24/7 feeding vs specific meal times?

[angelzoo]

Yes, jcat makes a very important point. Like everyone we watch our pennies, I know I'm a penny pincher and always on the search for the best food!

A perfect example, Felidae, (which my cats are on now) is the best dry kibble, going by the ingredient list only, IMO.
I bought a 20 pound bag of this kibble for $29.92 (including tax).
I bought this around April 11th, so it's been over a month since I've had this bag, and it's not even half gone!!
Mind you this bag of food is split between 3 cats (two which are about 15 pounds, one which is 10, and a almost 5 pound ferret.) All which are very active animals and not fat!
This bag will probably last me another month or so. So this is 2 1/2 months at best this bag is lasting me, this is a GREAT deal! Not to mention your cats are getting great nutritional value!

Now... let's take something like frisky's or even purina (which I have fed both to these specific cats and many more.) Generally one of those 18-20 pound bags of food would last me about 3 weeks, with the same animals. Each of these brands are about $8.00 - 13.00 depending on where you buy it.

Now of course this amount can very from cat to cat, but this is just a general example of how it works theoretically. Some will eat a 20 pound bag of say, Frisky's in 2 weeks others in 4 weeks.

So lets break it down, over a period of 2 1/2 months.

With a "low grade" food such as Wiska's and Frisky's:
Price: $8.00 - $13.00
Size: 18/20 pounds
Number of Bags: 3.3 bags (this is almost 3 and a 1/2 bags!)
Overall Cost: $26.40 - $42.90

Now lets take Felidae:
Price: $29.92
Size: 20 pounds
Number of Bags: 1
Overall Cost: $29.92

So, over almost 3 months, this could mean a SAVINGS of $12.98, or at worst spending $3.52 extra for a great cat food! (Mind you, possibly saving you a lot of health problems and expensive vet bills in the long run, by picking the better food.)

I think we can all draw our own conclusions with this information.

I hope this was some what helpful, you made me do math here! lol.

 

[iceangel]

ooohh.. i didn't realize that there was two kinds of purina foods (purina and purina one)
at first when AngelZoo said

while Purina starts with a Poultry By-Product Meal... not the best in the world.

i thought i brought the wrong one, but i realized the one i got purina ONE..YAY!

(i didn't want to waste anymore money on catfoods that wasn't really that good for them)

 

[cec]

I have two cats and I uaually feed them half their food portion for the day in the morning and the other half at night. But, I don't take the food up after a specific time, I leave what's left down for them all day and all night so they can eat at their own pace. I have done some research into cat health etc. because I had a cat die at just six years old in 2001. So, I wanted to see if their was something I was doing wrong. And in my browsing I did see many, many times that it is healthiest for a cat to be able to eat when they want. They are not like a dog in this respect. Thus their food should be left down at all times.

 

[gert452000]

I have been following this discussion and now have some questions. I mentioned earlier that I feed my 5 cats Meow Mix. I know, I know you said this is not a good food. But is it bad? Is it not good only because of the dyes? If I should decide to change foods how do I get them to eat a new food? I did try switching to Purina once and they refused to eat, for days. I gave in and put down their old familiar favorite...Meow Mix. Another time I tried to switch a couple ate the new food and very promptly threw it up. So, is it better to feed a maybe less superior food and have healthy, happy, non throwing up cats or to try and switch? I buy a 20 pound bag of food, for 5 cats only about once every 2 months. The cats all eat out of the same bowls (2) so they pretty much have to eat the same thing. Thanks.

 

[hissy]

you have to introduce new food to them slowly, or they will have tummy upset and they may vomit. You do it gradually over the period of a week. I usually take the new stuff and mix it in the bin with the regular kibble, mix it up really well, and start by feeding small amounts.

There is so much information about nutrition, and guidelines, your best source of information is usually your vet.

 

[angelzoo]

Gert... Meow Mix is better in some ways, in the sense that it beats eating rotten left overs from outside trash cans, or possibly deseased animal outdoors.

Meow Mix is the bare minumum of what is acceptable by the AAFCO. In my mind, it's not acceptable IF I can afford more, and get the animal to eat something else.

Have you thought about trying to feed them a raw/barf diet, or even frozen ready made food, such as the patties (if you have the money).
Perhaps they would go for that.

Or you can go to a local pet store, or look online and try to score some free samples of many different foods, and see which ones your cats will eat, soem cats are very picky and will only eat a few brands, and can take you forever to find another food they will accept, other cats will eat ANYTHING.

Also, while most vets are you best source for questions about your cat, don't take everything everyone of them says about cat food with blind faith. Do your own research and arm yourself with knowledge (much like you are doing now.) Heck you can even speak with an animal nutritionist if you really want to!

Meow mix is mostly corn, corn is virtually undigestable for cats in many forms, and hard on their digestive system. They get little to no nutritional value from it, it basically fills them up, and then they poop it all out. There is very little meat in this food, and thusly does not provide them with enough of the proper protein that they need, imo.

Good luck!

 

[gert452000]

Oh my, I feel terrible. I never knew what horrible stuff I was giving my pets/babies. The problem I have with frozen foods or other people food is that they just turn their noses up at it and walk away. As a treat, at times I have tried to give them different things and they look at me like I am the one who's nuts. I want to give them the best that I can afford, which isn't much more than I spend right now but I will certainly look into it. If what I feed them has such low nutritional value how can they be so healthy?

 

[nern]

Originally posted by gert452000
I have been following this discussion and now have some questions. I mentioned earlier that I feed my 5 cats Meow Mix. I know, I know you said this is not a good food. But is it bad? Is it not good only because of the dyes? If I should decide to change foods how do I get them to eat a new food? I did try switching to Purina once and they refused to eat, for days. I gave in and put down their old familiar favorite...Meow Mix. Another time I tried to switch a couple ate the new food and very promptly threw it up. So, is it better to feed a maybe less superior food and have healthy, happy, non throwing up cats or to try and switch? I buy a 20 pound bag of food, for 5 cats only about once every 2 months. The cats all eat out of the same bowls (2) so they pretty much have to eat the same thing. Thanks.

Well, you can buy the healthiest cat food available but if your cats won't eat it - it won't do them any good. I mentioned in another post about what a hard time I had switching my cats off Cat Chow and I found that an extremely slow switch (over about 3wks) helped alot. When a cat has eaten the same food day in and day out for a long period of time its sometimes very hard to get them to accept a new taste which is why a very slow transition may work. If you can switch them that is great....if not, I don't think Meow Mix will kill them - its better than some alternatives. JMO of course.

Here are a few things I don't like about Meow Mix and why:
Ingredients: Ground yellow corn, poultry by-product meal,corn glutenmeal,soybean meal, wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E) and BHA, fish meal, ground wheat, brewers rice, mackerel meal, tuna meal,dried cane molasses, sugar, brewers dried yeast, animal digest

1)Corn gluten meal & soybean meal are plant proteins. High quality animal proteins are better digested and utilized.
* "This protein source is not as digestible as high quality animal protein ingredients, but its protein is often more available than some of the poorer quality animal proteins."
-Canine and Feline Nutrition,Case,Carey, Hirakawa

* "Corn gluten meal is what is left over after the starch, corn syrup, and germ-containing part of the grain have been removed and after the bran has been seperated and removed. In pet foods, its used as a protein source, as a cheap substitute for good meat. Corn provides certain essential amino acids, but nothing like the amounts available in meat."
- Feeding Your Dog For Life, Diane Morgan

* "Animal proteins generally have a more balanced amino acid profile, with a greater proportion of essential amino acids, and better digestibility than plant proteins."
- BSAVA Manual of Companion Animal Nutrition & Feeding

2) Poultry by-product meal may contain heads and feet which would digested and utilized as well as muscle meat and organs would be.
* " Because of the inclusion of heads and feet, poultry by-product meal may be lower in nutritional value than fresh poultry meal."
- Canine and Feline Nutrition,Case,Carey, Hirakawa

* "Feet and beaks ,as you may imagine, though full of protein, are low in nutritional value."
- Feeding Your Dog For Life, Diane Morgan

* " Proteins of muscle and glandular organs rank high, legume proteins, intermediate to good, and other vegetable proteins, good to poor in nutritive value. Some animal products, such as skin, tendons and gullets, contribute less to protein quality than do muscle and organ tissues."
- Gaines Basic Guide To Canine Nutrition

* "Most cats can actually only digest and metabolize between 60 and 75 percent of the meat they eat. To make matters worse, many of the meat by-products are not as easily metabolized and much of it is wasted."
- The Consumer's Guide To Cat Food, Liz Palika

3)Beef tallow is low in linoleic acid and has a low digestibility.
* " Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid required by all animals. It is the main unsaturated fatty acid in most vegetable oils and makes up 15-25% of poultry and pork fat but less than 5% of beef tallow. Essential fatty acid deficiency occurs most commonly in dogs receiving low-fat dry dog foods containing beef tallow."
- Small Animal Clinical Nutrition III, Lewis,Morris,Hand

4)BHA is a chemical preservative that has been thought to cause health problems in some animals....this is still a controversial issue and I have not read enough into yet it but as a precaution I avoid it.

5)Dried cane molasses, sugar? What the heck are these doing in cat food? Sugar provides empty calories which is a good way to make an animal or person fat without meeting their nutritional needs. Sugar is what would be considered a "filler".

Hope you found this helpful

 

[charmsdad]

We have 8 cats and they get Science Diet Lite Hairball Formula (dry). They are free fed and there is food always avaiable, with bowls seemingly constantly refilled. Occasionally we give them canned food as a treat. Our cats are all at a good weight, with the current oldest 11 years old, and all in excellent health. (The oldest we had lived to 18 years.) We have always free fed and have always had good health in our cats.

We also have 5 dogs which are free fed a mixture of Science diet adult/lite. They also get occasional canned food as a treat and other assorted treats. Their health and weights are also excellent.

The two wolves are fed Nutro High Energy dry food plus assorted raw meat and some suppliments. Their health is also excellent. The Dingo is new and we're still working on his best diet.

The tigers I work with are fed raw chicken (with feathers - chickens are not live!) plus other assorted raw meat. The smaller cats are fed chicken or whole rats (from a frozen supply) which is supplimented with some dry and canned food.

With 30+ years of working with critters I've only had a rare animal that horded food when free fed, and generally these were rescued adult animals which eventually learned food was always available and adjusted to free feeding.

Quality of food does vary, but the nutritional components do not improve simply because you get a cut of meat with a higher grade rating. Hamburger may have more fat, but otherwise is nutritionally the same as a 4 star cut of steak. The difference in the rating is the taste, texture, appearance. Getting the best quality of food you can reasonably afford is always a good idea. Purina is a well established and excellent company, and they own or have ties to many of the brands you many not associate with them.

I have nursed a few severly debilitated animals back to health when many people didn't think they would survive. The foods I have had the best luck with are not the most expensive, and I have, in fact, found some of the more expensive canned foods to be distasteful to quite a number of animals. I went through nearly $200 worth of food in one day with one young sick puppy that was not eating. I was finally able to get him to eat some turkey, and then Pedigree Chicken formula canned food. Since that time I've found this seems to be the magical formula for sick dogs. With sick or debilitated cats and kittens I've had similar luck with the less expensive, but fishy smelling, canned foods. Sometimes is just a matter of finding something they will eat.

George

 

[nern]

Originally posted by CharmsDad
Quality of food does vary, but the nutritional components do not improve simply because you get a cut of meat with a higher grade rating. Hamburger may have more fat, but otherwise is nutritionally the same as a 4 star cut of steak.

Yes, you have a good point but if one source is more digestible than the other the amount of nutrients utilized would differ even though the nutritional components are the same....more of the less digestible source would have to be consumed to provide the same nutrients.