Help me decide on a brand of cat food?

Question

Right now, we are -- long story -- feeding a mix of a Eukanuba food 'for less active indoor cats,' a Royal Canin one for older kittens, and Hill's Science Diet Nature's Best.

1 I suspect the Hill's is the 'best,' but it doesn't seem to be the favourite.
2 They are just getting out of kittenhood, but still like the Royal Canin, and I've heard kitten food is good for cats -- true or false? They're still young, and had poor diets before we got them.
3 The 'less active' -- one has been getting a bit podgy after being spayed.

Should I keep feeding the mix?

Or is there a really good one that's going to suit two cats just under a year old, with one 'a bit podgy,' etc?

Those are all dry. But a small serving of wet food is demanded and provided every morning, and as for that -- we've used Nutro, Blue Spa, Iams, and many other of the overpriced varieties. A variety there seems to be what's wanted, but feel free to comment on that.

Answer 1

None of the foods you are feeding are good quality. Also you shouldn't be mixing brands together except during a switch to a new food. This disturbs the balance of the foods.

Instead of low quality foods look for good quality foods with no corn, wheat, soy or beet pulp (all things cats do NOT need, that are common allergens, aren't particularly digestable for cats & have no nutritionla value to cats who are meat eaters not veggie/grain eaters.

Some foods to consider:
Felidae, chicken soup for the cat lover's soul, wellness

Canned food is healthier then dry food contrary to popular belief. It contains less, fat, more meat protein, adds moisture to the diet...cats fed at least some canned food daily are less prone to UTI/bladder/kidney stones . Canned food does NOT cause dental problems (nor does dry prevent dental problems).Cats do not chew theri foods like humans do they only break food into pieces of a suitable size to swallow. Food doesn't stay in the mouth long enough to cause dental issues.

Also the spayed cat requires less calories since it no longer is being driven by hormones.

Answer 2

As other posters have said, Hills and Eukanuba are not good foods.

Look for foods that have meat meal as the first or first several ingredients. Also look for the foods that do not contain corn. Corn is a cheap filler feed companies use and corn offers no nutrition for cats, and many cats are allergic to corn.

As other users have said, look for foods with no animal by products.

If you switch to a high quality food, your cats will thank you. Before I knew better, I fed my kitten Science Diet. Once I learned that it is an overpriced grocery story quality food, I gradually started feeding him Felidae. He would eat around the Science Diet. He is now completely off the Science Diet and loves his food.

Oh, and fyi, just because a food is expensive does not mean it is necessarily better. Read the ingredients. If it's filled with corn and wheat, then it is not a good food. Most of the quality foods are cheaper per serving than Science Diet because you only have to feed your kitty half the amount of the quality foodbecause it has so much more protein and nutrients in it than the corn filled SD.

Do some research...you'll see vets are paid and trained by Science Diet to promote their food.

Felidae and other high quality foods (Natural Balance, Innova, etc) offer food for all life stages. That means it's perfect for young cats to old cats.

Answer 3

1. Hills and Eukanuba are not good foods. Stop feeding them both altogether.

2. Kitten food is too high in fat and protein for adult cats. They should stop eating kitten food at 1 year of age.

3. Canned food adds to obesity.

The Royal Canin is okay, provided you switch to adult, indoor / inactive formula instead of kitten. Here are some better quality dry foods you can try instead:

Artemis Cat Formula
Chicken Soup (comes in Adult and Lite, you could use either or try mixing 50/50)
Fromm Cat Food
Innova Adult / Reduced Fat
Pinnacle
Timberwolf Organics
Verus
Wellness Super5 Mix Adult / Lite
Wysong Feline

Personally, I use Wellness Super5 Mix Lite for my 3 cats. One is newly spayed and about 1 year old female, the second is a spayed 7 year old female with allergies, and the 3 is a neutered, overweight male who is 8 or 9 years. They do very well on it, and it's reasonably priced. You can find it at the better petstores, (try checking out their website to find a store near you that carries it) or you can order any of these brands on www.petfooddirect.com.

I don't think there's any reason to mix so many foods, it's not really that effective, and the 3 foods you're mixing aren't great to start with. Any of the foods I've listed would be completely nutritious for all of your cats.

Also: Just because a brand is popular doesn't make it 'good'. Iams, Eukanuba, Purina, Meow Mix, and all those common, supermarket brands are crap- they are nothing but corn husks and grain hulls sprayed with fat and grease to make them taste good. They're fattening, and not remotely healthy.

Answer 4

ok hills is not a good food...royal canin is ok but eukanuba is BAD BAD BAD..lots of grains which cats can't digest....iams is the same...of all the foods you've mentioned nutro and royal canin are the best but make sure the first ingrediant on the cat food bag is a meat product and NOT NOT NOT grains, corn, or anything else as that is NOT GOOD...also make sure no where on the label it says "by-products" (which is feet, feathers, tumors, beaks, fur, etc) or anything that says "meat" and not which type as that meaans it can be ANYTHING including euthenized animals and roadkill, also if it says animal digest that is bad....i wouldn't use a kitten food as its more expensive and won't do anything for them at this point....the reason your cat is chubby is prob from teh food since it isn't really very healthy...a really high quality food fed a few times a day in smaller portions should help him....there are a ton of really good cat foods out there but as a general rule, if they sell them in petstores..they arent high quality...here are a few websites that might help http://www.royalcanin.us/catfood/indoor_u.html
http://wysong.net/page/WOTTPWS/CTGY/FD
http://www.ourpetfood.com/comparison.html
http://cats.about.com/cs/nutrition/tp/premdrycatfood.htm

Answer 5

First and foremost stop feeding the different varieties of food. One that causes intestinal issues and secondly you can make a cat extremely finicky. I prefer Iams dry as a base diet, it is not as costly but provides all the nutrients they need. They have an indoor cat formula which will help with the pudgy one :).

I would recommend cutting back on the canned food as it is not help that one with it's weight issue, plus the more can that is fed the more tartar builds up on their teeth sooner and that will require a vet having it scrapped off under anaesthitic.

You can give the canned food as a treat once a week , and you can also give them Pounce treats. The more variety you give and give into the more money you'll spend and the more likely they will end up refusing everything because they assume there is something more out there.

Answer 6

I feed my cat Solid Gold brand cat food. I buy it at my local natural health foods store, just because my husband works there. Its a lot better for them, it doesn't have the nasty stuff that dry pet food has. Also, cats tend to absorb more nutrients from it and he LOVES it. He gets wet food once in awhile at my moms house but when he has his solid gold food at home, I cant get him to eat wet food because he likes it so much. At first I was a little skeptical thinking "oh gosh this is a cat food from a health food store??" but after feeding it to him and looking at the nutritional value, I don't think I'll go back to other cat foods.

Answer 7

Cats are not natural picky eaters, they are made that way. That is why I will never feed my cat wet food. A lot become so picky that it will be all they want to eat.

Its probably not good to mix all of those foods, when you can feed just one formula. The wet food could be the cause of the pudginess as well, it can also cause teeth problems.

Iams has a new multi-cat formula that is great for indoor cats. It helps with weight problems and is also good for adding lean muscle to less active cats. I recommend this.

I feed my kitten Purina kitten chow, when he reaches one year he will be eating Purina indoor formula or Purina Complete.

Answer 8

Its not a good idea to keep changing cat foods, or give them a mixed variety at one time, cuz it causes them to become either irregular, or get diarrhea, get an Iams food that is for weight management, or inactive cats..

Answer 9

Eukanuba is the best in my opinion, check the ingredients. For cats you want meat not corn as the main ingredients. Hills has a lot of filler (corn etc) for being a "premium" food and isn't worth the price in my opinion. Eukanuba has several varities and I have had all my cats on it and they've done great. (they also get a can of wet nutro or eukanuba daily (to add moisture to their diet) since one of them is prone to UTI)

Answer 10

Well, I feed my kiity Purina Chefs Blend she loves it. I give it to her fresh ever day. And she loves it. Friskies for canned food. But she doesnt love it much which is good cause it may cause cats to be fat and become lazy after a little while. Royal Canin is good too. The best out of ur "mix".

Good luck.
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