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Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Nood. cats don't need rice.

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Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


Applaws isn't a complete food and should just be a treat - even says it at the bottom of the box. Nood is really new and I haven't really looked into them but I'm always suspicious of the cool new hip cat food brands that have been popping up in Coles for the last year or two. Honestly I think sticking with a known brand like Iams or Fancy Feast (if you can stomach Nestle) is safer, I don't think there's a ton of regulation of cat food here.

ETA: Nood does at least mention working with vets/nutritionists and rigorously testing their food so that puts them a few steps above some of the other food brands that have been popping up

Organza Quiz fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Oct 27, 2020

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Organza Quiz posted:

Honestly I think sticking with a known brand like Iams or Fancy Feast (if you can stomach Nestle) is safer, I don't think there's a ton of regulation of cat food here.

yeah feed fancy feast or like, purina

Facebook Aunt
Oct 4, 2008

wiggle wiggle




Fluffy Bunnies posted:

yeah feed fancy feast or like, purina

LOL I printed out the giant list of best/good/acceptable foods in the previous version of this thread and wandered the aisles of the pet store trying to find something affordable that my cat would eat. She's a trash cat and the more expensive the food the less she seems to like it.

And now the thread is all gently caress it just get friskies or whatever it doesn't matter. :haw:

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Facebook Aunt posted:

LOL I printed out the giant list of best/good/acceptable foods in the previous version of this thread and wandered the aisles of the pet store trying to find something affordable that my cat would eat. She's a trash cat and the more expensive the food the less she seems to like it.

And now the thread is all gently caress it just get friskies or whatever it doesn't matter. :haw:

I mean we may as well.

Organza Quiz
Nov 7, 2009


Facebook Aunt posted:

LOL I printed out the giant list of best/good/acceptable foods in the previous version of this thread and wandered the aisles of the pet store trying to find something affordable that my cat would eat. She's a trash cat and the more expensive the food the less she seems to like it.

And now the thread is all gently caress it just get friskies or whatever it doesn't matter. :haw:

The old wisdom was "more meat is better", the new wisdom (as far as I've been able to figure out anyway) is cat food is very badly regulated so just about any old joe can make a trendy meat-filled grain-free holistic all-natural food but it won't necessarily have the right nutrients, so stick to something well-established unless you're really sure there's enough science and testing involved.

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Organza Quiz posted:

The old wisdom was "more meat is better", the new wisdom (as far as I've been able to figure out anyway) is cat food is very badly regulated so just about any old joe can make a trendy meat-filled grain-free holistic all-natural food but it won't necessarily have the right nutrients, so stick to something well-established unless you're really sure there's enough science and testing involved.

yeah sure purina is aafco and that's always been a great way to measure pet food

Facebook Aunt
Oct 4, 2008

wiggle wiggle




Organza Quiz posted:

The old wisdom was "more meat is better", the new wisdom (as far as I've been able to figure out anyway) is cat food is very badly regulated so just about any old joe can make a trendy meat-filled grain-free holistic all-natural food but it won't necessarily have the right nutrients, so stick to something well-established unless you're really sure there's enough science and testing involved.

Yeah after years of fretting I arbitrarily settled on looking for kibble that was less than 40% carbs. Of course they don't actually tell you the carbs, so you have to add protein + fat + fiber and hope that adds up to at least 60%.

It would be better to just feed canned food, but Pip wails endlessly if there isn't kibble regardless of how fresh and plentiful her canned food is. :shrug:

Gaj
Apr 30, 2006
So my cat seems to have a sensitive stomach. Shes been on Blue Buffalo food since may and so far shes been doing well, even though her poops dont seem to be ideal in that they seem a littel dried out aka constipated.
2 weeks ago she just stopped eating the BB, she would maybe eat 1/3or a 1/2 of what her usual intake would be, she acted fine regardless. After 4 days of this I switched to her old food, which she devours energetically. However it gives her a dirty butt, not diarrhea but its enough that I spot check her butt before bed because its just a dirty rear end in a top hat. Its Core Wellness brand, and as far as I can tell the only real difference between that and her BB is that it is grain free.

SO basically shes on a food she enjoys, keeps her healthy, but gives her a dirty butt. Is there anything to be gleaned from this, that she loves grain free food but it gives her a crusty butt? Is there any logic to rotating foods until I find one she 1) likes 2) gives her a clean butt?

effika
Jun 19, 2005
Birds do not want you to know any more than you already do.

Gaj posted:

So my cat seems to have a sensitive stomach. Shes been on Blue Buffalo food since may and so far shes been doing well, even though her poops dont seem to be ideal in that they seem a littel dried out aka constipated.
2 weeks ago she just stopped eating the BB, she would maybe eat 1/3or a 1/2 of what her usual intake would be, she acted fine regardless. After 4 days of this I switched to her old food, which she devours energetically. However it gives her a dirty butt, not diarrhea but its enough that I spot check her butt before bed because its just a dirty rear end in a top hat. Its Core Wellness brand, and as far as I can tell the only real difference between that and her BB is that it is grain free.

SO basically shes on a food she enjoys, keeps her healthy, but gives her a dirty butt. Is there anything to be gleaned from this, that she loves grain free food but it gives her a crusty butt? Is there any logic to rotating foods until I find one she 1) likes 2) gives her a clean butt?

Is it wet food? The Wellness wet food gave our cat loose stools after they changed the gelling agent to something more ~natural~ when people got scared of carageenan. We found her a wet food with carageenan and she's been fine since. Something about the cassia gum and/or xanthan gum wasn't working well for her.

When we compared ingredients those where the ones that stood out as being most different, and low and behold getting a food closet to the old formula worked fine. (We switched to Merrick Purrfect Bistro.)

Edit: will she eat pumpkin? That may be enough fiber to firm her up, if you mix that in with her food.

effika fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Oct 30, 2020

WhatEvil
Jun 6, 2004

Can't get no luck.

So, gently caress. I'm confused as hell.

I have 2 kittens, now 12 weeks old, and I'm trying to work out what to feed them. They came from their birth home on Friskies Turkey wet food and Whiskas kitten dry - the worst, but cheapest brands available (I'm in Canada, btw).

One of them is absolutely fine but the other may be a bit constipated as he freaks out and goes skittish and meows a lot when he needs to poop. The vet said that they had a friend with a cat on Friskies, and it was constipated, getting enemas twice a week, then they switched off Friskies and it was absolutely fine.

Of course there are *so many* pet food brands out there and they vary wildly in terms of price, protein content, ingredients etc. so I'm trying to figure it all out, and I've done what came naturally: I made a big rear end spreadsheet comparing different kinds of wet food and dry foods (separately, I'd like them to have both).

So the previous thread was talking about obviously all the grain free stuff, and now there's a scare for dogs but we seem to think it's OK for cats, but maybe legumes aren't so good or interfere with taurine uptake or something?

Anyway, going by what was in the previous thread, for dry foods protein content is key and being high calorie per kg is also good because the cats may feel fuller on a smaller amount of food... but if I go by those metrics then Whiskas kitten actually comes out really well: 43% protein and 3600kcal/kg. The kcal/kg figure isn't so amazing but 43% protein is higher than all but the most premium foods. Of course the first ingredient for Whiskas is "Chicken by-product meal" followed by corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, and then animal fat, so I know it is not high quality.

Then on the other end of the confusing scale you have something like Canadian Naturals which only has 32% protein and 3836kcal/kg, but has Turkey, Turkey Meal, Peas, Potatoes, Chicken Fat (stabilized with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Salmon Meal as it's first few ingredients and also stuff like Cranberry, Apple, Blueberry etc. so it seems like good quality ingredients, but is available *cheaper* than Whiskas:
https://www.homesalive.ca/cat/food/dry-and-kibble/canadian-naturals-cat-food-turkey-salmon.html

What actually seems to be coming out at the best bang per buck right now is Solid Gold Indigo Moon which is 42% protein, high quality ingredients, 3860kcal/kg and is something like $8-11CAD/kg, or something like Horizon Legacy, 40% protein, $9CAD/kg:

https://www.homesalive.ca/horizon-legacy-cat-kitten-food.html

So like, how the hell do I even evaluate? Are the priorities to have good meat ingredients ("Chicken" rather than "chicken by-product meal"), then protein content, then healthy carbs (potatoes instead of corn) or what?

MikeyTsi
Jan 11, 2009

WhatEvil posted:

So, gently caress. I'm confused as hell.

I have 2 kittens, now 12 weeks old, and I'm trying to work out what to feed them. They came from their birth home on Friskies Turkey wet food and Whiskas kitten dry - the worst, but cheapest brands available (I'm in Canada, btw).

One of them is absolutely fine but the other may be a bit constipated as he freaks out and goes skittish and meows a lot when he needs to poop. The vet said that they had a friend with a cat on Friskies, and it was constipated, getting enemas twice a week, then they switched off Friskies and it was absolutely fine.

Of course there are *so many* pet food brands out there and they vary wildly in terms of price, protein content, ingredients etc. so I'm trying to figure it all out, and I've done what came naturally: I made a big rear end spreadsheet comparing different kinds of wet food and dry foods (separately, I'd like them to have both).

So the previous thread was talking about obviously all the grain free stuff, and now there's a scare for dogs but we seem to think it's OK for cats, but maybe legumes aren't so good or interfere with taurine uptake or something?

Anyway, going by what was in the previous thread, for dry foods protein content is key and being high calorie per kg is also good because the cats may feel fuller on a smaller amount of food... but if I go by those metrics then Whiskas kitten actually comes out really well: 43% protein and 3600kcal/kg. The kcal/kg figure isn't so amazing but 43% protein is higher than all but the most premium foods. Of course the first ingredient for Whiskas is "Chicken by-product meal" followed by corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, and then animal fat, so I know it is not high quality.

Then on the other end of the confusing scale you have something like Canadian Naturals which only has 32% protein and 3836kcal/kg, but has Turkey, Turkey Meal, Peas, Potatoes, Chicken Fat (stabilized with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Salmon Meal as it's first few ingredients and also stuff like Cranberry, Apple, Blueberry etc. so it seems like good quality ingredients, but is available *cheaper* than Whiskas:
https://www.homesalive.ca/cat/food/dry-and-kibble/canadian-naturals-cat-food-turkey-salmon.html

What actually seems to be coming out at the best bang per buck right now is Solid Gold Indigo Moon which is 42% protein, high quality ingredients, 3860kcal/kg and is something like $8-11CAD/kg, or something like Horizon Legacy, 40% protein, $9CAD/kg:

https://www.homesalive.ca/horizon-legacy-cat-kitten-food.html

So like, how the hell do I even evaluate? Are the priorities to have good meat ingredients ("Chicken" rather than "chicken by-product meal"), then protein content, then healthy carbs (potatoes instead of corn) or what?

Cats are different. They don't synthesize taurine like dogs so sufficient amounts need to be included in their diet; this got figured out for them in like the 70's? With dogs there is something that impacting their ability to synthesize taurine or absorb it, or something like that, I haven't read what the latest research is.

Cats are obligate carnivores, so their should be no grain in their food and little to no vegetable matter at all (think about their standard prey, basically all the plant matter they would get would be what would happen to be in the GI tract of what they've caught). Any cat food that has grain is a marker for something that's low quality.

The big thing with "by-product meal" is that it can be poorly defined, and is usually going to be in a food that's also going to be full of other fillers like grain that they won't be able to process properly.

Cats typically have a problem getting enough moisture, so a wet food is preferred over a dry food.
that
Personally, we feed our feline overlords Orijen dry during the day and Tiki Cat canned food in the evening, I've also fed stuff like Merrick and Solid Gold. Any dedicated pet food chain (I like Pet Pros and Mud Bay) that doesn't carry bottom-tier foods will probably be able to give good recommendations, heck I think even PetSmart and Petco have both signed on to not carry low-tier brands in the interest of pet health.

There used to be a pet food ratings thread but I'm sure it's horribly out of date. I'm not sure what outside ratings sites there are for cat food at the moment.

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

MikeyTsi posted:

Cats are different. They don't synthesize taurine like dogs so sufficient amounts need to be included in their diet; this got figured out for them in like the 70's? With dogs there is something that impacting their ability to synthesize taurine or absorb it, or something like that, I haven't read what the latest research is.

Cats are obligate carnivores, so their should be no grain in their food and little to no vegetable matter at all (think about their standard prey, basically all the plant matter they would get would be what would happen to be in the GI tract of what they've caught). Any cat food that has grain is a marker for something that's low quality.

The big thing with "by-product meal" is that it can be poorly defined, and is usually going to be in a food that's also going to be full of other fillers like grain that they won't be able to process properly.

Cats typically have a problem getting enough moisture, so a wet food is preferred over a dry food.
that
Personally, we feed our feline overlords Orijen dry during the day and Tiki Cat canned food in the evening, I've also fed stuff like Merrick and Solid Gold. Any dedicated pet food chain (I like Pet Pros and Mud Bay) that doesn't carry bottom-tier foods will probably be able to give good recommendations, heck I think even PetSmart and Petco have both signed on to not carry low-tier brands in the interest of pet health.

There used to be a pet food ratings thread but I'm sure it's horribly out of date. I'm not sure what outside ratings sites there are for cat food at the moment.

The old pet food thread really wasn't that out of date. Most of the brands haven't really changed much of their formulation in years. A lot of those of us who know what we're talking about and have long-term experience in either formulating pet food or understanding the formulation of it just got sick of being told that we were wrong/stupid/etc when we were giving veterinarian-backed answers or we've literally been studying pet nutrition professionally. So we gave up and gently caress it, let the goon cats eat purina.

In serious mode instead of "lol whatever": tiki cat and orijen are pretty fantastic. I will always be pro-raw for cats for owners who want to learn it (there are great recipes online, wonderful fb groups, and I'm always just a PM away). But those are really, really good alternatives to raw.

I wouldn't feed Merrick or Blue Buffalo to my worst enemy's animals just because they constantly seem to have recalls and issues. 4Health cost me a $500 vet bill and permanently shut me off on Diamond manufactured foods, too, but there are some people who do great with them.

Petsmart is still carrying trash like bil-jac and pedigree and so forth. Petco's big thing is "no artificial stuff! look! it's all real food!" which is about as bottom line as I would ever want to feed anything. It kind of blew my mind that people latched on to that as a good thing, but it's a common marketing tool in human groceries too, so hey, sure. Familiarity brings money.

We don't have Pet Pros or Mud Bay so I can't really speak on them. Cats don't really have a problem getting moisture so much as we make it hard for them to do so. Cats aren't (usually) big into drinking water. They'll drink it, but like most obligate carnivores, they prefer to get a lot of their moisture from their prey. Ultimately, that's why I'm so pro-raw specifically for cats. You can add water to their ground meat and mix it up and really shove that water down their little throats to keep them from making a crystal factory in their bladder.

WhatEvil posted:

holy gently caress cats are hard

My first question isn't regarding any of what you posted. It's what's your budget per month to feed these two?

WhatEvil
Jun 6, 2004

Can't get no luck.

Honestly it's hard to say. Like I'm not working right now but my wife is, we have savings, but eventually I'll be going back to work (I hope) and then we can probably afford to feed them really good stuff, like your Tiki Cat or this stuff:

https://www.homesalive.ca/cat/food/dry-and-kibble/farmina-n-d-prime-kitten-cat-food-chicken-and-pomegranate.html

Which seems like it might be the fanciest stuff I've found, with the best ingredients.

Until then I just want to get them something that's good for them but isn't going to cost us a shitload.

I think for now I'm somewhat settled on Orijen Cat & Kitten for dry food and a split between Romeo and Authority for wet:

https://www.petonly.ca/romeo-chicken-catch-of-the-day-recipe-grain-free-adult-canned-cat-food

https://www.petsmart.ca/cat/food-and-treats/wet-food/authority-pate-entree-kitten-food-51030.html

Hopefully these are decent choices.

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

WhatEvil posted:

Honestly it's hard to say. Like I'm not working right now but my wife is, we have savings, but eventually I'll be going back to work (I hope) and then we can probably afford to feed them really good stuff, like your Tiki Cat or this stuff:

https://www.homesalive.ca/cat/food/dry-and-kibble/farmina-n-d-prime-kitten-cat-food-chicken-and-pomegranate.html

Which seems like it might be the fanciest stuff I've found, with the best ingredients.

Until then I just want to get them something that's good for them but isn't going to cost us a shitload.

I think for now I'm somewhat settled on Orijen Cat & Kitten for dry food and a split between Romeo and Authority for wet:

https://www.petonly.ca/romeo-chicken-catch-of-the-day-recipe-grain-free-adult-canned-cat-food

https://www.petsmart.ca/cat/food-and-treats/wet-food/authority-pate-entree-kitten-food-51030.html

Hopefully these are decent choices.

Of those two at the bottom, I'd go authority.

admiraldennis
Jul 22, 2003

I am the stone that builder refused
I am the visual
The inspiration
That made lady sing the blues
The thread title caught my eye.

I've been feeding my two cats exclusively Tiki Cat wet food for the past 10 years - since I adopted them as young'uns. This food does not contain grain. It also looks and smells like food. My cat food budget isn't small and I can't leave them alone for too long or use an autofeeder, but it's always felt worthwhile to me personally.

Could be luck, but it seems to have worked out well for them. They're healthy, they never overeat or crave excess food, and vets always praise their "ideal physique."

Why would I want to feed my cats grain? I'm pretty sure cats aren't really naturally meant to eat more than little bits of grain.

I looked at the attached study and it seems like it's mostly about dogs and certain ingredients?

quote:

FDA is investigating a potential dietary link between canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and dogs eating certain pet foods containing legumes like peas or lentils, other legume seeds (pulses), or potatoes as main ingredients
(...)
Additionally, most of the cases ate diets that appear to contain high concentrations/ratios of certain ingredients, such as peas, chickpeas, lentils and/or various types of potatoes. Some of these were labeled as “grain-free,” but grain-containing diets were also represented.

I always figured dogs eating grain (and carbs in general) made more sense than cats eating grain; dogs love to eat everything, my cats would never eat 90% of what I do :)

admiraldennis fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Nov 14, 2020

Boogalo
Jul 8, 2012

Meep Meep




If your cats are good weight and eat the food then you're doing fine, no reason to switch.

I'm not sure how the grain free issues in dog food carried over to including cats, but cat food is enriched with taurine already to avoid that problem. If anything, if it is an issue, i'd imagine slightly increasing the amount in formulations would take care of it, but being a grain free feeder, its not something I'm concerned about.

At the end of the day, feed your cat whatever they will reliably eat. I go for grain free with a low incidence of recalls and high calorie density so i'm feeding small amounts and don't have to store a ton. In some cheaper foods I'd be feeding 2 cups a day while pricier ones are 1/2 a cup or less so the costs even out pretty well too.

admiraldennis
Jul 22, 2003

I am the stone that builder refused
I am the visual
The inspiration
That made lady sing the blues
Yeah, they seem content. They love the tuna and mackeral-containing varieties the best, but they'll happily eat the chicken, salmon, crab and seabass based ones as long as it's not too many days in a row (rotation is key).

Rarely as a treat I will give them raw chicken liver, which they like, or some canned (human) tuna in oil, which they go absolutely crazy nuts for.

As far as I can tell from Googling around, Tiki Cat has never been recalled.

WhatEvil
Jun 6, 2004

Can't get no luck.

Yeah I've had recommendations for Tiki Cat from multiple places. Seems like good stuff, just it's almost twice the cost per kg of something like the Authority stuff I posted, and being currently out of work I can't really justify the extra cost, especially for two very hungry kittens (who I believe are currently eating more than an adult cat would).

What're people's opinions of a raw diet for cats? I've checked out some of the Ontario raw pet food producers and it's actually cheaper even than the mid-grade tinned stuff I'm buying at the moment:

https://rawpetfoodontario.com/product/8-turkey-8-chicken/

8lbs of Turkey and 8lbs of Chicken for $57CAD:

quote:

Made in a HACCP Certified Facility

Ingredients: Turkey meat bone organ including liver and heart, Chicken meat, bone organ including liver and heart.

I've looked at BalanceIt and they do a "carnivore blend" that apparently contains all the stuff they'd need to supplement this to make it complete WRT vitamins etc.

AnonymousNarcotics
Aug 6, 2012

we will go far into the sea
you will take me
onto your back
never look back
never look back
So I have a new kitten, she's 10 weeks old. The people who rescued her were feeding her kitten food - Royal Canin Mother & Babycat and Blue Freedom Indoor Kitten Grain-Free Chicken recipe. They said she ate a whole can every 3 hours.

I picked her up on Tuesday night, and when I tried to feed her, she barely ate. I assumed it was bc she was uncomfortable in the new setting and I left it for her overnight. She ate most of it. But over the past few days, she only eats like 1 can per day, spread out every 2-3 hours.

However! She seems to really like the food that I feed my adult cats (Fussie Cat).

Is she going to miss out on any important kitten nutrition if she eats what the cats are eating?

My gut tells me that it's more important that she eat and gain weight, rather than just nibbling on kitten food.

I tried mixing them together, but she still left the kitten food untouched.

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Boogalo posted:

If your cats are good weight and eat the food then you're doing fine, no reason to switch.

I'm not sure how the grain free issues in dog food carried over to including cats, but cat food is enriched with taurine already to avoid that problem. If anything, if it is an issue, i'd imagine slightly increasing the amount in formulations would take care of it, but being a grain free feeder, its not something I'm concerned about.

At the end of the day, feed your cat whatever they will reliably eat. I go for grain free with a low incidence of recalls and high calorie density so i'm feeding small amounts and don't have to store a ton. In some cheaper foods I'd be feeding 2 cups a day while pricier ones are 1/2 a cup or less so the costs even out pretty well too.

Enriching with taurine doesn't avoid that problem. It has been shown conclusively that additional taurine does not assist carnivores uptaking significant amounts of taurine blockers like legumes.

But not every animal has that problem.

Tiki cat is good stuff.

MikeyTsi
Jan 11, 2009

AnonymousNarcotics posted:

So I have a new kitten, she's 10 weeks old. The people who rescued her were feeding her kitten food - Royal Canin Mother & Babycat and Blue Freedom Indoor Kitten Grain-Free Chicken recipe. They said she ate a whole can every 3 hours.

I picked her up on Tuesday night, and when I tried to feed her, she barely ate. I assumed it was bc she was uncomfortable in the new setting and I left it for her overnight. She ate most of it. But over the past few days, she only eats like 1 can per day, spread out every 2-3 hours.

However! She seems to really like the food that I feed my adult cats (Fussie Cat).

Is she going to miss out on any important kitten nutrition if she eats what the cats are eating?

My gut tells me that it's more important that she eat and gain weight, rather than just nibbling on kitten food.

I tried mixing them together, but she still left the kitten food untouched.

Kitten food is usually the same as adult cat food just smaller pieces that are easier to eat.

With ours we basically left dry food out all the time so they could eat as much as they wanted, and then give them some wet food in the evening. They'll eat a lot because they're extremely active and growing.

WhatEvil
Jun 6, 2004

Can't get no luck.

Lots of cat food is actually suitable for "all life stages" which includes kittens. I've actually just looked on the Fussie Cat website and picked out a few flavours at random:

https://fussiecat.com/super-premium-chicken-with-egg-formula-in-gravy/
https://fussiecat.com/super-premium-chicken-and-beef-in-pumpkin-soup/
https://fussiecat.com/premium-tuna-with-chicken-formula-in-aspic/
https://fussiecat.com/premium-tuna-with-ocean-fish-formula-in-aspic/

It seems that the "super premium" ones I looked at are "Formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages." and all of the "premium" ones are "Formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for Adult Maintenance."

I've just done a bit of a search and apparently:

quote:

Kitten food contains higher amounts of vitamins and minerals to support healthy bone growth and teeth, according to Purina.

And I've seen elsewhere that maybe kitten food is more calorie-dense?

So yeah I'd say it depends on whether they're getting the "premium" stuff or the "super premium", but I guess it's up to you to decide how much you think that matters.

Gangringo
Jul 22, 2007

In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one sat.

He chose the path of perpetual contentment.

I just inherited a cat and we have instantly become bros. I want to spoil him terribly and give him as long of a healthy life as possible. At the moment he is eating freshpet chicken recipe and loving it.

I would like to continue feeding him fresh food. I was wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge of the various fresh food delivery services for cats, like mom nom, cat person, or Darwin's. Anything I should know about feeding fresh food?

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Gangringo posted:

I just inherited a cat and we have instantly become bros. I want to spoil him terribly and give him as long of a healthy life as possible. At the moment he is eating freshpet chicken recipe and loving it.

I would like to continue feeding him fresh food. I was wondering if anyone has experience or knowledge of the various fresh food delivery services for cats, like mom nom, cat person, or Darwin's. Anything I should know about feeding fresh food?

darwin's has had a lot of recalls. nom nom is like, crystal meth for literally every animal I've ever seen eat it. freshpet is fine just avoid the ones with legumes.

Irritated Goat
Mar 12, 2005

This post is pathetic.
My old (15) boy Jayne is constantly whining for food. He'll take his time eating the 2 3oz cans we give him a day. Supplement with dry food at night? Vet recommended Royal Canin but he doesn't seem to like the Aging wet food so I'm switching. He stays around 10-12 lbs so I'm not super worried about his weight but want to keep him around for as long as I can.

Cat tax:

Irukandji Syndrome
Dec 26, 2008
Bad news: My dog (senior) refused this food. Zero interest.




Good(?) news: our (young) cat loves it so much that she TORE THE BAG OPEN and ate as much as she could before we stopped her. I'm not gonna switch her diet, but would it be cool to give it to her as a treat? Is there anything in the ingredients looks egregious to cats aside from the low fat content?

Facebook Aunt
Oct 4, 2008

wiggle wiggle




Irukandji Syndrome posted:

Bad news: My dog (senior) refused this food. Zero interest.




Good(?) news: our (young) cat loves it so much that she TORE THE BAG OPEN and ate as much as she could before we stopped her. I'm not gonna switch her diet, but would it be cool to give it to her as a treat? Is there anything in the ingredients looks egregious to cats aside from the low fat content?

Cats can't survive on dog food alone, but you aren't suggesting that. Something like 2-4 kibbles a day, as a treat, seems fine unless it puts her off her food.

nwin
Feb 25, 2002

make's u think

Need some recommendations on cat food. I used to follow this forum a lot when I had dogs and briefly when I married my wife who had two cats.

Long story short, one male cat just passed away (urinary blockage, 12 years old. They did surgery but his urethra blocked back up 3 days later and instead of doing the surgery again with potential of another surgery after, the decision was made to euthanize) and we’ve been feeding blue Buffalo chicken and brown rice, which apparently is not great anymore.

Looking for a dry food recommendation for a the morning and a wet food at night. 12 year old female cat with medium hair and sheds a ton with occasional hairballs. We have a cat fountain which she likes drinking from. We bought some tiki cat but that’s honestly more than we’d prefer to spend. Before my wife met me, she just did science diet hairball food for senior cats and would sometimes offer friskies wet food as a treat.

coke
Jul 12, 2009
Want to chime in and say thanks to y’all for the last thread.

A cat got me a few years ago and she’s literally only been eating one food her entire life since she was a kitten.

Solid Gold Indigo Moon.

I also remembered the recommendation for wet food being better, so ever since day one i’ve added a ton of water to the kibbles so she will have to drink up before getting to her food. Or she just eat the soggy kibbles that’s full of water.

She never get excited about her food or follow me as I put her food down but the bowl will be empty after a few hours or the next day either way.

Also she piss so much that she goes through the litter quite quickly and there are always huge clumped piss in the box.
At the same time the litter box never smell of ammonia or anything at all which has been amazing. She’s also pretty much the perfect weight judging from the cat shape photo someone posted earlier.

The best part is like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, the food is really high in protein that she doesn’t need to eat much especially with a ton of added water. One bag can last like a month or two for her.

So thanks y’all.

first move tengen
Dec 2, 2011
I was happy to find a lot of the recommended cat food brands here in Taiwan! Previously we have fed our cat Costco brand dry food because we thought it was affordable but I'm happy to switch over. So I just got a bag of solid gold indigo moon. How should I go about measuring it? Should I just use the feeding guidelines printed on the bag and add water?

Edit: and I will be sure to just mix it in over the course of a week to avoid digestive issues

first move tengen fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jan 12, 2021

MikeyTsi
Jan 11, 2009

coke posted:

Want to chime in and say thanks to y’all for the last thread.

A cat got me a few years ago and she’s literally only been eating one food her entire life since she was a kitten.

Solid Gold Indigo Moon.

I also remembered the recommendation for wet food being better, so ever since day one i’ve added a ton of water to the kibbles so she will have to drink up before getting to her food. Or she just eat the soggy kibbles that’s full of water.

She never get excited about her food or follow me as I put her food down but the bowl will be empty after a few hours or the next day either way.

Also she piss so much that she goes through the litter quite quickly and there are always huge clumped piss in the box.
At the same time the litter box never smell of ammonia or anything at all which has been amazing. She’s also pretty much the perfect weight judging from the cat shape photo someone posted earlier.

The best part is like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, the food is really high in protein that she doesn’t need to eat much especially with a ton of added water. One bag can last like a month or two for her.

So thanks y’all.

Urinating a lot is a sign of kidney issues. Get your cat in to the vet.

El Mero Mero
Oct 13, 2001

Does anyone have an opinion of the reviews/analysis on catfooddb.com or catfooddb.com?

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

MikeyTsi posted:

Urinating a lot is a sign of kidney issues. Get your cat in to the vet.

op is making kibble soup, cat is prob okay.


El Mero Mero posted:

Does anyone have an opinion of the reviews/analysis on catfooddb.com or catfooddb.com?

not familiar with it. what are you considering?

El Mero Mero
Oct 13, 2001

Fluffy Bunnies posted:

op is making kibble soup, cat is prob okay.


not familiar with it. what are you considering?

The Wellness CORE line

Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009


It's good stuff. Tiki Cat might be a little cheaper without sacrificing quality, though.

Waroduce
Aug 5, 2008
I currently feed Purina Incredibites for Small Dogs to my 5 year old little mutt. She's some sort of 9lb terrier/maltese mix. She's been doing great on this food and has never had any issues, but I feel like there could be a better/more high quality food for her. Her tiny mouth and teeth have trouble with kibble so I feed exclusively wet/canned although i've mixed in kibble in the past (after soaking it a bit)

If I was interested in a higher quality food with a better nutrition profile what would you guys recommend?

Also, I was told to look into vitamins/dietary supplements as she ages....is there like a doggie daily multivitamin?

Toebone
Jul 1, 2002

Start remembering what you hear.
Can anyone recommend a softer kibble brand? We have had our dog, a seven year old husky/boxer/shepherd mix, for about a year, and have been feeding him Aldi's "Pure Being" kibble, but he's never really been nuts about it. He doesn't seem to like how crunchy it is (he doesn't care for really crunchy treats either).

Gangringo
Jul 22, 2007

In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one sat.

He chose the path of perpetual contentment.

My aunt has a very old dog with a very sensitive digestive system. Currently she cooks poached chicken, rice, and mixes it with dog food to make sure it has more complete dog nutrition. Is there any sort of supplement mix that works well so she can add it to whatever she cooks that will make it dog food?

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Fluffy Bunnies
Jan 10, 2009

Gangringo posted:

My aunt has a very old dog with a very sensitive digestive system. Currently she cooks poached chicken, rice, and mixes it with dog food to make sure it has more complete dog nutrition. Is there any sort of supplement mix that works well so she can add it to whatever she cooks that will make it dog food?

Look into Just Food For Dogs DIY. What she's doing isn't helping.

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