Feeding your cat...

[Juvysen]

Ok, I posted last week about a cat with a UTI. The good news? he seems to be using the litter box again Very exciting. Anyway... I'm not thrilled how either of my cats are doing on the food I've been feeding them. We use science diet - the formula for senior cats, possibly "senior indoor cats"... something like that. But the younger cat (who is 7 1/2) is pretty fat, and the older cat (who is about 14) has thyroid problems and is too thin, and he also seems to have some joint soreness, and then just had that UTI. Anyway, I'd like to switch them to something that seems more natural. The raw food idea appeals to me because it seems more natural and more in line with my own feelings on food in general (fresh, home-made, whole food, somewhat TF, mostly limiting processed foods), but I'm not sure if I'm there yet.

So, I guess I'm curious what everyone else does for cat food, and why they chose that and how they do it (do you feed several times a day or an all-day-kitty-buffet, how hard is it to prepare, etc), if you don't mind sharing?

[2xy]

IME, older cats do not transition well to raw foods. There may be exceptions, of course. Cats who have been fed commercial food for a long time often do not even recognize meat as something edible....let alone RAW meat.

Anyway, I'm sure someone else will post with ideas about raw foods. There is a website called Holisticat.com that has lots of ideas for natural living with cats.

However, if you want to feed a better diet but don't want to go the raw food route, I suggest changing to a packaged food that uses meat as the main ingredient. Science Diet Adult Indoor formula lists chicken by-product meal, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, and ground whole grain corn as the first four ingredients. Chicken by-products can mean anything from diseased meat to beaks and feathers. Cats bodies aren't meant to subsist on corn and rice.

Read the labels. There are lots of better choices for dry foods out there....only you're not likely to find them at the vet's office or supermarket. You'll need to visit a pet specialty store.

Good luck! Glad your kitty is feeling better!

[Juvysen]

Thanks Yeah... the transition seems like a difficult one - not sure my cats would go for it. They *love* yogurt and olives (they used to attack us for them without having been offered ), but never seem to go for anything else we offer - like turkey on thanksgiving.

I'd love to hear about brand names that others chose and why, as well. I really feel like I've let my kitties down on this. I'm so conscious of what *WE* humans eat in this house (no HFCS, etc...), but I neglected my kitties

[Mama2Kayla]

I use Wellness Core for cats. It's grain free and has a high meat content(the first 4 ingredients)--no artificial stuff or preservatives either.

I use both wet and dry food for our kitten. IMO, it is a great food

[sunnysandiegan]

Our kitten was a rescue (found by a friend) and came to us after a lengthy vet stay. She was very young, too. We started her off on Wellness brand wet food and any other similar wet foods. Pouring over the ingredient lists with a magnifying glass was quite an ordeal. We aimed to eliminate all grains while still giving her a texture she was used to eating. (Vet had her on wet kitten food.) After she was comfortable in her new home (about two weeks), we moved to raw food. She loves it and we love it! It is cheaper and easier and faster and she is soooo healthy!

I just posted details on another thread title raw food diet (I think), if you want details on our method.

Some cats transition to raw well and others do not. I have read about older cats doing fine and I have read about older cats not going for it. You'll have to read up on it and decide for yourself. I did read in several places that it is not good for the cat's system to go back and forth between raw and processed. Something about different enzymes being needed and the cat's system gets confused??? Emergencies and vacations and such are okay, but not regularly going back and forth. We got our kitten started in late March on raw and then had a major flood on May 1. During the flood fiasco, we fed her some canned food for a couple weeks. We were quickly reminded of how much nicer the raw food is! LOL No special stores, no reading labels, no smells, FAR LESS waste (packaging), and smaller, less smelly poops....

[2xy]

Several years ago I moved to a raw diet with my three cats. The oldest cat was really the only one who took to it. I tried many different recipes, and could not come up with one that all three would eat.

The funny thing is, the two younger cats would consistently turn their noses up at the food....so old girl would eat everybody's food, then wind up puking somewhere from having gorged herself.

My cats eat a brand of dry food called Before Grain. I give wet food every so often, but one of my cats doesn't tolerate wet food well (she is not a healthy animal in general...she has heartworm damage) and "decorates" my couch and carpet with it after nearly every feeding. So, kibble it is.

[SpunkyMama]

We use Innova Evo dry food and Natural Balance wet food. We feed our three boys three times a day (two dry meals and one wet). One of our cats has IBD, and switching to the higher protein, lower carb food has really helped.

Check the ingredients! If there are by-products in there are "meal" is listed in the top ingredients forget about it!

I have heard Wellness is another good choice.

EDIT: Forgot to add hat Innova Evo is supposed to be as close to raw) in terms of nutrients) you can get w/o actually going raw.

EDIT: Ugh, I just realized the manufacturers changed the formula... I am now looking for an alternative.

[LeahBoo]

When I found Fin, I switched him to raw for a while. He, of course, snubbed it at first. I started with a mix of 1 lb ground turkey, 1 can jack mackeral, some plain, full fat yugurt, and 2 or 3 raw eggs with shells. Blended it really well with my stick blender. He ate that, no problem. Then I'd grind whole chicken wings and add that to the mix. Eventually, he'd eat very small cut up pieces of chicken (with bone). He was eventually eating almost all raw. Then I got an older cat who snubbed it all entirely and ate so much I would have gone broke. I don't have him anymore, so I'm thinking about switching Fin back.

[outlier]

I switched my 8 1/2 year old cat to raw food about 3 weeks ago after a lifetime of kibble. It's not easy, I'll tell you that much! I used to do the all-day kibble buffet, so I began by offering it only twice a day for about an hour at a time, and then started offering small chunks of raw chicken before the kibble. Once I felt like she was eating enough meat that she wouldn't starve, I stopped offering the kibble. It's been a slow, two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of process, and some days she probably goes a little hungry, but we're getting there. At this point I'd like her to eat more pieces of bone and some organ meat, but she still rejects those outright. Sigh.

So far, she has a LOT more energy, especially soon after she eats. She went from throwing up every night for a month (this is what prompted the diet switch) to only once in three weeks, and that time was clearly due to a hairball. I think she lost some weight initially, but has since gained it all back.

If you do go raw, just be patient and go very slow. I've learned that my cat is more stubborn than I ever gave her credit for!

[Juvysen]

Interesting. My younger cat is pretty fat, and the older one is still too thin (we only just got him on thyroid meds a couple months ago). I'm not sure how to switch this over because I've been reading that if a cat that is very fat goes hungry for a couple days it can develop a fatty liver which can be life threatening? I bought some new cat toys and the kids have been running around with them/her today, and we've also been trying to exercise her using the laser pointer we have, but no results as yet. She's not the fattest cat I've ever seen, but it's hard to feel her ribs anymore, and she also has long fur, so she looks pretty big on just the first sight. GAH! This is crazy.

On the plus side, I found a food today at the local pet store that seems to be better than most (I did lots of research the last few days to figure out what ingredients SHOULD be in there...) - it's higher protein than most and lower carb, no rice, wheat, soy - and I'm gonna try and *offer* them more raw stuff, and see where that goes. I'm hesitant to let my older cat feel much hunger considering he's still so thin from the overactive thyroid issues he had.

[Juvysen]

Ok, so the brand I got was blue "wilderness" cat food... http://bluebuff.com/products/cats/wi...cat-duck.shtml this one. Anyone know anything about it? It was the only one that came close to sounding decent at the pet store. I want to do part of their food with a soft food,too - I figure they probably will need the moisture from it if we're upping their protein...

[sunnysandiegan]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

Ok, so the brand I got was blue "wilderness" cat food... http://bluebuff.com/products/cats/wi...cat-duck.shtml this one. Anyone know anything about it? It was the only one that came close to sounding decent at the pet store. I want to do part of their food with a soft food,too - I figure they probably will need the moisture from it if we're upping their protein...

That was one of the brands (in cans) that we used when we fed our kitten canned food. We also used Wellness and two other brands I do not recall until someone posts the names specifically.

[GreenKnitPocket]

We feed our cats two seperate brands. We hardly ever "switch it up" though.
They get Chicken Soup for the Soul dry food and Purina wet food. We give them a buffet choice for dry food (come and get it boys) and feed the wet food at night, kind of like a "treat".