http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ Daily Kitten Chat Forum Topic: What options do we have for cat/kitten food? en Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:31:02 +0000 http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468067 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:23:47 +0000 furryfriends50 468067@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Actually kittens are the perfect age to switch. Much easier than some adult cats and it gets them off on the right start. </p> <p>one great site to check out is <a href="http://www.fnes.org" rel="nofollow">www.fnes.org</a> also <a href="http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/21115" rel="nofollow">http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/21115</a> has lots of links in it.</p> <p>Raw isn't throwing down some meat and calling it good. However it isn't that hard to make it right.</p> <p>There are three methods: ground, frankenprey, and whole prey.</p> <p>Ground: Honestly I don't recommend it. Grinding destroys most of the nutrients so it has to be supplemented back in. Cats also don't get the satisfaction and mental challenge that they do eating chunks of meat. It gives more surface area for potentially bad bacteria to get into...and you need to either buy your own grinder and find a butcher that will grind the meat freshly for you. Supermarket ground is something that you don't ever want to feed to a cat.</p> <p>Frankenprey: Basically you make up a mouse or other small prey animal. To do so you use four things: meat, bone, liver, and other secreting organ (kidney is the easiest to find). You need to either feed 1 sardine a week or add a few drops of fish oil per meal. Frankenprey is:</p> <p>80-85% meat - the meat should be from as many sources as you can manage to find. Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, turkey, rabbit, venison, elk,...any non meat eating animal you can get. Also, lungs and hearts are classified as meat NOT organs in raw feeding. Heart is a great thing to feed as it is really high in taurine. It should be at least IMO 1/7 of their diet.</p> <p>5-10% bone - Unlike you hear, cats can eat bones. Cook bones are the dangerous ones, raw bones are not at all :) To start out with feed something small like chicken necks, chicken ribs, or cornish game hen bones. Mine are now eating chicken drumstick bones but they aren't kittens and can manage that size. </p> <p>5% liver - Any kind of liver works but it has to be 5% of their total diet. I find it easiest now to feed liver 2x a week with their bone in meals. Most supermarkets sell liver.</p> <p>5% other secreting organ - kidney is going to be the easiest one to find. Most of the food co-ops will have it or you can get some from the butcher. I feed kidney also 2x a week on beef days (they get beef 2x a week so it works out great).</p> <p>-Whole Prey: just what it sounds like. Whole mice, rats, rabbits, quails, and chicks. There are some sites that sell whole prey that I can give you if you want. It is the easiest route when feeding raw because each piece of prey is completly balanced - you don't need to add anything. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468064 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:10:51 +0000 furryfriends50 468064@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Wet food you can rotate brands constantly, dry food you can't (yet another strike against dry).</p> <p>If you do feed dry remember that to stay hydrated cats if they eat 1/2 cup of dry need to drink about 3/4 cups of water to make up for it. </p> <p>Dry food dehydrates the normal cat...I hate the idea of feeding a normal cat dry. So unnatural and it really does shorten a cats potential lifespan. One store chain already refuses to sell any dry :) Hopefully more will join them in the near future!</p> <p>Cats are obligate carnivores and as defined by the dictionary they are meat eaters and must eat meat to survive/thrive. Commercial cat food (especially dry) does not follow that. They are mini tigers. I haven't seen zookeepers throwing cat chow to the lions and tigers. They feed them raw and house cats are no differant. Smaller maybe but they are still the same - obligate carnivores designed perfectly by nature to be eating raw meat, bones, and organs. No cooking required :)</p> <p>-----<br /> Sorry but proper feline nutrition is one thing I am truly passionate about. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468062 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:02:55 +0000 Tobert 468062@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Hm. I would be interested to know more about the Raw diet, especially if it's something we could manage. And I probably won't switch the kitten off Iams for a bit longer since she's still young, but we'll see I suppose. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468052 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:12:24 +0000 Ella 468052@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>If you are going to switch brands do it gradually so that the kitten won't get sick. I just had my first Vet visit today and she suggested dry and wet food. I keep the dry food down for Junie to have while I'm at work and feed half a can of wet once a day. Also plenty of water. I have water dishes in various spots for Junie to try and encourage her to drink.</p> <p>Hope this helps. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468048 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:26:10 +0000 furryfriends50 468048@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Try if you can to feed all wet food...people aren't far off when they are calling dry food death kibbles/doom nuggets.</p> <p>Wet food is a ton better than dry. Dry IMO should and probably will be banned in the future. Nature's Variety Instinct, EVO 95%, Regular EVO, By Nature 95%, Regular By Nature, Natural Balance, Wellness CORE, Wellness grainfree are all great brands of wet. The best wet foods will: </p> <p>a) have no by-products<br /> b) be grainfree<br /> c) be low carb</p> <p>I feed all raw which is about 4x cheaper than feeding a high quality canned. Same price as feeding a high quality dry. However many people think raw is just throwing down some steak or chicken breast...it has to be balanced. If you want to know more about it ask :) </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468045 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:46:35 +0000 iliketea 468045@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>Yup...I go to a smaller local petstore that gives food samples. And lets me refund food if the cat doesn't like it...not sure if Petsmart does that. Maybe if there is a local pet store in your area that might do the same thing?</p> <p>But I am sure they will have Innova or Evo or Wellness wet (they have smaller cans for you to try you can buy a few flavours..and see what happensp.s. Don't get the wellness dry...my cat and a lot of kitty owners i know say their cats don't like it). </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468038 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:13:52 +0000 Tobert 468038@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>I'll have to take a trip to the Petsmart nearby and see if they have any of it, maybe I can get a can or two or small bag and see what they go for. And honestly, I'm not sure they have a preference for flavor...they just seem to like the wet food in general. </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468037 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:11:11 +0000 iliketea 468037@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>You might want to try different brands of food. Not all dry food is the same/taste the same. Do your cats prefer fishy flavours? Or chicken flavours? Evo or Innova dry food for adult cats seem to be ok. Dry food and water isn't good because bacteria starts growing on it so fast once you put water in it. My cat is on Go! But that is only avaliable in Canada :P </p> <p>Wet food isn't bad for cats...if you choose a good brand it is just as good if not better than dry food. I feed my cat Wellness Wet (they have both kitten formula and adult formula). </p> http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/22792#post-468036 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:06:39 +0000 Tobert 468036@http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/ <p>So I have just the cat and the kitten who is approaching 3 months, and I'm trying to decide how to feed them according to their preferences, what's healthy for them, and what's financially sound (I guess that means no caviar!) The cat has been eating the Iams dry kitten food with the kitten for awhile now, and I know she probably needs food meant for older cats (although she was terribly thin when we found her and she's since put on normal weight), and we tried one type of dry cat food that she just loathed (I even tried blending it and mixing it with water). So we got her wet cat food which she, and the kitten, loved--but of course I wanted the kitten to eat kitten food because she needs what it has, and there probably wasn't much good for her in the wet food. So they've been on the iams kitten dry food for awhile now and they aren't fond of it. They'll cry for food and when I put that down for them, they'll turn away from it. I've also tried mixing it with water to little avail. So I'm wondering: what options do I have, as far as what kind of food to feed my cats? Obviously they're fans of wet/meatier food, so is there a nutritious type of wet food I could try? I've heard a lot about the "raw" diet but can't fathom how much it would cost to feed them that diet consistently. But clearly they'd like something more than just dry food + water, and I'd like to oblige, I just am not sure what's all available. </p>