Knowing what you know now...

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Jennifer & Saima (GA)

Jennifer & Saima (GA)

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... What would you feed a new kitten if you were starting today? We don't have a new cat yet, and I'm not sure when we will be ready, but I am trying to figure out (in sort of a general sense) how to give a cat the best shot at a long healthy life. Would you feed exclusively canned? Raw? Would you worry from the beginning about which varieties/raw recipes are low-phosphorus, since so many older cats go on to have kidney problems, or does that limit the variety in their diet too much? Is a raw diet good for longevity?

I realize there are no guarantees. Even if we had not lost Saima to more serious health problems, her diet was always a challenge because she had allergies. She was also fairly picky, and trying to transition to wet food was a struggle. On the flip side, my kitty from childhood ate nothing but grocery store dry food and treats her whole life, and lived to (I believe) 20 years of age with very few health problems. But in a perfect world... what would you feed a hypothetical new cat who came into your life?
 
Canned, low carb, grain free, good protein food from day one! If I weren't so lazy, I would even consider raw. I would probably use no-grain, high quality dry as a treat.

This isn't really hypothetical, because I have had new kittens since my sugarcats have passed, and this is what I do!
 
Ditto what Karen said, with the addition that I won't feed raw with small children in the house as cats can shed salmonella. Its not a risk that I would worry about for myself, but after a long conversation with my vet, I decided I agreed with her and some of the evidence she provided.
 
All I can really do is tell you the tale of two tuxedo kittens that entered my life a year and a half ago. Duvessa and her brother Myrrdin were born to a feral mother in a feral colony that a friend of mine manages. They were born in the middle of an ice storm and were literally frozen stiff and basically still born when my friend found Gemma's (their mother) litter. My friend scooped up the entire litter and rushed them indoors, they warmed their little bodies with a blow dryer, and rub them with soft towels until each and everyone of them started to breath, move and cry. Then they moved Gemma and her kits into the heated garage and started feeding Gemma cheap old Special Kitty dry food, plus whatever she hunted for. 4 of the kittens did very well, and turned into happy healthy kittens, but Duvessa and Myrrdin caught URIs when they were about 8 weeks old. So knowing that we had just lost Muse, and that I was home all day, asked if we could take these two so they could be treated for their URIs, and once they were well we could either return them and they would try to find homes for them, or if we felt we were ready for new family members then we could adopted them.

Well they did get well, and we did adopt them, and a year and a half later, I have two stunningly beautiful tuxedos. From the day they entered my home, they ate whatever one else ate, just plain pate style Friskies and Special Kitty canned food. At first my vet didn't think they would live to be a year old, their lungs & hearts had been damaged from both the still births and the URIs. Their eyes would crust shut, and they would pant when they played hard and their coats were dull and coarse. Fast forward to today....They are sleek & shiny, their hearts and lungs are perfect, they run and leap at full tilt all day long with out ever having to stop to catch their breath. All in all they are the picture of health!

Now while I don't ever plan on adding more kittens to my household again, as I have decided that while kittens are funny and cute, my heart truly loves the joy of owning senior cats...Or as I told my husband the other day.."I like kittens, but I LOVE cats." If I was to add another kitten or older cat for that matter, they would eat nothing but canned pate style catfood from day one of entering into my home. Because not only have I seen what it has done for these two babies, but I have watched what it has done for all 12 of my cats ages 1 1/2 years to 12 years. Even my guy that had severe food allergies where he would scratch himself raw, had those allergies disappear almost overnight when the dry food was removed. I would also make sure that whatever I fed them was grain free, and only feed poultry, to eliminate any chance of fish or beef allergies.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
saimasmom,
After my precious Gumpy passed, I adopted Lil Sista, and she eats the wet that my Sugar Bean eats. She also gets chicken livers that I fry up for her (others dont like it), boiled chicken that I boil for my crew, and I have introduced raw to the crew by natural instinct and Primal. Civvie Slappy will not touch the raw, and Sugar Bean will occasionally. I purchased 2 trial size paks of Primal which has a varity in it: duck, chicken, lamb, turkey, quail, etc. The natural instinct trial size was chicken....I think my 3 month old will be my only carnivor before it is all over with....I did go thru the charts to find a kitten or cat & kitten low carb food so when my sugar Bean sneaks food from the others' bowls, it would be ok.....Lil Sista will not eat them!
I hope when your heart is ready, there will be a special one for you to love again! I know my heart took to lil sista very quick and let me tell ya, it has been 8+ yrs. for a baby in the home! geezzzeee.! She is high maintence but tons of fun!
Furry paw hugs to ya ;-)
 
I've been thinking of getting a another cat (haven't decided if I'm adopting a kitten or an adult cat yet). The loss of my Gabby in March left a huge hole in me, and I'm just now tentatively starting to think that I'm ready. The new cat will eat exactly what Bandit eats now--all canned, low carb, low-moderate phosphorus, with a good protein/fat ratio. For Bandit, that's Merricks' Cowboy Cookout, Surf & Turf, and Before Grain Turkey, along with a bit of Fancy Feast for variety. I will feed the same freeze-dried meat treats that Bandit gets, with occasional raw meat as a treat.

If for some reason I couldn't afford that diet for two cats (I know I have some student loans coming due next year that might force me to make cutbacks in many areas), then I would pick the next healthiest thing that I could afford looking at those factors.
 
i would never ever ever feed dry food if i knew what i knew now!
i had 2 cats on dry food for years!!! and sometimes it wasnt the best in quality, i used to get a huge bag and basically whatever was on sale

if i ever adopt again, which i probably will at one point, they will be on wet food FROM THE START!!
 
I agree with Bradie. I wish I had never given my kitties the cheap dry food. For 12 years, I would use one of those free feeders and just fill it to the top when it got empty... cheap stuff, like Meow Mix. Now I have one cat with diabetes (and now has a feeding tube from a recent DKA/FHL ER stay) and another that almost refuses to eat the good canned stuff. If I knew what I know now, they would have gotten canned from the very beginning
 
Every kitty we've ever had for nearly 30 years has eaten both wet and dry, and always had the dry left out all day for free-feeding. Since Bob was dx'd, he hasn't touched dry. Our only other kitty, Mullet, ate wet and dry until the last bag finally was emptied this week. No more dry for him either. That'll help at mealtime because I won't have to stand guard to make sure Bob doesn't try to sneak some of Mullet's kibbles.
I will never buy a bag or box of dry cat food again. Ever.

Carl
 
Violet and Garland said:
I agree with Bradie. I wish I had never given my kitties the cheap dry food. For 12 years, I would use one of those free feeders and just fill it to the top when it got empty... cheap stuff, like Meow Mix. Now I have one cat with diabetes (and now has a feeding tube from a recent DKA/FHL ER stay) and another that almost refuses to eat the good canned stuff. If I knew what I know now, they would have gotten canned from the very beginning
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Oh, I agree with this so completely. For the first 6 years of his life, I free fed Bandit Purina Indoor. I didn't know any better...I thought because it was a popular brand it had to be a good food. He became morbidly obese on this diet. When I realized his weight was out of control and would probably cause him health problems, I took him to the vet to put him on a healthy weight loss regimen. The head vet at Bandit's practice at the time was one of the developers of Hills veterinary diets, so I was convinced I was doing the best possible thing for him, because, hey, here was this expert that developed foods that pretty much every vet in the country prescribes. He put him on Hills W/D dry. Bandit lost weight on it, but he also developed triadiatis, which I am now convinced was from the W/D and contributed to his diabetes. Gabby was prescribed a kidney diet that I am sure would have dehabilitated her and cut off some of the precious time I had with her had I left her on it.

All that time I thought I was doing the right thing, but I just had no idea. Knowing what i know now, I not only would never feed dry again, but I feel like I need to tell every cat owner I know about the dangers of dry food.
 
Julia & Bandit said:
Knowing what i know now, I not only would never feed dry again, but I feel like I need to tell every cat owner I know about the dangers of dry food.
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I've actually found myself doing that at the grocery store in the cat food aisle. Unfortunately most people look at me like I'm an idiot and grab for the 7 lb bag of dry food anyway. Or they think I'm "crazy cat man" because I have a cart half full of FF and Friskees cans :sad:

carl
 
carlinsc said:
I've actually found myself doing that at the grocery store in the cat food aisle. Unfortunately most people look at me like I'm an idiot and grab for the 7 lb bag of dry food anyway. Or they think I'm "crazy cat man" because I have a cart half full of FF and Friskees cans :sad:
carl
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Been there, done that! Have to be careful, though, because people are ... odd. One woman (she was someone I knew, although not well) looked at me in horror, and said canned cat food was disgusting, and she would put down both her cats if she had to feed them canned. That shut me up in a hurry ... :sad:
 
Thanks all... that's what I thought. I hate dealing with the cans too (I wish all the brands would go to pouches!), and it's so much easier and tidier to just feed dry. But I'm coming to the point where I just don't think I could feed dry in good conscience anymore.

ETA: which is a weird place to be because for so many years, I thought dry was not only fine but probably healthier than wet. Shows how much I knew. :(

Editing again: Do you think there are any other major considerations that I'm not thinking about? The factors I have in mind right now are protein (including quality of protein source), phosphorus level, fat content, and calories.
 
You do want to introduce dry food. So that the kitten understands that this too is food. Because if ever you have a situation, where the cat is ill, not eating, etc, you have the option to provide dry food, just to get the cat to eat.

So, while you may not want it as the main food staple, you do want the cat to understand that this crunchy stuff is food.
 
KarenRamboConan said:
carlinsc said:
I've actually found myself doing that at the grocery store in the cat food aisle. Unfortunately most people look at me like I'm an idiot and grab for the 7 lb bag of dry food anyway. Or they think I'm "crazy cat man" because I have a cart half full of FF and Friskees cans :sad:
carl
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Been there, done that! Have to be careful, though, because people are ... odd. One woman (she was someone I knew, although not well) looked at me in horror, and said canned cat food was disgusting, and she would put down both her cats if she had to feed them canned. That shut me up in a hurry ... :sad:
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Yeah, I no longer try to push canned food onto strangers!

I was standing outside a bar one night, talking to a close friend who is also a cat owner about diet, when a woman smoking outside overheard us and started in on the conversation. She was going on about how she cared about her cats diet so much and fed them the healthiest thing possible--Purina Pro Plan dry cat food. So I said, "Well, dry food is actually really bad for cats because it contains a lot of grains as filler that cats are not supposed to eat, and can cause all sorts of nutrition related illnesses, like diabetes or urinary tract problems. The least expensive low carb canned food is better for your cat than the most expensive dry food."
So she looked at me said, "You're wrong. Canned food is bad for their teeth. If a cat looses all of its teeth its as good as dead because it won't be able to eat." Yup. So I said. "Actually, dry food does nothing to help teeth. That is a myth. Dental health for cats is approached just like with people--you get their teeth cleaned and brush occasionally. After that it's all genetics. My cat ate dry for most of his life and he only has two teeth left. And he eats just fine, definitely not in any danger of dying! That's like saying people who lose their teeth can't eat without dentures."

At this point she gets in my face and yells, "What, you trying to tell me I'm a bad owner? Well, I think you're full of s**t, and your cat is probably fat and miserable and going to die soon, so you can f**k off and take your cat with you!"

Yeah, after that no more pushing canned food to strangers. I do, however, harass my friends and coworkers like there is no tomorrow. :-D In fact, just last night a friend told me she adopted a cat from the shelter, and I convinced her to ditch all the dry food so she's moving him to canned only. I'm making a list for her to take to the store this weekend. :-D
 
Hillary & Maui said:
You do want to introduce dry food. So that the kitten understands that this too is food. Because if ever you have a situation, where the cat is ill, not eating, etc, you have the option to provide dry food, just to get the cat to eat.

So, while you may not want it as the main food staple, you do want the cat to understand that this crunchy stuff is food.
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I don't know about this. I don't really think it's necessary--there are a gazillion options that don't involve dry food to get a sick cat to eat. When Gabby was sick and picky with food I did try to give her dry to see if she'd eat it to help get calories in her, but she wouldn't touch the stuff anymore. I had far better luck keeping her eating by mixing fortiflora with canned or topping canned with turkey/chicken/tuna. If you're at the point where a cat that had been eating canned fine is sick enough to where it won't eat ANY brands of canned food or meat, you're probably at a point where you need to syringe feed, or resort to an appetite stimulant.
 
saimasmom said:
Editing again: Do you think there are any other major considerations that I'm not thinking about? The factors I have in mind right now are protein (including quality of protein source), phosphorus level, fat content, and calories.
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I would make sure to feed a variety of brands and flavors. I know a lot of vets suggest you pick a single food and stick with it, but my reasoning is:
1) Feral cats don't eat a single food, they eat whatever they can catch.
2) There is no perfect food and I hope that by feeding a variety I am compensating for any excesses or deficiencies in any one food.
3) If you feed your a cat a single food and there is a recall, shortage, or formula change, you may end up with a cat that won't eat or has digestive issues from a rapid change in diet.
 
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