New Cat Mom Needs Help Choosing A Food Brand!!!

[Ashleyannmerk]

Hello! I am a new cat mom to a beautiful 6 year old named Arabella! Ari was my neighbor’s cat but she has seemed to adopted me with absolutely no intentions of returning home and her old family seems to have no intentions of fighting for her, which is more than fine with me!!! I had cats growing up, but to be honest, I wasn’t really a big fan! I didn’t really like them as a kid. I thought they were mean and boring and lame. Now, I can’t believe I ever felt that way. But in any event, when she first started coming over, we were feeding her dog food! We didn’t have any cat food and we thought she was a stray so we just gave her what we had and she would eat two cans of it at a time. Then we started picking up Friskies and she was eating 2-4 5.5oz cans of that a day. I later found out she was a neighbor’s cat so I’m assuming she was fed only dry food, which is why she inhaled the wet food we gave her and she put on weight immediately. Recently, she stopped eating like that and isn’t really into the Friskies anymore. I feed her a little throughout the day instead of once or twice and she wasn’t even eating the equivalent of one full can a day. She has dry food out and takes a few bites here and there but one small bowl will last weeks.

So, I started buying Fancy Feast. She really seems to like them and is eating much more. My mom said not to get her Fancy Feast because it rotted her cat’s teeth out since it was too rich. Keep in mind, she’s talking about a cat my parents had literally 35-20 years ago, so even if that was true back then there’s a good chance the formula has since been changed. The whole point is this post is to ask everyone what I should feed my little girl. I got her as a 6 year old so I am even more desperate to keep her alive and healthy as long as possible because I missed a good portion of her life and that kills me. I’m a poor college kid but if there’s a food that’s a little more expensive but much healthier, then I am willing to pay more. Also, I am not opposed to cooking fresh food if that is the healthiest for my girl whenever I can and then give her canned food on days when I’m too busy. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

[duckpond]

Two to 4 of the 5.5 oz cans of Friskies per day is a lot of food, unless she was very skinny and trying to catch up. My outside cat gets 1 can of Friskies, its the only wet he will eat, in the morning, and a bowl of dry. along with a big fresh bowl of water each day. this keeps him happy, and if i try to feed him more wet in the evening he will not normally eat it. I think the fancy feast classics are a good food, better than the other fancy feast, but with cats its often feed what they will eat, especially older cats that are set in their ways. The smaller cans i might offer one in the morning, and a bowl of dry, then another in the evening and see. I cant afford an expensive food for my outside cat either, others eat it as well. but i think Crave, or purina beyond from grocery store or walmart are not bad. another thing i do to give mine some better food, and variety is shop my local pet store, they will often have food on sale and i pick up what ever the have. Outside stray cat seems happy with this, as do the other neighbor cats, the birds, raccoons and opossums....lol

 

[ivory]

Hello! I am a new cat mom to a beautiful 6 year old named Arabella! Ari was my neighbor’s cat but she has seemed to adopted me with absolutely no intentions of returning home and her old family seems to have no intentions of fighting for her, which is more than fine with me!!! I had cats growing up, but to be honest, I wasn’t really a big fan! I didn’t really like them as a kid. I thought they were mean and boring and lame. Now, I can’t believe I ever felt that way. But in any event, when she first started coming over, we were feeding her dog food! We didn’t have any cat food and we thought she was a stray so we just gave her what we had and she would eat two cans of it at a time. Then we started picking up Friskies and she was eating 2-4 5.5oz cans of that a day. I later found out she was a neighbor’s cat so I’m assuming she was fed only dry food, which is why she inhaled the wet food we gave her and she put on weight immediately. Recently, she stopped eating like that and isn’t really into the Friskies anymore. I feed her a little throughout the day instead of once or twice and she wasn’t even eating the equivalent of one full can a day. She has dry food out and takes a few bites here and there but one small bowl will last weeks.

So, I started buying Fancy Feast. She really seems to like them and is eating much more. My mom said not to get her Fancy Feast because it rotted her cat’s teeth out since it was too rich. Keep in mind, she’s talking about a cat my parents had literally 35-20 years ago, so even if that was true back then there’s a good chance the formula has since been changed. The whole point is this post is to ask everyone what I should feed my little girl. I got her as a 6 year old so I am even more desperate to keep her alive and healthy as long as possible because I missed a good portion of her life and that kills me. I’m a poor college kid but if there’s a food that’s a little more expensive but much healthier, then I am willing to pay more. Also, I am not opposed to cooking fresh food if that is the healthiest for my girl whenever I can and then give her canned food on days when I’m too busy. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!!!

Hello! I am a new cat mom to a beautiful 6 year old named Arabella! Ari was my neighbor’s cat but she has seemed to adopted me with absolutely no intentions of returning home and her old family seems to have no intentions of fighting for her, which is more than fine with me!!! I had cats growing up, but to be honest, I wasn’t really a big fan! I didn’t really like them as a kid. I thought they were mean and boring and lame. Now, I can’t believe I ever felt that way. But in any event, when she first started coming over, we were feeding her dog food! We didn’t have any cat food and we thought she was a stray so we just gave her what we had and she would eat two cans of it at a time. Then we started picking up Friskies and she was eating 2-4 5.5oz cans of that a day. I later found out she was a neighbor’s cat so I’m assuming she was fed only dry food, which is why she inhaled the wet food we gave her and she put on weight immediately. Recently, she stopped eating like that and isn’t really into the Friskies anymore. I feed her a little throughout the day instead of once or twice and she wasn’t even eating the equivalent of one full can a day. She has dry food out and takes a few bites here and there but one small bowl will last weeks.

So, I started buying Fancy Feast. She really seems to like them and is eating much more. My mom said not to get her Fancy Feast because it rotted her cat’s teeth out since it was too rich. Keep in mind, she’s talking about a cat my parents had literally 35-20 years ago, so even if that was true back then there’s a good chance the formula has since been changed. The whole point is this post is to ask everyone what I should feed my little girl. I got her as a 6 year old so I am even more desperate to keep her alive and healthy as long as possible because I missed a good portion of her life and that kills me. I’m a poor college kid but if there’s a food that’s a little more expensive but much healthier, then I am willing to pay more. Also, I am not opposed to cooking fresh food if that is the healthiest for my girl whenever I can and then give her canned food on days when I’m too busy. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!!!

I have my 2 10 lb cats on a schedule where I feed them once in morning and once in evening with real cooked boneless chicken thighs in evening as their snack. Total calories per day for them is about 195 to 200 cal a day. NEVER a mean made of dry kibble. However I do give them a teaspoon wetted of Carna 4 which is a great synthetic free dried air form of cooked food mixed in their canned food. Right now I feed First Mate chicken and turkey flavors but the carb content because of potato is about 19 %. I am looking into Holestic Select or earthborne, they have not been recalled. You can go to Natural Cat Care blog to see a list of good foods. Wellness core is not bad, now that they have removed the carrageenan. If your kitty hunts that s better food r her than any canned food. It took me awhile but using Balance It autoreceipe maker for my kitties is now very easy. I make up a batch of cooked boneless chicken thighs, add the Carnivoire blend and corn oil per receipe for cat and freeze about 12-18 1 ounce packets and give as a glance treat with all the proper minerals and supplements needed as I count that in part of their caloric intake. Kasiks chicken and salmon look good too. I do not like Purina as my 2 guys were on that as kittens and were not thriving. I also give them a probiotic everyday from Food just for Cats.

 

[ivory]

I have my 2 10 lb cats on a schedule where I feed them once in morning and once in evening with real cooked boneless chicken thighs in evening as their snack. Total calories per day for them is about 195 to 200 cal a day. NEVER a mean made of dry kibble. However I do give them a teaspoon wetted of Carna 4 which is a great synthetic free dried air form of cooked food mixed in their canned food. Right now I feed First Mate chicken and turkey flavors but the carb content because of potato is about 19 %. I am looking into Holestic Select or earthborne, they have not been recalled. You can go to Natural Cat Care blog to see a list of good foods. Wellness core is not bad, now that they have removed the carrageenan. If your kitty hunts that s better food r her than any canned food. It took me awhile but using Balance It autoreceipe maker for my kitties is now very easy. I make up a batch of cooked boneless chicken thighs, add the Carnivoire blend and corn oil per receipe for cat and freeze about 12-18 1 ounce packets and give as a glance treat with all the proper minerals and supplements needed as I count that in part of their caloric intake. Kasiks chicken and salmon look good too. I do not like Purina as my 2 guys were on that as kittens and were not thriving. I also give them a probiotic everyday from Food just for Cats.

 

[Ardina]

The general guidelines I follow is to choose wet food over dry as much as possible because wet food has enough moisture content to keep cats hydrated (dry fed cats don't drink enough water to make up the deficit of moisture in kibble). Dry food also doesn't do anything for dental health. The second thing is to look for named meats as the first several ingredients. The third thing is to avoid grains and carbs - corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, peas, barley, etc - because cats are obligate carnivores and don't need any of those fillers. Finally, I avoid seafood because it can be mercury heavy and cats often get addicted to fishy flavors and start to refuse others flavors.

There are lots of brands that are good quality based on those guidelines. Fancy feast classics are fairly decent foods and not as expensive as others. Wellness and Nulo are pretty decent too. I personally gave up on finding a wet food that Saipha would willingly eat consistently, so I now feed my cats homemade raw. They love it, it's cheaper than fancy feast canned, and I have full control over the ingredients.

 

[Furballsmom]

If you have a bathroom scale, you can track her weight as time goes along. If you become concerned she's eating more than she should you can tell if you're unable to feel her ribs. Which is to say you don't want to see them, but should be able to lightly feel them. It sounds to me as though she's playing catch up regarding food quantity, and at the moment I'm not sure I'd want to cut back. Also, you could consider alternating a couple or three foods so she's not getting too much of any one starch or protein. And, as Ardina mentioned, what our finicky furry feline buddies will actually consume is a big part of the equation here.

 

[Ladewyn]

I do want to point out that 20-35 years ago lots of animals had teeth problems because *no one* brushed their pets' teeth. Regardless of what food you feed them, it's a really good idea to train them to allow at least an occasional toothbrushing

 

[Ashleyannmerk]

I do want to point out that 20-35 years ago lots of animals had teeth problems because *no one* brushed their pets' teeth. Regardless of what food you feed them, it's a really good idea to train them to allow at least an occasional toothbrushing

My girl is a little sassy and I got her at 6 years old. How do I get her to let me brush? She likes to nip and swat when something’s not going her way.

 

[lisahe]

My girl is a little sassy and I got her at 6 years old. How do I get her to let me brush? She likes to nip and swat when something’s not going her way.

YouTube to the rescue! Link here. Our vet suggested we watch this before starting to brush out cats' teeth. Starting slowly is very important, though we were able to skip a step because the cats loved the toothbrush and wanted to bite and scent it from the start. (Ah, cats!) It's also important to find a toothpaste Ari likes; our cats both like CET/Virbac seafood toothpaste. CET/Virbac also makes nice little toothbrushes that fit in a cat's mouth. A kit like this (link!) is a great way to start. Our cats hate the finger toothbrush, though our vet says some of her clients use them all the time. At any rate, we've been brushing our cats' teeth for three years now and they see it as a treat because of the toothpaste. And because they get a meal after brushing. (Backwards, I know!)

As for wet food, others have already made some good suggestions, like Wellness Core, which is very decent, though I avoid the flavors with potato in them. If you're feeding Fancy Feast, their "Classics," the pates, are the best option because they're lower-carb (no wheat gluten!) and higher in protein than some of the swankier-sounding lines like Tuscan specialties, or whatever they are. (That said, we had a cat who loved those foods... and sometimes you have no choice but to feed a cat what it wants!) Low-carb is particularly important since most carbs in cat foods come from plant sources and cats don't process those things very well--they're real carnivores! That means that most of the potato, pea, wheat, corn, rice, and tapioca calories in the food end up being empty calories. Another thing: many, probably most, of us, feed a variety of things to our cats because they tend to get bored with their food. Another supermarket brand that's very decent is Sheba and some cats like Paul Newman's food, too, though it's not cheap. I know some people have mentioned some store brand foods that are good. (I generally avoid carrageenan in our cats' food so don't feed our store's brand.)

If you'd like to cook food for Ari, you might want to post in the Raw and Home-Cooked forum (link!), though I'll say right here that our cats love homecooked food made with the EZComplete supplement.

Good for you for taking such good care of Ari and good luck finding more foods she'll eat and enjoy!