Good Dry Food?

[danteshuman]

My best bud recently died. He had a poultry allergy. Now I have a kitten that is on Iam's kitten dry food plus one fact feast can or wet food pouch a day.

He is almost 4 months old. I figure I will give him Iams kitten until he is 6 months old. Then switch him over to a healthier dry food. (I know wet food is best but given my health limitations he needs to stay on dry with a wet food dinner.) I have half a mind to mix the (?10? Pounds) of leftover salmon/trout taste of the Wild with the kitten food but I figured the little guy needs the calories. (He was on Iams kitten food from the start, given my mom was kind enough to pay for the foster kittens formula/food while I raised them; I'm not complaining.)

So I know to many, a healthy dry food is an oxymoron but that aside their are healthy dry foods. I used to feed my bud Taste of the Wild (trout & salmon) & unless I can find a better brand (within budgeting reason) then my new little kitten that I fostered will be put on taste of the wild chicken.

Please can we skip the wet and raw food diet being better reconditions?

 

[danteshuman]

Oh and he is a water loving kitten who drinks a ton of water.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

I guess it depends on where you live and what is readily available to you? I usually look for something with limited ingredients or something that doesn't have a bunch of by-product in the first few ingredients. Also stuff that doesn't have too much "people food" in it.

I don't know if that was helpful. Sorry.

I know there are some organic and all natural brands of dry food online. But they can be pricey so. . .

 

[sabrinah]

The Taste of the Wild is all life stages so it's perfectly fine to feed to your kitten now if you want.

What's your food budget? It'll help people recommend the right food for you. Without a price range, you're likely to get a lot of Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein recommendations, which is $33 for 6.6 pounds.

 

[danteshuman]

I order off chewy. The vet recommended Taste of the Wild for my poultry allergic cat. It seems to one of the better dry foods.

I'm thinking blue buffalo or taste of the Wild ... my budget 40$ or less for a 15 pound bag. I used buy Science Diet before my cat developed a poultry allergy. However I think grain free might be better but it still has sweet potato in it.

He eats all of his wet food when it is my bff pouches (variety) but kinda poopoos the fancy feast chicken/turkey/beef feast because he loves the fish. He eats half of the fancy feast cans. (I think less fish in his diet makes more sense.)

 

[EmersonandEvie]

I always recommend Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. It is pricey, but Chewy and the Dr. Elsey's website often runs good sales (for example, Chewy currently has it on sale for 30% off).

Dr. Elsey's will also send you 100% free samples if you email them and ask on their website. I would also be willing to bet that Dr. Elsey's would send you coupons to reduce the cost of a bag if you explain your financial situation to them.

It is extremely high calorie (550 calories/cup) so your kitten, even doubling the amount to accommodate for her growing, would eat less than 3/4 cup per day if exclusively fed dry. Since you supplement with the fancy feast (which is what my own kitten eats, by the way ) it would be around a heaping 1/2 cup per day. It is more filling (with animal protein, not carbs and fillers) so he will naturally eat less.

 

[sabrinah]

There's a decent number of options around your price range besides Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo. A lot of it comes down to what you're looking for in dry food. I like to use catfooddb.com to compare ratings and carb content of the foods around my price range.

$40 for 15 lbs is roughly $2.67/lb. American Journey is $28 for 12 lbs and has 4 flavors to chose from. Instinct is $36 for 11 lbs, which is slightly ($6) above your price range. There's also Whole Earth Farms, Merrick, Petcurean Go! (roughly $5 above budget), Solid Gold, Wellness Complete, Nutrisca, etc. A lot of it comes down to what you're looking for.

 

[Suru]

Dr Elseys is great. Great products and Customer service. Amazon has the 2lb bags for $10, which is pretty much the same price for quantity as the 6.6lb bag.
Highly recommended!

After switching over from NV instinct, my cat eats significantly less. He is free fed, so the change was very obvious. Im pretty sure the amount he now eats offsets the price difference!

 

[CharlotteKing66]

Does anyone know a good brand of dry Cat food to mix in with wet in Australia? 0452432634

 

[Summercats]

None. Feed wet or raw.

 

[Kat0121]

I always recommend Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. It is pricey, but Chewy and the Dr. Elsey's website often runs good sales (for example, Chewy currently has it on sale for 30% off).

Dr. Elsey's will also send you 100% free samples if you email them and ask on their website. I would also be willing to bet that Dr. Elsey's would send you coupons to reduce the cost of a bag if you explain your financial situation to them.

It is extremely high calorie (550 calories/cup) so your kitten, even doubling the amount to accommodate for her growing, would eat less than 3/4 cup per day if exclusively fed dry. Since you supplement with the fancy feast (which is what my own kitten eats, by the way ) it would be around a heaping 1/2 cup per day. It is more filling (with animal protein, not carbs and fillers) so he will naturally eat less.

I second this recommendation. IMO Dr. Elsey's is the best dry food out there. I'd also suggest asking for samples. They do send them. Dr. Elsey's will also send you a 20% off code for your first purchase if you sign up with your email address. Unless they have a sale though, Chewy and Amazon are cheaper. It's on sale at Petco right now but I don't know if they carry it in stores or just online.

 

[sargon]

As long as your cat drinks well, high quality dry feed is probably fine, doubly so since it is a supplemental food for a growing kitten. Just be sure to keep an eye on water intake, because cats sometimes decide to stop drinking well.

Dr Elsey's is excellent stuff, and they are very generous with samples, they'll include canned, too. I recommend their kibble as a replacement for cat treats, even if it is too expensive to feed as primary food.

Solid gold Indigo moon is in your price range ( it's like $32 for a 12lb bag), and is a fairly decent food that my cat likes. It isn't as good as Dr Elsey's, since it does include a fair bit of carbs ( potato rather than corn, at least), and has a some vegetable protein, but it has 41% protein (mostly from chicken and eggs, though some is pea protein.)

If you are feeding dry, you should definitely see if you can convince your cat to try a puzzle feeder. They are a lot of fun for cats to use, and for us humans to watch.

Also, if you don't have one already, look into a cat fountain. The stainless steel pioneer pet fountains (among the best out there) seem to be deeply discounted on Amazon and Chewy right now

 

[war&wisdom]

None. Feed wet or raw.

Seriously not a helpful comment. The OP is clear that they are aware that wet is better but that an all-wet diet is not possible on their budget. Please be respectful of others' financial situations.

 

[war&wisdom]

Everyone's recommendations are excellent, and I don't really have anything to add, except: a vet whom I trust (and who specialized in nutrition in veterinary school) recommends against Blue Buffalo for kittens specifically. It's not the worst choice in the world, obviously, but if your kitten likes one of the other recommendations, I would go with one of those instead.

 

[mizzely]

My cat is one of the few that doesn't care for Dr. Elsey's. However she loves the Wysong Epigen 90 food.

If I was going to try a cheaper per lb food, I'd do Instinct or American Journey. She loves the AJ canned food so I am guessing she would love that too!

 

[RajaNMizu]

When they were six months old, I transitioned Raja and Mizu onto Tiki Cat's chicken and fish luau dry along with their two meals of wet food per day. It's well rated CatfoodDB's Unbiased List Of The Best Dry Cat Foods and is 482 calories per cup so very little is needed. Chewy charges 45.00 for an 11.1 lb bag. I usually find a sale at my local Petco and a 2.8 lb bag lasts us a month for two cats because they eat very little of it and it's filling.

 

[m3rma1d]

Everyone's recommendations are excellent, and I don't really have anything to add, except: a vet whom I trust (and who specialized in nutrition in veterinary school) recommends against Blue Buffalo for kittens specifically. It's not the worst choice in the world, obviously, but if your kitten likes one of the other recommendations, I would go with one of those instead.

Do you know the vet's reasoning behind that?
Personally I don't like Blue Buffalo as a company, but for my foster kittens I am able to pick up cases of Blue kitten food for them (for free since they belong to the shelter, I'm just fostering).. I do supplement that with Wellness and Wholehearted, but I can't afford ALL their food (I have 3 adult cats to feed, not to mention these 2 kittens eat more than my 3 adult cats haha!) so I do grab some cans of Blue from the shelter for them when I'm there.. Ugh. :/
For dry I mix Wellness kitten and Wholehearted kitten, and I just scored a big bag of Solid Gold kitten super cheap at a discount store. ($8/6lb, kinda wanna go back and clear the shelf)

 

[Minxxy]

My best bud recently died. He had a poultry allergy. Now I have a kitten that is on Iam's kitten dry food plus one fact feast can or wet food pouch a day.

He is almost 4 months old. I figure I will give him Iams kitten until he is 6 months old. Then switch him over to a healthier dry food. (I know wet food is best but given my health limitations he needs to stay on dry with a wet food dinner.) I have half a mind to mix the (?10? Pounds) of leftover salmon/trout taste of the Wild with the kitten food but I figured the little guy needs the calories. (He was on Iams kitten food from the start, given my mom was kind enough to pay for the foster kittens formula/food while I raised them; I'm not complaining.)

So I know to many, a healthy dry food is an oxymoron but that aside their are healthy dry foods. I used to feed my bud Taste of the Wild (trout & salmon) & unless I can find a better brand (within budgeting reason) then my new little kitten that I fostered will be put on taste of the wild chicken.

Please can we skip the wet and raw food diet being better reconditions?

Only Natural Pet dry is excellent. I feed the one in the Orange bag. It's 47% protein and great ingredients. It's only $25.00 for a 10 lb bag. I buy it on www.chewy.com

 

[war&wisdom]

Do you know the vet's reasoning behind that?
Personally I don't like Blue Buffalo as a company, but for my foster kittens I am able to pick up cases of Blue kitten food for them (for free since they belong to the shelter, I'm just fostering).. I do supplement that with Wellness and Wholehearted, but I can't afford ALL their food (I have 3 adult cats to feed, not to mention these 2 kittens eat more than my 3 adult cats haha!) so I do grab some cans of Blue from the shelter for them when I'm there.. Ugh. :/
For dry I mix Wellness kitten and Wholehearted kitten, and I just scored a big bag of Solid Gold kitten super cheap at a discount store. ($8/6lb, kinda wanna go back and clear the shelf)

He didn't say they were horrible, but he said that he recommends against them if there's a choice because he doesn't think the nutrient balance is the best.

He actually mentioned that he knows the people who make the food and likes what they do in general, just not for kittens.

 

[danteshuman]

Yes but all pro wet food people say to feed them 3-6 times a day. There are days I sleep 12 hours which would make for a hungry kitty. I despise mornings more than I can say. I guess I could buy a feeder with an ice pack but that still leaves the third dinner.

So acknowledging my limitations I'm looking for the best dry food I can afford. I'm on S.S.I. & I spend most of my extra money on my cats. After rent they are my biggest expense. In a ideal world they would eat wet food or raw. We don't live in a ideal world. If I'm lucky and can afford it (providing they eat it) I might be able to feed them a wet food lunch & dinner. I have had cats nibble at wet food, then walk away to munch on dry food. It drove me nuts!!! I have a old senior cat that has blossomed on dry kitten food (he lost a lot of weight before the kittens came.)