Kitty Food

[Lil_Branchette]

I'm so excited! I'm getting a cat soon!!! My friend is going to theatre school in England and she's giving me her cat. He's a sweetheart. His name's Smoky. He's on Purina Cat Chow right now. I dunno if that's a good kind of food or not. I looked on the computer, checking out brands like Innova and Wellness. Those appeal to me more, but if Purina is an ok food, then I won't switch it. Could someone pls tell me if Purina is good for a cat of 6 yrs? How about Wiskas? Would that be an ok brand? I don't care how expensive that food is either, if it's good, I'm buying it...

 

[Parkerspetchins]

I really liked Wellness when my cat was on it. I wouldn't feed anything with corn fillers if I had a choice, personally . I think most of the grocery store brands have corn fillers. Congratulations on your new addition!

 

[Alleigh]

Congratulations on your new addition! Aren't cats just amazing pets and family members?!

For the longest time I was sure that I was allergic to cats and therefore didn't have them in my life. But within the last year I determined that it was the dust from the clay litter that I was allergic to and it wasn't long before I had welcomed three cats into my life and my family. Unfortunately, I lost my baby Malia only weeks after I brought her home and my roommate recently moved out and took our two 8-month old kittens with her. And while that's all sad, I was given the opportunity to go back to the shelter and adopt another cat in need and that has made it all worthwhile. But, really, that's neither here nor there...

If I had the opportunity to switch a cat from Purina to a healthier pet food such as Wellness I would do so in a heartbeat. I feed my male cat Wellness Indoor Health and when I had my younger kittens I fed the Kitten Health formula. This food was recommended to me by the holistic vet that I consult for all of my animals and in all the time that I've fed the Wellness products, I have never been disappointed. I did do a lot of research beforehand even despite the recommendation by my veterinarian and I would suggest that anyone interested in their pet's nutrition do the same thing.

But it's not all about Wellness pet foods. There are a number of other holistic-type foods that have proven to be nutritionally sound and of greater nutritional value than the typical name brands. Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, Blue Buffalo, Merrick, Eagle Pack, and Royal Canin are all well-known and much recommended. And I am sure that there are others as well, but my feeling is that the cat food that you'd find in your supermarket would be the very food to steer clear from.

As far as whether or not Purina is a good food, my opinion is that it's not. However, I can't comment on their newer, more holistic products as I am not familiar enough with them. And I would stay very far away from foods such as Whiskas, 9 Lives, and the like. Please do your research and learn how to decipher ingredient lists and labels...it will be the best thing you can do for Smoky and any future animals that may come into your life.

It's so exciting to bring a new cat home. I wish you and Smoky the best of luck. And we'll definitely need pictures...that's for sure! Congratulations again on your new addition and please keep us posted!

 

[mishalaa]

I agree, Purina Cat Chow isn't the best food out there, but they can live off it if they must. I was feeding the indoor cat chow formula, as that's what our local rescue uses, but last summer I switched them to Pro Plan, which is also by Purina but it is on par with Royal Canin and Wellness, and they did very well on it. Their coats looked so much nicer.

Unfortunately, Patience developed allergies and is currently on a hypoallergenic food to see if it's a food allergy, and I have to feed her separately from my other two. We've still got two weeks of feeding to go before we'll know.

 

[Lil_Branchette]

Thanks so much guys on sharing your feline stories and opinions! I suspected Purina Cat Chow was probably crap from the moment my friend mentioned the low price and where she gets it from. I also noticed Smoky's coat to be dull with unpleasant fur that's sorta brittle-feeling. I was also wondering about how good Innova was. It's probably the same thing as Wellness, right? I read the ingredients, and they mentioned good things, like actual meat and chicken, and those were the main products. However, I'm a little unsure about Royal Canin. I know you mentioned it, Alleigh, but this one guy came in to Petcetera to buy food, and when I was ringing up his stuff, he told me that his dog died from some additives put in Royal Canin, and that dogs all over British Columbia died from those additives. So, is RC still ok, was that just a one time incident? And since we're on the topic of food, what treats would be the healthiest? I heard of a brand called Greenies, so are those good? I'll be sure to post plenty of pics once we move into our nice big house and get Smoky in 2 months...=D

 

[Laura]

Innova, Evo, Wellness and all the other brands listed above are great brands of food. My kitten eats Taste of the Wild and she loves it, but it's not used as much as the others.

 

[pamszoo]

Don't feed anything from a grocery store ie whiskas, 9 lives, meowmix and the like.
I personally like Wellness, Evo, Blue buffalo all the "higher Quality" foods.
My cats fave right now is Avoderm. I don't like Royal Canin because I think they add too much salt. This is to make the cats drink more so they don't have urinary issues. If this is a male just always make sure he is peeing. I've seen too many cats euthanized because owners didn't know about urinary issues.

 

[tskoffina]

I unfortunately fed my Fred Purina for many years, which meant that Twila ate it too. Fred refused every other food. They got fat (maybe not all the foods fault) and didn't have great coats. One day I left the bag of Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul Light out (main food for the hedgies) and Twila ripped open the bag. I came back upstairs to find them both eating right out of the bag. They got switched. Losing a bit of weight, and their coats are much better, and Twila's stomach seems to have settled down. I wouldn't use Purina again.

 

[Lil_Branchette]

Ahhhhhh ok. So, switching Smoky onto better food will give him a better coat, and most importantly, is better for his health. That's good......... Can anybody suggest some healthy treats too? Are ''Greenies'' good?

 

[mishalaa]

My cats don't actually respond to treats. I've tried several different brands, and they'll eat them if I leave them out, but as far come running when they hear the container ruffle and then sit there and beg... no. Ha! I've heard a lot about Greenies and reviews are favorable though. If you want to research more about treats and nutrition and such, TheCatSite.com is an excellent forum like this one.

 

[Sesame]

I feed my cats (both indoor and now senior-aged) Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care Indoor Senior. When my family has first gotten our cats, we used to feed them Purina, but we changed after we learned it wasn't very good dry food. I do feed my cats Purina Pro Plan can food though (they love it a lot, especially the ones in sauce with rice). For treats, I forget what the brand is, but it's one that you need to kept refrigerated after opening from Petsmart. It was in a light blue bag with like an orange fish on it?

In my opinion, it's good to have both dry and wet food in the diet. I have dry food ad lib and the can wet food every other day. I rarely give treats, but will give them if I have them or remember to.

 

[Lil_Branchette]

Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me Sesame, about wet food. Do I feed the same brand of wet food? Wellness, Innova, that sorta stuff?

 

[Sesame]

For me personally, I don't really care too much about the brand of wet food. I usually just buy whatever I've found my kitties like, whatevers on sale. I feel that the quality of the wet food seems to be okay for my cats. They are currently 13 and so far both are in good health (knock on wood). I usually feed them: Nutro can food, Nutro max can food, Purina Pro Plan, Sheba, Fancy Feast, Whiskas pouches. If I buy a larger can, I split it between my two cats, 1 pouch per cat, or 1 small can per cat. They just get it maybe 3 times a week, but they def. look forward to it and try to give me those sad kitty eyes everyday at dinner time for wet food. But, that's what I just do.

That cat forum might be a better place to browse around. Good Luck!