Best Cat Food Help?

barracuda · #1 08-25-2009, 07:15 PM

I'm adopting 3 kittens from the shelter that I work at.

I want to know what the best food choice is for them. I am choosing between these foods:

Blue Buffalo - All Natural Kitten Food
Castor And Pollux Pet Works: Innovative, Natural and Organic Pet Products
Natural Cat and Kitty Food - Wellness CORE
For Cats - Dry Formulas - Kitten Health

Whats the best bang for my buck for three growing babies?

Cami · #2 08-26-2009, 07:25 AM

Congrats on the new kittens!
I personally don't think you can go wrong with Wellness but I would incorporate a canned food into the mix NOW verses waiting till they are older. Sometimes a kitten raised on dry food WON'T make a transition to canned food very easily and there are many health benefits of feeding a canned food. Also have to think about any issues in the future that might require dispensing medications and canned foods can make that slightly easier if they are already used to eating them.
The Wellness CORE is quite RICH and isn't suited for all cats.
Just my experience.....my girl eats CORE as a TREAT mixed in with EVO (also dry) and only gets perhaps a tablespoon full of her "crack" daily. She is a dry food addict and can't have access to it 24/7.
It really all boils down to finding a healthy food that they ALL do well on. Hard to do sometimes but not impossible!

**gmacleod** · #3 08-26-2009, 11:44 AM

Personally, I would pass on any form of dry food for a cat. Or if you absolutely must feed it, then I'd at least take one that has the lowest amount of carbohydrate content you can find (which would almost certainly mean a grain-free kibble).

You might find this site (it is run by a vet, in case that is important to you) very informative. It gives you an idea of the health problems you can create by feeding dry food diets, as well as some clear ideas on alternatives: Feeding Your Cat**** Know the Basi

barracuda · #4 08-26-2009, 05:25 PM

I do feed them wet food 3 times a day, as well as leaving some dry out for them. I was going to match the wet food with the dry, as both Wellness or both Blue Buffalo. The shelter and I (Im their foster mom and chose to keep them

) have them currently on Science Diet WD and the ID wet (Ick, I know) to rein in their runny poo. Its nice a solid now and Im slowly weaning them onto Natural Balance, which is what the other shelter cats eat, and they love it.

I dont think Id have a problem feeding them all wet, they adore when its chow time. I do leave it down for them, but as soon as its been there a bit, they wont eat it so they get the dish washed and fresh put in and then they dive in. My question with that is, i was under the impression that the dry kibble helped to keep their teeth cleaner, was that false?

Baby Ripley · #5 08-27-2009, 10:10 AM

I feed my cat Orijen fish. It is a no grain food and he does very well on it. Good luck on your search

**gmacleod** · #6 08-27-2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barracuda

My question with that is, i was under the impression that the dry kibble helped to keep their teeth cleaner, was that false?

Yes, it is false. In order for kibble to do anything at all for keeping teeth clean, the cat would need to bite right through the kibble bits - which must not shatter on impact with the teeth. But kibble does shatter

It is of no use whatsoever in cleaning teeth. For that, I'm afraid, you need non-brittle hard items such as raw bones...

Where this myth arose, in fact, was from back in the days when most canned cat food was filled with sugars

The sugars rotted teeth, of course (no surprise there). So dry food was held to be "better" for teeth. What that actually means is less bad. Not that it cleans the teeth in any shape or form, but just that it doesn't have the same sugar content that actively rots the teeth.

These days, it is perfectly possible to get canned food WITHOUT a load of sugar, however - so as long as you're buying something of remotely decent quality, the issue becomes a moot point.

zomo · #7 09-06-2009, 01:22 PM

My kitties are doing great on raw

dorimama · #8 09-10-2009, 01:00 PM

For years I bought into the veterinary diet (as I work at a veterinary clinic) so I had my cats on Hills' T/D and Walthams Calorie Control. T/D is formulated to clean your cats teeth and I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't help with tartar control, in fact it greatly reduced it. The problem of course is the actual ingredients...here is a list of the first few: Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose 10% (source of fiber), Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken Liver Flavor. For a very expensive food it sure doesn't have anything good in it.
The Calorie Control did little to reduce the weight of my cats and it may have even added pounds on.

We recently switched my cats over to Fromm Surf and Turf and the difference has been amazing. One of my cats who is 14, we thought had outdoor allergies because she consistently had runny, gooey eyes. After about 2 weeks on the food her runny eyes stopped all together, she is 100x more active, her coat is silky and dandruff-free and her general quality of life has improved 100 times over.

The trick is to find a food that makes your cats thrive. Stay away from grains and incorporate wet food into their diet. We feed our kitties wet food 1-2x/ day but in having 4 cats, feeding solely wet can be quite costly since you have to give them quite a bit more of it compared to dry food. If you have a male cat it is especially important that he receive at least 1/2 of his daily food intake as wet food to ensure proper urinary health. Male cats are especially suceptible to urinary blockages which are lethal if not treated immediately. Suppling extra moisture in your cats diet will help his kidneys dilute the urine so that it is less likely crystals will form (the culprits of urinary blockages in cats).

Most of the companies that make really good dog foods make equally as good cat foods so is if you like a certain dog food you'll probably like the cat food too.

Good luck! Kittens are always so much fun!!!

barracuda · #9 09-15-2009, 06:46 PM

Dont worry, Ive been feeding them plenty of wet from the start. Ive transitioned them over to Blue Buffalo Spa Selects wet/dry as they are too little for the Blue Wilderness dry yet. Ive been offering them small amounts of better quality foods. They hated the Wellness Core. Three picked and one just walked away. And it was the chicken one, which is their favorite flavor. They love the Halo lamb, and most of the Merricks which I think Ill shift them to, and when they are older Ill give them some BG as well. Any thoughts on this? I Give them 1 small bowl of dry a day and when its gone, its gone. They get wet food 3-4 times a day, and usually eat most, if not all of it.