What do you feed your cat?

[grumpycat]

i've only ever fed my cat royan canin as that's what was recommended by the family we got her from & she won't eat anything else!
she has special dry & wet food as she had some urinary issues and that was recommended by her vet - it's the urinary s/o pouches and dry food.
she also has various sticks from dm and lidl as a treat, and the occasional fresh fish, like today, as it's her birthday

ahhhh happy birthday to your cat! It’s my cats birthday today, she’s 11 birthday twins!

 

[bolimepipi]

ahhhh happy birthday to your cat! It’s my cats birthday today, she’s 11 birthday twins!

aww happy bday to your kitty too

 

[PaintPots]

My cat will only eat Sheba which I'm sure isn't the best. I've tried better quality foods but she sniffs and walks away like a little madam! I do give her some dry food too but she can't have dry food only due to constipation. I would love to get her into the fancier stuff.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

I am a bit of a cat food snob to be honest, but that’s because I know that there’s much better quality food out there for our cats than Felix and Whiskas and I wish more people knew how bad some of these brands are compared to what else is available. Sometimes even the vet recommended ones aren’t that great but the vet practice is being paid to endorse a certain brand over others

We’ve used a few brands so far all from Zooplus which I find very reasonable (avoid pets at home they are so expensive). Currently we use MAC’s but have also used Grau and Animonda Carny. Not necessarily well known brands but they are high meat and grain free with no funny filler ingredients, my cat has thrived on them and his coat is lovely. He gets fed twice a day, doesn’t appear hungry between meal times and is a healthy weight. He doesn’t get dry food very often at all as I’ve read it’s not really good for them to have too much, particularly male cats, but we do keep a bag of Feringa dry food in as backup/occasional treat. We spend about £35 on his food for the month which I don’t think is a lot really but we only have the one cat, if you have 2 or more the cost quickly mounts up.

It’s a shame there aren’t more reasonably priced good quality cat foods available in the shops in the uk though. It seems in Europe they have much more choice if zooplus is anything to go by. I’m hoping my cat suffers less later in life due to his diet and minimal dry food. I’m sure a lot of health issues could be avoided or reduced if there was more info on the quality of pet food. The big brands are relying on their name at this point but the quality just isn’t there. It’s really a shambles that all the mainstream brands have such a low meat content, it’s no wonder some cats being fed that food never seem full. Meat is basically their entire diet out in the wild and Felix thinks it’s ok to sell cat food with a 4% meat content?? SMH.

 

[Shutterbug99]

Just to update on my cat food situation: I got some Canagan wet and dry food and also some Natures Menu pouches. She seems to be doing well with the Canagan food. I've mixed her old nuts in with the Canagan nuts for the past two days (as advised) and she's eaten them no problem. Will be switching her to Canagan only tomorrow. She had a Canagan Chicken & Duck pouch yesterday which she absolutely loved! On the first day, I gave her a Natures Menu pouch and while she ate most of it I'm not sure that was her fave, so will probably stick with the Canagan food. I don't find the prices too bad for the quality of ingredients compared to Whiskas etc. It's about double the price, I think, but it's worth it as I don't want to feed her junk! I'm still in shock about the Whiskas! I was in the supermarket the other day and looked through all the cat food there - most of it has only 4% meat or meat derivatives.

@Bitofthebubbly @stinkytink You both seem well informed on cats and cat food stuff, but have opposing views on feeding dry food, so now I'm confused! My vet recommends a combination of both. He also recommends Royal Canin. It's the first food I tried her on as a kitten, and she wouldn't eat it. That said, I haven't tried her on Royal Canin as an adult.

 

[Tricham]

Whiskas is exactly like McDonald’s! I recommend not giving wet food if your cat will eat without it. We currently feed our animals Royal Canin; I’ve tried many brands over my lifetime of owning animals, from vet brands to health food store brands and even making my own kibble (don’t do that.)

Anyway, I love Royal Canin and our pets do too. My cat is so beautiful and silky, when we go to the vet, the staff pass her round to stroke her. Her breath and poo never smell bad, and her eyes are bright and hydrated, as are her mouth and nose. She’s 4 and has always eaten Royal Canin, first kitten and now Fit, I believe it’s called. She’s also super regular with her bathroom schedule. My cat is not food motivated at all; she snacks a bite here and there when she thinks about it, so I would not consider her to be picky at all. She also never seems hungry, which I think is a good sign that she feels nutritionally satisfied.

I also recommend giving your cat a malt paste daily, just a pea sized amount. Finally, we do have some junk food type treats (like so few, we go through a sache of dry treats every month and a half) and she only gets those occasionally. Sometimes I put them in the tiniest Kong toy and pop a squeeze of malt paste in the opening. You can get all of these things from Zooplus.

I’m not a vet, but I worked at one for 5 years, plus my cousin is a vet and my SIL is a vet tech, and we all love Royal Canin! (They also don’t feed canned food right off the bat, unless they have an animal who needs it for medical reasons or won’t eat without it.) Also don’t fall for the raw meat stuff; it’s not a good option and you can Google vet advice about this; reputable vets are against raw diets for domesticated animals in the year 2021!


That’s bc it’s not full of sugar, check the ingredients. It’s an awesome brand and it’s unfortunate that a shop worker is passing around bad info. I definitely trust my vet here in Europe and my family of veterinary professionals living in the US that HIGHLY recommend Royal Canin over some rando working in a shop!


Mm, is this advice specific to rag dolls? Because regulas domestic shirt hairs most definitely drink, and all veterinary advice I’ve ever heard or been given is that good quality dry is always better than canned. It cleans their teeth, satisfies a texture/ biting need, has fiber and nutrients.

If your animal isn’t drinking water that should be a concern. No amount of wet food is going to replace adequate water intake. In fact, throughout my life as a pet owner, I’ve always had “drinking stations” for my cats (and dogs) through my home and garden, and it’s part of their routine to venture round to all of them.

Maybe. My 2 never drink. I've bought fountains for them, tried all sorts. But they didn't drink enough and gave them UTIs. Not a problem when feeding wet, but obviously big problem when feeding dry! I've also heard the cleaning teeth thing is a myth with dry food. My cats are 6 and 7 years old by the way, so the drinking water thing is not a sudden health issue. Wet food is 80% water, so they do not need to drink nearly as much as when they are fed exclusively dry food. I'm guessing mine must drink a bit (obviously I always have fresh water available for them) but I never ever witness it.

 

[MyLittlePony25]

My indoor cat has science plan perfect weight, half a sachet morning and night and 25g biscuits morning and night. He refuses to eat anything else!

 

[hereforthememe]

I found a love for houseplants so I just stand googling in Asda whether they're toxic for cats. Probably look a bit weird to the staff

ahhh if anyone asks you though, you have a good reason

 

[Shutterbug99]

@Saddlesoap Thank you - very much appreciate your advice!

I just scanned that list and there's no sign of Canagan's. FML.

 

[Shutterbug99]

I would feed a specific food for indoor cats then. Dry is fine, but make sure she is drinking enough.
I wouldn't specifically hunt out a grain free diet. There's nothing wrong with grain.

Eukanuba, Hills, ProPlan, Royal Canin are all good foods. If you want something you can pick up in the supermarket, go with Iams.

I was just about to press purchase on the Canagan's dry food when I read your comment. I feel like I've been reading up on cat food all day! So the Canagan's is not indoor specific, but I've read lots of good reviews, meat content is very high and ingredients seem good etc. But now I'm wondering if I should go for indoor specific instead. I'm off to do more reading! She is only ever out in the garden on her harness for a half hour here and there and the rest of the time she's inside.

@kittenattack I knew about the problems with Applaws etc. but hadn't heard of the problems with Felix. Scary that so many cats are getting ill since they changed the formula.

My cat is indoors and has gone off her food this week. I think it’s because of the heatwave. She eats Royal Canin kitten biscuits and Felix kitten pouches. Looking to move her onto the Royal Canin pouches when she’s a year old.

Royal Canin kitten food was the first food I tried with mine and she wouldn't touch it. Didn't eat a bite. She was all over Whiskas, though.

 

[Saddlesoap]

I was just about to press purchase on the Canagan's dry food when I read your comment. I feel like I've been reading up on cat food all day! So the Canagan's is not indoor specific, but I've read lots of good reviews, meat content is very high and ingredients seem good etc. But now I'm wondering if I should go for indoor specific instead. I'm off to do more reading! She is only ever out in the garden on her harness for a half hour here and there and the rest of the time she's inside.

@kittenattack I knew about the problems with Applaws etc. but hadn't heard of the problems with Felix. Scary that so many cats are getting ill since they changed the formula.



Royal Canin kitten food was the first food I tried with mine and she wouldn't touch it. Didn't eat a bite. She was all over Whiskas, though.

Sorry! The only reason I say that is indoor food generally has lower calories.
I see a lot of fat indoor cats!.

 

[Merpedy]

Mm, is this advice specific to rag dolls? Because regulas domestic shirt hairs most definitely drink, and all veterinary advice I’ve ever heard or been given is that good quality dry is always better than canned. It cleans their teeth, satisfies a texture/ biting need, has fiber and nutrients.

If your animal isn’t drinking water that should be a concern. No amount of wet food is going to replace adequate water intake. In fact, throughout my life as a pet owner, I’ve always had “drinking stations” for my cats (and dogs) through my home and garden, and it’s part of their routine to venture round to all of them.

I have never heard that dry food is better than wet food. In fact, the common concern is often that they're not drinking enough water even if drinking stations and water fountains are provided. One solution for that is providing wet food and, as someone mentioned, mixing some water with it also. Of course, this doesn't mean that cats are walking around 24/7 dehydrated, they could simply just drink more

I found this article interesting too, but there are a lot of similar articles which go into some more detail

 

[CatCafe234]

My cat is just over a year old and is so fussy. She has really went off chicken so everything we buy tends to be fish based. She loves the Encore range, ocean fish, tuna, tuna and salmon - they are her favourites. And we buy the royal canine/Hills/Purino one dry food. She gets wet food in the day and then we have a little bowl of dry food out for her incase she gets hungry. The dry food always has to be fish flavoured. Spoilt little madam

My cat loves the Encore tuna and ocean fish food but will not touch the tuna and salmon one. I buy the mixed boxes and I usually have a bag full of tuna and salmon sachets that I donate to the local cat rescue every so often!

edited to add: my cat completely went off chicken too - when she was little it was all she’d eat and she wouldn’t touch fish. She used to love the Thrive chicken food but then went completely off it, won’t touch chicken at all now and lives on fish. Same with Dreamies, she used to get the odd one as a treat and loved them but now won’t touch them. Cats are so weird!

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

I tried that as it gets really good reviews but I think it was too rich and offaly for my cat as it made her throw up I stick to Encore now and high-meat content biscuits. She’s really fussy about biscuit size too and it drives me wild, twice I’ve had to find a new brand for her and it’s a real struggle!

Oh no Will maybe avoid getting it again then however we only ever really buy her one or two of the wee packets anyway because she is that fussy, we have wasted a fortune on cat food only for her to decide she isn't a fan Tesco do some deals on the Encore stuff from time to time.
My cat eats wet food downstairs in the kitchen, we put some biscuits beside it but she will never touch them, she will only ever eat biscuits from her bowl on the landing, she never has wet food up there - the cat knows what she wants! Princess of the house.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

I think advertising has a lot to answer for. Funny how the better quality brands don’t have flashy advertising campaigns.

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

My cat loves the Encore tuna food but will not touch the tuna and salmon one. I buy the mixed boxes and I usually have a bag full of tuna and salmon sachets that I donate to the local cat rescue every so often!

Fussy little buggers aren't they! I had bought chicken stuff previously, she sniffed it and walked off. So that all got donated to the cat rescue near me. My cat also likes the lillies kitchen stuff.

 

[Giggling Squid]

We have an incredibly fussy Burmese, so finding food that works for her has been challenging. she would be happy to eat just dried but I want to keep her eating wet because Burmese are predisposed to urinary issues.

After trying lots of different wet, we’ve discovered she will only wet food if it is fish flavoured.. preferably tuna

we feed her a mixture of Lily’s kitchen and natural instinct biscuits in the morning.

at night, she gets wet food - if she had her way it would be solely canagans tuna with [other seafood]. She will not touch or even go near to anything that is not fish based, chicken is a big no no. We also feed her felix ‘as good as it looks’ fish flavours to give her some variety as she will consider eating the non-tuna ones occasionally (although mostly it gets binned). She also won’t eat applaws unless it’s plain tuna

if anyone can recommend any fishy, high quality wet food I’d be really interested!

 

[Facehugger]

For anyone who's cats like wet food, fish etc. I get mine Natures Menu minced white fish, it's frozen in blocks. I just thaw some out for her, she has that with dry complete stuff half & half (not together). Having said that, she'll eat absolutely anything, she's a feline bin

 

[disneys]

Aww bless her. They can be a pain can't they and are very assertive animals Gourmet is a hit with my cat and I used that before moving on to Purina wet pouches. What breed are your cats ?

All 3 moggies , just rescue cats ! We have Tilly and Ollie who are brother and sister and 3 years old and then older boy Sid who is 7 and I have had since I was at uni !

very finicky creatures but I love them !!

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

Just to update on my cat food situation: I got some Canagan wet and dry food and also some Natures Menu pouches. She seems to be doing well with the Canagan food. I've mixed her old nuts in with the Canagan nuts for the past two days (as advised) and she's eaten them no problem. Will be switching her to Canagan only tomorrow. She had a Canagan Chicken & Duck pouch yesterday which she absolutely loved! On the first day, I gave her a Natures Menu pouch and while she ate most of it I'm not sure that was her fave, so will probably stick with the Canagan food. I don't find the prices too bad for the quality of ingredients compared to Whiskas etc. It's about double the price, I think, but it's worth it as I don't want to feed her junk! I'm still in shock about the Whiskas! I was in the supermarket the other day and looked through all the cat food there - most of it has only 4% meat or meat derivatives.

@Bitofthebubbly @stinkytink You both seem well informed on cats and cat food stuff, but have opposing views on feeding dry food, so now I'm confused! My vet recommends a combination of both. He also recommends Royal Canin. It's the first food I tried her on as a kitten, and she wouldn't eat it. That said, I haven't tried her on Royal Canin as an adult.

I’m not sure there is a 100% correct way to do these things especially when it seems even vets can’t agree on a one size fits all! So I agree it can be very confusing but ultimately every good owner just wants to do right by their cat and ensure their needs are met. I’m by no means an expert on animal nutrition but I did a lot of reading a few years back when we were getting our cat and had read things about how dry food is easier for them to over eat and that it can potentially cause issues later on if your cat doesn’t drink enough along side it, been a while since I read up on it but it’s kinda stuck with me. I also personally feel that wet food with a high meat content is a lot closer to how a cat would eat in the wild vs dry food, if that makes sense. I don’t think dry food is bad per se, but we don’t like to feed it often and when we do it’s good quality stuff. I think if you find a good quality dry food and want to feed only that, then that is miles better than getting a bag of the usual supermarket/brand stuff.

My vet agrees with my stance on dry food and encouraged it so I’m not worried, his teeth are good and he’s all round a very healthy cat although is he only 4 so we’ve got it all to come. I think you just have to figure out what is best for your cat and your circumstances. High meat content and grain free is always what I look out for whether it be wet or dry, same with his treats too.