Changing Cat Food

[musicandcats]

I've been feeding my cats Friskies dry/wet food and occasionally Purina Cat Chow. I was so naive and didn't realize how bad these are. I want to switch their food to something more nutritional for both dry and wet food. One of my cats is slightly overweight. Any recommendations?

 

[cheesycats]

My favorite is natures variety raw boost. The dry and wet are both pretty good. Dr elseys dry is amazing as well as young again dry foods and tiki dry. Tiki also has a great line of wet foods. I would just look for foods that are grain free and meat is at least the top three ingredients.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Not to feel bad, it used to be that purina was a good brand. In any case, to some degree you're going to be directed by what your furballs will eat. After a long haul of it, the Big Guy still gets some fancy feast but I'm supplementing with milk thistle to offset the ingredient menadione (synthetic vitamin k), and then also I rotate Merrick Backcountry, Abound, Firstmate, and a mixture of several different kibble brands, also some store bought frozen raw. My thinking is to try and avoid too much of any one nasty additive, gluten, starch or protein.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh and I wanted to mention you can track their weight with a bathroom scale, and if you can lightly feel their ribs but not see them, their weight is appropriate.

 

[milky07]

Hi ,how do u feed them 2x aday or fre feed, were do u live U.S, or Canada? And what can u aford

 

[duckpond]

i have an outside cat that i feed, he is to wild to catch, but he will eat food i put out he absolutely refuses the "high quality" food that i try to feed him, wet or dry. He only wants Purina naturals dry, and the Friskies wet...shreds only. I have tried to get him to eat better stuff, he wont, he will go without for days. So i decided cats have eaten Purina and Friskies for a long time, and many do quite well on it, if that's what he wants and makes him happy, that's what he gets. way less stress on both of us, and honestly i think stress, and lack of stimulation or exercise and play can be as problematic as what they eat. My indoor only cats do get different food, but i quit feeling guilty, because the feral cat is happy, and looks really healthy. Don't feel guilty about what you feed, or have fed. I try to feed mine as healthy as i can, but cost is a factor for most of us, and honestly there are so many different factors that contribute to the health of a cat, food is a big one, but only one. I really like Dr. Elsey's dry food, with the occasional bag of Farmina or Orijen for variety. I think for a cat with a weight issue Dr. Elsey's might be best. For wet food i feed a big variety, but the basis of it is Weruva, some Tiki Cat flavors, Merrick Backcountry, Against the Grain, and Earthborn. They do also get the occasional can of Fancy Feast classics, or what ever else i pick up at the store. My son and his wife have several rescue cats that live with them, they only feed wet, rotating between Fancy Feast Clasics, and Friskies wet, they will only eat the shreds as well...lol they have fed the cats this way for 8 and 9 years, they are all happy and healthy, get great vet reviews.

 

[musicandcats]

Hi ,how do u feed them 2x aday or fre feed, were do u live U.S, or Canada? And what can u aford

I feed them twice a day, I live in the U.S, and tight on money

 

[lalagimp]

This is definitely going to depend on where you are, what your cat will eat, and what is your budget?
I was feeding my four cats really decent quality kibble for about $85 a month, but then got hit with urinary problems with my oldest male, and realized how much hydration comes in to play. Now, my budget has almost doubled.
Not that I'm happy with it, but I know it meets their needs and isn't coming with too many questionable ingredients.
I'm in the states, and we have Chewy.com as a great resource, as well as Hare-Today for fresh meat.

 

[lalagimp]

I feed them twice a day, I live in the U.S, and tight on money

Then I'm leaning towards Purina One and Fancy Feast classic pates.

 

[duckpond]

I feed them twice a day, I live in the U.S, and tight on money

Fancy Feast, especially the classics, is a good choice in my opinion. and honestly there is worse things to feed, even in some of the "better quality" foods than the Friskies canned food. A really low carb healthy dry food is harder to find at a decent price. This is the reason my son went to all wet, and his 5 do very well on the Fancy Feast and Friskies, no barf, no litter box problems, no one is over weight, and great vet reviews, even on the older 9 and 10 year old cats.

 

[MissMolly08]

My cat was fed dry cat chow for almost 10 years before I knew better. Don't feel bad. I switched her over to all wet but I do still feed Friskies canned. I have a tight budget and any wet food is better than dry. I know there are a lot of different opinions on certain ingredients like by products but IMO Friskies is good for the price.

 

[musicandcats]

When it comes to buying cat food I'm willing to spending more

 

[Neo_23]

When it comes to buying cat food I'm willing to spending more

If you're wiling to spend more then I would move to an all wet or raw diet. Dry food is very unhealthy for cats because it is low in moisture and high in carbs. The only dry food brands that are low in carbs are Dr. Elsey and Ziwipeak. You can add water to the Ziwipeak but I'm not sure about Dr. Elsey.

 

[milky07]

If u can go all to wet or raw, take a look at ur closest petstore ?

 

[Willowy]

I'm OK with canned Friskies. All canned foods have some kind of issues (too many veggies, too carby, low-quality meat, etc.) so Friskies is about as good as any canned food. Fancy Feast classic pate, Purina One canned food, and Purina Beyond canned food are somewhat better than Friskies if you can afford it; if you have more than a couple cats it can add up fast. Stoopid teeny cans are expensive.

If you need to keep the dry food on a budget, I'm happy with the quality of Purina Beyond. It's available at most stores but is cheaper from chewy.com or Amazon. Purina One is OK but Beyond is better.