We’ve been giving our cats a mix of dry/wet food (mostly dry…), but want to switch to 100% wet, since it is better for their kidneys.
We’re also trying to avoid Purina/Fancy Feast/Friskies, since they’re owned by Nestlé.
Any suggestions are appreciated!
Edit: shoot, apparently Sheba and Royal Canin are owned by Mars, which isn’t much better.
We use Weruva because they have multiple flavors with no fish content. One of our cats is allergic to fish protein. It’s also very high quality. Many options that aren’t a stomach-turning pate.
Fussie Cat is excellent quality, on the expensive side. I also like Weruva and Nulo.
Dry is really hard on cats’ kidneys because they drink so little water. Wet is a lot better but why not just feed raw? Our two cats are absolutely thriving on raw, a mix of balanced mince and whole prey, which they have been on since they were kittens. Their coats are shiny, their breath doesn’t smell and even their poop smells a lot less bad than the poop of my friends’ cats on who are on commercial dry/wet food.
A lot of info on raw feeding can be found in the Pet Fooled documentary available for free on YouTube. Happy to answer any questions about raw feeding too, good luck!!
Dry is fine if you have a water fountain for them. Cats hate drinking stagnant water.
“Most cats fed commercial wet diets will still drink some water, but cats fed dry food will drink more as a result of the lower water content in the diet (Villaverde Haro, 2020). However, cats on a dry diet will drink less than the moisture consumed if on a wholly wet diet with a similar nutrient composition (Xu et al, 2014; Villaverde Haro, 2020).” Source: https://www.theveterinarynurse.com/review/article/moisture-matters-a-focus-on-feline-hydration
We have a water fountain going too and they hardly drink any water from there. But why leave it to chance?
My cat decided to start knocking over her water fountain every day, so she got it taken away.
She does pretty well with drinking out of her bowl, though. We just make sure to clean and refill the bowl every day, and that seems to keep her happy.
Yeah, my mom’s cat does that because she tries to play with the water. Ended up giving her our ceramic fountain that can’t be knocked over and it’s a success.
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I remember reading that the higher grain content in dry food actually causes more dental bacterial growth, but I could be wrong. Our current plan is to regularly use dental treats to solve any dental health issues
Iams Proactive Health Adult Indoor Weight & Hairball Care Dry Cat Food with Salmon. Twice a week, I give them Iams Perfect Portions Healthy Adult Grain Free Wet pate Chicken, and Tuna. One cat is 2 years, and the other is 5 years old. From what I can tell, Mars Candy Co. owns Iams.
One of our cats has inflammatory bowel disease, so we have to give them the Royal Canin prescription food with hydrolyzed proteins. I would really prefer something else, because I don’t like the company for other reasons, but I’m not prepared to let my cat die over my frustrations with them.
One cat is on a prescription kidney diet (Royal Canin). The others get Halo dry chicken. Made with chicken, no by-products or meal. Shiny coats and happy cats. Inside cat also gets dental treats, and eats the other cat’s expensive prescription diet when she can. I have a cat-mate fountain, it works well, even though I’ve had to replace the pump.
I went through a similar journey, but with different motivations, and have unfortunately given in to feeding Friskies/Fancy Feast wet food for one of my two cats because he’s slightly underweight and it was the only wet food he would eat enough of to maintain his weight.
The other cat eats Nulo Freestyle minced and shredded poultry flavors. The picky cat seems to rate Nulo somewhere in the middle of the pack. He never tries to eat Nulo if he has Friskies in his dish, but he does sometimes go for the Nulo when I offer something other than Friskies.
At this point, I’m in a love/hate relationship with Friskies. I love how much cheaper it is compared to everything else, but I would like to find something that works for both cats without being even more expensive than Nulo.
As for kibble, Dr. Elsey’s was recommended by my vet as being one of the lowest carb/highest protein kibbles available, so I use that for treats, and both of my cats love it. Dr. Elsey’s also has a line of wet food, but I’ve never tried it since my non-picky cat has a sensitive stomach and all of the flavors contain mussel, and I haven’t found anywhere that sells single cans.
I feed Instinct Ultimate Protein Chicken dry and Weruva Meowionaire wet food. Feeding only wet food with 3 cats is too expensive for my budget currently, so we do a mix.
One of the 3 has vomiting issues that were daily with wet food, and it was trial and error until I found a dry food that didn’t make him puke every other day.
I have microchip food bowls so each cat gets the right amount. Vomit machine eats 1/4-1/2 cup of Instinct daily and a tablespoon of Weruva wet food. The other 2 each get 1/8 cup of Instinct per day and each get half a can of Weruva in the morning and evening. So I go through 2.5 cans of Weruva a day and 1/2-3/4 cup of Instinct.
Also, the Instinct Ultimate makes their fur really shiny. I noticed during a food shortage when I switched to Tikki Cat Herring/Chicken dry that their coats dulled, and 2 months later when I was able to get Instinct again they got shiny. The Tikki Cat did not cause vomit machine to puke, but I like the Instinct better.
They have 2 fountains that need refilled frequently, so I’m assuming their water intake is good.
We use preformatrin ultra for wet food, not sure if it’s sold outside of Canada. It’s decent and very comparable in price to the iams perfect portions (though sold in big cans vs portioned bits). I tried the Tiki Cat brand on recommendation from our adoption person and it is quite well rated but my cats didn’t really like it. Whatever brand you use, it’s always good to add a bit of extra water to it to make sure kitties are getting enough hydration as that’s where kidney problems really stem from. A fountain helps too!
I used to give my cat Nutro for dry food until we switched to prescription but apparently they’re also owned by mars now…
My cats like Nutrisource Pure Vita for dry, and Stella & Chewey’s wet food.
Royal Canin Indoor Adult dry food free feed and Sheba wet food twice a day.
My last day died in part because it would not switch foods so this cat gets a wide range. Her diet is 50/50 wet and dry. Wet food I get any of the decent brands I can find with fish, grain free, and without sunflower oil. Dry food is also fish and grain free. I really like the Sixfish dry food but still rotate others in, basically I don’t get the same bag twice in a row.
Costco brand food is just re packaged Diamond Brand food and it’s what all my cats eat. I get the orange bag. It’s like $20
I use Blue Buffalo dry food, a mix of their Adult and Weight Control versions. I also give the cats canned food - usually some form of Friskies - with added water. I also got them the “PetSafe Drinkwell Seascape Ceramic Dog & Cat Fountain”, which they absolutely love - I like it because it’s silent and filtered.
