Our two cats are almost 11 years old, and have had no food other than Iams kibble since we got them at four months old.
Unfortunately, recently they both had very bad problems with their teeth, gums and had to be sedated and had some teeth removed. Vet said to give them nothing but soft canned cat food for a week.
We have done that, and they are fine now. We just got some Friskies canned chicken as a temporary food, but they have gone completely ape shit over it. Just getting the can out has them singing and screaming for “more, more, more” as they really love this stuff.
We tried to slowly get them back on the kibble, which they will eat, but not with a fraction of the enthusiasm they display for the canned stuff.
Reading the ingredients, it seems as though they have thrown in everything in the barnyard. It does not sound to me as though it is very good stuff, as tasty as it is.
As have never before gotten canned food, and there seems to be a gazillion cans of different ones, can anybody recommend a nutritious (and tasty to cats) canned foot?
When my cats get wet food they get Wellness brand. It was recommended to me by the vet as well as the woman I adopted my second cat from as one of the best foods on the market. The downside is that it is far more expensive than Friskies. I am mostly feeding them Iams kibble right now and they really seem to like that but they do get wet food as a treat every now and then.
Dude, they’re cats. What do you think they evolved eating, filet mignon and organic truffles?
Our indoor girls get enveloped Friskies. The outdoor cats get canned Friskies. Both sets also free-feed on kibble (indoor=Iams and Purina One, outdoor = Meow Mix).
Mine get Royal Canin Urinary SO dry food, only because one of them is apparently genetically prone to struvite formation and neither will touch the urinary wet foods ( the ONLY cat foods they disdain, far as I can tell ). I’m not crazy about the corn fillers in Royal Canin, but until I can find a better alternative, I’ll continue to split the difference - it doesn’t suck outright, it just doesn’t appear optimum.
However 3/4 of the battle with crystal formation is hydration, so I feed 50% wet with Wellness, a better brand overall in my opinion, even if it isn’t an officially urinary approved brand ( at least it doesn’t seem any higher in Mg than most ).
In addition to Wellness, you might try Innova ( harder to find ) or a couple other of the “grain-free”, “ultra premium” brands ( i.e. a step above “premium” stuff like Eukanuba or Nutro, which are themselves a step or two above junk like Meow Mix ), names of which are escaping me, but a good pet food store should have a couple.
edited to add: Lest I start a firefight by the way, I fed my old cat “junk” like Meow Mix for 17 years. It’s perfectly okay to feed cats on whatever is in your price range and most will do fine on it - laws require a minimum nutrition standard. However the fancier stuff does appear to better overall, at least anecdotally.
For me it is about the protein sources, especially after the pet food scare last year. I prefer to feed my obligate carnivores animal-based protein, such as meat, vs plant-based proteins like corn, wheat, rice, and so on (which are cheaper). Merrick is made in the US and uses meat-based protein. My pets eat better than I do, usually.
One thing to watch out for is whether you can give them “chunky” canned food, or if you need to stick to the kind that’s uniformly ground or pateed, or whatever you would call it. We have older cats too, and for a time we were giving them a brand of chicken and rice that had visible chunks of chicken and grains of rice as in a stew. They were gobbling this up so eagerly that they tended to get it stuck in their throats. With ground-meat varieties they don’t have this problem.
The cheap brands didn’t work for us. In our case, the food seemed to go right through them and end up in the litterbox.
I just took my new kittens to the vet, and he was pushing Science Diet for when they get older. For now they have a constantly filled bowl of dry “Special Kitty” kitten food from WalMart, which was chosen because it was the least expensive brand that didn’t have a grain product listed as the first ingredient, and twice a day they split a 3oz can of Sophisticate Kitten food.
My adult cats have generally gotten Purina or Friskies canned food, and Purina One dry. I generally go with the pureed-type canned food because in the past my cats haven’t seemed to care much for the chunky stuff.
When I had cats, they fed primarily on kibble, but for the occasional treat, got a can of tuna or some boiled or grilled chicken. I figured that as carnivores, that was likely best for them. YMMV.
Of course, our guys grew up on filet mignon. Don’t they all?
Seriously, I know they will eat anything but I don’t like to give them food that consists of unknown “animal parts” and lots of grains. Meat is the thing.
Thanks to all for the info on other cat foods, will check them out.
Actually, I was wondering if it would be possible to have them both fitted out with dentures.
My cat eats a can of Fancy Feast every morning. He has a bowl of dry out to get fat. The can size for Fancy Feast is right because he will not wipe out a big can. Feast comes in a 36 pack with 3 different flavors to provide variety.
Oh, oh, the odds are that Pro Plan will be next to be contaminated.
OK, as long as this thread is still going, I have another Q. When we gave them kibble for all those years, just filled the bowls in the morning, and they nibbled at it all day and night, and all gone by morning.
Now that they’ve gone nuts for canned food, have been giving them some both morning and evening. Because they act as though they are in the terminal stage of starvation, give them a little more at noon.
I sort of think it would be better to give them enough twice a day. How often do you guys serve canned food?
The girls split an envelope in the morning when I go to work, and they split another one in the evening while we eat dinner. In between, they free-feed on dry from the feeder.
To maintain weight, I believe the general rule is 1 oz per pound of body weight per day. I would feed my 6-lb. cat a 3-oz. can in the morning and another at night, and that worked out well.
Just because they ask for it doesn’t mean they need it.
