How do you decide on a particular food?

loveysmummy

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And can you change the food often?

I have looked over much of the cat food poll. and see that there is a large variety in terms of what everyone is feeding.

But HOW did you come to that decision?
Some do note their reasons but for most of you, did you just walk into the store and say
"I'll try this"?

And I notice many people feed one kind dry and one kind wet? Why is that?
Why not the same kind for both?

Is it only trial and error according to your cat's tastes?
And lastly!
do many agree that dry is best in the a.m and wet at night?

Please let me know.
p.s if anyone has suggestions for food that contributes to shiny coat I would be interested..Lovey's coat appears it could use a lift but I on't want it to become too oily either.
 

maverick_kitten

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i was feeding whiskas kitten because Maverick was being fed Whiskas adult and i didnt know about the derevatives and the better foods to feed.

my vet told me to try Hills Science kitten dry and i tried Hills science kitten wet as i like to leave dry food out to graze and serve wet twice a day. Maverick ate the wet but it absoloutley STANK so i gave her hi-life kitten which is a higher meat % than whiskas.

in my case its just been try and try again. i like to feed wet morning coz it helps us bond and wet night to help her sleep
 

rarepuss

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thankfully, i didn't have to, i'd probably go mad if i did, too many choices. My breeder recommended a great combination, which i've been using ever since
 

halfpint

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I feed Hill's dry kitten and not to much wet to Dunkin, I will change that pretty soon, I don't think he needs all that's in kitten food, he's going to become a blimp. We had a terrible ordeal with his stomach, 2 trips to the vet, antibotics and shots, and finally he's doing good, I try finding canned with no by-prouducts and processed stuff in it, he's not missing the wet food I don't think, he's about 8 or 9 mos old and he weighs 13.5 lbs
 

dancemuse

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I feed all three Nutr0 Max Cat (the regular Adult formula--I guess it's called "Gourmet Classics") dry food. The reason is that when we adopted our second cat (Eva), we told the rescue lady which food we were feeding Ziv (basic Pur!na), she was appalled and recommended the Nutr0. The criteria to look for, she said, is that the first ingredients should be meat, not fillers. Being pretty unexperienced, we just went along with what she recommended (also, that's what she fed all her rescues).

When we first switched Ziv over we did it without transitioning (mixing old food with new for a few days), so he had diarrhea at first. But all of our cats seem to prefer the taste of the Nutr0, and they look great. I've been noticing recently how nice Eva's coat looked (it was pretty dull at first because they had just found her and she hadn't been grooming herself), and even Chesty's has visibly improved after only 1.5 weeks. They are shiny and sleek, and not at all oily.

I feed a small amount of wet food at night. I used to do it first thing in the morning (the cats are still adjusting!), but after reading on this forum that wet food can help calm cats down a little, I decided to switch to evening wet food in the hopes that they'd be a little calmer when I'm trying to sleep. It's worked a bit--the midnight stampedes have gradually diminished, but they are still up and at 'em consistently around 4:30 am.

I always stick with the same line of dry food (different flavors, though, so they don't get too attached), but I vary a little bit in the wet food, mostly depending on what's cheapest at the time. I most often get Fr!skies in the pouch. It's consistently cheap at PetsM@rt, the cats like it, and the pouch is more appealing to me (easier to use than a can) and to them (it seems to be fresher than a can, and they seem to prefer any pouch version compared to the can version). I don't get the Nutr0 because it's more expensive (usually by almost 12 cents a can/pouch). Also, the dry food is where they're getting most of their nutrients--the wet is mostly for enjoyment.

I think it's important to feed more dry than wet food--that's what keeps their teeth healthy. After the nighttime wet feeding, I give a tiny bit of dry food to polish up the teeth (and, I admit, to keep them from bothering me during the night!).

Whew! Did you want an answer that exhaustive?
 

sammie5

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I looked at the range of better quality foods available at the pet food chain stores. Then I chose the brand based on price (partly) and the specific formula, and chose Royal Canin. But I have also used Science Diet, and Nutro. I did choose one that is a larger size kibble, because my cats make a mess with the smaller stuff, and one cat tends to swallow it whole without chewing, and then throws up. The larger stuff forces him to crunch it up.

I feed kibble in the morning, and wet food at night. I chose the nutro foil pouches, because again, I was selecting from the better quality foods, and that was the one the cats like best. When I tried other options, including nutro "gourmet" in tins, they wouldn't ever finish what I put down for them, and they will eat all of the foil pouch version. I want them to eat all of their wet food, and then just snack on the kibble, because the wet food is much lower in calories for the same nutritional value, and the cats were gaining weight when they were free fed kibble all day. My vet recommended switching to wet food as their basic.
 

vegansoprano

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Ingredients and reasonable price (since I'm a student and have 12 hungry feline mouths to feed). I like Nutro, Pet Guard, and Chicken Soup. Science Diet markets itself heavily to vets but it's really not a very good product. If you compare its ingredients with Nutro, the difference is clear. Plus Nutro is quite a bit less expensive.
 

dawnofsierra

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I would also recommend a diet consisting primarily of wet food. A great advantage of feeding wet at night is that it often helps your kitty to sleep better through the night!
 

pat

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I came to my choices after years of trying premium foods, watching how my cats and kittens grew, how my show cats looked (when I was showing), and I came to the conclusion I wanted foods without bha/bht, ethoxyquin, no by-products, no use of multiple grains, foods free of garlic, soy, whole or cracked corn, artificial colors or flavorings.

I've also come to the decision, that when it becomes feasible, I will switch to a wet food diet only, and probably a home cooked one. For now, I free feed (except Tyler and Patrick who eat mainly a wet food diet due to health reasons) and give wet food to supplement.

Canned foods I like best - Active Life, PetGuard,felidae, innova, some petgold flavors.

Dry food I currently feed - Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Weight Management.
 

nern

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I chose based mostly on ingredients but I also prefer companies that I feel are reliable and trustworthy. Natura is one of my favorite companies and I've used Innova and California Natural frequently over the past few years and have always been pleased with how my cats do on them. I change dry foods gradually usually every 3 - 6 months.
I don't feed canned food as often as I used because its no longer affordable with 7 cats but I still give it as often as I can. There are some brands that I don't care for the ingredients in their dry formulas but love the canned formulas. I use a variety of canned foods but most often I use Wellness, Innova and Eagle Pack.

Someday, like Pat, I would also like to feed a diet of canned only and/or homecooked foods.
 

sharky

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Wet food I give : nutro , eagle pack, feliadea(sp?), merrick , authority , wellness( not so happy with this one)

Dry : old one gets nutro max... young one gets nutro natural choice indoor adult... Have used Natural Balence ( then I read up on some oils) , Royal canin( old one got bored) ... Anyone use sensible choice senior?? I am thinking about it ...

Also they get baby food as much organic as I can and homemade meat and veggies..
 
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I started out with Science Diet, tried Iams, tried Natural Choice, tried Chicken Soup, tried Innova, tried Wellness, tried Eukanuba..... The only thing I've been able to feed Hans without him vomiting it up three times a week is Friskies Special Diet.... It's too hard to keep him from eating everyone else's food (he works himself up into a tizzy and gets diarreah, which becomes worse when I feed him in a separate room) so all four of mine are eating it and doing wonderfully. Hans hasn't thrown up once, and his stools are normal for the first time since I brought him home. The others also have less dandruff, for some reason. I can't explain why they have the opposite reaction to the "cheap" food than other cats.
 

nano

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My thought process is to find something that:

--Nano enjoys eating
--keeps Nano appearing healthy
--doesn't cause Nano to have constipation or odor problems
--is easy to consume and doesn't cause vomiting
--has at least respectable quality
--won't make Nano fat or lethargic
--is widely available
--is reasonably priced

Those are my criteria!
 

scamperfarms

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I chose on what it did for my animals, Price, and a bit of personal prefrence. We have always been a purina house and my animals have always done well. I have tried other foods, (science diet..Authority, Iams, and Eukanuba) didnt like how they did on Science diet and they stuck their noses up at everything else.

So I went back to Purina. But i went to the Preimum line for them. Which is the Pro Plan (one is similar but has A few diffrent ingridents) and they are THRIVING on it. Just Thriving. You asked about shiny coats. Pro Plan has done it for my babies. They are really shinny, the vet was even surprised at how shinny, but its not oily either.

I chose to give my treat of Wet food in the mornings, because they like it and it seems to encourage them to drink water. I just noticed it myself. And I feed Friskies, because its affordable for the Five cats, and they like it.
 
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