What do you feed?

[wolfsnaps]

I am just wondering what you all choose to feed your cats? I am a huge dog foodie (is that even a thing?) and want to do my best for my kitten. I looked back a few pages but I didn't see any similar posts.

So what do you feed?

I started Otis off with tuna, then when I realized she was staying she got milk replacer followed by Iams kitten and now Purina kitten chow. I need to buy all the animals' food so now is the time to make this decision.

Do any of you do a rotation with your cat's food? I rotate my dogs food. Since Otis is still a kitten and seems to eat anything, I want her to get used to different foods. I'm going to see what is the best deal when I go but I am thinking Taste of the Wild, Natural balance, or something of that nature.

Thanks for your input.

[saitenyo]

Mine get get grain-free canned food in the morning and raw at night.

I rotate their canned foods (a couple different flavors of Merrick BG, Merrick Entrees, and EVO at the moment). The raw is just Primal Chicken and Salmon because I'm kind of limited in variety (Apollo throws up beef and lamb and won't eat turkey and I can't get much else besides that).

[marie73]

My cats eat Wellness Core (all stages, okay for kittens) and Merrick: Grammy's Pot Pie, Thanksgiving Day Dinner, Turducken, and Cowboy Cookout, also all stages, okay for kittens. They get a different flavor every meal.

You have no idea how good that felt listing those foods. For so long, they were eating not so good food.

[wolfsnaps]

marie73 is it because they wouldn't? Was it a difficult transition?

[marie73]

They got a taste of Fancy Feast (my fault), which is all Cinderella would eat, and started refusing to eat the good stuff. Because of money issues, I could afford the better food, but what I couldn't afford was to keep throwing food out. Now that I'm getting back on my feet financially, I bought the Merrick again and they made the switch over night. Brats.

[Auntie Crazy]

Welcome to CF, Wolfsnaps!

I feed all raw to my six. Frankenprey.

Prior to that, however, they were eating a rotation of about 21 different canned flavors. Rotating foods keeps cats from becoming fixated on any one product (a problem if they change or stop producing it) and protects them from potential quality control issues by diluting their impact. Since cats can develop hypersensitivity when continually exposed to the same proteins or ingredients for extended periods, it will also help prevent food intolerance issues (and the associated diarrhea and vomiting).

Dr. Hofve has a great article with even more reasons for rotating foods: Switching Foods.

Cats - like sharks, snakes and birds of prey - are obligate carnivores, so look for canned products that are no or low-carb (i.e. low or no grains, fruits and vegetables) and have a high percentage of a named meat (i.e. "turkey" instead of "poultry"). Wellness, Natural Balance and Felidae all have grain-free varieties, and Nature's Variety Instincts and Evo 95% meat products are all grain-free. A "grain-free canned cat" search on petfooddirect.com will yield a veritable cornucopia of options, and you can conduct a side-by-side analysis of the ingredients and nutritional profiles.

Feline-nutrition.org has a nice article on deciphering pet food labels under their Nutrition section that offers additional insight into choosing different products: Reading a Pet Food Ingredient Label.

Best regards!

AC

[wolfsnaps]

Crap. Guess what I have bags and bags of from Walmart? LOL. But Otis will eat anything. ANYTHING! I have never seen a cat eat anything but cat food before. This crazy cat will eat carrots, bread, ham, etc. Of course, I am not going to feed her these things all the time. It was just on a whim. I have yet to see her turn her nose up to anything. Except of course the one thing I want her to eat.... raw food. Sigh. Brats indeed.

[wolfsnaps]

Thanks Auntie Crazy. We should have a thanks option on this forum I will look into that article.

[Tylt33]

Wolfsnaps, I was in the same quandary as you, and I posted about it a few topics down (under "Feline Nutrition). It's just a really basic primer that I wanted to write so people wouldn't have to do all the reading that I did, if they didn't want to. I rotate feed Nature's Variety Raw Chicken, Wellness Chicken, Wellness Turkey, EVO Chicken & Turkey Cat and Kitten. All four are AAFCO certified for all life stages.

[Penny135]

Mia came from the shelter eating science diet kitten food (dry) She is has always been on dry as she wont eat wet. She had very loose stools from it. I would have changed her food after the free SD was over anyway. Next I went to Purina One Kitten food. She did great on it but after reading more about grain free foods I decided to switch her to Taste of The Wild (all life stages). She didnt do well on it at all! Very loose stools and throwing up at least once a day. Next I got some Eagle Pack Kitten food for a price I couldnt refuse. She did great on it! But again I decided she needed something a little better so I started her on Natural Balance Ultra Origanal. She loved it but after being on it 10 days and having very loose stools I decided to try mixing Eagle Pack kitten and Natural Balance. She is doing great on it and loves it. Best of all no throwing up or loose stools!

You might have to switch foods for a while to find something she really likes and does well on. Just give her some time to adjust to the food before you try to switch again (if you do).