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So, gently caress. I'm confused as hell. I have 2 kittens, now 12 weeks old, and I'm trying to work out what to feed them. They came from their birth home on Friskies Turkey wet food and Whiskas kitten dry - the worst, but cheapest brands available (I'm in Canada, btw). One of them is absolutely fine but the other may be a bit constipated as he freaks out and goes skittish and meows a lot when he needs to poop. The vet said that they had a friend with a cat on Friskies, and it was constipated, getting enemas twice a week, then they switched off Friskies and it was absolutely fine. Of course there are *so many* pet food brands out there and they vary wildly in terms of price, protein content, ingredients etc. so I'm trying to figure it all out, and I've done what came naturally: I made a big rear end spreadsheet comparing different kinds of wet food and dry foods (separately, I'd like them to have both). So the previous thread was talking about obviously all the grain free stuff, and now there's a scare for dogs but we seem to think it's OK for cats, but maybe legumes aren't so good or interfere with taurine uptake or something? Anyway, going by what was in the previous thread, for dry foods protein content is key and being high calorie per kg is also good because the cats may feel fuller on a smaller amount of food... but if I go by those metrics then Whiskas kitten actually comes out really well: 43% protein and 3600kcal/kg. The kcal/kg figure isn't so amazing but 43% protein is higher than all but the most premium foods. Of course the first ingredient for Whiskas is "Chicken by-product meal" followed by corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, and then animal fat, so I know it is not high quality. Then on the other end of the confusing scale you have something like Canadian Naturals which only has 32% protein and 3836kcal/kg, but has Turkey, Turkey Meal, Peas, Potatoes, Chicken Fat (stabilized with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), Salmon Meal as it's first few ingredients and also stuff like Cranberry, Apple, Blueberry etc. so it seems like good quality ingredients, but is available *cheaper* than Whiskas: https://www.homesalive.ca/cat/food/dry-and-kibble/canadian-naturals-cat-food-turkey-salmon.html What actually seems to be coming out at the best bang per buck right now is Solid Gold Indigo Moon which is 42% protein, high quality ingredients, 3860kcal/kg and is something like $8-11CAD/kg, or something like Horizon Legacy, 40% protein, $9CAD/kg: https://www.homesalive.ca/horizon-legacy-cat-kitten-food.html So like, how the hell do I even evaluate? Are the priorities to have good meat ingredients ("Chicken" rather than "chicken by-product meal"), then protein content, then healthy carbs (potatoes instead of corn) or what?
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Nov 3, 2020 21:02
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 14:17 |
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Honestly it's hard to say. Like I'm not working right now but my wife is, we have savings, but eventually I'll be going back to work (I hope) and then we can probably afford to feed them really good stuff, like your Tiki Cat or this stuff: https://www.homesalive.ca/cat/food/dry-and-kibble/farmina-n-d-prime-kitten-cat-food-chicken-and-pomegranate.html Which seems like it might be the fanciest stuff I've found, with the best ingredients. Until then I just want to get them something that's good for them but isn't going to cost us a shitload. I think for now I'm somewhat settled on Orijen Cat & Kitten for dry food and a split between Romeo and Authority for wet: https://www.petonly.ca/romeo-chicken-catch-of-the-day-recipe-grain-free-adult-canned-cat-food https://www.petsmart.ca/cat/food-and-treats/wet-food/authority-pate-entree-kitten-food-51030.html Hopefully these are decent choices.
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Nov 12, 2020 19:31
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Yeah I've had recommendations for Tiki Cat from multiple places. Seems like good stuff, just it's almost twice the cost per kg of something like the Authority stuff I posted, and being currently out of work I can't really justify the extra cost, especially for two very hungry kittens (who I believe are currently eating more than an adult cat would). What're people's opinions of a raw diet for cats? I've checked out some of the Ontario raw pet food producers and it's actually cheaper even than the mid-grade tinned stuff I'm buying at the moment: https://rawpetfoodontario.com/product/8-turkey-8-chicken/ 8lbs of Turkey and 8lbs of Chicken for $57CAD: quote:Made in a HACCP Certified Facility I've looked at BalanceIt and they do a "carnivore blend" that apparently contains all the stuff they'd need to supplement this to make it complete WRT vitamins etc.
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Nov 15, 2020 18:14
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Lots of cat food is actually suitable for "all life stages" which includes kittens. I've actually just looked on the Fussie Cat website and picked out a few flavours at random: https://fussiecat.com/super-premium-chicken-with-egg-formula-in-gravy/ https://fussiecat.com/super-premium-chicken-and-beef-in-pumpkin-soup/ https://fussiecat.com/premium-tuna-with-chicken-formula-in-aspic/ https://fussiecat.com/premium-tuna-with-ocean-fish-formula-in-aspic/ It seems that the "super premium" ones I looked at are "Formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages." and all of the "premium" ones are "Formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for Adult Maintenance." I've just done a bit of a search and apparently: quote:Kitten food contains higher amounts of vitamins and minerals to support healthy bone growth and teeth, according to Purina. And I've seen elsewhere that maybe kitten food is more calorie-dense? So yeah I'd say it depends on whether they're getting the "premium" stuff or the "super premium", but I guess it's up to you to decide how much you think that matters.
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Nov 17, 2020 18:34
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One of my cats has just been prescribed a urinary diet. Are there any prescription urinary foods which aren't total trash quality? We give our cats 2 wet (with extra water mixed in) and 2 dry meals a day, and for the dry food it seems we basically have a choice between Royal Canin, Hills and Purina. Ingredients for Royal Canin: quote:Brewers rice, chicken by-product meal, wheat gluten, corn flour, powdered cellulose, corn gluten meal, chicken fat, natural flavors, potassium chloride, fish oil, salt, vegetable oil.... [vitamins and stuff] Terrible. The others seem to be similarly bad in terms of grain content. We've been feeding our cats Orijen dry food up to now, the ingredient list for that: quote:Fresh whole pacific pilchard (26%), fresh whole pacific hake (9%), fresh whole pacific mackerel (8%), fresh whole pacific flounder (5%), fresh whole rockfish (5%), fresh whole sole (5%), whole mackerel (dehydrated, 5%), whole herring (dehydrated, 5%), whole blue whiting (dehydrated, 5%), herring oil (5%), alaskan cod (dehydrated, 5%), whole red lentils, whole green lentils, whole green peas, sunflower oil (cold-pressed), whole sardines (dehydrated, 1.5%), lentil fiber, whole chickpeas, whole yellow peas, whole pinto beans, cod liver (freeze-dried), fresh whole pumpkin, fresh whole butternut squash, fresh whole zucchini, fresh whole parsnips, fresh carrots, fresh whole red delicious apples, fresh whole bartlett pears, fresh kale, fresh spinach, fresh beet greens, fresh turnip greens, brown kelp, whole cranberries, whole blueberries, whole saskatoon berries, chicory root, turmeric root, milk thistle, burdock root, lavender, marshmallow root, rosehips... [vitamins etc.] And the urinary food costs 20% more than the Orijen stuff. E: I've just found the Blue Buffalo W+U stuff which seems better, but I can't seem to find it in Canada. Anybody know if it's available here and where from? Also there are tons of non-prescription, urinary foods for cats, with much much better ingredients. Are any of those sufficient, or does it absolutely have to be the prescription stuff? The cat in question has been on the prescription diet for a few days now and his poo poo absolutely stinks. It wasn't so bad before when he was on better quality food. WhatEvil fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Dec 27, 2021 |
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Dec 24, 2021 17:56
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 14:17 |
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Gangringo posted:I've been feeding my cat nom nom fresh food because I love lighting money on fire. I was considering switching him to 50/50 dry and fresh food not for budget reasons, but so that I can leave for a weekend and set an auto feeder of dry food now and then without it being a huge disruption. I don't see why it would be. Some people feed their cats exclusively dry food for years with no problems. That said, could it be a thing that they're used to the amount of water they have to drink whilst eating fresh food, and if you switch them to dry they may not realise they need to drink more and become dehydrated? In any case, switching their food up should be done gradually. MikeyTsi posted:I was feeding mine a Farmina vet diet. You'll probably have to order it and have it shipped if you want to go that route. Seems like it's not available in Canada. WhatEvil fucked around with this message at 02:31 on Jan 9, 2022 |
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Jan 9, 2022 02:20
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