Is dry food reeeeally that diabolical for our cats?

[JMPARK]

thanks "farthing" for your advice . with the vets advice and a little tummy medicine from him, both the cats are now "solid" at last. i have fed them on boiled chicken or white plain fish only! this seems to have worked, but is quite expensive.
but i would pay anything for the kittens health.
what i would like advice on is when buying the wet food ive noticed that allot of peeople on this forum do give their cats the likes of gourmet and whiskers which are only about 4-5% meat rather than the 60% meat thats in the likes of "hi-life" is this ok for the kittens or should i keep them on the larger meat foods?

[truthisouthere]

Originally Posted by JMPARK

thanks "farthing" for your advice . with the vets advice and a little tummy medicine from him, both the cats are now "solid" at last. i have fed them on boiled chicken or white plain fish only! this seems to have worked, but is quite expensive.
but i would pay anything for the kittens health.
what i would like advice on is when buying the wet food ive noticed that allot of peeople on this forum do give their cats the likes of gourmet and whiskers which are only about 4-5% meat rather than the 60% meat thats in the likes of "hi-life" is this ok for the kittens or should i keep them on the larger meat foods?

Expensive? Not really much in it, my 2 have fresh meat every day now with dry food always available, wet food daily too. Sainsbury's do 2 packs of frozen chicken fillets for £5 at the moment, this lasts a couple of weeks. As opposed to how much a box of the wet food costs (Felix as good as it looks) it works out roughly the same. Sainsburys also do fresh mincemeat for just under a quid, the key is to freeze portions and take it out each day.
I'm on limited income but my kids always eat first..Good thing I'm a vegi!

Also remember pound for pound you get much more from 100% fresh meat, it produces less waste because the body is using all of it so it isn't neccessarily more expensive.

[JMPARK]

thanks truthisouthere, i would never stop feeding them to save money!! one chicke portion would just about last a day for my two kittens!! i feed them about 4-times a day at the momment! am not really bothered about the money side of it, just really wanted to know whether the "forum" thought that the "cheaper" cans of meat where as good as the more expensive ones. they are still on the "ID" food for a few more days to make sure their tummy are ok.

[Twocats]

When I first homed my cats people were saying feed dry only as it is better for their teeth, now they are saying dry is bad for them.

So I changed their diet about 3 weeks ago, now I give them felix pouches and I also bought vets kitchen complete dry.

I'm finding that nutmeg is eating the wet and not touching the dry and Beau is eating the dry and only a tiny bit of the wet.

They also have their own bowls for wet and 1 bowl for dry.

I'm not sure if what i'm giving is good enough, so if anyone has any idea's they will be welcome.

[Squirrel]

as for 'good enough' whatever you come up with is 'good enough' in that it suits your household. Especially given you're making the decisions based on knowledge, rather than not understanding the issues that such things can cause.

I'm sure that were you to take a survey on here about what we all feed our cats you'd come up with a range of completely different pet foods all with completely different price tags. We all need to strike a balance between what we can afford, what is available to us in the places we shop, what our cats will eat, and what is healthy for them - given the various different health conditions around the place.

[JMPARK]

My two kittens arn't that fussy on the "hard" feed, but i give them it with a little water mixed in. they tend to wait until the feed becomes softer and then eat it! i then let them have a "wet" feed which i use "Hi Life" once a day and they both love that!! as Squirrel has said, it really is down to the cat's tastes. i have a twin bowl and most of the time , after a little training, they seem to mostly keep to their own sides. i find this combination works quite well.the hard feed i use is "More". both the feeds are a "complete" feed. i also change their water regulary whether they have drunk it or not ,( about 3-4 times a day), i just use one bowl for that.
When i just left them both the "hard" feed they wouldn't eat it, but letting it soften a little with water they seem to tolerate it!