What to feed civvies??

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Kim & Twice

Kim & Twice

Member Since 2013
Twice's diabetes is a real wake up call to me. I had worked in the animal health industry for a long time and had blindly believed that I was feeding the best food possible for my pets. Heck, I was following my vet's/employer's advice. I was feeding what they were feeding (Hill's prescriptive dry for all 8 cats and both of my dogs.
Oh, how much I have learned in this short amount of time! Needless to say, I have since dumped the dry for the cats (dog's I am still figuring out) and have switched them all over to wet diet only. Temporarily everyone is eating the fancy feast pates. Nutritionally I would like to improve on this, and have been doing a bunch of online research, but there is just sooooo much information out there and some is a bit misleading. As with everything, learning something new takes time, and help. Maybe if I could narrow my search some... Reading the analysis on the different foods is great, if you can keep it all straight :-D , and I realize that quite possibly the only "perfect" food would be a raw diet (which isn't completely out of the question..but maybe just not for now). Hmmm...ok what would be second perfect runners up?
So my question is this: What do you feed your civvies? And why?
I realize this may be like cheating on a test, but I have thought about it and I am ok with that :-D
Thanks for your time everyone and have a great day!
 
I feed al my cats the same food. I am not feeding high carb to any of them because i don't want more diabetic cats. I feed fancy feast pates because they are low carb and reasonably priced when you have 3 cats! Friskies is higher carb and I want them lower.
 
Currently feeding 14 civvies Friskies poultry pates, mostly turkey and giblets.
 
Fancy Feast Classic Chicken Pate here. My cats love it and it's reasonably priced. Looking at it's nutritional value, low carbs, and high protein, you really can't beat it for diabetic cats.
 
My cats all love the fancy feast pates as well, but the phosphorus is so high... I worry about CKD
But yes it does carry the very appealing price tag, and it's nice that there are a decent amount of flavors. Some of my crew seems to be getting finicky and want change, which seems odd to me since they existed on Hill's w/d dry for their entire lives without any variety. :lol: :roll:
 
Kitties have been on raw food diet for 6 years. Even my vet who was adamantly against 6 years ago now approves of it. I started off with commercial raw diets (Feline's Pride, Rad Cat), now I make it myself.
Interesting note- my one kitty who was a dry food junkie, never liked canned food, only dry, took to the raw diet immediately and loves it.
 
The raw diet is really tempting me. Where would I source the supplements? I think I will try the commercial raw first just to see if they would eat it. I really like the idea of controlling the diet to exactly what you want them eating.
 
Kim & Twice said:
The raw diet is really tempting me. Where would I source the supplements? I think I will try the commercial raw first just to see if they would eat it. I really like the idea of controlling the diet to exactly what you want them eating.
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If you contact Feline's Pride, they may be able to send you samples. It's manufactured in Buffalo--we buy directly from them the turkey & rabbit. We found out about them at a cat show & they gave us a 2 lb tub to try. Two of my cats took right to it, the other 4 not so much. I feed my civvies some of the FF pate style and for a treat the Elegant medleys. We also feed holistic grain free wet food and some dry kibble. One of my cats refuses anything other than kibble. We've tried transitioning her & she will refuse to eat--she won't even eat a treat, deli turkey, human food....she's a diva!
 
I feed my sugarcat and civvies the same foods. They all get homemade raw using Dr. Pierson's recipe on catinfo.org. There are links to where to buy the supplements on that site.

In between, I feed Tiki Cat Succulent Chicken canned food and Wellness Core Grain Free Chicken, Turkey and Liver canned food. These are expensive and have reduced my personal food budget to $50 a week but I need to reduce my intake anyway :lol:
 
I started out feeding Michelangelo low carb Fancy Feast when he was diagnosed at 6 months and also started feeding Henry (civvie) the same since I got him when he was 4 months old. I have no problem sharing my info because it took me almost 6 months and quite a lot of trial and error. So, why do the work twice when I've already done it once? :lol: I had to figure out which foods Mikey wasn't allergic to (poultry and seafood only), which foods had enough protein for kittens, which foods had the right texture for my picky little buggers, and which foods didn't contain fish since I try to only feed them seafood once a week (FYI, FF Chicken Feast contains fish).

I also try to stick within the 52% protein, 36% fat, and 12% carbohydrate ratio (well, 5% carbs or lower for Diabetic Mikey). The staple in our house is Friskies Special Diet Turkey and Giblets (lower carbs at 5% than the regular and only contains brewer's rice and has a much higher protein/fat ratio than many other foods) and Tiki Cat Chicken and Egg for an extra protein boost. I also supplement with some raw chicken (if I'm making it for dinner) or plain-cooked chicken to help my wallet since the Tiki Cat is so expensive.

Kim & Twice said:
I realize this may be like cheating on a test, but I have thought about it and I am ok with that :-D
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Hahahaha! I tell all my coworkers that it's not "cheating" because we're not in school any more. When you're an adult, it's called "teamwork!"
 
Thank you to all of you for the great responses! I am definately going to contact Feline's Pride about the samples! That would be great if they would send something out :-D I printed off Dr. Pierson's recipe..and was exhausted just reading it! :lol: But, if they end up liking the raw, it would definately be more affordable to make than buy (just looking at the prices...yikes). I LOVE the spreadsheet! So much work went into that. I printed it off and am going to go through it with a highlighter tonight.
All this feedback is just excellent. I know that it isn't going to be easy pleasing all these cats at the same time and with the same food...:lol:
But now I have some really great things to keep in mind and through trial and error, hopefully I can come up with something that is healthy, yummy and affordable.
 
Yes, contact Feline's Pride about the samples. And if you do decide to make your own, you can get the premix from Felines Pride (that's what I do), you just add egg yolks, meat & water...and lots of love:)

Rad cat is another food very similar to Felines' Pride. Actually my girls liked it better than Felines Pride. Rad cat can be purchased online or many places are carrying it now. If you go to their website http://www.radfood.com/ and check store locator, you may find someplace near you. I know a local pet store started carrying here and had free samples.

Good luck, I hope they love the raw food!

BTW, my kits like the chicken the best.
 
Don't be afraid to try a mix of proteins if you do raw. I've heard it's recommended to have a variety. My two are on Red Dog Blue Cat Deli products - the nearest available to you is Regina. Their favorite is kangaroo. :cool: Although they aren't listed on Dr. Lisa's list, all their As Fed values are on their website. I've done the calculations with them, they vary from 2-5% carbs and are all under 200 in phosphorus. The website above also lists techniques for switching to raw food.

If you just want to see how they do on raw, Nature's Variety sells sample packs that are available in most pet food stores that sell raw food.
 
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