).

Very much this. The quality of the expensive food varies greatly and some of the cheap stuff is great.

One of mine is slightly diabetic. I looked into what I should feed him and found a forum with a nice sheet comparing quality. Of course he need high meat low sugar. Turns out Whiskas 7+ beats most diabetic specific foods sold.

As for Royal Canin. Since mine like biscuits as well and the off one often gets loose I do use there sensible biscuits. No idea if it helps, but a 10KG bag on amazon is cheap (relatively) and lasts a few months!

I also recomend you find a new vet as I bet this one will push expensive tests on you at the drop of a hat when it will make no difference to the treatment.

Tigsteroonie

Our neutered rescue male lives quite happily off Felix pouches (variety of meat and fish) and Go-cat biscuits. I've never thought of giving him anything fancier, he's been eating this for years and continues to thrive

winspiration

I feed my cats James Wellbeloved turkey & rice dry food, bought in 10kg bags from Amazon or Zooplus. It's good quality, they all like it and it probably doesn't work out any dearer than the small branded packs from supermarkets. They also have wet food, Felix pouches. Any food purchased directly from the vet is likely to be a very premium price.

DD265

We feed Animonda Carny and Feringa wet foods from ZooPlus - the meet ones. Tried the exotic range and that was a hard no from both boys who usually aren't fussy at all!

We feed AATU from Pets At Home for dry food. It's about £35 a bag but lasts us 2 months because we only give a little as a boredom buster/treat.

selement

I also reccomend looking on zooplus- even if you stick with Felix it's a good price. They have a lot more choice of food including some with high meat contents and grain free. One of the best value of these is smilla, unfortunately my cars have gone off that One! They love the animonda vom feinsten and rafine (which is still a little high carb but good meat content and no added sugar). Mine still get the odd Felix as a treat. They adore lilys kitchen but that's to expensive to get all the time (sometimes cheaper at pets at home!). Animonda carny they also have sometimes.

Theres a pet forum out there with lots of information on the best food from zooplus but I don't reccomend posting there as I found them extremely judgemental and had strong opinions that no dry food should be given whatsoever (plenty of cats do fine with wet and dry, but dry only isn't reccomended)

I feed applaws for dry food which is good for them and they enjoy. Zooplus has a better price for this currentky than pets at home .

Soot2006

My cat lived for 19 years on Whiskers (only the green one, I think rabbit). He would lick the jelly off in the morning and then reluctantly eat the rest later. He died in his sleep, never sick or sorry lol ... I think it depends on the cat, their preference and health condition, etc!

suki1964

donnac2558 wrote: »

For all those feeding wet or dried food with fish, cats are not meant to eat fish all the time. Cats are land hunters, ever seen one with a fishing rod? It is humans who went oh my cat likes fish I must feed it fish all the time.

Seems fish contain small amounts of arsenic which will not really affect humans but feeding foods with it to cats can cause kidney problems over time.

As for food, James Wellbeloved, Appaws wet good and Harringtons dried is good.

Well please feel free to come tell Arthur he's to eat the meat variety of wet food, because he would rather starve then touch it

Sometimes, he can be tempted with a bit of cooked chicken or raw mince, but 9/10 he turns his nose up and waits for the fish


I've thrown or given away more food then is enough. He's settled on the fish ( at the moment, that can change and most probably will ) so that's what he gets

crv1963

Our cat is 16 or 17 years old, she eats whatever supermarket food is cheapest Morrisons or Tesco pouches and often Whiskas pouches as they are similar price sometimes. She loves prawns and white cooked fish but wont eat smoked fish.


My mother has 4 cats and they are a pain! They will only eat Whiskas pouches (but refuse the fish ones) and Go-cat dried.


If your cat doesn't like the food down he'll ignore it!

fairy_lights

You can have the best intentions in the world when it comes to feeding your cat, but when it comes down to it, he's the one who has control over the situation.
I used to buy the best quality, highest meat content cat food I could find, until the oldest cat started complaining that all the other cats got to eat nice food like Whiskas, why did he have to eat boring Bozita? He started popping round to next door at meal times (and by 'popping' I mean breaking in through an open window) and would come home reeking of cheap cat food.
So now I buy him the cheapest supermarket own brand pouches and supplement it with raw mince a few times a week, so far no problems.
Youngest cat refuses point blank to eat any wet food, so it's a diet of biscuits and urinary tract infections for him.

Sean_Carroll

By Biscuits i presume dry food? All are different and expensive doesnt mean good, good can be a bit dearer.
85% of cat food is sold in supermarkets; almost everything we see on TV ads is for Purina (felix) or Mars (whiskas, sheba, JamesWelbeloved, Dreamies, Royal Canin) ..... so we are conditioned to follow the brands and the supermarket ease of purchase.
Cats are harder to feed than dogs because they wander and even if your cat is on Applaws or Natures Menu wet food they will still find and then crave Whiskas etc - so it is difficult and ultimately do whatever works best.
Often adding some meaty dry food (Orijen, Acana, Carnilove etc) to the pouch will work, or just try the dry and add some water to it. An independent pet shop should be willing to share some of their samples with you so you dont have to buy to try; and shoul also go through and explain the ingredients so that you can compare good foods you have never heard of (they are not on tv) with the likes of James wellbeloved, Hills Science Plan etc