What do you feed your cats, and why?

[kittylover23]

I just wanted to see what everyone fed their kitties. I know there are several threads on feline nutrition but I thought it would be nice if one thread summed up what food everyone was feeding. Canned? Dry? Raw? Which brands?

I had my cats on Weruva and Wellness for a long time, and was rotating around many grain free high quality brands. Now I have them on Natures Variety raw instincts mixed with their regular wet food, hoping that they will transition nicely.

So yes, what do you feed your cats? Why?

 

[Willowy]

What: I mostly feed canned Friskies. Sometimes canned EVO 95% meat chicken and turkey, and some raw meat (some commercial raw, some plain meat). A little kibble--a mix of Chicken Soup, Diamond Naturals, TOTW, and 4Health. When that food runs out I'm switching the kibble to EVO and Earthborn Holistics.

Why: I switched to almost all canned because one female, Bunny, was having a problem with interstitial cystitis (or something similar). And because I worried about the boys getting blocked, and the older cats getting kidney disease and diabetes. Why Friskies? Because I can't afford to feed 21 cats anything more expensive and all the cats like it. Why EVO and raw? To get some higher-quality protein into them, in such quantities as I can afford, and they like it. Why a little kibble? Because sometimes I'm gone all day and half the night and leaving canned food out that long just doesn't work :tongue2:. But not very often because Bunny always gets a flare-up when she eats even a little kibble.

 

[furryfriends50]

I feed a prey model raw diet to Morey, Mitch, Malachi, Mikey, TyTy, Shadow,  Buddy, Storm, Missy, Chester, Jill, Haddie, Jack, Crystal, Lynx, Amiga, Clover, Matilda, Mooshu, Rodent, Lupe, Wilda, Hortense, Baldy, Leo, and Theo.  They eat chicken necks, turkey necks, beef, pork, turkey, beef/chicken liver, beef kidney, lamb kidney, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, and sardines on a regular basis.  "Baldy" (he doesn't have a real name yet) eats duck and salmon - a food trial to see if it helps his allergies.

Why?  Several of those cats have health problems that are kept under control through their diet.  For the rest of them - it is because I feel that a prey model raw diet is the best food for them to be eating. 

Leche, LaMoose, and their two sisters eat half canned (Before Grain, Merrick, Friskies, Evangers, Precise Holistic) and half raw.  Why?  I am not there to feed them in the morning, so they get canned then.  I am there at night so then they get prey model raw for that meal.  They live on a farm and I typically don't work in the mornings - but someone else can feed them then.
 

When I am gone - five days a year on average - someone else feeds them for me.  Morey, Malachi, and Mitch get RadCat mixed with some ground turkey.  Mikey gets Before Grain Quail & Chicken canned.  Baldy gets Wysong 100% meat canned.  Wilda and Hortense get Precise Holistic canned.  Everyone else gets Evangers all meat canned foods (these are not balanced, and are marketed as dog food).  Quite a mix of different foods but that is what works best for everyone.

 

[whollycat]

Jen, I feed my kitties a homemade ground raw including approximately 10-15% real bones, based on a "whole prey" model e.g. whole chickens, etc. I remove half the skin. I do add supplements because I grind their food: B-Complex, Taurine (even if I didn't grind I would supplement this because it is such a vital amino sulfonic acid), egg yolks, liver, hearts if I have them, and Vitamin E. At feeding time I add Krill Oil. Or sometimes I just grind and not add all the supplements until feeding time. I aim for a 1.3:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio.

The reason I switched from canned to raw is because of my Maine Coon, Maxie, and his development of Eosinophilic Granuloma Complex (EGC) when he was around a year old in 2005. I did tons of research after getting this awful diagnosis because I did NOT want my sweet bubby to be on steroids for the rest of his life (I lean very much towards being more 'holistically' inclined). I wanted to get to the root of the problem and not just mask the symptoms with an immuno-suppressant drug--especially one that could lead to many more problems down the road.

So, I started with diet, the foundation of kitty health. Boy did I hit the jackpot! On a raw diet he is completely symptom free--you would never know he has this devastating disease. Maxie's EGC presented inside his mouth, nasal passage, and eyes. Poor boy could not eat and was so miserable that I knew I had to find a solution that worked for us ASAP.

Once settling on a diet, which at the time was Michelle Bernard's (meat was chicken thighs/bones w/liver and hearts), I began the transition for Abby and Maxie (Izzy wasn't here yet) from canned to the raw. After some trial and error and some downright panic moments, I had transitioned them in about 2-3 weeks (I know, pretty darn fast--I was desperate!

). The trial and error part was finding a B-Complex and fish body oil they would accept--some outside kitties got some great food for a time.

Figured that out (Jarrow's low odor B-Complex and Krill Oil instead of salmon oil), and we were off to the races. It took about a week of being totally on raw for Maxie's symptoms to disappear.

There is just something in ANY, including novel protein, canned food that causes this really awful inflammatory response for Maxie. Kibble was out of the question to try as I feel to this day that was part of the reason my Tuffy (Abby's brother) developed CRF/CKD at the tender age of around 2 years old.

A few years ago Abby had a bout with FLUTD/IC--his was diet and stress related. Oh man, he was miserable! In the short-term, I used holistic methods i.e. supplements to help him, with some pain management from a drug from my vet (not Metacam). Off to do more research, and that is when I found that just feeding thigh meat was not a good idea because of the lower methionine (a natural acidifier in meat) content of thigh meat than breast meat. So...that's when I went with a ground "whole prey" model for their diet with some modifications due to bone content in a whole chicken.

Oh! When wee little kitten Izzy came here in 2007, she took to raw right off the bat with no worries about any type of transition. That little girl will tackle pheasant drum sticks and Cornish game hens (bone and all), unthawed frozen mice--from pinkies to full size, and anything else that is raw. My boys literally look at her like she's nuts.

My kids also enjoy whole ground rabbit from Hare-Today and other novel meats/bones/organs from Tracy.

Note: I did try quite a few of the frozen raw commercial diets while transitioning, but my kids do not like fruits, veggies, and other things that are added to them. They love their mama's homemade food! Prep time from start to finish: Approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours to prepare and grind around 50lbs of meat/bones/organs, which lasts my three kiddos around 50 days. Compare that to when I started years ago--it took me this long to do about 10lbs of meat/bones/organs.

I have made friends with my grocery store butcher, so I can sometimes get whole chickens for .99 a pound. A LOT less expensive pound-for-pound than canned or pre-frozen commercial raw!

That's a "short" version of our story.

 

[catsallaround]

Friskies wet-mainly turkey, all pate(low carbs)

Feed 30 or more cats depending on wandering cats showing up.

Fed dry friskies prior for many years.

My main thing is all doing ok and eating whatever it is.

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Great topic! Why didn't I think of this first?

Patricia currently eats dry Blue Buffalo. She used to LOVE wet food as long as it was not 9 Lives, but somehow after the move she decided to not eat it anymore. Fortunately her only medical problem (if you want to call it that) is gingivitis and at 9-something pounds, she obviously has no problem with the carbohydrates and is doing fine on BB kibbles. Of course I would continue to buy wet food if she would eat it.

The next time I adopt a kitten, I will make sure there is no problem with resisting wet food by not having any kibbles in the house.

 

[rafm]

Fred, Simon and Claire eat EVO 95% chicken/turkey. Riley eats anything we can coax him into eating, but we try to get him to eat EVO dry at minimum as he all but refuses to eat wet food. We tried raw with him and he did OK for a bit and then started refusing it, which is his typical pattern.

We used to feed dry only (and that is the main reason Riley is in CRF now). Earlier this year, Claire developed ongoing cystitis so we determined to help her by switching to wet and it has helped tremendously. I am beginning to rotate some of their wet so they don't get tired of the EVO.

I tried to switch to raw but Simon constantly threw it up but did fine on EVO, Fred wouldn't touch it and Claire would only nibble on it. So, instead of stressing myself out, I stuck with the canned and they have all done very well. Simon was a consistent puker on dry so the switch has been very good for him overall as well.

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Does anyone else think it is ironic that some cats are better with canned than raw food?

I always believed raw feeding is bad for cats until I finally decided to find out why some people swear by it. Patricia is 16 and refuses wet food now, so so matter how convincing it is that cats don't get sick on raw meat, I have no reason to start with her.

 

[kittylover23]

I think it may be because raw is so different from the canned and kibble they've been used to being fed before transitioning?

Great to hear what everyone's feeding! Keep it going!

 

[ldg]

Does anyone else think it is ironic that some cats are better with canned than raw food?

No, not at all. The digestive enzymes necessary for digesting raw and digesting highly processed foods are different. Some kitties' digestive systems adapt more quickly. They SEEM to "do better" on canned, because that's what they've been eating. This doesn't mean it is better for them. If all I eat is canned stew for years, a salad is likely to upset my stomach.

http://www.ehow.com/list_7317916_causes-denaturing.html

http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Denaturation

http://www.petenzymes.com/index.php/enzymes

Feeding raw completely changes the environment in the GI tract. This is why it is recommended to provide digestive enzymes when transitioning to raw. (Also why using a probiotic is a good idea, though that's more colon-related than stomach-related).

 

[emilymaywilcha]

If the canned food is Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken or Nine Liver With Chicken, I would not be in a rush to switch a cat to raw. Those two are as good as it gets short of feeding raw, as far as I can tell. But I don't know if my next kitten will like shreds.

 

[ldg]

Oh! Jen! :lol3: In answer to YOUR question, I feed boneless frankenprey (whole prey model). I transitioned to raw with commercial ground, but I used a lot of Nature's Variety, and it targets 15% bone. That's too much calcium for my cats, and they got constipated. I fed them some just plain raw meat to thin out the NV... and several of the boys decided they no longer liked ground food. I had to scramble to figure out the frankenprey menu. :lol3: I supplement the meat and organs with a probiotic daily, calcium is balanced at every meal for a Calciumhosphorus ratio of about 1.3:1; 4-5 drops of salmon oil at every meal (for an omega 6: omega 3 ratio of about 4:1), vitamin E (20iu) every other day, 250mg of taurine split between the 8 cats every other day, and a sardine for each cat once a week (part of the omega "supplement,") and raw egg yolks twice a week.

I used to argue against raw (even though one of our vets really wanted us to switch to raw because of Chumley's FIV). And in the process of researching, I became convinced it was what they should be eating. :lol3: I like that it is species-appropriate, and I like that I have control over the quality and content. I realize cats benefit from real bone... but given they don't eat much ground, and they're still not eating very big chunks, even though I know the risk of anything happening from a bone chewing (or not) related issue is small, I prefer having control over the Ca ratio. Bottom-line? I save money feeding them a much higher quality diet.

The ferals get Friskies pate and Fancy Feast classics. If there's a point where I can't afford wet food for the ferals, I'll feed 4Health dry. I don't worry about the quality of their food as much because we're very rural, and I know they're hunting. I've seen Baloo down a mouse in about a second. :lol3:

 

[ldg]

If the canned food is Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken or Nine Liver With Chicken, I would not be in a rush to switch a cat to raw. Those two are as good as it gets short of feeding raw, as far as I can tell. But I don't know if my next kitten will like shreds.

Yep, those are high quality foods, no doubt. At that point, it depends upon your feelings about cooked vs raw is all.

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Laurie, why do you feed the ferals cooked food while feeding raw to your own cats? That looks backwards to me.

 

[kittylover23]

Laurie, why do you feed the ferals cooked food while feeding raw to your own cats? That looks backwards to me.

Feeding ferals can get expensive very quickly. Best thing to do is leave them on what you can afford. I have my cats on raw and my ferals on Friskies as well.

 

[carolina]

Feeding ferals can get expensive very quickly. Best thing to do is leave them on what you can afford. I have my cats on raw and my ferals on Friskies as well.

I don't know if that will be the case for Laurie..... Friskies can be more expensive than a lot of commercial raw, and certainly more expensive than frankerprey or home made...... I have a feeling the amount of work involved would be kind of insane though.... Judging by the amount of work for my 3 cats.... I think Laurie wouldn't do much with her life if she fed her 8 kitties raw and the ferals too
Here is a cost comparison on canned food and commercial Raw: http://catcentric.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Canned-Raw-Table-1.pdf

Oh, and I forgot the freezer space! Laurie has a small freezer....
:lol3::lol3::lol3:
Maybe I should let her answer

 

[missymotus]

We feed 'franken prey' raw, pregnant girls and kittens also get a small amount of dry food and tinned food a few times a week.

Raw because we feel it's the best diet for cats, a bit of dry and tinned for kittens since that's what most owners will feed along with raw meat several times a week that way they don't need to balance the raw. Many vets here recommend raw meat and bones fed a few times a week for dental health.

 

[Willowy]

Not really backwards. . .housecats can't go out and catch their own raw meat. Ferals can. Whatever you feed ferals is only part of their diet, so there's more room for error. Housecats are entirely dependent on the humans to provide a nutritious diet.


Carolina--I can't find any commercial raw that's cheaper than canned Friskies, not on a practical, as-fed basis. I wish I could . And I can't find human-grade meat for cheaper, either. It costs about 40 cents per cat per day for me to feed my cats canned Friskies. If I could find a way to do raw for anywhere close to that amount I totally would. But it's usually at least twice that.

 

[pat]

I feed Royal Cannin Indoor Mature 27, and dee while he has access to the dry, eats mainly wet food - 4-5 times a day - Before Grain by merrick.  I chose the Royal Cannin versus the prescription food dee was on and that they wanted rachel (rb) on.  It doesn't set off Dee's gi issues, and was good with Rachel's crf values (Lyra now has early crf so I'm keeping them on this).

All my cats are seniors at this point.  I plan to really change what I do if/when we have a kitten/youngster in the future.
 

 

[carolina]

Not really backwards. . .housecats can't go out and catch their own raw meat. Ferals can. Whatever you feed ferals is only part of their diet, so there's more room for error. Housecats are entirely dependent on the humans to provide a nutritious diet.
Carolina--I can't find any commercial raw that's cheaper than canned Friskies, not on a practical, as-fed basis. I wish I could . And I can't find human-grade meat for cheaper, either. It costs about 40 cents per cat per day for me to feed my cats canned Friskies. If I could find a way to do raw for anywhere close to that amount I totally would. But it's usually at least twice that.

It costs $0.50 a day to feed Friskies? Ohhh..... I thought it cost more - I was going by Laurie's table..... Yeah, the cheapest you can get I suppose, is about $1 per cat.... Unless you want to make your own....
Look at this Willowy: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/241317/what-60-lbs-of-homemade-ground-looks-like

$2.70/lb.
My cats (including 18lb Bugsy!! :lol3 eat 4.8oz/day..... So you would be looking at $0.81 per cat/day...... Nutritious raw food