The great thing about this site is that it has educated me about what is a quality food and what is not. And even though I knew it wasn't the best, I've been feeding my gang Science Diet for years, mostly because its so easy to find and I don't need to drive far to get a bag when we get low (we go thru a lot of food here).
But once in a while I'll get a bad bag of it and I know within a few days as the vomit increases out of the blue. I've got 6 cats yacking right now from the bag I purchased last weekend. No more Science Diet in my house unless it is prescribed.
With 12 cats eating around here, it isn't practical to serve meals at prescribed times so I free feed and will continue to free feed. I've been digging thru this forum and have settled on 2 brands which appear to be recommended over the rest: California Natural and Wellness. Mine like chicken and both have a chicken and rice formula.
For those that feed either of these, do you free feed and do you have any problems with the food getting stale sitting out all day? I change out food at the end of the day so it doesn't sit more than 24 hours.
I also mix a tartar control into their food and was using SD tartar (I mixed a 20 pound bag of maintenance into an 8 pound tartar control). Is there a good tartar control other than SD? My Stumpy really needs this due to his gum problems and I don't want to have to feed him tartar treats all day long.
I'm heading to Petsmart this morning and will buy a few different brands and test it out on them. Any insights into free feeding or brands other than California and Wellness would be welcome.
And just an fyi - I go thru close to 28 pounds of food in a week. Price isn't entirely an issue but I don't want to go broke either.
But once in a while I'll get a bad bag of it and I know within a few days as the vomit increases out of the blue. I've got 6 cats yacking right now from the bag I purchased last weekend. No more Science Diet in my house unless it is prescribed.
With 12 cats eating around here, it isn't practical to serve meals at prescribed times so I free feed and will continue to free feed. I've been digging thru this forum and have settled on 2 brands which appear to be recommended over the rest: California Natural and Wellness. Mine like chicken and both have a chicken and rice formula.
For those that feed either of these, do you free feed and do you have any problems with the food getting stale sitting out all day? I change out food at the end of the day so it doesn't sit more than 24 hours.
I also mix a tartar control into their food and was using SD tartar (I mixed a 20 pound bag of maintenance into an 8 pound tartar control). Is there a good tartar control other than SD? My Stumpy really needs this due to his gum problems and I don't want to have to feed him tartar treats all day long.
I'm heading to Petsmart this morning and will buy a few different brands and test it out on them. Any insights into free feeding or brands other than California and Wellness would be welcome.
And just an fyi - I go thru close to 28 pounds of food in a week. Price isn't entirely an issue but I don't want to go broke either.