Author Topic: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?  (Read 4538 times)

Phiuth

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Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« on: January 10, 2019, 03:48:34 PM »
Hey everyone, I bring Timon(cat) home on Saturday and I'm very excited! I know I have to keep him on what the breeder has him on for the next couple of weeks but I wanted to ask if anyone here has their Bengals eating Before Grain dry food and Natural Balance wet cans? This is what I was feeding my last cat and he loved it. Yes, It's a little more on the expensive side but I want to make sure my little boy eats quality food.

Also, does anyone feed their cats Halo wet food cans? My sister's cats love it and it has actual veggies and meat in it. I'm just so anxious because this is my first Bengal and I want to make sure he eats healthy and right. Thanks for any answers!

jgoody

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2019, 04:05:32 PM »
My folks bought a Bengal when I was growing up.  It was a great cat and lived a long and healthy life.  We fed it el cheapo grocery store cat food until it was old and actually needed something more expensive.  My experience with cats has been that some have more problematic GI systems than others - most can thrive on the cheap stuff.  I'd recommend starting with the cheapest cat-food you can feel good about and only go with more expensive foods if there is a documented problem you or your vet is trying to address. 

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2019, 06:49:59 PM »
Honestly "veggies" in cat food is unnecessary.  Key to the best food in cats is one that they will eat and one that is low in carbs.  Cats as obligate carnivores do best on a low carb diet. 

This website has great info about it.

https://catinfo.org/commercial-cat-foods/ 

reeshau

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2019, 07:32:14 AM »
Of course, you are dealing with a cat.  You will have to listen to them.  I give my cats Science Diet dry food, but one cat would only eat Friskies Shreds--what she was used to as a kitten.  (rescue cat)  No amount of whoopty-do style, ingredients, etc. would change her mind.  Had to import Friskies Shreds to Ireland, as it is not sold here--which made it cease being a cheap option.

JLee

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2019, 07:42:55 AM »
I have two Cheetohs (Bengal / Ocicat hybrids) and their previous owner had them on super cheap food (Meow Mix).  Their poops were horrifically odorous and I now have them on Rachel Ray food.  They love it, the litter box is WAY better, and their coats are softer now as well. I would transition him to the new food over a few days, but as long as he eats it I'm sure it's fine. Just keep an eye out for digestive problems..if he starts vomiting or if the litter box becomes a disaster, reconsider.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2019, 08:11:35 AM »
You can give it to him, but if he doesn't like it or doesn't do well on it for some reason, then be prepared to change. Remember: cat.

I'm kinda frustrated with the whole pet food industry - cats don't need veggies or grains. They're frequently lactose intolerant. They are carnivores. They need meat or offal, and the presence of other stuff is harmful or just filler (though some ingestion of grasses, etc is often helpful for the digestive tract). Individual cats will vary considerably. There's a ton of boutique brands that are following fads, and don't have effective quality control (I see quite a few pet food recalls, and they all seem to be from the smaller brands. Haven't seen any from Purina/Iams/Science Diet/Royal Cain). And there aren't enough options for senior foods, and that's all I can feed now.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2019, 01:45:19 PM »
He's a cat. He will decide what his minion (you) feeds him.

Rubic

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2019, 02:03:04 PM »
One suggestion:  Rather than replace the food your cat is used
to eating entirely, you could consider gradually transitioning to
the new food you want to introduce.  Mix the new food into the
current servings in greater proportions, until it consists of 100%
new diet (assuming your cat is agreeable).


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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2019, 03:33:19 PM »
He's a cat. He will decide what his minion (you) feeds him.

Also he's a cat, he may consent to the new for for 2 weeks until you get a good deal and buy a months supply.  At which point he will sniff the food then look at you with the "are you trying to kill me" look, you know the one.

civil4life

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2019, 04:51:12 PM »
My cats have GI issues.  They now both eat Natural Balance LID Duck.  This was after some very high medical bills for bladder stones and unknown GI issues.  Before that I had them on Hills Science Diet dry food.  I would say it is best to stick with a wet food.  Cats can get 90%+ of their water from wet food.

Frankies Girl

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2019, 05:33:08 PM »
I'm confused. This is a site about avoiding ridiculous spending and you're buying a bengal/designer cat - that also has to have special fancy $$ food?

There is zero reason to buy a designer cat for thousands of dollars when so many beautiful and awesome pets are available in shelters. And chances are good you don't need to feed them food that costs more than your own unless they have medical issues.

Cats are not working animals in general. So unless you have a really specific reason other than "oooooh pretty kitty" - buying a cat for looks and breed is just stupid wasteful spending. Which is fine if you are a spendy conspicuous consumption person who cares more about pretty/brands/labels than good value/mindful spending/adopting-not-shopping.

But that brings us to the next question:

Why are you here? This is your first post, and you are REALLY out of touch with the site's message if this is what you deem a good subject for this site. I fully expect this to either be sneaky spammer or a troll because this is so out of range I can't imagine it being anything else.



ETA: spammer confirmed! Copied a post over on a Bengal cat fancier site from 2012 - word for word. So spam likely incoming or just a silly little troll bored out of their tiny mind.

http://phenomi.net/bengalchatter/viewtopic.php?t=4680
« Last Edit: January 11, 2019, 06:11:31 PM by Frankies Girl »

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2019, 07:47:56 PM »
I'm confused. This is a site about avoiding ridiculous spending and you're buying a bengal/designer cat - that also has to have special fancy $$ food?

There is zero reason to buy a designer cat for thousands of dollars when so many beautiful and awesome pets are available in shelters. And chances are good you don't need to feed them food that costs more than your own unless they have medical issues.

Cats are not working animals in general. So unless you have a really specific reason other than "oooooh pretty kitty" - buying a cat for looks and breed is just stupid wasteful spending. Which is fine if you are a spendy conspicuous consumption person who cares more about pretty/brands/labels than good value/mindful spending/adopting-not-shopping.

But that brings us to the next question:

Why are you here? This is your first post, and you are REALLY out of touch with the site's message if this is what you deem a good subject for this site. I fully expect this to either be sneaky spammer or a troll because this is so out of range I can't imagine it being anything else.



ETA: spammer confirmed! Copied a post over on a Bengal cat fancier site from 2012 - word for word. So spam likely incoming or just a silly little troll bored out of their tiny mind.

http://phenomi.net/bengalchatter/viewtopic.php?t=4680

How utterly bizarre..... who trolls about cat food???

reeshau

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #12 on: January 12, 2019, 03:28:01 AM »
How utterly bizarre..... who trolls about cat food???

A cat, obviously.  Maybe it's a new Alexa skill.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #13 on: January 12, 2019, 11:37:25 AM »
Thanks FG!

Banned!

How utterly bizarre..... who trolls about cat food???

Basically they put what seems like a legit post, then later when the thread is dead will go back in and add spam links (or add them to their sig), when the links are unlikely to be seen/reported, so they can show up on google search results.

Banning them before they do that, if you can realize that's what they're doing, is the best way to handle it. :)
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Lulee

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #14 on: January 13, 2019, 12:43:17 PM »
I'm SO bummed this thread started off from a troll as it was just the situation I'm struggling with and I was hoping for this community's logical and frugal insights.  I'd read multiple times the catinfo.org site info which pushes for feeding a good diet of all wet food which to me is like veganism, an ideal that many of us just can't manage.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #15 on: January 13, 2019, 06:21:15 PM »
Lulee, I don't feed all wet.  I feed a combination of wet and dry with the dry being Young Again's Zero Carb.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #16 on: January 14, 2019, 07:12:20 AM »
Wet food seems pretty easy, and most cats like it. My two are feline weirdos who love kibble above all else.

Over the years we've tried a lot of cat food, from making ourselves to typical grocery store brands to All Natural Grain Free, and I've never seen much difference, honestly.

But one of our current cats is very elderly and had a very easily upset tummy and when I switched to Hill's Sensitive Skin and Stomach formula, it has actually worked very, very well. It costs a lot more than Meow Mix, though.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #17 on: January 14, 2019, 09:36:54 AM »
Honestly "veggies" in cat food is unnecessary.  Key to the best food in cats is one that they will eat and one that is low in carbs.  Cats as obligate carnivores do best on a low carb diet. 

This website has great info about it.

https://catinfo.org/commercial-cat-foods/

Wow, thanks for the link. I dove into all the information last night and now I’m sad that I just bought six months of wet food last week. We’ve been doing halo dry food and wellness wet food almost since we got our cat 5 years ago (those were her favorites of the various brands we tried at the time). I had only done enough research to know cats like meat, need protein, and grains are fillers. So I assumed buying grain free food with meat as a first ingredient meant I was buying high protein, meat based food for my cat.

I didn’t think my cat needed veggies and wasn’t looking for foods with veggies, but I had thought any veggies that happened to be included were to add vitamins or something. Didn’t realize they were also fillers. Definitely didn’t realize that it was a thing to use high fat meat so the fat acts as a filler while the company still gets to list meat as first ingredient. Sigh.

Once her wet food is almost gone, I’m going to start trying to transition in fancy feast naturals, which will also save us $80 a year in wet food costs. And I’m going to try switching her dry food to one that’s no-carb too. Any resources on that, since catinfo doesn’t like dry food and doesn’t provide info on those brands? I think doing all wet food would be too expensive and I worry about tarter.

Try of course being the key word, since cats are so finicky and she’s now used to her favorite brands/flavors. We buy six months of wet food at a time to buy in bulk, but also so we can buy four flavors at once and rotate them. The princess doesn’t like eating the same flavor more than a couple days in a row...

I’m glad for the troll, because I learned something new as a result.

Lulee

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #18 on: January 14, 2019, 10:25:36 AM »
"My" cat lives with my Mom as a companion to her cat as he desperately wanted one and she can't afford a second one on her limited finances.  So her low income and her controlling the feeding are making the food selection even more difficult.

She's fed her cats for some time Iams original grain and they've all thrived on that while supplementing with whatever critters they catch and whatever food they can steal off the counters.  But the vet has in the last couple of years pushed an all-wet diet, first for the more protein/less carbs reason which would help the oldest stay at a reasonable weight and lastly because it helps cats get enough fluids, despite these two being good drinkers.  So I found that 9Lives Pate wet is relatively reasonable in cost compared to others available in the area.  But Mom won't feed them enough wet and cut back on the dry enough to make it worthwhile, likely due to the cost.  And one doesn't really want the wet stuff at all.

As best I can research with the limited info on the bags, it looks to me like Purina Cat Chow Naturals Indoor (with chicken and turkey) is our least cost, highest protein dry food option though I suspect it may have the increased protein from non-meat sources.  My ONLY real hesitation is that it contains soy which MAY cause hyperthyroidism at some point.  Both cats like it; one really prefers it over the Iams.  It's not cheap enough to mitigate the increased costs of adding wet food for 1/2 their diet which is what I was hoping.

My best hope for now is to get her to just continue supplementing the Iams with the Pate during the winter and then use it for a treat later.  At some point, I'm hoping to get her to just let me take over the cost of feeding both of them so I can just pick out what works best for them but as she stubbornly wants to do her "fair share", that seems unlikely.  As Jackson Galaxy of "My Cat From Hell" likes to point out, it's really a people problem, not a cat problem.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #19 on: January 14, 2019, 05:21:02 PM »
Low carb dry cat food, Young Again zero carb, only available from their website.

Dr. Elsey's cleanprotein available from Chewy at a minimum

Wysong Epigen 90 cat.

There maybe a few more but I can't recall all of them. 

Frankies Girl

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #20 on: January 14, 2019, 05:54:03 PM »
I have cats with extreme sensitivity to developing UTIs. I was told to feed the $$ Hill's Prescription stuff, but discovered a few things.

1. Cats aren't good water drinkers. Their tongues are not great at lapping up enough water to get their daily requirements from just a water bowl, and they are designed to get their moisture from their food. If the moisture content of their food isn't very high, they'll have kidney/bladder/UTI issues. Could also develop crystals (deadly in boy cats, painful and can cause issues with both sexes). So dry kibble exclusively is a bad idea. I feed dry kibble in the morning for my own convenience, but they get two other meals at dinner and late night snack that are wet cat food slurry (I add extra water to their food to make a soup/slurry) with some kibble on top. They LOVE this. They have lots of clean water available, but it's important for them to get water content in the food they eat because that's the way they were designed. One vet I came across in my research had a cutesy phrase: "Dilution is the solution to pollution." Which means if your cat is subject to any issues with kidneys/bladder and developing UTIs, more water is a good idea. And that really does mean trying to feed less dry kibble and more wet meat-based food.*

The kibble is Purina One urinary tract stuff. It's low moisture, but higher acidity to avoid crystal formation. It is still crappy dry kibble (there are no great dry foods, period), but it's there to make things easier for me and won't hurt my cats as long as I'm measuring their food intake and make sure they're getting their wet food as well. No more vet visits since starting this feeding schedule, and their coats/health are all fabulous (soft, shiny fur and very active/alert).

2. I get store brand wet food, but I usually get the chicken or turkey flavors and I've read the ingredients to check that the protein and moisture ratio is high while the carb/filler ratio is lower. Some of the canned foods use fish as a base no matter what the professed flavor, but in studies I've read, feeding cats fish is not so good for their digestion/overall health. So I do poultry pretty much all the time. They don't care. The fancy brands that include veggies and such are just gimmicks; cats are carnivores and don't need grains or veggies or fruits at all.

3. No free feeding. It is not good for your pet; it just makes things easier for you, but your pet will suffer most of the time. Sure, wet food is a pain to dish up and clean up after and you can't leave it out and it smells... but it's the healthiest option for your pet, even if you're not feeding them the fancy $2/can brand stuff. Most all my cats LOVED dry kibble because they could graze and it was super convenient for me since I didn't have to do much but throw a cup of food in the bowl every day or so, but cats tend to get fatter with free feeding, all those carbs are terrible (and almost all the kibble is going to be grain or crappy fillers even with the $$ for the expensive bags) and nutritionally speaking, dry kibble is just not good for them. It is the equivalent of getting a frozen pizza when you're tired after work instead of making a healthy dinner with a good serving of lean meat and veggies for yourself. Sure, a few times here and there isn't going to hurt as much but you know you shouldn't be eating that stuff all the time...

So I have to measure using tablespoons/measuring cups and make sure to feed the right amounts for each cat based on ideal weights and read the labels and calculate the calories per ounce. It's sooooo fun. /sarcasm (but what's really fun is that my cats are no longer fat blobs, shiny and active, and are not crying in pain or peeing 20 times an hour or worse, at the vet's office for emergency surgery that costs me $$$ each time)



*If you have a cat with kidney failure, it is a delicate balancing act to get less grain and more protein but not so much high protein that it stresses their kidneys. This part sucks, and really should consult your vet for help on foods if there are serious medical issues like this.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2019, 12:14:13 PM by Frankies Girl »

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #21 on: January 17, 2019, 09:47:12 AM »
Thanks @Frankies Girl and Formerly known as something for the info.  These cats are quite healthy despite being a bit pudgy (not unusual for the winter when all their "outdoor toys" go into hibernation and the snow and ice and dropping temperatures make the indoors seem more appealing).  We just want them to stay that way. 

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #22 on: March 23, 2019, 04:52:54 PM »
I make my cat meat salads - chopped raw heart, liver, kidney, meat, fish, whatever except chicken which he doesn't like, bit of bone meal powder mixed in - which I then freeze. I do this maybe once a month and just defrost as needed. Pretty cheap if you ask the butcher to save you scraps, although you'll have to go through and take a lot of fat out. He gets chicken necks for a treat. He's 14, no kidney, teeth or weight issues. Still hunts every day as well. The only thing he's suffering a little from is his joints, so now I mix a little deer velvet powder in as well. Every so often he gets a can of 'junk food', which he does enjoy. I also sometimes give him human grade salmon or tuna canned in water. When I had chickens, he took a fancy to their pellets and helped himself to those, the weirdo.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #23 on: March 24, 2019, 01:41:30 AM »
Another advocate of a raw food diet here. We had two Siamese/Bengal mixes (rescues) for 12 years and fed them raw food for more than half their lives. A former co-worker turned me on to a raw diet when they were still a couple years old. We continued doing that, making batches of food every three weeks, until they were almost 10. We eventually switched to a high end commercial wet/hard food diet (Blue Buffalo) because it was less work. Over the last years of their lives they gained weight, from 12 to 16 pounds (they were large cats) and their health was not nearly as good. We tried to go back but one of them wouldn't make the transition back to raw. Its a commitment to do, but no more expensive than good quality commercial food.

Having seen the effects of commercial food on our cats (now dead), I probably wouldn't get another cat (personal choice) unless I was willing to feed them raw food again. Too many health problems arise from the equivalent of feeding them McDonalds their whole lives. The accumulated vet bills over the last few years made the commercial food option more expensive in the end anyway.

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #24 on: March 24, 2019, 04:06:24 AM »
Another advocate of a raw food diet here. We had two Siamese/Bengal mixes (rescues) for 12 years and fed them raw food for more than half their lives. A former co-worker turned me on to a raw diet when they were still a couple years old. We continued doing that, making batches of food every three weeks, until they were almost 10. We eventually switched to a high end commercial wet/hard food diet (Blue Buffalo) because it was less work. Over the last years of their lives they gained weight, from 12 to 16 pounds (they were large cats) and their health was not nearly as good. We tried to go back but one of them wouldn't make the transition back to raw. Its a commitment to do, but no more expensive than good quality commercial food.

Having seen the effects of commercial food on our cats (now dead), I probably wouldn't get another cat (personal choice) unless I was willing to feed them raw food again. Too many health problems arise from the equivalent of feeding them McDonalds their whole lives. The accumulated vet bills over the last few years made the commercial food option more expensive in the end anyway.

My cat was the impetus behind the raw food diet. He was a young feral cat that I accidentally caught. Took a loooong time to come to an arrangement with him, and he refused to eat at all unless it was raw. Pretty sure it was some raw fish that actually decided him on the whole domestic cat idea. I tried to introduce some canned food once. He refused it. I persisted, put more fresh canned food down daily etc. He got sick of me, caught a huge crow thing, DELIBERATELY CAME INSIDE AND PUT IT IN HIS BOWL and left. I got the message. He likes his food, and he likes his home comforts (he's pretty territorial about his own little radiant heater in winter, growls if you come too close) but he's an outside cat with an outside kennel that he regularly chooses to spend the night in. Very feral cat chic, it is, with a pillow, hand crocheted blankie and sheepskin!

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #25 on: March 24, 2019, 06:28:42 AM »
Cat food is a huge money-making racket.  Have you ever calculated the price per pound of commercial foods?  You're paying something like $8-10/lb for chicken byproducts and a few nutrients that you can mix up yourself for pennies.

I went the homemade food route with my cats (using the catinfo.org recipe).  My favorite trick is like Anna's (above post) "meat salad", based on fresh giblet packages from a local butcher for something like $2/lb, which they're happy to get rid of.   I don't bother grinding it, I just cut it up with scissors.  I also order grinds online. 

This does get to be a bit much, so I use commercial foods for convenience - which comes at a price, because my homemade food is cheaper than anything you can buy except the crappiest dry food.  I feed some dry food (Natural Balance), which contrary to claims of the raw feeding sites is just fine to incorporate.  I also keep canned for backup - Sheba pates are not fancy, but they're low carb and a good value.   My cats regard canned food as a treat :-), appropriate since it's the priciest thing I feed them.

 

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #26 on: March 25, 2019, 10:15:04 AM »
Cat food is a huge money-making racket.  Have you ever calculated the price per pound of commercial foods?  You're paying something like $8-10/lb for chicken byproducts and a few nutrients that you can mix up yourself for pennies.

I went the homemade food route with my cats (using the catinfo.org recipe).  My favorite trick is like Anna's (above post) "meat salad", based on fresh giblet packages from a local butcher for something like $2/lb, which they're happy to get rid of.   I don't bother grinding it, I just cut it up with scissors.  I also order grinds online. 

This does get to be a bit much, so I use commercial foods for convenience - which comes at a price, because my homemade food is cheaper than anything you can buy except the crappiest dry food.  I feed some dry food (Natural Balance), which contrary to claims of the raw feeding sites is just fine to incorporate.  I also keep canned for backup - Sheba pates are not fancy, but they're low carb and a good value.   My cats regard canned food as a treat :-), appropriate since it's the priciest thing I feed them.

How do they do with the homemade food?  When I got my cats they were on Meow Mix dry and their litterbox was basically a biohazard zone.  I changed them over to Rachel Ray food and it got WAY better...but now, after discovering they had advanced gum disease when I got them (which resulted in pulled teeth), I've put them on regular wet food (Friskies) and we're back to biohazard status.  I want to find something soft to feed them that won't clear two rooms when they shit, lol.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #27 on: March 25, 2019, 06:04:12 PM »
Cat food is a huge money-making racket.  Have you ever calculated the price per pound of commercial foods?  You're paying something like $8-10/lb for chicken byproducts and a few nutrients that you can mix up yourself for pennies.

I went the homemade food route with my cats (using the catinfo.org recipe).  My favorite trick is like Anna's (above post) "meat salad", based on fresh giblet packages from a local butcher for something like $2/lb, which they're happy to get rid of.   I don't bother grinding it, I just cut it up with scissors.  I also order grinds online. 

This does get to be a bit much, so I use commercial foods for convenience - which comes at a price, because my homemade food is cheaper than anything you can buy except the crappiest dry food.  I feed some dry food (Natural Balance), which contrary to claims of the raw feeding sites is just fine to incorporate.  I also keep canned for backup - Sheba pates are not fancy, but they're low carb and a good value.   My cats regard canned food as a treat :-), appropriate since it's the priciest thing I feed them.

How do they do with the homemade food?  When I got my cats they were on Meow Mix dry and their litterbox was basically a biohazard zone.  I changed them over to Rachel Ray food and it got WAY better...but now, after discovering they had advanced gum disease when I got them (which resulted in pulled teeth), I've put them on regular wet food (Friskies) and we're back to biohazard status.  I want to find something soft to feed them that won't clear two rooms when they shit, lol.

Healthy cat shit is rank. That's how it is. Invest in better litter. I find the crystal stuff pretty effective, the odd time the cat uses the litterbox.

JLee

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #28 on: March 25, 2019, 10:35:26 PM »
Cat food is a huge money-making racket.  Have you ever calculated the price per pound of commercial foods?  You're paying something like $8-10/lb for chicken byproducts and a few nutrients that you can mix up yourself for pennies.

I went the homemade food route with my cats (using the catinfo.org recipe).  My favorite trick is like Anna's (above post) "meat salad", based on fresh giblet packages from a local butcher for something like $2/lb, which they're happy to get rid of.   I don't bother grinding it, I just cut it up with scissors.  I also order grinds online. 

This does get to be a bit much, so I use commercial foods for convenience - which comes at a price, because my homemade food is cheaper than anything you can buy except the crappiest dry food.  I feed some dry food (Natural Balance), which contrary to claims of the raw feeding sites is just fine to incorporate.  I also keep canned for backup - Sheba pates are not fancy, but they're low carb and a good value.   My cats regard canned food as a treat :-), appropriate since it's the priciest thing I feed them.

How do they do with the homemade food?  When I got my cats they were on Meow Mix dry and their litterbox was basically a biohazard zone.  I changed them over to Rachel Ray food and it got WAY better...but now, after discovering they had advanced gum disease when I got them (which resulted in pulled teeth), I've put them on regular wet food (Friskies) and we're back to biohazard status.  I want to find something soft to feed them that won't clear two rooms when they shit, lol.

Healthy cat shit is rank. That's how it is. Invest in better litter. I find the crystal stuff pretty effective, the odd time the cat uses the litterbox.

Rank and wet to the point they accidentally dip their tail in it and then smear it around as they go around the house? I've had cats for 30 years and I'm gonna go with "no" on this one.

Frankies Girl

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #29 on: March 25, 2019, 11:52:48 PM »
I love how this thread was started by a spammer who was banned but mods left the thread as we'd continued the conversation with real/helpful information, and it was just recently bumped again by a different spammer who was also banned and posts removed and yet the convo continues on with actual decent information.

:)

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #30 on: March 26, 2019, 01:41:29 AM »
Cat food is a huge money-making racket.  Have you ever calculated the price per pound of commercial foods?  You're paying something like $8-10/lb for chicken byproducts and a few nutrients that you can mix up yourself for pennies.

I went the homemade food route with my cats (using the catinfo.org recipe).  My favorite trick is like Anna's (above post) "meat salad", based on fresh giblet packages from a local butcher for something like $2/lb, which they're happy to get rid of.   I don't bother grinding it, I just cut it up with scissors.  I also order grinds online. 

This does get to be a bit much, so I use commercial foods for convenience - which comes at a price, because my homemade food is cheaper than anything you can buy except the crappiest dry food.  I feed some dry food (Natural Balance), which contrary to claims of the raw feeding sites is just fine to incorporate.  I also keep canned for backup - Sheba pates are not fancy, but they're low carb and a good value.   My cats regard canned food as a treat :-), appropriate since it's the priciest thing I feed them.

How do they do with the homemade food?  When I got my cats they were on Meow Mix dry and their litterbox was basically a biohazard zone.  I changed them over to Rachel Ray food and it got WAY better...but now, after discovering they had advanced gum disease when I got them (which resulted in pulled teeth), I've put them on regular wet food (Friskies) and we're back to biohazard status.  I want to find something soft to feed them that won't clear two rooms when they shit, lol.

Healthy cat shit is rank. That's how it is. Invest in better litter. I find the crystal stuff pretty effective, the odd time the cat uses the litterbox.

Rank and wet to the point they accidentally dip their tail in it and then smear it around as they go around the house? I've had cats for 30 years and I'm gonna go with "no" on this one.

Yeah, no, that sounds vile. Doesn't sound like they reacted at all well to that food!

freya

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #31 on: March 26, 2019, 06:05:23 AM »
My cats' odorless, dry little poops are the best reasons why I put in the effort to make homemade food.  It is AWESOME.  I never smell a thing, ever.  And I don't have to spend a fortune on expensive litter or related products.   When I feed them too much commercial junk their poop starts to get smelly, so I limit to 1/4 of their diet.

I haven't played around too much with dry foods - the Natural Balance I'm using was inherited from a neighbor whose cat passed away.  A friend of mine swears by Rachel Ray food.  I did experiment with canned foods to see if I could find one that didn't result in smelly poop.   Turns out it's the gums (xantham etc) added to canned foods that cause the smelly poop.  The only brand I found that doesn't use them is some lines of Nature Variety.  Unfortunately my cats are not fans, plus that stuff costs twice as much as my homemade food.

JLee, you might want to look into commercial raw food.  It's actually cheaper than the canned, and it's way better for your cat and gets you the above poop benefits.  Barring that, cats with few teeth can eat dry food.  They don't really chew it anyway.

And yes great thread regardless of how it got started!

« Last Edit: March 26, 2019, 06:10:36 AM by freya »

JLee

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Re: Thinking about feeding same food as last cat. Thoughts?
« Reply #32 on: March 26, 2019, 06:06:58 AM »
Cat food is a huge money-making racket.  Have you ever calculated the price per pound of commercial foods?  You're paying something like $8-10/lb for chicken byproducts and a few nutrients that you can mix up yourself for pennies.

I went the homemade food route with my cats (using the catinfo.org recipe).  My favorite trick is like Anna's (above post) "meat salad", based on fresh giblet packages from a local butcher for something like $2/lb, which they're happy to get rid of.   I don't bother grinding it, I just cut it up with scissors.  I also order grinds online. 

This does get to be a bit much, so I use commercial foods for convenience - which comes at a price, because my homemade food is cheaper than anything you can buy except the crappiest dry food.  I feed some dry food (Natural Balance), which contrary to claims of the raw feeding sites is just fine to incorporate.  I also keep canned for backup - Sheba pates are not fancy, but they're low carb and a good value.   My cats regard canned food as a treat :-), appropriate since it's the priciest thing I feed them.

How do they do with the homemade food?  When I got my cats they were on Meow Mix dry and their litterbox was basically a biohazard zone.  I changed them over to Rachel Ray food and it got WAY better...but now, after discovering they had advanced gum disease when I got them (which resulted in pulled teeth), I've put them on regular wet food (Friskies) and we're back to biohazard status.  I want to find something soft to feed them that won't clear two rooms when they shit, lol.

Healthy cat shit is rank. That's how it is. Invest in better litter. I find the crystal stuff pretty effective, the odd time the cat uses the litterbox.

Rank and wet to the point they accidentally dip their tail in it and then smear it around as they go around the house? I've had cats for 30 years and I'm gonna go with "no" on this one.

Yeah, no, that sounds vile. Doesn't sound like they reacted at all well to that food!

Yeah, it's not great. Apologies for being a little testy, I had just finished cleaning her tail, my legs, etc...lol.

They were fine on Rachael Ray dry food, but with how few teeth they have I'd really like to keep them on something softer.