Dry Food Options?

[Ryka]

As some of you know, I adopted two kittens in October. I'm currently looking at dry food options for my youngest, O'Malley. He came to me on a 50/50 diet of Friskies and I'd like to not only get him on a better quality food but I'd rather he be on a diet closer to 70/30, with wet food making up the vast majority of his diet. I understand the dry vs wet debate and am pretty well set on adding kibble. He really just doesn't seem to ever be full with just the wet food, he regularly goes through four to five 12oz cans of the Friskies. The dry I'm considering are Merrick Backcountry, Nature's Variety, Nulo, and Evo. The wet is Hound and Gatos, Nature's Variety, and Evo. I'm absolutely open to suggestions, so please throw in anything you think might help!

 

[Summercats]

Sounds like you are in the right track! The only two other options I can think of are Blue Buffalo and Orijen.

 

[Neo_23]

In my opinion the best quality dry foods are Ziwipeak, Orijen/Acana, Rawz, and Dr. Elsey.

 

[Ryka]

See, I thought about Orijen/Acana but the reviews I'd read made me worry that he wouldn't eat it. The reviews were mainly negative since they made the switch to Kentucky. I like Ziwipeak and Dr. Elsey but with the amounts he's eating right now they just didn't seem affordable.

 

[Yanaka]

Any more experiences with Rawz dry food? Especially with cats who usually don’t want any dry at all?

 

[NewYork1303]

We use Nature's Variety instinct. I really like it, but I'm annoyed they added peas too it.

Our cats eat one small meal of kibble, two of wet food, and one of frozen raw.

 

[neely]

See, I thought about Orijen/Acana but the reviews I'd read made me worry that he wouldn't eat it. The reviews were mainly negative since they made the switch to Kentucky.

Our cat loved Acana until it was manufactured in KY and the formula was changed, (not for the better).

 

[lalagimp]

I haven't chimed in? Weird. That's so unlike me.
The girls were on Nature's Variety Instinct kibble for years. Then I started adding Nature's Variety Instinct canned. Within the next few months, I changed the kibble from NV to Dr Elsey's. I thought that there was no way I could afford it long term (I had written the company to give it a shot and blog about it), but some of the claims worked out in favor of my girls. The kibble is much more calorie dense, so the ladies did adjust themselves to that and they are eating less kibble. I know they aren't kittens, but between that and the 5.5 oz can of NV per day, the 6.6 lb bag lasts them two months. Another reason I like NV for the cans is because that, too, is calorically dense. I believe the chicken has 200 calories. I see the big cans of Wellness at the pet store on the cheap, but when I read the can and see the calories per serving, I would have to feed them a lot more of it. I had to crunch numbers the numbers and this combination works out well for us. I would love to try the girls on Ziwipeak, but for the price and calories per can, I would break my budget feeding these four cats. I make my own food for the boys. They require much more than the girls so I have to put in a few hours work every month and I save a bunch of money.

 

[MeganLLB]

I think Orijen and Evo and brands like them are very overpriced. The other brands you mentioned are okay but they add fillers like potatoes and peas.

The two foods I feed my cats are Instinct Ultimate Protein and the Instinct Raw Boost. I like the first one because it doesn't seem to have any fillers but I tend to feed them the second one because my cats really like the freeze dried raw mixed into the kibble. And the formulas arent that different. Whats lacking in the raw boost kibble i guess they make up by adding the freeze dried pieces.
It's also more money than I'd like to pay bit not as much as Origen. And they don't eat that much kibble anyway so it's just a small bag.

 

[Lari]

I feed my kitty a mix of Wellness Core kitten wet and dry and she seems to be doing pretty well on it. I know it's got a few iffy things in it like peas or potatoes, but overall it seems to be working out.

 

[Neo_23]

I feed my kitty a mix of Wellness Core kitten wet and dry and she seems to be doing pretty well on it. I know it's got a few iffy things in it like peas or potatoes, but overall it seems to be working out.

Careful with that one. A lot of people have reported issues with crystals while eating Wellness.

 

[Lari]

Careful with that one. A lot of people have reported issues with crystals while eating Wellness.

Will do. Thanks.

 

[zoocat]

I have three outside “formerly feral” cats and two indoor. I normally feed the outside cats mostly dry food because they are great hunters—no mice around here! I’ve been feeding them the Beyond dry which they love. I try to mix in a little bettter quality dry with it. I tried the Merrill Backcountry raw infused Game Bird. I thought they’d love it—-All three HATE it. Even the one I call my catfish (bottom feeder will eat anything) will not touch it. Every day when I pick up their bowl, all of the Beyond is gone leaving all the Backcountry uneaten except for the raw infused puffy things.

 

[blob99]

For those feeding freeze dried raw---can it be left out for awhile like dry kibble?

 

[Neo_23]

If rehydrated it shouldn’t be out longer than 20-30 mins. If not hydrated usually an hour or 2 is ok. But it really should be fed hydrated.

 

[thegreystalker]

It's been a mix of wet and dry from about 7 months. She prefers dry but the ratio that I feed her varies. Her favor flavors are:

dry...Purina Beyond, Nulo FreeStyle
wet...Purina Beyond, Purina True Nature, Sheba