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I had seen a t.v show on the cat food industry, and its much like I expected as so many other products.

When the packaging reads 'well-balanced; or 'top cat food', veterinary brands, they all are the same.

Don't get fooled by spending tons of money on them, you really have to read the ingredients to make sure, most have the same ingredients and %. of everything.

When checking for ash content, check them all, you will find one that is lower than all the rest.

We buy Fancy Feast dry food that is down all day for them, they love that one and Whiskers dry. We also feed them tinned food morning, noon and night.



-just a caution, you can give your cats human tuna that we eat, but just a bit, if you ever give them a full tin, this can kill them, it is far to rich for them.



what do you feed yours and how often?

I feed my three cats dry food. I always keep a bowl of it out for them. Usually it's Friskies in the purple bag but sometimes I'll change it to Meow Mix or that Purina dry food that has greens in it. I never buy store brand food or really cheap food because for a few dollars more, I can get my cat a decent healthy food. Same with dogs. The cheaper the food, the more filler it contains. The more filler, the more your pet must consume to get the needed nutrients from it. Filler goes right through the animal. Filler can be corn, wheat, or "processed animal by products" which can mean nasty things such as chicken beaks and feet, even rendered farm animals.

I no longer feed wet food, haven't in years and years because it's bad for their teeth.

I feed mine Hill's Science Plan. It's nearly £30 a bag, but at least I know it's good stuff.

The Imes for cat, a small can of fancy feast once a day. Bunnies get hay, good bunny mix, and field greens salad mix. I feed my critters what is good for them.

RedGlitter;965540 wrote: I feed my three cats dry food. I always keep a bowl of it out for them. Usually it's Friskies in the purple bag but sometimes I'll change it to Meow Mix or that Purina dry food that has greens in it. I never buy store brand food or really cheap food because for a few dollars more, I can get my cat a decent healthy food. Same with dogs. The cheaper the food, the more filler it contains. The more filler, the more your pet must consume to get the needed nutrients from it. Filler goes right through the animal. Filler can be corn, wheat, or "processed animal by products" which can mean nasty things such as chicken beaks and feet, even rendered farm animals.

I no longer feed wet food, haven't in years and years because it's bad for their teeth.


I should have worded it better as you have, no cheap foods, thanks!

I have heard of those fillers!

i always heard dry cat food is healthier for your cats..the canned cat food is bad on their kidneys..esp the long haired cats.

I had to change one of my guys' food because he had too much uric acid. I can't remember what caused it but that was even in a decent quality food. I used to cook for my cats and dogs, human food, but geared toward their needs, but I stopped because I was afraid they would not get everything they needed. Especially the cats, they needed taurine and you only get that from organ meats which I refused to cook. So in the end I went back on commercial food.

Found a great site for cat's nutrional requirements: http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodandnutr ... rition.htm

Dry food mainly, with plenty of water, the ocasional tin of "Gourmet" cat food and a cat treat every now and then.

Trunk Monkey;967829 wrote: Found a great site for cat's nutrional requirements: http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodandnutr ... rition.htm


thanks, this is quite interesting!

Lola gets Innova Evo, dry. Yes it's very expensive but in my opinion

the best for her health. The vet would like us to feed canned but

I've been resisting because of the extra work/mess involved. But at

some point, I probably will start feeding it.

A lot of what I'm reading here is mixed up with older schools of

thought, and not current protocols. Ash content used to be a biggie,

especially for male cats, but once that was cut back on content, then

something else comes up. It's a very fine line.

You can feed less expensive "junk" foods every so often but I would

stick with the known premium foods, Natural Ballance, Wellness, the Evo,

and the like. You end up feeding a little less because the animal is

able to fully use the food, and less ends up in the litter box. Stay away

from the grocery store foods, they aren't generally as good.

There is a barn cat where I take care of horses, she is 17 years old

(actually maybe closer to 18 now) looks beautiful and is very spry.

Why? Her diet consist of all the rodents found around a barn. That's

the way a cat should REALLY eat.

My boy and I are going on a diet.. so, we're aiming for the lower-calorie dry foods. Our vet wanted us to buy $30+ Science Diet food, but there's no way I can afford that on our shoestring budget so I've borrowed a few books from the library and I was going to look into the whole nutrition thing. Honestly, it's hard to find a good doctor (for people or animals) these days... I never know what I can trust.

Maristar87;1356812 wrote: My boy and I are going on a diet.. so, we're aiming for the lower-calorie dry foods. Our vet wanted us to buy $30+ Science Diet food, but there's no way I can afford that on our shoestring budget so I've borrowed a few books from the library and I was going to look into the whole nutrition thing. Honestly, it's hard to find a good doctor (for people or animals) these days... I never know what I can trust.


Science Diet is over-priced and so are vet foods.

best to ask your local pet store.

guppy;965687 wrote: i always heard dry cat food is healthier for your cats..the canned cat food is bad on their kidneys..esp the long haired cats.
That is actually not true.

Dry food is never as good as wet food for one simple reason; the lower percentage of water.

Cats are infrequent drinkers since the domesic cat come from desert cats. They get most of their water from their pray, usually small mammals (containing roughly 70% water).

Dry food has another downside which is that it contains grains or starch in one form or another. Cats are obligate carnivores and the high percentage of carbohydrates can be harmful, especially to their kidneys.

Be very wary, Squid, of phrases like "never"... dry food can be and often

is a very healthy alternative for cats. Yes, the majority of them can be

"infrequent" drinkers as you say, but in my experience of having cats,

(50 years or better now?) I have yet to run into a non-drinker.

There are good grain free cat foods out there, too. Maybe not in Sweden?

For quite a lot of people, the expense of the canned is a consideration,

too, since what the consumer is paying for in the canned is high priced

water. I'd rather not if it can be avoided.

Our rescue from the local shelter last summer came with instructions for a specific dry food.

She likes to watch the bathroom sink fill after I've brushed my teeth in the morning and talks to me when it hits a certain level.

We took in and socialized four feral kittens over a year ago.

The wife feeds them Taste of The Wild dry cat food and offers them canned food too. They all appear to be thriving and doing well.

flopstock;1379407 wrote:

She likes to watch the bathroom sink fill after I've brushed my teeth in the morning and talks to me when it hits a certain level.


Our male cat would not drink until the wife filled the one bathroom sink with water and floated a few bottle caps on top the water. Now, they all are constantly running to the bathroom to drink. Sometimes the male cat gets carried away fishing out the caps splashing water everywhere, but at least he's now drinking. We should have named him ALVIN.

valerie;1379386 wrote: Be very wary, Squid, of phrases like "never"... dry food can be and often

is a very healthy alternative for cats. Yes, the majority of them can be

"infrequent" drinkers as you say, but in my experience of having cats,

(50 years or better now?) I have yet to run into a non-drinker.
Well, I don't know your cats so I have to talk about the cat as a species not as an individual.

Of course there are exeptions to the rules, but as far at the reserch-reports I've read

tells it the impact of low-level dehydration is a real threat to "cat-kind".

It might be that the available food in Sweden isn't as good as other places but I can only talk about what I've read so far.

Sorry. I realized that my post sounded really harsh. That wasn't my intention at all so I want to apologize for it.

I'm not used to use English in its written form so I hope you'll excuse me if i sound like a bitch.:yh_blush

Thank you for the apology, but I'm good on that score.

My feeling is that while I can't put my what, 100 or so cats up

against a study of many more than that (5,000? 10,000?)

that just maybe cats have evolved some, and are better with

water these days than before.

Did you see my post earlier in the thread about the barn cat

who lived mostly on rodents found around the horse barn?

As regards to water, I was responsible (along with care of

8 horses and 3 dogs) for the feed and care of Sassy. She

was really amazing, I could give her a sparkling clear bowl

of fresh, cold water, and she would turn her nose up at it

in order to go drink from the water that collected in a horse's

hoof print at the water trough. I think she probably got scads

of bacteria from that, and it was good for her gut and maybe she

even knew it!

I hate to ask, but I'd be interested in some links if you have them

on the research you read. Not trying to nail you down or

anything, just truly interested in reading more.