Cat food - what's best?

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# 832656 8-Jun-2013 13:52

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JamjarsNZ: So I give my cat a raw meat diet, and I dont mean jellymeat. Raw meat you by in punnets at the supermarket.

I'm a big fan of these chilled meats in the plastic containers. It's still reasonably affordable and much better than the tinned rubbish. There does seem to be a valid school of thought that suggests that cats can get all of their dietary requirements from dry food alone, but personally I prefer cats to have 'natural' food on a regular basis.

Remember that giving your cat good quality food is cheaper than dealing with high vet bills down the track.

richms

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# 832660 8-Jun-2013 14:08

The tubs of jimbos cost more than gravy beef or other person grade meats.

Richard rich.ms

mattwnz

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# 832666 8-Jun-2013 14:27

I have a similar cat. Buy the meat in pouches from the supermarket, think it is called max. You can also get some in punnets. No additives or other nasties in it. Mine like biscuits as a treat, but often throw them up due to them being too dry. Purina one biscuits seem quite good.
As others have said, a good diet is good economy in the long run, and the cat should live longer with less health problems.
The other thing is to give them chicken necks for their teeth on a regular basis.

mattwnz

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# 832668 8-Jun-2013 14:31

richms: The tubs of jimbos cost more than gravy beef or other person grade meats.

Yes, but they are bottom grade meats, that I personally wouldn't eat. When I had a dog and used to feed it dog roll, it always smelled like that luncheon meat to me, and wouldn't be surprised if it was a similar thing.

chevrolux

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# 832672 8-Jun-2013 14:32

Royal Canin for dry food and Jimbos for wet food.
We have a Ragdoll and a Burmese and they get Jimbos in the morning and then Biscuits in the evening.

The Royal Canin stuff is just head and shoulders above the rest in terms of nutrition (or so I am told).

mattwnz

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# 832673 8-Jun-2013 14:34

JamjarsNZ:
I am sceptical about vets advice on nutrition, I know they do a great job but they have a vested interest in pushing dry food that they stock in their clinics. I don't think they think they are doing anything wrong but a lot of them get their training on nutrition sponsored by the food manufacturers.

Article on dry pet food industry

I think many recommend dry biscuits, and many do also sell expensive biscuits.But I had a cat that lived to 20 and always had meat.

scuwp

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# 832691 8-Jun-2013 15:18

Dry food. Whatever is on special (decent stuff not cheap rubbish). Variety is the spice of life they say. Dry food all the way, no smell, no mess, and healthy animals. Would never return to raw meat or canned food now.

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lokhor

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# 832700 8-Jun-2013 15:43

Wow thanks for all the responses everyone. We aren't getting the kitten until the 26th so have some time to prepare. At the moment we are leaning towards feeding him high quality dry kitten biscuits in the morning (something like royal canin) and then raw meat in the evenings, with some chicken necks every so often.

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mattwnz

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# 832703 8-Jun-2013 15:48

scuwp: Dry food. Whatever is on special (decent stuff not cheap rubbish). Variety is the spice of life they say. Dry food all the way, no smell, no mess, and healthy animals. Would never return to raw meat or canned food now.

I have heard that some breeds can suffer from kidney problems when only fed on biscuits, as they don't drink enough water.When I give mine biscuits , I always submerge them in water, otherwise it just throws them up again due to them catching somewhere in their digestive track.

JamjarsNZ

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# 832742 8-Jun-2013 18:04

OK here are a couple of websites that have convinced me to avoid a dry food diet.

I am not one for conspiracy theories or anything but I have found very little scientific support for a dry food diet outside of the manufacturers. I believe they are playing on our ignorance and the fact that a dry food diet is more convenient to us.

http://catinfo.org/

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/

Mark

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# 832777 8-Jun-2013 20:14

Ask your vet when you take it in for chipping and neutering ... I've got two cats here, one can eat and digest anything but the other is prone to urinary infections .. changed the diet to what the vet told us (combo of standard cat food and the more expensive kibble stuff for urinary health), not had to go back to the vet since, she's been much happier ... neither of the cats appear to drink water either so I make sure their food has an extra splash in it.

You'll also need to see if your cat is a grazer or a gorger and has the willpower to leave a bowl when there is food still in it, my fickle cat will sit and eat till she throws up so we have to ensure they only get food in morning and food at night ..no grazing from an ever full bowl allowed, also means instead of horrible porky cats we have nice trim healthy ones (but we also had to provide super soakers to the neighbours so they could defend their own pets food from her :-)

Of course they all supplement their diet with munchies :rats, mice, birds bugs etc, so make sure you keep them well de-wormed too :-)

farcus

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# 832779 8-Jun-2013 20:24

JamjarsNZ: OK here are a couple of websites that have convinced me to avoid a dry food diet.

I am not one for conspiracy theories or anything but I have found very little scientific support for a dry food diet outside of the manufacturers. I believe they are playing on our ignorance and the fact that a dry food diet is more convenient to us.

http://catinfo.org/

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/

perhaps you don't go in for conspiracy theories but you must be suggesting one here as almost every vet in the country recommends a dry food diet over a wet one.

jarledb

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# 832780 8-Jun-2013 20:30

Want to follow up on what was said about water earlier.

From what I have seen - having different water sources mixes well with cats natural instinct to find good water sources. In nature they will look around for good water sources, so being able to "look around" at different water sources in your home will make them drink more water - if only to check out the water source :)

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JamjarsNZ

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# 832801 8-Jun-2013 21:54

farcus:
JamjarsNZ: OK here are a couple of websites that have convinced me to avoid a dry food diet.

I am not one for conspiracy theories or anything but I have found very little scientific support for a dry food diet outside of the manufacturers. I believe they are playing on our ignorance and the fact that a dry food diet is more convenient to us.

http://catinfo.org/

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/

perhaps you don't go in for conspiracy theories but you must be suggesting one here as almost every vet in the country recommends a dry food diet over a wet one.

Your right, I do believe there is misinformation from pet food manufacturers and collusion with vets to push a dry food diet. I hate to say it and I know it sounds ridiculous but this is one subject that I feel has not had enough exposure to criticism.

It does not seem right to me to feed our pets such a processed diet. And the more I have look into it, the more support I have found for a raw food diet. Maybe I put too much faith in the articles that support this, but I cannot find any evidence that convinces me otherwise. I can also see why vets would support a dry food diet when they can directly benefit from the sale of these products. It's like a doctor who will only prescribe drugs that they sell in a pharmacy that he owns.

If you can convince me otherwise, please do.

farcus

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# 832813 8-Jun-2013 22:43

Your right, I do believe there is misinformation from pet food manufacturers and collusion with vets to push a dry food diet. I hate to say it and I know it sounds ridiculous but this is one subject that I feel has not had enough exposure to criticism.

It does not seem right to me to feed our pets such a processed diet. And the more I have look into it, the more support I have found for a raw food diet. Maybe I put too much faith in the articles that support this, but I cannot find any evidence that convinces me otherwise. I can also see why vets would support a dry food diet when they can directly benefit from the sale of these products. It's like a doctor who will only prescribe drugs that they sell in a pharmacy that he owns.

If you can convince me otherwise, please do.

sorry if I tend to put more faith in the collective veterinary industry in NZ than a googled internet article.

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