Cat Food

[iloveglee]

We have just taken on a 4 month old kitten. We know the breeder, so know this kitten has been given the very best start in life. He was fed a mixture, from weaning of raw meat, whiskas pouches, and royal canin breed specific dry kitten food. His mother was allowed to keep feeding the litter for as long as they/and she wanted. No-one tried to prevent this, so I imagine he has a good strong immune system. He is a british shorthair silver tabby.

I maybe ought not to read stuff on the internet about how to continue feeding him, as the views as to the best way to feed a kitten are as varied as there are cats. some of them are little off the wall to say the least. Vets also seem to have as many opinions as there are vets!!

We had a re-homed cat who died a year ago of kidney failure, who was fed on dry food, we kept her on what she had always eaten, as she was 8 when we got her. However, she became very ill very quickly and the vet was sure she had a fast growing tumour. I did wonder though about the food.

I have since read some opinions that feeding dry food to cats is a bad idea, as this can affect their kidneys, and especially for male cats? Similarly opinions are very strong re wet food. We are currently feeding a mixture of wet and dry, the raw having dropped when he was about 12 weeks old (before we got him).

I want to do the best for him, and am happy to feed him on dry food, because this is what he definitely seems to prefer. I have read articles that suggest dry food is 'junk' food for cats, and somewhere that it is even 'kitten crack'!!

We have had kittens before, very many years ago, and I certainly don't remember all this. Then again there was no internet then!! There must be many sensible cat owners out there, and as I usually get rational answers on here thought I would seek opinions.

[Buenchico]

A little anecdote from my own experience to start with:
When my cat had a litter of kittens, the vet insisted that both the mother and her little ones should be fed on expensive kitten food. All that seemed to do was to give the mother constant diarrhoea and I couldn't see how she (or the milk she was producing for her family) could benefit from food which was passing through her within minutes. However the vet insisted that she must have that particular diet. When I mentioned it to the woman who ran our local burger van though, she just laughed and said "What a load of rubbish. We've had loads of kittens born in our house and we've just given the mother and kittens ordinary cat food mashed up finely". Of course it turned out that the burger van lady was right and the vet was wrong!

So the point of my story is to ignore all 'experts' (including people here on AB) and simply go with what your feline friend likes best (as long as it's reasonably decent quality).

For what it's worth though, I'll tell you that my own 4 moggies are fed on a running buffet of both biscuits and pouched food. (There's no careful blending of the two. They just always have both available to them, so that they can choose what they fancy, with no specific feeding times. If a bowl is empty, I refill it).

I use Lidl's 'premium' dried food
http://de-pic2.ciao.com/de/264086463.jpg
and their 'basic' moist one
http://img.mysupermarket.co.uk/Live/Products_300/32/440832.jpg
(I used to give them the 'premium' version but they seem just as happy with the 'basic' one).
They seem to thrive on it.

[ummmm]

My cat has pouches and dried food and occasionally raw meat.

[pastafreak]

It doesn't matter what you feed them. They will soon tell you what they don't want.
Seriously...I do as Chris does. A bowl each of dry and moist. Caspar tells me when one is empty...or he doesn't like the flavour on offer. I use James Wellbeloved dry...it's the only dry he consistently eats.

[Toorak]

My cats get hard food in the morning and soft in the evening - I have been told by vets that hard is apparently better at keeping their teeth clean while soft helps keep them hydrated

[campbellking]

My two are very different. Campbellcat eats anything and everything, as a kitten she favoured the adult cat food and would eat it rather than the offered kitten food, when Robbie came to the household 3 years later she would steal his kitten food. There's not much she turns down, she loves tuna and turkey above everything else. She's just been sharing a little bit of KFC popcorn chicken with me, she also adores slivers of cheese, crisps,curry and eggs. Robbie, on the other hand, doesn't really enjoy anything that doesn't have a picture of a cat on the packet, and preferably the more basic Whiskas/Felix pouches and Go-cat. If you give him more expensive richer cat food it tends to upset his bowels. As a rule they have half a pouch each in the morning and the evening and an unlimited supply of biscuits, with the occasional Dreamie chucked in for good measure. Campbell is a very healthy 14 years old, and Robbie a youthful 11.

[iloveglee]

thanks for all the stories of your cats. its beginning to look very much like being a cat led house, on the basis that he appears to really like the dry, and often leaves the wet. The only time he will eat the wet is if i put it down at night, so i am trying this.

re the dry food, i think the thing about it being better for their teeth is being doubted, on the basis that they tend to swallow it whole rather than chewing it. i notice ours crunches some bits though.

We make sure water is available all the time, although it doesn't look as if he drinks much of it. Possibly having a half pouch of wet gives him some of his fluid needs. He appears to be very healthy though, full of life and very playful.

I have read on more than one website that vets get 'perks' to promote certain pet diets, much as gp's used to do to promote certain brands of medication. Not sure how true this is of vets, I know for a fact it was true of gp's!! Not so now these days with the use of generic medicines.

One thing is for sure though, having had cats (not kittens) before, you can't make them eat what they dont want to - bit like kids really.

[Islay]

I have 4 cats and they get 2 sachets of meat to share in the morning and 2 at night during the day they eat go cat tender always with a large bowl of fresh water near by. My current oldest cats are 10 years old and show no sign of ill health - my previous cats fed on the same diet except it was normal go cat lived to 17 years old.
I also had an Egyptian Mau who lived to 18 on the same diet with the occasional treat of chicken and tuna.

[wolf63]

My two are fed mainly on wet food but I am trying to encourage them to eat more dried food.

This is a link to an excellent and reliable website about cats - https://icatcare.org/advice/general-care/keeping-your-cat-healthy/feeding-your-cat-or-kitten

Good luck with your new kitten ... you are going to need it. ☺

[iloveglee]

very interesting article wolf63. answers many questions in an easy to understand and non judgmental way

[Prudie]

It may have been a complete waste but I always gave new kittens Whiskas kitten milk (or equivalent) until about 6 months. I've never had a cat that drank water from a bowl. Something filthy from a puddle seems to be the preferred option.

[pastafreak]

I keep a bowl of water out for the dog. I know Caspar drinks from it as he shouts when it's empty.

[iloveglee]

Spoke to vet nurse today, only took him to be weighed for flea treatment and claw clipping, but discussed the food with her. basically most vets and vet nurses will tell you that cats will do well on any good quality food, wet or dry, so long as there is a good supply for water for dry food feeding. She stressed the good quality though, but didn't try to suggest any brand above any other.

The only problem i have with the dry food, he loves it so much he gobbles it down, then throws it up!! She said some cats do this, it may be that he still has 'litter mentality', i.e. get it while you can in case some other kitten comes along and gets it first. She suggested a puzzle feeder? never seen one of these, does anyone on here have experience of such a thing.

[ashraful99xyz]

Wet or dry which food will be appropriate to feed a cat almost time rely on the cat's eating habits and how older they are.
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