Indecisive about what to feed

[RaisinBambino]

So Raisin started off eating Natural Instinct frozen raw bites as a kitten. Started from the breeder and eventually I had to transition her to kibble due to my work schedule since I wasn’t able to properly thaw out the food prior to feeding and standing there watching her eat it all. Switched her to Solid Gold Indigo Moon High Protein and had her on Natural Instinct wet 3oz canned as well.

Now im FINALLY burning through the bag of Solid Gold and tried switching her back to Natural Instinct frozen raw again but she doesn’t seem to interested in eating it as she used to. She always mews to be fed but when I give her the food, she kinda just turns away. By the time she chooses to eat it, its a few nibble and walks away and I have to eventually throw it away cause it’s no longer good.

Now I’m looking to switch her but can’t decide which brand of dry since I see a lot of people either give Natural Instinct or Wellness. Also if I feed her dry and wet, should I be feeding a 3oz can or 5.5oz can? But at the same time, I wanna give her raw but possibly try freeze dried since it’s similar to raw. So many food options! It’s so overwhelming reading all these post and being so indecisive on what to feed. I also don’t want to go broke feeding her freeze dried if i have to buy a bag every week or so.


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[zoinks]

Ultimately it’s a personal choice based on the time you have to prep/make food, funds and also based on each individual cat and what they like and do well on.

A lot of people feed raw because their cat has stinky/runny poop - if that’s the case for you, you might want to do 100% raw or freeze dried to get the most benefit out of the diet. To tempt her back to eating it, try crushed dry food, freeze dried chicken, a little bit of wet food or forti flora on top to make it more enticing.

If Raisin is doing great on the solid gold and natural instinct, why rock the boat. 3oz of wet food once or twice a day seems like a good amount, just keep an eye out for weight gain making sure she is regulating how much dry food she is grazing on.

 

[Condo commando]

Mine will no longer eat Natural Instinct Raw Bites. Crazy thing is they used to. Now they still eat all raw food but not the store bought raw ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Could you try buying from somebody like Hare Today or Raw Feeding Miami? They sell the meats. You can buy it already ground so you don't need to grind anything.

 

[RaisinBambino]

Ultimately it’s a personal choice based on the time you have to prep/make food, funds and also based on each individual cat and what they like and do well on.

A lot of people feed raw because their cat has stinky/runny poop - if that’s the case for you, you might want to do 100% raw or freeze dried to get the most benefit out of the diet. To tempt her back to eating it, try crushed dry food, freeze dried chicken, a little bit of wet food or forti flora on top to make it more enticing.

If Raisin is doing great on the solid gold and natural instinct, why rock the boat. 3oz of wet food once or twice a day seems like a good amount, just keep an eye out for weight gain making sure she is regulating how much dry food she is grazing on.

She never really had the runny/stinky poo issue. Her poo has been great since i’ve switched her to kibble/wet rather than all raw. Just wanted to switch her since I just wanted a good diet for her. And oddly, hopefully it’s not true but read a few posting that kibble gave their sphynx hair&i did kinda noticed that since i started her on kibble, she did grow quite a bit of fuzz.

I definitely think keeping her on the dry is the best deal for me since it’s very simple and if i ever have to leave her for my boyfriend to watch, I can rely on him to simply scoop dry food than thawing out raw&such.


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[RaisinBambino]

Mine will no longer eat Natural Instinct Raw Bites. Crazy thing is they used to. Now they still eat all raw food but not the store bought raw ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Could you try buying from somebody like Hare Today or Raw Feeding Miami? They sell the meats. You can buy it already ground so you don't need to grind anything.

I never knew there were other brands that made raw diets for pets. I will definitely look into those brands and seeing if those are accessible.


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[Toa and Ross]

Oh the search for the best food that is effordable gave me a headache;-).
I started with dry and wet food. Due to tummy issues I transfered to raw. Then one refused to eat it and the vet told me raw food is not safe here. So back to kibbles and wet. Then two cats became too fat. Now I switched to wet food only. I found a wet food very close to raw food: natures menu, country hunter.
But 2 won't eat it. So now Jade each country hunter and the boys eat royal canin. Sigh.
No good avice from me. Only wanted to let you know you're not the only one that is searching!

 

[RaisinBambino]

Oh the search for the best food that is effordable gave me a headache;-).
I started with dry and wet food. Due to tummy issues I transfered to raw. Then one refused to eat it and the vet told me raw food is not safe here. So back to kibbles and wet. Then two cats became too fat. Now I switched to wet food only. I found a wet food very close to raw food: natures menu, country hunter.
But 2 won't eat it. So now Jade each country hunter and the boys eat royal canin. Sigh.
No good avice from me. Only wanted to let you know you're not the only one that is searching!

Haha im glad someone else found that this is a headache. Never knew diet can be so crucial to our little baby sphynxs. Funny cause when I had my corgi, i had no problem finding him a food that was great.

I figured i’d stick to the solid gold since shes having no issues eating it but now just debating to continue on the wet or feed her a different brand? I mean right now i’m only giving her 1/4cup dry in the morning but noticed that when i feed her the 3oz can, i will find her waking me up at ridiculous hours to feed her again but i dont want her to gain too much weight


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[Toa and Ross]

@RaisinBambino same here! Now I'm only feeding wet food to let them lose some weight, they wake me up very early to demand food. I feed them a lot more wet food then I gave them dry food. Still they lose weight.
Since I'm from europe I have to calculate how much I give in oz. Try to do that later. For now: I feed them 3x 85 gram a day.

 

[Condo commando]

85 grams = 3 ounces

 

[Condo commando]

@RaisinBambino a lot of vets are saying that pet obesity became a thing after kibble was invented. It's also water depleted and since cats do not have a strong thirst drive, it puts more strain on the kidneys. However, the convenience and price of kibble are hard to beat. To kind of balance it out, most people go ahead and feed at least a little bit of canned food.

Now, canned food in the 3 ounce cans is expensive because you're paying for all those cans, so economically it makes sense to buy the larger can. The one I recommend is Natural Balance Original Ultra Formula. It comes in a 6 ounce can (all the other ones are 5.5 ounces). Buy a lid for it, give half in the morning and the other half just before bedtime.

In the middle of the day you can provide a little kibble, but many cats are fine with 6 ounces of canned food.

It's this one:
www.naturalbalanceinc.com/cat-formulas/canned-food/original-ultra/whole-body-health-chicken-salmon-duck

 

[Condo commando]

I never knew there were other brands that made raw diets for pets. I will definitely look into those brands and seeing if those are accessible.

If you decide to go back to raw, I can help you choose one that is easy. The thing is you will need to make room in your freezer for all the frozen food because these companies are not local. I think everybody ends up buying a freezer and then ordering the food every few months.

 

[Sheldon13]

Ellie eats only 2 oz, morning and night. She has raw kibble available but rarely eats it.


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[Condo commando]

Ellie eats only 2 oz, morning and night. She has raw kibble available but rarely eats it.

Smaller and less active ---> eat less
Bigger and more active ---> eat more

Ellie is probably a svelte beauty

 

[Catzzzmeow]

Posted on FB and IG a couple of weeks ago. We have had good results with Merrick turkey and rabbit for a couple of years. Well 3 weeks ago, we bought 26 cans and poop changed and cans of rabbit were not full as you can see in the pics. So frustrating. We have switched back to Wellness brand now. Trying to make life easier and affordable keeping their welfare as the priority. Customer service at Merrick sent us coupons, to replace and suggested returning unused cans as the formula has been changed and shared the differences. Just seemed like a hassle, but we are rolling with it. Multiple cat homes have challenges and I am trying to keep it real. Azura needs urinary prescriptive food wet/dry. We wanted to keep the other 3 on grain free, but are opting for Wellness grain free wet and giving Azura’s dry to simplify and it is keep poop harder.

Sigh...but all is good.

 

[Sheldon13]

Smaller and less active ---> eat less
Bigger and more active ---> eat more

Ellie is probably a svelte beauty

Lol she’s pretty good. Right in the middle where she’s supposed to be. Shucks thanks for noticing...


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[Condo commando]

@Catzzzmeow in a prior life I used to feed Merrick. When the original owners sold the company I switched brands. Sometimes it doesn't even take an ownership change and they just up and change the recipe. It happens a lot more than you realize.

This is important and I'm not sure how many people realize it. Ever since Chewy's was sold to PetSmart some of the "small family owned" brands have pulled out of Chewy's. We're talking brands that don't sell in mass market stores but rather in small boutique shops. The reason is these companies have a commitment to better food and mass market retailers squeeze them to the point they can't make money and provide the product that they want to provide. They started with Chewy when it was a little business, but last year Chewy's sales were $3.5 billion. So be aware, if you are buying brands that are mass marketed you're not leaving the recipe up to the company on the label, but rather to the company on the front door. I'm not speaking as a pet crusader but as a CPA that's been in the room. Maybe I didn't work in pet food but I've seen the chief medical officer of a large healthcare company ask to put a program in place to improve outcomes, and the chief financial officer said not unless you can show the return on investment. This was a division of human healthcare company.....I don't want to say the name but it starts with "Hum" and ends in "ana." But hey, if you want brand recognition they gotcha covered. Just FYI.