What Lily eats

[Lilykit]

Hi all I already introduced myself in the introduction section. My name is Angel and I have a 5 month old calico kitten named Lily. I feed her Purina Kitten kibble and Fancy Feast Kitten Canned food she seems to be doing great! since she used to weight 2.9 and I felt most of her ribs now she feels a lot better and is a bitr heavier in a good way. Plenty of water of course all day access to water.

[October]

There are several people here on the Forum who are real food nutrition experts, and I think they would say . . . Purina and Fancy Feast, while the cats might love them, are the lowest quality foods out there. The line goes, you can't buy anything good at a grocery store, Walmart, or Target.

I hope they pipe in, but the strong bias is on giving cats canned food instead of dry (to keep them hydrated, among other reasons). I get Murphy canned food from Trader Joe's, which has its own brand of food, is good nutritionally, and only costs 69 cents a can.

[Arkona]

Originally Posted by October

There are several people here on the Forum who are real food nutrition experts, and I think they would say . . . Purina and Fancy Feast, while the cats might love them, are the lowest quality foods out there. The line goes, you can't buy anything good at a grocery store, Walmart, or Target.

I hope they pipe in, but the strong bias is on giving cats canned food instead of dry (to keep them hydrated, among other reasons). I get Murphy canned food from Trader Joe's, which has its own brand of food, is good nutritionally, and only costs 69 cents a can.

My cat is raw-fed, but I disagree with the statement that Fancy Feast is the lowest quality food out there. Fancy feast is canned, which is immensely better than almost anything dry due to its moisture and meat content. Also, if you look at the ingredients, most cans of fancy feast include a muscle meat as the first ingredient, unlike many canned foods which include "[meat] 'meal'" or "by-product" as the first ingredient.

There are a lot of grain-free, better quality canned foods out there, but they are harder to find and more expensive. I'd encourage anyone who's willing and able to give their cat the best food out there but unable to feed raw, to look into these brands. But I wouldn't expect everyone to be able to. I think within the grocery store foods, Fancy Feast might be one of the better ones.

[marie73]

Fancy Feast is the BESTEST FOOD EVER! (Even if Mom doesn't agree)

Signed,

Cleo
Cali & Charlee

[Kit]

I'm sure a lot of people here will tell you that food is crap, but honestly, I believe if your kitten is doing well on it, then it's fine. All cats are different and there are lots of cats who live long and healthy lives on grocery store brand foods. My first cat lived to 19 and the second (who now lives with my parents) is 9 and both never had/have had health problems.

However, you should definitely add some wet food to her diet as it has many benefits. It's not that expensive, and I'm sure your kitten will absolutely love it. I feed my kittens both wet and dry food every day.

[doodlebug]

All cats do fine on whatever they're eating until they aren't doing fine anymore. You have no idea what problem is brewing, possibly for years, until there are symptoms.

There are so many things we can't control about their heredity and environment, but food is one thing we can control (to some extent)...I figure I'm going to control the things I can and give them the best chance possible at the longest life they can have.

Fancy Feast isn't the worst food out there, but there are plenty better at the same or less cost especially if you buy larger cans (those little 3 oz cans are expensive, no matter what the brand).

I also agree with the more wet food the better philosophy.

[Lilykit]

Well thanks guys I give her wet food twice a day! I give her plenty of water she has water 24/7. I only give her a little bit of dry food though at a time so in reality she's eating more wet food. I'll keep her on Purina though because it's what she ate at her shelter so she eats it .

[Lilykit]

Ok so I have been reading and yes wet food is better and I might later on change her to another better brand of dry food. Just not right now.

[Luvmyfurbabies]

If you are going to keep her on fancy feast wet; they do have some grain free ones. They are in the classic's, pate style. It's what mine ate when I first transitioned to wet and they really liked it........ALOT! I had to eventually switch though because I was having diarrhea issues with my Bocelli. If he wasn't allergic to it ( I'm assuming ) then they would still be eating it.
If your looking for alternatives in the future or something to add to the rotation, you might look into solistic. When you buy it in the 5.5 oz cans it's roughly 20 cents more than what your paying for two 3 oz cans. What I like about it is that it's grain free but in a shredded chicken form. So it would add a nice addition to what Lily is already eating.

[doodlebug]

What's wrong with now (the next time you need food)? The better the diet when they are younger, when they are growing establishes a good baseline for their health going forward. You actually really want to get variety in her diet now...cats imprint on their foods and the longer they eat one particular thing, the more difficult it is to get them to change. It can be done, some cats are just really, really stubborn about it. You want your cat to readily accept a variety of foods...some reasons why would be; if there's a recall and you can't get it, she develops a medical condition that requires a change, and the most likely...they change the formula or stop making it completely.