Pet Owners- Cat food question

[kaspurr]

We previously were using a "lower" quality cat food but my cats both ate it all by the end of each day. They seemed to love it. It was Purina Cat Chow: Indoor Cats. We recently switched to a little bit better quality cat food that still isn't necessarily considered "high end" but they seem to eat less of it. They are definitely still eating but sometimes there is a little bit of food left each day. The new one is Purina One.

I am just curious, are they eating less because this food has more real ingredients causing them to be full or are they not loving it?

I would also love cat food recommendations if possible. I am from Canada so the food needs to be available here.

 

[cluvsdisney]

If it has more protein, they might be more full.

We're a fancy feast house. I tried some higher end food bc she has kidney issues and it appears she would rather starve so fancy feast it is.

 

[Magpie]

We previously were using a "lower" quality cat food but my cats both ate it all by the end of each day. They seemed to love it. It was Purina Cat Chow: Indoor Cats. We recently switched to a little bit better quality cat food that still isn't necessarily considered "high end" but they seem to eat less of it. They are definitely still eating but sometimes there is a little bit of food left each day. The new one is Purina One.

I am just curious, are they eating less because this food has more real ingredients causing them to be full or are they not loving it?

I would also love cat food recommendations if possible. I am from Canada so the food needs to be available here.

You should talk to your vet. Feeding cats can be surprisingly tricky sometimes, and the best diet for your cats may depend on a number of different factors.

For example, the vet will want to determine if your cats overweight and what their activity level is like. Male cats can be prone to kidney stones and are often put on low ash diets.

Also, as cats age, their nutritional needs will change, as well. I have one cat who overweight and has trouble with chronic diarrhea, and needs a supplement called Fortiflora sprinkled over his food to clear it up. He gets Royal Canin weight control from the vet. I have another cat who is very elderly and has largely lost interest in food. He gets to eat whatever he likes, which at the moment is a rotating buffet of Whiskas and Friskies - the kitty equivalent of McD's every day. He's underweight, but stable.

Too long/didn't read: Talk to your vet! If you have any suspicion that your vet is only interested in selling you stupidly expensive pet food (some are like that), then find a new vet.

 

[kaspurr]

Too long/didn't read: Talk to your vet! If you have any suspicion that your vet is only interested in selling you stupidly expensive pet food (some are like that), then find a new vet.

I have briefly talked to my vet who said my cats were healthy and to just continue what they are on. Which wasn't really helpful LOL

 

[mom2rtk]

Can you try mixing the old and new cat food half and half for a while?

We actually keep 2 kinds of dry food out here since we have 3 cats. Of course, I highly doubt the cat we intend to eat the low fat one is actually doing so.

Our elderly cat insists on her can of Fancy Feast every day. We started her on that a couple years ago when she was sick and eating absolutely nothing. Now she'll find you and poke your eye out if you forget to get it for her. But she's 16 now and going strong, so I do it.

 

[jenilynn]

We previously were using a "lower" quality cat food but my cats both ate it all by the end of each day. They seemed to love it. It was Purina Cat Chow: Indoor Cats. We recently switched to a little bit better quality cat food that still isn't necessarily considered "high end" but they seem to eat less of it. They are definitely still eating but sometimes there is a little bit of food left each day. The new one is Purina One.

I am just curious, are they eating less because this food has more real ingredients causing them to be full or are they not loving it?

I would also love cat food recommendations if possible. I am from Canada so the food needs to be available here.

I feed my cat Orijen. I can read every single ingredient on the back of the bag and it's made in Canada. You can only get it at Global or Ren's pet depot and its pricey but very worthwhile. His fur is softer, he eats less because it's protein rich. Even cleaning the liter box is easier because of the quality food.

 

[bjscheel]

For a taste test, you could put out a bowl of each kind and see which one they go for. Once there wasn't any of our kind in town (Iams Original) so I bought a bag of Rachael Ray. Our female really seemed to eat up the RR at first but in a couple of days was whining. I put out both Iams and RR and she chose to eat the Iams. So we've stuck with that. It's hard to know what's good for them, and tastes good to them.

 

[mamacatnv]

If switching - the mix method seems to work well.
We are a Kirkland (Costco) household for the dog and the cats.
I don't know if Costco is in Canada.

 

[kaspurr]

I don't know if Costco is in Canada.

Costco is in Canada! I am not sure if they have Kirkland cat food but I will have to check.

 

[kaspurr]

I feed my cat Orijen.

I have heard great things about Orijen.

 

[aprilgail]

I constantly have to switch up brands of food- they loved fancy feast so I bought cases of it- after one case they don't want it anymore so I buy different brand, they get tired of that then I switch again, eventually we come back around to the fancy feast I still have left and they eat that- they get tired of food and then go on a hunger strike until I switch it up. They dry food they always eat Blue Buffalo but canned food we have to switch.

 

[leebee]

Our 2 boys are 17 years old, so senior cats for sure, but the vet says they are healthy for their age. Potter weighs 10 pounds and Weasley weighs 13 pounds; they are indoor cats. For YEARS we fed then Purina One Urinary Tract formula in the morning (1/4 cup each) and Fancy Feast at night (a small can each, thinned down with water). About 6 months ago, Potter stopped eating. He won't touch the usual foods, not even his favorite human foods (cheese, yogurt, grocery store rotisserie chicken, ice cream), but right now I can get him to eat DRY Fancy Feast (Walmart) in the morning and Wellness (from Petco- about 1 teaspoons scooped out of the can and watered down to the consistency of loose toothpaste) at night. It's really hard to get him to keep eating... he'll take a couple of bites and wander away, so I stick the bowl under his face in the new location and he'll take a few more bites. I basically move his bowl around for about a half hour, in 4 locations, before he'll finish the serving. The vet says Potter is a healthy senior cat. My husband says he thinks Potter has kitty-Alzheimer's. I think he's lost his sense of smell so eating isn't such a big deal for him anymore. Weasley is still an eating machine, and if we don't separate them, he'll happily eat his own food and Potter's, too!

 

[mom2rtk]

Our 2 boys are 17 years old, so senior cats for sure, but the vet says they are healthy for their age. Potter weighs 10 pounds and Weasley weighs 13 pounds; they are indoor cats. For YEARS we fed then Purina One Urinary Tract formula in the morning (1/4 cup each) and Fancy Feast at night (a small can each, thinned down with water). About 6 months ago, Potter stopped eating. He won't touch the usual foods, not even his favorite human foods (cheese, yogurt, grocery store rotisserie chicken, ice cream), but right now I can get him to eat DRY Fancy Feast (Walmart) in the morning and Wellness (from Petco- about 1 teaspoons scooped out of the can and watered down to the consistency of loose toothpaste) at night. It's really hard to get him to keep eating... he'll take a couple of bites and wander away, so I stick the bowl under his face in the new location and he'll take a few more bites. I basically move his bowl around for about a half hour, in 4 locations, before he'll finish the serving. The vet says Potter is a healthy senior cat. My husband says he thinks Potter has kitty-Alzheimer's. I think he's lost his sense of smell so eating isn't such a big deal for him anymore. Weasley is still an eating machine, and if we don't separate them, he'll happily eat his own food and Potter's, too!

Can I assume the vet checked your cat's teeth? I know when our older cat quit eating 2 years ago, the first vet said the teeth looked a little inflamed, but she didn't think it was enough to be the issue. We went back when our regular vet was there and he said he couldn't be certain (since our cat wouldn't let anyone get a really good look) but that he was pretty sure the teeth were the issue. It was hard to decide to put an elderly cat under anesthesia without being certain that was the issue, but we took the vet's advice and did. He pulled 2 teeth, and seriously, she hasn't stopped eating since then. It was a remarkable difference. She's turned into a food beggar ever since.

 

[Tattylou]

I agree with the suggestions to leave out both types and see what the cats prefer. Also, having the vet check their teeth is another good suggestions. My cats eat 2 kinds of dry food - Iams Mature and Royal Canin Dental Care. For wet food they will only eat Fancy Feast. My boy is Froobear, age 12, weighs 10 lbs. My girl is Mia, age 13, weighs 5.5 lbs (she's always been tiny).

 

[scrhsa]

I had one cat that could only eat the cheapest walmart variety. She couldn't hold anything else down. Not that she is older she can handle better food. And she never has liked wet food. If I mix it was water and make it soupy she likes it but just drinks it up and leaves the bits...go figure.

 

[mom2rtk]

I had one cat that could only eat the cheapest walmart variety. She couldn't hold anything else down. Not that she is older she can handle better food. And she never has liked wet food. If I mix it was water and make it soupy she likes it but just drinks it up and leaves the bits...go figure.

I always laugh when I get the Fancy Feast in gravy and our cat licks all the gravy off and leaves the chunks. Our younger cat loves it though since he gets to finish it off.

 

[Micca]

We had been feeding our cat (now 11 years old) dry food for years and she was fine with it. She hit a rough patch about 6 months ago where we thought she might be seriously ill. The vet checked her out, couldn't find anything wrong other than some dehydration (for which he treated her.) Our DD recommended a premium quality canned food available at Petco and similar stores called Natural Balance. We began giving her about a 1/3 can each evening, she loves it, and she has cut way back on the dry food which we keep available to her 24/7. Over the years we've had several cats that were on a dry food diet, but we're converts to the Natural Balance products.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

There have been some concerning issues with pet foods lately. Even some of the "good" ones are sketchy.

I won't get back into the whole thing here, but I'll repost this recent thread on the subject.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/euthanasia-drug-in-dog-foods.3600761/

Personally, if your cats are shying away from the food I'd go back to what you were using before. Not sure the Purina One would be a whole lot better than Purina Cat Chow anyway. (And neither is "bad", IMO.)

I think about Purina the same way I think about Wendy's and McDonalds when it comes to the products they sell. Because they are such a big name and have so much to lose if there were to be something like a recall or heaven forbid a pet death from one of their products, they make darned sure the products they use are up to par, at least in terms of where they're buying their ingredients from, ie I doubt they're caught up in the rendering plant business. I could be wrong, but that's how I think. I am not sure any pet food company can be fully trusted at this point, sadly.