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 Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:42 am
Hallo thar, neonascence! Mayhaps you can help me out?
To begin with, I have a seven year old calico. She was rescued from a very abusive owner and so is missing a few teeth. Now, I hear it isn't good for a kitty's general health to subsist on wet food, but since it's so much easier for her to eat I like to give her 60/40 ratio of wet to dry.
My issue is thus: I want to give her something that's good for her and also easy on her mouth. I'm looking for a label that doesn't contain ingredients that an IRL cat wouldn't actually eat, so none of that wheat/corn/soy filler crap.
Does anyone have suggestions?
cat_razz
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:58 pm
I would give your vet a call or maybe some pet forums. biggrin People around there are more likely have more advise.
But you have to be very careful. Remember cats are primarily carnivores. They are more carnivorous than dogs. Whereas dogs will be thrilled to get a bowl of peas, a cat should not have an excess/pure amount.
>_> I've read too many articles about vegetarians and vegans trying to turn their cats onto their vegan/veggie diet, it does not work and its very very unhealthy for a cat.
And give your cat a loving scratch for me. I love calico cats.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:35 pm
Cats being carnivores is actually why I was looking for better food in the first place. There's so much plant-based filler in canned/dry pet food (wheat, corn, soy and rice...) that I was looking for something better. I thought maybe someone here might have done similar and already found something that worked, so I threw I just threw it out there.
That's alright though, it was worth a shot. Thanks for replying, anyway! And I'll pass on that scratch for you, my girl gets smothered in pets as it is so I'm sure she won't mind another.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:47 pm
Both my cats live on canned and raw food and they are doing remarkably well. It depends on the quality of the food you're giving. If I was feeding my cats Friskies or Fancy Feast, I doubt they would be healthy. I feed them Wellness and BFF along with MDF raw food.
Cats do need vegetables, but the way a cat would get those naturally would be by eating pre-digested vegetables in rodents and bird intestines.
Definitely talk to a vet or even just a vet receptionist. If you adopted her (awesome!) you might of received a free vet visit with that. Regardless, the fact that you are concerned, means you're already taking steps in the right direction. heart
Edit:
http://www.mountaindogfood.com/
http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/recipes.aspx?pet=cat&ft=2 (this is what my vet recommended - even over the "vet recommended" Medical food they sell.)
http://bestfriendsfoods.com/aboutfood.html
Dry:
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/products/catkittenIngredients.aspx
http://www.ovenbakedtradition.com/en/cats-food/chicken-cats-food
Typically, if you can buy it in your grocery store, it's going to be filler. If you go to a boutique pet store (not Petcetra, etc.) you're going to have much better quality foods.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:10 pm
I hadn't heard that cats would be unhealthy on wet food, just that their poop will be mushy and smelly, and if it is mushy you run the risk of carpet-butt-rubbing to get it off.
As far as I have seen, the dry food is to keep their poop at a household-friendly texture.
I've given my cats just plain chicken breast before, we were moving and had a lot of very freezer burned chicken so I cooked some of it and cut it up and gave it to them. I think theoretically raw is fine for them, but I didn't want my kitten dropping raw chicken pieces all over my carpet, and I feel like there is a difference between store bought food and the dead animals they would eat outside, more likely to be gross things in the store bought stuff considering how many recalls we get.
Depending on where you live, I have heard there is some kind of naturopath vets in some places. They might have advice.
And have you considered just soaking the dry food in some lukewarm water and making sure you give set mealtimes, instead of free feeding (to make sure it doesn't spoil). That way it will be soft for her mouth. Isn't that what people do for kittens?
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:03 pm
My vet does Chinese medicine. (My tabby had pancreatitis and was cured with diet, herbs and acupuncture.) With the can/raw food, I've found the opposite to be true with the litter box. It was rough the first two weeks, but it smells a lot less which is good because our house is a lot smaller.
Raw food you do have to be careful with. If you do raw food, I'd suggest only buying food that has been packaged for animals. Raw meats for humans at the grocery store are intended to be cooked so the processing facility will work differently to animal raw food.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:15 am
I was going to ask about this! pirhan, I just wanted to say your posts have been most helpful, I've been planning on changing my cats' diets! now I know where to start.
I wonder how vastly the needs of a cat's body have changed through time and evolution... if the "domestic cat" of today were also in the wild, would it still hunt for little kibbles? redface 
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:28 am
Wow, look at all the response! Thank you, everyone, for your insight! I'll def look into the links pirhan was gracious enough to provide.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:14 pm
heart
Here's a nice little article on dry cat food. I thought kibble was only introduced in the 1960-70's but it was actually created a hundred years before!
http://feline-nutrition.org/features/a-brief-history-of-commercial-pet-food
For evolutionary changes, I don't think much. Evolution takes a long time and I don't think 100 years would be enough for cats (who caught and ate their own food) to adapt to 100% man made dry kibble. That said, I don't think kibble is "wrong" to feed - you just have to use your head. Both kibble and canned food can be either good quality or bad quality. Just read the ingredients, visit the company's website and listen to your kitty and look for changes. (For instance, my tabby cat because quite lazy and his belly was always large and hard feeling - I knew something was wrong.)
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