I know there is a thread on this, but it's like 2 years old soooo........ I'm thinking of changing my 4 cats (and then also the new Maine Coons when they arrive) onto a complete dried food. I have used complete foods from the supermarket before, but mainly just as an extra, and never "instead" of wet food. Now, I used to feed the dog on a cheap crappy food before I realised the effects on his coat condition, health, size of the "turd mountain" on the patio etc and so both our dogs are now on Burns. Is there a cat equivalent to this (apart from Hills - I've seen that at the vets) or is the complete stuff from the supermarket, ie; Go-Cat, Whiskers etc just as good?

THe best dry food for cats I've come across is COSTCO's own brand.

It's over 50% meat, 15% brown rice, 15% white rice.

This compares to whiskas (5% meat), JWB 15% meat.

It's also half the price (though you need to pay £20 pa for a card).

In general dry food is better for cats, we see many older cats in the cattery with gum disease due to eating c**p wet food.

yes, i was thinking about that with the teeth too, thats one of the reasons i put my dogs on dried from the start. Not sure why I didn't do the same with the cats - probably cos mum always fed hers on tinned food when i was growing up, so just followed suit. I'm not sure where this COSTCO place is, although I've heard its good for some things - can anyone get a card or is it like makro where u have to be a business or something?

It's near Makro, anyone can get a card, they offer a money back guarantee if you're not happy.

The dog and cat dry foods are both really good, imported from USA and much better quality than the UK ones.

From what i've read over the last few weeks, the main reason cats suffer from kidney problems later in life is because of being on a dry-food diet.

Cats never drink enough liquid to make up the difference and dehydrate, thus damaging their kidneys.

Feeding tinned wet food can cause tooth decay but this can be avoided if teeth are brushed.

Cat's don't need rice, vegetables or tofu, they are 100% carnivorous, the reason manufacturers use the above in their products is because they are cheap.

Remember commercial pet foods have only been available around 30 years, before this they were all fed on real food.

Raw feeding is very interesting, they require a mix of meat, bone and offal to get a good balance, there is alot on the internet about feeding raw, it is time consuming but seems to be the healthiest choice for cats IMO.

Personally mine get a mix of everything, they have kibble down all day, get fed wet kitten food at least twice a day and either raw chicken wings smashed up or cooked fish/chicken once a day.

This is interesting reading
http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/natural-feeding-tips/natural-feeding-for-cats.php

Cats drink more water than people realise, m ost prefer to drink rainwater / puddle water etc. and so they are not seen drinking.

Most Vets recomend a dry food diet.

I feed my bengal dry with Applause or Natures menu which are 2 really good wet foods that are not full of rubbish.

Cats drink more water than people realise, m ost prefer to drink rainwater / puddle water etc. and so they are not seen drinking.

Most Vets recomend a dry food diet.




From Homevet.com

Cats Need Plenty of Water With Their Food

Another extremely important nutrient with respect to overall health is water. It is very important for a cat to ingest water with its food, as the cat does not have a very strong thirst drive. This is a critical point. This lack of a strong thirst drive leads to low-level, chronic dehydration when dry food makes up the bulk of their diet. Cats are designed to obtain most of their water with their diet since their normal prey contains ~70% water. Dry foods only contain ~10% water whereas canned foods contain ~78% water. Canned foods therefore more closely approximate the natural diet of the cat and are better suited to meet the cat's water needs. A cat consuming a predominantly dry-food diet does drink more water than a cat consuming a canned food diet, but in the end, when water from all sources is added together (what's in their diet plus what they drink), the cat on dry food consumes approximately HALF the amount of water compared with a cat eating canned foods. This is a crucial point when one considers how common kidney and bladder problems are in the cat.

and about a thousand other websites will tell you the same.

I have always fed our cats on dry food, with the odd tin of tuna or cooked chicken. This was on the advice of vets. After reading the above, I think I will give them wet food at least once a day. Our oldest cat doesnt drink from a bowl, but prefers to drink from under the bathroom taps! Obviously our cats welfare is paramount, so if I thought I was harming them in any way I would be horrified. Contributing to future ill health is not what I intend to do.
Thanks for the advice Beans.

Jayne

I feed wet food with a some dry mixed in - just like the dogs.

... Is there a cat equivalent to this (apart from Hills - I've seen that at the vets) or is the complete stuff from the supermarket, ie; Go-Cat, Whiskers etc just as good?

There are nearly as many premium brand foods for cats as dogs. The main ones are the same.
Burns
Royal Canin
JWB
Arden Grange

There's LOADS of info about on the net and through leaflets produced by vets and the food companies. These 4 companies in particular all do free samples and leaflets. If you email them they will send one out. Equally, I can drop you some off if you'd prefer. Just ask!

mine will only eat the Sheba special cuts .... and they cost 58p for a tiny little tin!!! .... so he has dry in the morning and either a couple tins of sheba or a tin of tuna or pilchards for tea .......... he costs me a fortune ..... but at 18 i think hes entitled to be spoilt (and on his last vet checkup they thought he was about 8ish because his teeth are in such good nick)

Whilst we're debating food, how much does everyone's cat eat?

Every evening our(read daughters abandoned) cat, comes for feeding. No word of a lie she eats 3 bowls full- almost equating to a full tin. Plus some munchies and milk.
If we try two bowls she sits miaowing for the third -then clears off into the dark night.

Whilst we're debating food, how much does everyone's cat eat?

.

a bowl full of dried whiskers bickys for breakfast then either 2 tins of sheba or a decent sized tin of tuna chunks for tea .......... and whatever else he can beg or steal, hes a real pig these days ............. he used to eat only half that amount but he loved being out 'stalking' prey, i presume he hunted and ate a lot of his own catch ..... but he hasnt gone out much this year and relies on us for all his food now

My moggie lives out - her choice. She eats brekkie, anything she can steal from the dogs during the day,then her late evening meals. My family think it's hilarious when she comes in the house @ 10pm to fetch me, insisting i feed her, repeatedly.

We feed our kittens on Royal Canin dry food, which for me is preferable since it's a low waste food, doesn't go off and attract flies/stink the house out, isn't full of rubbish and they like it.
We also give them cooked chicken once a day, mixed with a bit of hot water - usually to take the fridge chill off it, but after reading above posts I'll continue to do that as it'll help up their daily fluid intake!
I haven't thought much about feeding them raw chicken, mostly because of the hygiene issues of having raw chicken hanging about, but I might look into BARF a bit more...

Pepper is a tiny cat so she doesn't seem to eat anywhere near as much as the average cat, the suggested portions on the food packets are way too much for her. She has half a tray of Sheba with a couple of good handfulls of dry food in the morning and the same again at night, and she never meows for more and sometimes she doesn't even eat what she's given.

From what i've read over the last few weeks, the main reason cats suffer from kidney problems later in life is because of being on a dry-food diet.

Cats never drink enough liquid to make up the difference and dehydrate, thus damaging their kidneys.

Feeding tinned wet food can cause tooth decay but this can be avoided if teeth are brushed.

Cat's don't need rice, vegetables or tofu, they are 100% carnivorous, the reason manufacturers use the above in their products is because they are cheap.

Remember commercial pet foods have only been available around 30 years, before this they were all fed on real food.

Raw feeding is very interesting, they require a mix of meat, bone and offal to get a good balance, there is alot on the internet about feeding raw, it is time consuming but seems to be the healthiest choice for cats IMO.

Personally mine get a mix of everything, they have kibble down all day, get fed wet kitten food at least twice a day and either raw chicken wings smashed up or cooked fish/chicken once a day.

This is interesting reading
http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/natural-feeding-tips/natural-feeding-for-cats.php


In the wild, cats eat their prey inc stomach and stomach contents, meaning that they do ingest grain and veg through their prey.... doesn't that suggest that cats actually are slight omnivore(sorry about spelling)
I know thats a bit tenuous ?
Also our cats actually like some veg; sweetcorn, peas etc.

Isn't the point of raw food that it contains some mineral/vit that is distroyed during cooking and cat foods have this added in after cooking ?

Binky eats the Dentine TD biscuits form the vet, they are supposed to keep his teeth in good order. Didn't bloody work though, he has had most of them out! Still make him eat the food as changing his diet is really hard work! Every now and again I give him a tin of wet food or those reet posh ones in little tins. He only gets those at random intervals thought because they put smack in it and he turns into a right t*at, constantly meowing until he gets more!

:hihi:

After suffering the most painful week of my life, let alone the cats, I would never put them on a diet of dry food again.

Bill got protein crystals in his bladder a couple of years ago, I was away for the weekend at the time and the lady popping in to feed him hadn't noticed his distress as he can be shy and hides away.
We don't know quite how long his urethra was blocked, but needless to say he was in trouble. He was on a catheter and a drip for the week and his kidneys had started to fail.
His bladder was starting to perforate, due to the pressure built up inside.

You know how it feels when you need to pee so badly it hurts? imagine what that little guy was feeling.

He was very lucky and pulled through, I don't know how and neither do the vets.

The vet told me in no uncertain terms that it was due to being on a complete dry food diet and that the best way to feed them was a mix of both dry and wet.

Billy now has special acidic biscuits to accompany his classic tinned food, he needs this expensive prescription food for the rest of his life now as his bladder and kidneys are so weak we can't risk even the remotest chance of this happening again.

Thanks for all the advice - think I've changed my mind and will keep them on wet food with biscuits as an extra

My lot get fed once a day and eat an entirely dry diet- and they drink gallons of water. They have a water bowl the size of a washing up bowl, which they half empty most days.

They eat mostly Wellbeloved crunchies and I've got two cats in their late teens who seem to do perfectly well on it, with no health problems for either of them.

Like Medusa, I've had a hell of a lot of cats (a mix of hand-rears, waifs and strays and old gimmers that needed a good home). Every one has been fed on dry biscuits, every one drinks what they need and every one has been perfectly healthy on it. Why do people automatically accept what they read on a less-than-authoritative website? Why would a cat not drink the right amount of water that it needs when it has plenty available? Why shouldn't it eat grains and vegetables? (mine like mushroom, beans and carrots - I never offered these things, the cats just ran up and started chomping).

At the cattery we've just had an old pusscat to the vets. She had to have 7 teeth removed due to severe gingivitis.

The vet advises that a major cause of this problem is the rubbish found in most wet cat foods.

If we could choose we'd feed a quality Dry food with one of the following wet foods occassionaly as a treat.

For wet we advise Natures Menu (70% meat), Applaws (70% meet) or hilife (60% meat).

Whiskas, Felix etc are all only 4% meat and are the equivalent of Macdonalds for cats.

Like Medusa, I've had a hell of a lot of cats (a mix of hand-rears, waifs and strays and old gimmers that needed a good home). Every one has been fed on dry biscuits, every one drinks what they need and every one has been perfectly healthy on it. Why do people automatically accept what they read on a less-than-authoritative website? Why would a cat not drink the right amount of water that it needs when it has plenty available? Why shouldn't it eat grains and vegetables? (mine like mushroom, beans and carrots - I never offered these things, the cats just ran up and started chomping).

I don't think anyones said they've 'accepted what they've read' on a website, people are just getting information from lots of different sources and then making their own decisions based on them, from what I can make out :)

At the cattery we've just had an old pusscat to the vets. She had to have 7 teeth removed due to severe gingivitis.

The vet advises that a major cause of this problem is the rubbish found in most wet cat foods.

If we could choose we'd feed a quality Dry food with one of the following wet foods occassionaly as a treat.

For wet we advise Natures Menu (70% meat), Applaws (70% meet) or hilife (60% meat).

Whiskas, Felix etc are all only 4% meat and are the equivalent of Macdonalds for cats.


I guess it's just like human food, always read the content label, but even then they have ways to smudge over the facts.

I wonder if our relations generations past used to worry so much?

Wet canned food, teeth gunked up and have to visit vet for de-scale....Dry no such prob's? That's my opo anyway?

true dry seems better for teeth, but concerns seem to be more focused on kidney/liver damage that can be fatal, on a dry only diet.

I think there is good and bad in everything though, isn't there?

I think that much of the misinformation about dried foods was put out there in the years before the proper research was done into the nutritional needs of cats and dried foods were not truly complete and contained far too much salt and the wrong pH for small furry kidneys. Dry food used to be associated with a risk of urinary stones and uric acid crystals- but that was to do with the pH of the urine rather than whether the cats drink enough.

I wont use cheap dried foods [garbage in, garbage out] and I limit the amount of wet food our lot have (only put it down once a day and stick to nature's menu/ applaws/hi life or similar- but one fussy rescue still only eats whiskas plus dried food)- they get Burns/Royal Canin/ James Wellbeloved or similar and have Royal Canin Oral Sensitive (Dental) buscuits mixed in. Lots of fresh water is always available. We've got a Catit water fountain that filters and continually runs the water through it and is very popular. Bengal and wegies love raw chicken and steak occasionally, plus cooked fish.