What should I feed my cats?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My 2 kittens are now adult one year old cats. They have been on Science Diet for kittens all along. I thought it was time to change their diet to one for adults. But when I went to Pet’s Mart I was totally confused about which brand and diet to pick.

Besides Science Diet for Adult Cats, which I would like to avoid because of its high price, the rest of the brands had a big variety ranging from Hairball Control, Real Lamb, Meat, chicken, Seafood etc etc. I just stood there wondering which to pick?
Please help.

2

Any name brand cat food will be OK.

3

Puke-wise, we have a lot of luck mixing Meow Mix and hairball control together. Our little softies eat nothing but dry food and they all live to be in the 15-22 year old range. We swear by it.

4

By the choice of your little softies or you? I used to have a cat that would eat just about anything. Like spaghetti and meatballs. While he always had dry cat food available, he tended to prefer human foods.

5

Wisernow, it helps if you realize that cat food is not marketed to cats–it’s marketed to owners. Every name brand cat food out there is guaranteed through actual laboratory feeding tests to provide 100% complete nutrition for cats; you can check on the label and it will say so, in just those terms.

But once you get beyond the point of “providing basic nutrition”, it’s all according to what you think would be kewl or tasty to feed to your cats. All the rest of it–the Senior Formulas, the Diet Cat Food, the specially shaped extruded kibble bits in four different colors and flavors–is just bells and whistles, designed to appeal to the owner’s sensibilities.

Including the owner’s taste buds–in the wild, ya know, cats don’t normally eat cottage cheese, tuna and other fish, blueberries, potatoes, or carrots. Those ingredients are in there to appeal to you. Genetically cats are hardwired to digest freshly dead rodents and birds, so if what you’re not feeding her is not a freshly dead rodent, she really doesn’t care what color the kibble is, or whether the flaxseed in it is organically grown.

Dry food is easier to store, and doesn’t leave half-open cans of cat food in the fridge. It’s usually cheaper, too. Plus cats are capable of self-feeding, so with dry cat food, you can just leave a bowl full of dry kibble out, and they can feed themselves. With canned food you have to have “feeding time”, which of course some people enjoy, the whole ritual thing. YMMV.

Pick whatever you want. Kitty really doesn’t care.

6

I just want to point out that not all cats are capable of self-feeding. My cat would eat until she puked if permitted. So we fed her a portion that didn’t (usually) cause her to puke twice a day, usually dry food with wet on special occasions. Other cats just get hugely fat if allowed to eat whenever they want to.

Still, Duck Duck Goose’s underlying point is valid. One should buy a recognizable name brand that suits you the owner. The cat probably won’t care which one it is- though some are pickier than others, especially if they get the idea that if they don’t eat the one they don’t want you will give them something “better”.

7

My experience tells me that a quality food is going to result in less in the litter box, and the aroma isn’t as bad. I give wet food as a treat, as it’s really not good for their teeth. (According to my vet.)

8

Cats were domesticated long before commercial cat food was sold. Meatballs are OK from the cat point of view.

9

I’ve had cats that eagerly killed rodents and birds and ate them. Dental problems were not an issue.

10

What should I feed my cats - A daschund perhaps? :slight_smile: Cats are carnivorous don’t forget! :wink:

11

It would aslo partly depend upon wether these are indoor or outdoor kitties and if they have been neutered/spayed.

Indoor only cats tend to lead much more sedentary lives, and those that have been fixed are also not usually as active.

This means that many foods are too high in protein and energy content, at best they can get fat with the problems that causes, at worst, lifelong excess protein may cause kidney damage.

Added to this, male cats can have a tendency to develop stone which pass into the very narrow urethra and can cause extreme pain and death.

Some brands market some varieties specifically for indoor, or elderly or sedentry cats, and some also include non-allergic stuff (rice being the filling rather than wheaten materials) and others also include cranberry extract which reduces the chances of developing stones and ease conditions similar to gout.

All the main brands will do this, they tend to be very much more expensive than say Go-Cat which contains lots of ash filler, and sometimes switching from this will reduce episodes of vomiting - cats will throw up from time to time anyway but sometimes high ash foods make it much worse.

If they are fluffy cats such as Persians, or Maine Coon types, you might also want to look for something that has a hairball reduction formula - I have never owned such a cat so I can’t really say how effective these are.

Very good stuff will reduce the output at the other end and save you money on litter, and reduce the smell too.

It appears to me that there are three market levels, the cheap stuff full of ash, like Go-cat and the supermarket generic types, then the mid ranges such as Purina, Whiskas, and the high range stuff - which will include special dietry requirement such as Hills, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved(hypo-allergenic)

If they are on kitten food you do need to get them off it as soon as you can given their age or they will certainly get fat, after that it is a matter of the cat lifestyle, and your wallet, you’ll note that I have not included IAMs here, I find its expensive, not good value and its testing methods are… well lets say things have been alleged.

12

I have had great results with Nutro cat dry food. The cats love the taste. I supplement it with a cheap brand cat food as a treat every once in a while. No puking for 4 months now.

I was feeding a high priced premium dry to my then kitten and he puked all the time. The mid range level seems to work. And forget anything with a high ash filler content, it’s just like jamming my finger down kitty’s throat for my cat :stuck_out_tongue:

13

Since we seem to have covered the factual answers to the question, let’s move this to our opinions fora.

Moved from GQ to IMHO.

samclem GQ moderator

14

If you can’t afford Science Diet, which really is the best, or so I’ve been told, go with Purina One. It’s probably the next best thing.

All of our cats, but one, eat Science Diet Adult. Maggie REFUSES to eat dry cat food. Flat out refuses. When we first brought her home, she was practically starving because that’s all they had been giving her at the vet’s-Science Diet Kitten. She’ll only eat the wet cat food, and she’s very picky about flavors, too.

(People food, on the other hand, she’ll eat ANYTHING that’s people food.)