Cat Food..... Advice Needed Pls

[Desley (booktigger)]

With complimentary foods, the best ways of doing it are either 2 meals of complete and one complimentary a day, or each meal consisting of complimentary wet and complete dry (or wet, but I dont see the point in opening two different lots of wet for the same meal).

[hannah (weeny)]

       

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

tee hee

And before anyone does really take hannah seriously erm..no..it doesn't!

[hannah (weeny)]

thank you very much! good info...

ok... question.... does 2 complimentary make a complete???? 

ok, thats not something i;m seriously wanting to know for feeding jasper before anyone thinks i'm a bad mummy!  just a gereal silly wonder.... 

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Sheba like the Gourmet Solitaire is complementary. Feed a mix with dry is the best way to make sure that they get a well balanced meal.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I personally feed a mixture of both - you might want to look at teh Sheba domes, i have a feeling they are complimentary, so cant be fed exclusively.

[karenjet]

Jasmine used to have all wet food, I'd read I should give her both wet and dry, just for a bit of variety, so it doesn't get boring for her, as it must be eating the same everyday. I got a free sample of Purina One and she loves it, so she gets some of that too now.

I've got the Sheba domes a couple of times for Jasmine, she likes them.

[hannah (weeny)]

thanks ruth 
jasper loves the stuff, he doesnt really go for much other catfood.  he's the only cat i ever knew who just was not interested in chicken and other meats - even proper human stuff (raw) he turns his little gorgeous nose up at, but he loves fish!!  he is extrordinarily shiny though    the only other cat food type thing he'll eat is chicken flavoured biscuits which he gets a few of during the day to pick at.  which is really weird.
i have to say, from my point of view i love that he eats the domes - they look so good!!! and i truly hate the smell of 'normal' cat food!!! but if he liked other cat foods he would get given it - it is his decision.

sorry - wittering on there.....  my minds elsewhere i think 

[emzbubble]

Thanks for all your advice peeps Knew you would all help me, i think i'll try him on some pouches and see what he thinks of them? Also take a look at eaglepack too Thanks again xxx

[Millys Mum]

Plenty of food for thought Emz!

MM - I havent tried eaglepack - where do you buiy it from

Its an american brand that has just recently been imported by these people http://www.postalpetsproducts.co.uk/

I bought a few tins when i tried their dry food, its quite wet, more so than natures menu but they like it. I think its blander too which is good for my lot. It comes in 380g tins.
I have noticed Zooplus are stocking dry eaglepack so fingers crossed the tins follow 

I enquired into postage last week:
12 tins £6.50
30 tins £4.50
60 tins free

I will be placing a bulk order of 60+ so could arrange to send you a couple if you want to try, £6.50 makes them rather expensive!

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

If i gave the domes to lexy all day she would eat all day. Certainly a as good as it looks variety but I think high in cals so take care about too much.

[hannah (weeny)]

on the subject of food... can i ask what people think of the sheba domes?  the tuna and seafood ones especially.
thank you 

[Christine (Blip)]

I feed wet food for Blip's meals, for the reasons Susanne has set out so well.  Indeed, I choose wet food with a lot of obvious liquid content, like Almo Nature tuna or the new Gourmet Pearl casserole variety.

I do leave out Hill's Science Plan Hairball Control for Blip to nibble on in an 'emergency', but she only eats a few kibbles a day.

And I use filtered water for her water bowl: it tastes better to me so I'm assuming it tastes more natural to Blip too.

[Angiew]

if you are going to feed dry food then try and go for a good quality dry food.
some of the cheaper ones are not as good - study the ingredients.

having said that, don't want to come over all snobist.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I'm in the wet food camp too.  Jaffa has wet only, except for the odd kibble sprinkled on his wet now and then to add a bit of texture and the occasional treat.  Mosi has about 2/3 wet and 1/3 dry but I want him on all wet by the time he's 3.  I only feed him the dry because I want him to accept the texture of dry food so that if I need to leave any in an automatic feeder (eg weather hot and need to leave it for a while so wet not practical) he will eat it.

I think wet is best for a cat because it contains water which is an essential nutrient for cats - the water content is comparable to a cat's natural prey (75-80%) whereas dry food is only about 20% water.  So with dry you're in the bizarre position of taking the water out and then coming up with all sorts of strategies to try and get them to drink water!  Studies have shown that although cats fed on dry do drink more water than cats fed wet, those on a wet diet take in more water overall than those on dry food.  water is particularly important for males to ensure urinary health, and of course if they develop kidney failure water becomes very important but a cat fed on dry all his life will be reluctant to switch to wet.

Dry food also has a high level of carbohydrates which aren't something cats would naturally eat much of.  If cats caught their own food it would only be about 5% carbs (stomach contents of their prey) whereas even the best dry foods tend to have 20-30% carbs and many dry foods have up to 60%. 

It's also very easy for cats to become overweight on dry food as it's easy to overfeed and there is a school of thought that thinks dry food per se is fattening as cats have difficulty metabolising large amount of carbohydrates.

Here are a couple of articles that went some of the way to convincing me that wet food is best for my cats

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

http://www.catinfo.org/

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

I do, however, accept that we all have to feed our cats what they like, what we can get hold of and what we can afford.  Some cats prefer dry food (not surprising given that manufacturers spray animal digest on the kibbles to make them palatable!) and a complete dry food will contain all the nutrients (apart from water) that a cat needs.  Many cats have lived long and healthy lives on dry food so it's up to each of us to decide what we want to feed them.  I don't think there is a one size fits all when it comes to what to feed them.

[forever_missing_my_boys(Lisa)]

i feed my cats more wet then i do dry

i personaly think they should have a bit of both 

[Gillian Harvey]

Need some advice on cat food, i have currently been feeding Jakey on dried only cat food, it says 100% nutirion so i thought it will be fine as i don't really like to use the meat tins etc, my friend came over yest and said that a cat has to have meat aswell????? Is that the case?
Any advice welcome ~ Thanks guys 

I would never feed exclusively dry food again, for many of the reasons Millys mum posted. It also doesnt clean teeth as was previously thought. I feed mainy raw homemade plus some high meat content pouches like Natures Menu with a few biscuits as treats at bedtime.

Many cats don't drink enough to compensate for the lack of moisture in dry food, even if it seems like they are drinking a lot of water. 3 of my cats had cystitis, one had a urinary tract blockage and they all have had dental work done at quite early ages due to a diet of dry food only.

I use wet foods made with higher %'s of meat, eg hi life, natures menu, applaws, bozita & eaglepack.

MM - I havent tried eaglepack - where do you buiy it from?

[Millys Mum]

I prefer to feed a diet with only a small amount of dry.
* A wet diet is a good for bladder health, especially neutered males as they are prone to issues
* Its more natural, a mouse is 80% water not dry and made of grain
* Cats fed dry food have crystals in their urine that vets now call "normal", cats fed no dry have no crystals 
* If you dont want a tin kicking around, use pouches (they also taste better!)
* IMO its better for the kidneys
* Its easier to overfeed dry, more obese cats exist these days, 60g of bix aday doesnt look alot....

I use wet foods made with higher %'s of meat, eg hi life, natures menu, applaws, bozita & eaglepack.

[CurlyCatz]

personally i dont have a problem with just dried food in healthy cats provided you know they drink a good bit of water everyday.  cats who are only just dried food can drink quite a bit so if you dont think they do then i'd be looking at ways to increase that or get moisture into their diet somewhere.
also for any bouts of unforseen illness and or old age it might be a good thing if they would eat some wet food.  I know its difficult though as my boy doesnt care for wet to much and will only have the cat pate's.  He does drink a good bit of water so i'm happy with that side of things.

[Team Svartalfheims]

Cats don't *have* to have wet food (the 3 of mine that live with my mum have never had anything but dry and they've never had any problems and they're 9 this year) but lots of people like to feed a mixture. Of the 3 that live with me Miss Boopy has fish once a week and only dry apart for that at the moment and Bilbo and Tigger have mix of dry, wet and raw. Everyone has their own opinions on what food to feed cats so as long as you find something you are happy doing and Jakey is happy eating then it will be fine. Just always make sure Jakey always has access to a big bowl of fresh water all the time (which I am sure you do anyway)

[emzbubble]

Hey all,

Need some advice on cat food, i have currently been feeding Jakey on dried only cat food, it says 100% nutirion so i thought it will be fine as i don't really like to use the meat tins etc, my friend came over yest and said that a cat has to have meat aswell????? Is that the case?
Any advice welcome ~ Thanks guys 

xxxxx