What and how do you feed your cats?

[bearkatjen]

I posted about cat food placement awhile back and someone mentioned that free feeding is bad.

We are adopting two kittens this evening (brothers), and so it's a really good time to reevaluate what and how we feed our cats.

Our two adult girls eat dried cat food (Purina One). When they were younger we fed them a combo of wet and dry, and sometime along the way we dropped wet food. It may have been because they became uninterested in it. I don't remember for sure. They're getting older though, the younger one is 9 years old and the older one is 10.5. No UTIs are anything. They are indoor cats. If they are amendable, would you suggest adding back in wet food? Are the pet health food store type brands (Pure Vita, Welleness, Tiki Cat, Nature's Variety) worth their prices?

What would you recommend for the kittens? They are 6 months old.

[riverpestie]

Purina One has a lot of fillers and with what you're paying, you're not getting your money's worth. I wouldn't feed it to my cat.

I am a fan of the Fromm Grain-free brands of food along with Orijen dry. He throws up canned.
My cat is a larger cat and he gets fed 1/4 c twice a day.

[mcmel]

Prey model raw. We feed our dogs raw and just pinch off some for the cat every day so it's free and easy.

[niemand88f]

We feed our cats (including a 12 week old kitten) Wellness - dry 2x a day and wet once a day. We give the kitten extra of both over night when we crate him to keep him out of trouble. My vet & vet techs always rave about how nice our cats' fur is. Sign up for Wellness's email list and they send monthly coupons. I would not feed Purina if there are other options available locally- Petsmart & Petco (and even some Whole Foods) carry several very good brands now.

Some wet food is usually recommended since cats can develop kidney/UTI/dehydration issues so quickly, but I think as long your cats drink plenty of water its not terrible if you can't feed some wet. But I would try to give the kitten some while he's growing at least, they play so much they need extra food & hydration.

[Deleted]

I have 3 cats--one is 16 and newly diagnosed diabetic on insulin, the other two are 2.  I was doing canned food (friskies) once a day and leaving out dry food (purina).  I was told that canned food is a better choice for my diabetic.  So I switched to Canidae grain free Canned and took away dry.   The diabetic hates it, but other two like it.  I gave in and switched back to friskies so at least my old diabetic girl will eat it.  Cats are picky!

[MauMau]

I have one cat. He is fed on a schedule. In the morning he gets a 3oz can of wet. In the afternoon he gets a 1/4 cup dry (I need to cut that in half). In the evening he has 3oz can of wet.

I buy the Petsmart branded Simply Nourish. For wet and dry comparable to Blue Buffalo. We also use Wellness for the beef shredded kinds they have. Simply nourish doesn't have a beef option. Sometimes I will get wellness pouches.

I wish we could use blue buffalo but a lot of their wet is pate. My cat is a Persian and the pate is very hard for him to eat. Simply Nourish has a type that is shredded. I also been trying a new one. But can't think if the name at the moment.

Pricey wet food had been very much worth the price to me. I used to use canned Friskies. Because a it was cheaper and that was what my grandma started him on as a kitten. As soon as I switched to high quality stuff I know longer had surprise emergency baths. He would have such nasty diarrhea before I switched.

[caddywompus]

I use Purina One dry food. I leave out a big bowl, and cats eat it as they want it. No problems with over-eating. It's so much easier than being "on a schedule" for feeding times, (esp when we travel) and I hate the smell of canned food!

[mich1]

I use Natural Balance for Sheldon. He gets ~1/2C a day and as he's a nibbler, he takes all day to eat it.

I adopted him when he was 4 months old, and when I took him to the vet, asked the vet if it was ok to feed him adult food that I had left over from Gizzy. He said for this one it's ok, so he's been eating this since I brought him home 3 months ago.

[katietornado]

I have three cats.

One (10 years old) has urinary issues (Feline Interstitial Cystitis), so he eats frozen raw (http://www.primalpetfoods.com/product/detail/c/7/id/10). He also has a weight problem and has on idea when to stop eating, so he cannot free feed.

The other two cats (9 and 11 years old) maintain their weight when they free feed, so we've been allowing them to do that. They eat Taste of the Wild grain-free (http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/cats/dry_food/rocky_mountain_feline_formula/). Their dry food lives on top of the fridge, because it's too high for the other cat to jump up and get it.

The thing with free feeding is that you cannot necessarily tell when a cat goes off his/her food. This is an indicator of health, and can often be the first sign of illness. The other thing with free feeding is that many cats end up eating too much and become overweight. Dieting for a cat is really difficult. Our fat boy was free fed until he got overweight, and he developed knee problems from the weight that have never gone away.

My advice on selecting a food is that you want to look at the ingredients carefully and know exactly what each one is. Brewers rice...gross. Animal by-product meal...so disgusting. Cats are obligate carnivores and need nothing but meat to survive. Mixing in grain-based fillers (rice, corn, soy) is so bad for their health longterm.

And an anecdote on my cats: two of them have terrible teeth. One had three dentals ($300+ each) before we switched him to raw. His teeth have been amazing ever since. We are considering switching over the other terrible teeth cat to raw for this reason. The up front investment in good food is worth it to save on dentals and to keep them healthier.

[starburst]

My cat gets a scant 1/4 cup dry (I rotate between Acana and Orijen), twice a day. He also gets 1/4 of a small can of wet food each night with extra water mixed in. I usually give him Weruva canned food, but occasionally will throw in a can of BFF, Earthborn, Wellness, Tiki Cat, or Taste of the Wild. He's picky (and spoiled) and won't eat the pate kind.

[marissa]

We do Taste of the Wild dry and wet. We put out 1/2 cup dry a day and about 2 oz of wet. Gwen usually eats in the am and Princess Super Kitty eats at night so we let it out for them to eat. They eat the wet right away though.