Recommended Dry Food

[meep]

So I have the wet food sorted (Felix as good as it looks).

Now I'm looking into sourcing a dry food they like but is also good for them!

They eat two wet food pouches a day each and have dry food available for the whole day and night. They don't overeat and generally only eat all their dry food if I lie in on a Sunday morning and don't feed them at 7am:roll:

So, from this website list here, what would you recommend?

They've currently had Go-Cat which they like, and Iams Chicken which they also like. Although it seems they get bored quite easily of each one...

I've noticed some of the ones on this website have special things like "prevents hairballs" and "reduces odour from poo" (!)

So any foods your cats love, and also any that have good 'properties' or benefits that actually work?

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food

[yola]

Mine have been fed on Royal Canin Persian mix all their lives. Lately I've been mixing that with intense furball formula and dental formula. They love it all! However they are predomnently indoor cats . . .

For wet I feed the occasional sachet of nature's menu or a tin of applaws and they are (overall) happy and healthy kitties :D

[meep]

Thanks Yola! Do you find the hairball formula works?

My two are completely indoor cats so they love their dry food :)

I got some Nature's Menu meat treats yesterday and whilst Minsky ignored them, Darcy couldn't get enough of them! I put them back in the plastic bag I bought them in after he'd had two, and put that on a shelf. Two minutes later I come back through and he'd knocked it off and had wripped open the plastic bag and was trying to stick his paw in the small hole I'd made in the Nature's Menu bag.. :roll: The wee junkie!

So I may try some Nature's Menu wet food too, although I think I'll stick to Felix as their main meal every day.

[Kay]

Royal Canin do a food specifically for Indoor cats. You can usually get sample packs of these from your local Royal Canin stockist. If you have any trouble getting a sample pack just pm me and I will get you some.

[ellenlouise]

Mine live on Pro Plan and its the best food I've ever known it all looks the same so they can't be fussy and they do different types suiting to you cats. Mine have light cat food but they also sometimes have the housecat as well.

[meep]

Thanks Kay and ellenlouise! I will look into both of those. I'll have a wee peek at the local petshop for a Royal Canin sample, but I may be in touch Kay if they don't ;) Thanks for the kind offer!

[keziah]

Hi Meep,

I feed two kinds of dry food to Figo. One is Royal Canin and in that you have lots of variety depending on the type of cat you have, like indoor formula, fit 32, then you have for specific breeds as well. (I give mine Indoor Formula or the Fit 32 one) I have also recently started feeding him James Wellbeloved Adult Dry Food in Lamb and Rice flavour and Figo seems to enjoy it a lot, also the ingredients list for JWB are much more wholesome without any unnecessary fillers and additives which I think is quite nice. I hope this helped you a little :)

[meep]

Thanks Keziah! I have been tempted by both Royal Canin and James Wellbeloved. They do both in my local pet store too which is handy! I may look out for samples...

Thanks :)

[debbie1512]

my cat has pro plan indoor dryed food it helps with litter odour and hairballs and it does work i am also feeding kittens on abit of pro plan kitten delicate

[meep]

Thanks debbie! Sorry for delay in replying, didn't have net access for a week.

I think something that controls litter odour would be welcome! They're big boys and sometimes it isn't subtle :roll: I'll have a look at the pro plan...

[Mollycat]

Take a look at Orijen - wonderful ingredients list.

Mine are doing so well since I switched - no more turning up their noses!!

See catanddogtreats or your pet shop

[Kim]

Mine have been fed Royal Canin sensitive for years and do very well on it. I also think highly of James Wellbelloved, Nutro and Burns, I personally wouldn't go for the Go Cat and definitely not Iams. http://www.iamscruelty.com/ (http://www.iamscruelty.com/)

[Tink]

think i'm gonna try to wean hestia off her old food..her old mommy brough purina pro plan senior...i have some high quality cat food in the ferrets mixture..wonder if she'd take to it or it'd be too many changes at once.

[meep]

Ah, see I give them Go-Cat as it's the one all the shops do, it's easy to buy, cheap-ish and they like it.

I have heard of the Iams cruelty stories before, but I also read that PETA over-exagerrated and PETA can do some pretty weird things :S I'm not sure! I would absolutely hate to support a company that are actively and continuously cruel to animals but I don't understand how if it's well-known, they haven't been shut down yet? Not meaning to cause a debate, just voicing my internal conflict!

I will have a look at Orijen thanks for recommending it! There's a good petshop near me that stocks all the good food, like James Wellbeloved and Natures Menu. Darcy can't get enough of Natures Menu treats so hopefully he's equally overjoyed with some fancy dry food!

Thanks for the recs everyone! Will let you know how I get on :)

[Kim]

Hi Meep, yes I have heard theat Peta exaggerate too, but I saw some footage of this at crufts one year and it was horrific. I think things have *improved* at Iams/Eukanuba, but still some way to go. I have never used the food, but I have heard that it can give upset tums anyway. However, of course it is up to you! :) Go-cat is cheap and as you say easily available, but I don't think the ingredient list is great and of course you get what you pay for!! ;)

[meep]

Hi Kim, thanks for this info: I do agree that you get what you pay for, and I am wanting to give my boys the best I can afford. It's just all so complicated sometimes :roll: I did a bit of research on wet food and tried them on some good quality food but they wouldn't touch it. The only thing they seem to like is Felix as good as it looks, and the Tesco Finest chicken. So I give them that as a treat once a week and Felix as there two main meals a day. It's not the best but they eat it and they're happy!

I'm also trying to find them a good dry food, as I know dry-food in itself isnt the best for cats, and want to give them the best I can. There's been loads of great suggestions, it's just an issue of how easy it is to come by and the cost (unfortuately). Go-cat has been the one I use in the meantime for the reasons I suggested, but after my trip to the petshop this afternoon (it is a 45 min walk away from work but they're worth it hehe) I'll hopefully find something a bit better that they like.

I've read quite a few reports from PETA on Iams, I think I found the links through this site, and it is horrible to hear of some of the cruelty. I wasn't actually aware that go-cat were part of the iams thing (i have avoided iams because of the reports). To be honest, I'm going to finish the carton of go-cat i have in the cupboard as I can't afford to throw it away and get something new. My boys haven't had much trouble with it at all for their tums; only once has MInsky been sick but it was when I was trying him on differnet wet foods and he didn't like it, so he scoffed loads of dry instead :roll: I really don't like to think I@m giving them junk food or supported those who are cruel to animals, it's just such a hard balance to find.

Animal foods are probably one of the worst to navigate your way though. I'm sure the Felix stuff I give mine has some nasty stuff in it that would make our stomachs turn but I have tried my best to give them something beter, and simply can't afford to give them the Tesco's Finest every rday (also I gave it to them three days running and they had very runny tums after! so maybe too rich). Also, there are so many things being thrown back and forth, and also occasional food scares where pets have died from a bad batch of food going out (I remember this from a wee while back with Whiskas I think).

At the end of the day, I want to make sure my two are getting the food they like with the nutrients they need, as with few nasties as possible in it, but within my price range. Ain't easy :roll:

But thanks for all the advice, I really do appreciate it! And I'll avoid go-cat from now on unless there's nothing else to hand and I've run out of all else!

[meep]

Just looking through the link you suggestd, and found the page of all recalled pet foods here:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/#Cat

I noticed that two Royal Canin's have been recalled. I've only heard good things about this food, and am by no means trying to bad name it now, it's just worrying to think that even the 'good' food is actually sometimes bad :S

[Mags]

Just looking through the link you suggestd, and found the page of all recalled pet foods here:

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/#Cat

I noticed that two Royal Canin's have been recalled. I've only heard good things about this food, and am by no means trying to bad name it now, it's just worrying to think that even the 'good' food is actually sometimes bad :S
That link was a US site, would their Royal Canin differ in any way to ours in the UK?

[Kim]

It is difficult Meep. I mainly feed mine Felix As good as it looks too and they love it! I know it it not the best, but not the worst either. :? As cost is an issue too, I also buy whatever is on offer, so they usually have felix or whiskas. I did buy some Tesco's finest, but they didn't like it anyway! You sound a really responsible owner and I'm sure you do your best by your boys. :)

[meep]

Thanks Kim! My two do like Tesco's Finest, but Sheba's do one very very similar in small, round tins. Either chicken, or tuna with prawns. Well, Tesco's finest is now a more expensive than the Sheba one! So I buy them the Sheba one as a treat, and they devour it!! You could try that with yours as a treat? It does look pretty much the same as the Tesco's one, but they seem to prefer the Sheba one to the Tesco one?

It is tricky, I haven't had a chance to get to the petshop and am running low on Go-Cat so will buy some new dry food once Go-Cat runs out. It does occasionally make them sick if they eat it too quickly... but that could just be cause they're greedy :roll:

[stitch_too]

i feed flossie with go-cat, as she likes it, but after reading that link, i'll change. she has the senior go-cat, even though she's five.

she has dry food, as she turns her nose up at wet food (i donated a load of tinned food to an animal shelter). i don't think she likes the smell of it :roll: ! she dosen't like felix, and she refuses whiskas tinned or dry food. saying that, she will nibble the whiskas dry food for like, two seconds, then she'll ignore it. i've also tried her on tescos own brand, but she dosen't like it.

this is gonna be difficult, as flossie is very fussy!

[furriefriend]

Arden grange they will send you a nice 250g free sample to try.
My cats love it,

[anie]

My cat is currently on Addiction's salmon bleu dry food, he's a fussy eater and we've switched his food several times. We switched from whiskas as he went off it and no matter what we did we could not get him to eat. Strangely enough he's fine with dry food, at least for the time being. He's doing very well so far and its a great food IMO (grain-free) so I'm thankful!

[diskinc]

I use Oscars Super Agility. They are a really nice company but you can't buy them in the shops, they are delivery only (free delivery).

http://www.oscars.co.uk/

[furriefriend]

Have look at their website and that seems a very competitve price for a good complete or is my maths up the creek

[fancyabrew]

Chloe only gets Hills Perscription plan TD, for her teeth, lucky she likes it. Apart from that she'll have Tesco value tuna chunks, which used to be a bargin at 27p a tin but is now around 40p. She might as a treat get a tin of crab meat, and of course she'll lick the plate clean when we have eggs on a Sunday morning, likewise with yogurt pots!