A question about no grain dry cat food.

[irisblue]

Cat ppl, I have a cat food ?

Whatever Angel Majik liked & would eat the last year of his life, I got him
The 40 ass't cans of catfood that he left behind went to CatWelfare. The girlz were not interested in canned food, sniff, bury & walk away. The dry food I've bern buying b/c habit, is Abound-Salmon & Brown Rice, it's made by InterAmerican Products.

Shaw, has started "burying" the bowl
She eats when she's hungry b/c there isn't anything else for her to eat.
I got a bag of RachelRay Nutrish, Chicken, Chickpea & Salmon to try. I'm thinking I'd like a grainfree diet for them, so there is less risk for kidney issues later in their life.

For the record, I raw fed the dogs for 15+years. But cats need more Taurine & I hesitate to try raw for cats w/o real good reason.


Advice gratefully recieved.

[AirmensMom]

1. Well, it's been over a decade since the cat food wars here.

First thing: If you keep changing food, cats will get finicky.

The worst wet cat food is better than the best dry cat food for a regular diet because cats don't have a strong thirst instinct. They evolved getting their water from their food.

I've been feeding my cats raw food for 16 years. The two I started with, because they were so sick, were supposedly going to die from the raw food. Well, they did die at ages 17 and 18, 10 years later, but not from the raw food and not from what threatened to kill them as young cats. I do add taurine to the raw food, as well as some other vitamins. My current "kitten" has been eating raw food since she came home from the shelter at the age of 4 months. She's beautiful, with the softest fur I've ever felt on a cat, has great teeth, perfect weight, etc.

I'd be glad to answer questions if you want to PM me.

[Kali]

3. agree, raw if they will eat it and you are able to do the prep (time, effort, etc)

I have a good basic recipe somewhere if wanted.

[AirmensMom]

5. I get ground turkey, bones, and organs

shipped from a place in PA and mix it with water, taurine, Wild Salmon Oil, Vitamin E, and B Complex, and then freeze in 1-lb. boxes. My kitties won't even look at commercial canned food.

It takes me about 10 minutes to mix up 20 lbs. Between my two cats, a pound lasts 3 days. That's not a huge outlay of prep time.

[irisblue]

7. Where are you getting Taurine?

[AirmensMom]

10. iHerb.com

They have a powdered taurine by Now Foods, for about $8.50. I use 1 tsp. per 10 lbs. of food.

[Kali]

12. when I was doing it, I had to do the meat myself and was grinding egg shell for the calcium

doing about 2 days worth of it at a time - never thought about freezing it, what a moran.

down to one cat now and he is a hunter so mostly feeds himself with some dry for snacking (when I can keep him out of the dog food). bastid caught an adult cottontail the other day. why can't he get some of the damn rock squirrels?

[irisblue]

11. Every Sunday afternoon after I got home from North Market Poultry & Game

Chopped raw chicken necks into dice sized cubes, steamed the seasonal veggies, roadted carrots for treats. Yeah, I been there. Cleaver & food processor.

[AirmensMom]

14. I used to buy whole chickens from Ingles

and grind them up with a super-duper grinder. But I really prefer to get the organs as well, and the proportion is correct when you get the whole animal. (And I think you get more taurine if you get the head, which is ground up in mine.) No veggies for my cats. My Abys couldn't tolerate them at all, which is why we started with the raw in the first place. So I just use the same recipe for my current kitties.

I buy about 50 pounds at a time, which comes frozen in 5-lb. tubes. I just thaw however much I want to make a few days later (it takes about 2 days to thaw in refrigerator).

Making the food wasn't really a problem with the meat grinder ... it was cleaning out the dang meat grinder that took the time. Now I just need a huge pot and spoon to mix stuff up in.

[irisblue]

16. I tried a fancy grinder...

In 97, pain in the ass. I gave it to a friend. It jammed too damn much. I remember I was really really pissed, it cost $99 then. Blender for the beef hearts, then food processor for veggies.

[irisblue]

4. I didn't say, I got a cat water fountain today.

I noticed both girlz were very interested in the freshly flushed toilet water, so I have hopes for that.

[AirmensMom]

6. That's good,

but they really can't drink enough to make up the deficit from eating dry food.

What is it about animals and toilet water?

[catbyte]

17. I hope you have better luck with it than I've had. Otis is scared to death of it and

little Sammy just splashes water all over the floor with her paws. I haven't seen her drink from it once, and it's been two months. She doesn't even lick her paws dry. She just tracks water around the house until they're dry. I'm about ready to throw in the towel. I must keep the toilet lid up or my little girl (the water splasher) just sits on the lid and cries and cries and cries until I open it up. I've given up using any toilet bowl cleansers, instead using vinegar and baking soda every couple of days. Ugh, but whatever Sammy wants, Sammy gets...

[CountAllVotes]

19. My kitty drinks out of the water filtering system!

She keeps a close eye on you (at all times!) and when you go and draw some water out of the water filtering system, she magically appears. She jumps on the kitchen sink and taps the spigot that the filtered water comes out of.

Just a tap or two makes it go drip drip drip and there she is licking it off of the spigot.

My two fellows like water a lot too.

I make sure they always have fresh filtered water in their bowls!

[Kali]

2. I like wellness products.

dogs and cats, and I use chewy's subscription (gives a little discount, two subscriptions so that I alter two "flavors" once per month so I get a delivery every two weeks). Pricey, but in the long run cheaper than lots of vet visits. and I don't have to drive to Tucson to get it.

https://www.chewy.com/

[AirmensMom]

8. Chewy rocks!!!!

I've been using them for years, mostly for litter supplies. I bought a litter box that didn't work for me and wrote an honest review about it. Next thing, I get an email from Chewy saying that since it didn't work out, they refunded my money. I never asked for that! Of course, they want me to donate the litter box, but I'd hate to subject an unsuspecting shelter to the mess that this box was. Not sure what to do there. Still, they rock.

[Kali]

13. nice. I just started with them this summer.

so happy to not have to drive to town and then store feed around here. too attractive to rodents and skunks. one only has so much room for steel trash cans. sigh.

[AirmensMom]

15. Their prices are good, too.

Just don't be afraid to call if anything is ever wrong with your order.

They carry a plastic stackable bin in several sizes with a screw-in lid that keeps rodents and bugs out. I use them for my horse feed.

[Phentex]

18. They make it right but they do seem to mess up more now...

Not sure if it has anything to do with Amazon or not. I hate to complain because it's a real privilege to have the food delivered to my door. I use autoship so I don't think too much about ordering. However, I am feeding two very large dogs so a late order/missing order can mean I have to go out and buy the food from a specialty store (if I want to feed them the same food). I called and they sent out another box and then a few days later another box arrived. Okay so I had plenty of food for a while. Then the next shipment arrived and it was the wrong food. They told me to donate it which I will gladly do but now I have to hope I don't run out of the regular food before the new box gets here or I've got to go shopping again.

Otherwise, how great is it to have 30 pounds of dog food delivered to my door step?!!!!

[procon]

9. I've been feeding my two kitties Blue Buffalo Wilderness High Protein Grain Free,

For about two years. They like the kibble and the one that had digestive probs with other premium brands has gained weight and her coat looks very healthy now, and she rarely barfs anymore. I feed in portion control amounts because the other one is a bit tubby and he gobbles his food like a vacuum cleaner. Its the only brand I've ever found nd that they both like and I can switch between flavors for a change,but the duck is the one they really like.