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Food question from Mel

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  1. lena
    Member

    Hello Lena
    I wanted to write and get your opinions on a few other things.

    Our little bittle is doing Great. Shes out climbing trees and clothes line poles once again.

    We let our guys outside in our back yard which has a 6 ft wood fence around it. It took the a little while for them to figure out they could jump it and hubby came up with an idea that has worked wonderfully to keep them in.
    So now we can let them out back without to much fear of them getting out. We always keep a close eye on them when they are out. Staying outside with them for a while and then doing regular head counts to make sure we see everyone still.
    But they absolutely LOVE it and we enjoy seeing them get to enjoy rolling in the sand and grass and climbing the trees and clothes line poles . Chasing bugs, lizards and stalking birds etc. And they get to really run and have fresh air outside . Its just nice to be able to let them have this experience.
    Usually they only get to go out in cooler weather as it gets a little to hot here in the summer but when weather permits we let them out .

    Anyway I am way off the subject I wanted to ask about.

    I wanted to ask about food.

    I actually feed my guys a raw food diet with some canned and dry also.

    1 of my guys my oldest 10 years gets raw only with the very occassional canned meal due to his IBD/colitis issues.

    My 6 year old gets raw in the morning and canned at night or vice versa. He gains way to much weight if I give him any dry and he doesn’t want to eat anything else so we have taken it totally out of his meal plan.

    My 3 year old she was a really really hard sale on the canned and raw but I have finally gotten her to eat canned and raw.
    So she gets raw usually in the mornings with dry at night . With some canned thrown in at times too.

    Our little bittle was a hard sale too. But I have gotten her to actually eat raw a little better than canned. So she gets mostly raw in the mornings and dry at night.
    If she will eat canned she gets that to on ocassion.

    And our two babies of about 7 months now they get raw in the mornings with dry at night.
    I will give them a little canned sometimes before I give their dry but the canned seems to give the potty issues so its very little they get.

    Anyway my questions come in at the best dry food.

    I feed them the raw with supplements etc. The canned I feed then is Wellness no grain or Natures Variety.

    And the dry I have pretty much settled on for them is Healthwise. I have tried many many dries and they seem to be doing well on this brand.
    I have tried all the different types of dry foods. Some they don’t like, some they don’t do well on etc etc.

    I really try to stay away from any that have had recalls as I don’t trust them to much.

    But my question is about the no grain verse grained foods.

    I have used a few of the no grain foods before but I haven’t ever felt comfortable with them.
    I know the high protein is what kitties need but I have to questions the form of this high protein.
    It is processed and dried nothing like the high protein they would get if left to their own devices.
    I just feel that this type of food is not really healthy for them.

    But then I know grains are not the best either but cats have lived on this for sometime now . Some with problems some with out.

    Our 3 cats we put to sleep over the years were dry food fed only. 1 we put to sleep at 5 years old due to acute renal failure. Our other was 13 1/2 and he was put to sleep due to a brain tumor. And our daughters kitty was 16 . She had some renal failure but it had stablized as we had her blood work done ever 6 months but then she got mammary gland cancer. We did testing to see what we could do but the vet said there really wasn’t anything to do. So we left it up to our daughter who decided she didn’t want her kitty to suffer so we put her to sleep .
    She had open sores and wasn’t doing to well at this point.

    These guys were fed Iams back then as it was supposed to be the best at that time. And then once they changed we went to Wellness and other good brands.

    So I guess what I am trying to say that cats live pretty well on the grained diets.
    I try to do what it best for my guys. They are just strays and rescued kitties but they are part of our family and we love each one very much.

    So I guess after this long email it all boils down to asking you your opinion on feeding cats and foods that are available for them.

    I regularly go through my magazines and on line to search for new products . Food, supplements etc for my guys and I try to keep up on the lastest happenings .

    But I find myself not being able to be totally sold on the no grain dry foods for them.

    Everyone has their opinions I know and I was just hoping to get your opinion on this issue.

    I remember seeing a site one time that was from a rescue or shelter of some sort and the lady said that in order to round out the cats diet they feed some raw, some canned and some dry. That way they felt like they had all their bases covered and this kind of made sense to me.

    And its kind of what I have been doing with my guys. I feel like I have my bases covered better.

    Anyway.
    Like I said I try to search for as much new and different info I can find so that I can make informed decisions and make changes for the better if necessary.

    Anyway I guess I really made this a lot long than I had to Sorry for that.
    Look forward to your opinions and views.
    Thanks
    mel

    Posted 9 months ago #

  2. lena
    Member

    he food question:-)

    In my opinion there is not one right answer for every cat although it sounds like you have figured that out from your post.

    I personally feed my three kitties a mixture of canned foods-they get something different every meal rotating between about 10 different brands and many different flavors. When I found out that my oldest had renal failure I stopped the dry food but he was losing too much weight on canned alone so now there is always dry food available to all three cats and he has gained his weight back.

    I feed my cats Evo as the dry food which is a grain free dry however the canned I feed is a mixture of grain and no grain varieties. I have found many cats do well on Evo but it is my no means the only good food out there. Innova made by the same company is a good with grain option.

    In a perfect word I think cats would be just on canned or raw and probably very low grain feed only twice a day with the food picked up. However many of them do better with some other arrangement.

    I do not have concerns with feeding grain free foods as long as the protein sources are good quality - also many of the small good companies get bought out by larger ones and usually the foods decrease in quality after that (Iams, Nature’s Recipe) so keeping an eye on that is important.

    It also sounds like the dry is not going to be the bulk of your kitties’ diet so it is probably not that important to choice grain-free or with grain because they are getting a lot of other things also.

    I do usually get folks to feed something besides dry only (which you are doing) and I do try to get animals off poor quality food but beyond that I tend to be quite individual on the diets I recommend.

    Some of my favorites are Evo/Innova, Wellness, Merrick, Weruva, Homestyle Prairie, Avoderm, Felidae, Evanders. Although there are many other good ones out there.

    Posted 9 months ago #

  3. mel
    Member

    Thanks Lena
    Actually the Healthwise is by Natura also, the makers of Evo/Innova.
    Although it has less meat in it then either of those.

    I have started to rotate vitamin supplements around in their raw food now that I have found some that everyone can handle.

    And I think I might try to find a few dry foods that I can rotate around too.
    I might try a few different canned foods too but I seem to have most issues with different canned foods for my guys.

    I of course have the IBD/Colitis boy who very rarely gets anything but raw since this totally helps his problem.
    He seems to have issues with anything cooked raw is the only thing that has helped him.

    A couple of my others have allgery issues so I have to watch what I give them as far as ingredients in not only foods but also supplements etc.

    And then my kittens they get the runny poos if they eat to much canned so they get just small amounts at a time when I give it and then get their dry to finish up eating.
    I do leave them dry in their room all night. They stay in a spare room at night cause we have had issues with them eating wires and chewing things up so its just safer and cheaper for them to stay in the room at night. Plus they get to have the dry all night so it works out well.

    I do feed my guys in the morning and at night. Sometimes if they seem to be extra pestering during the day I will give a little snack for everyone but mostly they eat morning and night with the exception of the kittens but I am sure as they mature they will go to the same schedule as my others.

    All of my guys are of good weight . And in truth it probably wouldn't hurt my older 2 to loose a little but they are not overweight excessively or anything. And when we go out they run around so that helps there too.
    Thanks for the info and help
    And for sharing your forum with me
    mel

    Posted 9 months ago #

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