What do you feed your Adult Cat? (weight, safe, throw)
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Well, I have two medium haired, average sized adult mutt cats, brother and sister. They will be 8 years old this summer, adopted at 5 months. After some fits and starts, at some point I found Blue Buffalo Wilderness High Protein Grain Free, Natural Adult Dry Cat Food, Chicken ...on Amazon. I've been buying a bag per month on subscription, since. The cats eat not quite one bag/month.
I provide whatever wet food I pickup once in awhile, about once per week.
The cats are fine. Their fur is healthy, they seems healthy and spunky. My last cat ate IAMs until she passed at 16 1/2, last half year being a struggle due to kidney problems. I'm not an expert but find the amount of fussing people do over a non-issue like this to be highly amusing.
Blue Mountain is grain free, high protein, the cats love it w/o overeating. I'm sure there is a review or two out there explaining what horrid crap it is. The other 99/100 say something else. (84% 5-star of 691 review on Amazon as of today: what's that tell you?)
Answer to your question is $36/month to feed both the cats, call it $40 including some squishy food. End of problem/thread.
We have a farm and a total of 8 cats. Four in and around the house, Four in and around our barn. We have many other animals so I can't make cat food mixing and feeding a whole day's project. If you can, then feed the raw stuff. I have a friend who does, she swears by it for her fancy cats' health. But it's a major limitation on her life and where she can go.
We feed good quality dry.... Free fed in a big communal bowl. Currently the Costco Kirkland premium cat food brand which has a pretty good ingredient list.
We have one cat who gets bladder crystals on foods with the improper pH, and she has lived for the last 5 years now with no problems at all on the Kirkland food. She is also now going on 15... our other cats have also lived to their late teens on this diet if they stayed home... living near the woods, those who wander do sometimes end up lost.
Our cats drink a lot of water. I'm confused by reports that they don't. I am always refilling water dishes for both the house and barn cats and frequently see them taking good long drinks.
We have a farm and a total of 8 cats. Four in and around the house, Four in and around our barn. We have many other animals so I can't make cat food mixing and feeding a whole day's project. If you can, then feed the raw stuff. I have a friend who does, she swears by it for her fancy cats' health. But it's a major limitation on her life and where she can go.
We feed good quality dry.... Free fed in a big communal bowl. Currently the Costco Kirkland premium cat food brand which has a pretty good ingredient list.
We have one cat who gets bladder crystals on foods with the improper pH, and she has lived for the last 5 years now with no problems at all on the Kirkland food. She is also now going on 15... our other cats have also lived to their late teens on this diet if they stayed home... living near the woods, those who wander do sometimes end up lost.
Our cats drink a lot of water. I'm confused by reports that they don't. I am always refilling water dishes for both the house and barn cats and frequently see them taking good long drinks.
Your cats are drinking lots of water because you feed them dry food. I don't feed my cat any dry food and she practically never drinks water.
Your cats are drinking lots of water because you feed them dry food. I don't feed my cat any dry food and she practically never drinks water.
Dry cat food is not good for cats.
I agree, they drink water because with their diet, they need it. What I am countering is this idea that cats never drink enough and if you feed dry food they'll die of kidney disease. Ours clearly do drink. They're not dehydrated, I think they drink what they need. I don't have an explanation for the difference except that maybe if they grow up learning to drink, they drink.
I appreciate that all of you who have one pet cat can feed them fancy boutique diets. That's not practical for us. We do feed the best quality dry we can, because I do think there is a lot of crap out there.
I agree, they drink water because with their diet, they need it. What I am countering is this idea that cats never drink enough and if you feed dry food they'll die of kidney disease. Ours clearly do drink. They're not dehydrated, I think they drink what they need. I don't have an explanation for the difference except that maybe if they grow up learning to drink, they drink.
I appreciate that all of you who have one pet cat can feed them fancy boutique diets. That's not practical for us. We do feed the best quality dry we can, because I do think there is a lot of crap out there.
Yeah, they are. If you put them on an all wet diet, you would understand the difference.
I feed a rotation as well. Any of the following. She eats 2 small cans per day, plus 1 mid-day snack-sized (sheba or meow mix), plus sometimes an early morning half-snack if she starts biting us in bed at 4 in the morning, just to make her stop doing that til we're ready to actually get up.
1. Fancy Feast "tender" pate (beef, chicken/liver, chicken/beef)
2. The store brand version of the same (most stores have their own version of Fancy Feast, just make sure it's the "tender" which has low carbs, high protein, and no grain)
3. Petco's "WholeHearted" brand of pates - they actually get a decent rating, compared to the higher end foods but they're actually a little less expensive than Fancy Feast
4. Stella & Chewy's Chick Chick Chicken dinner, freezedried raw (add extra water for a nice gravy)
5. Tiki Cat chicken mousse, as an occasional treat to break from the monotony - she gets bored if she eats the same foods over and over again and this is an expensive indulgence..
6. Whiska's "simple servings" and Sheba purfect portions (one half of the sheba pair, or one simple serving, per day as a mid-day snack)
7. BFF/Weruva, fed just slightly more often than the Tiki mousse.
My cat rejects water entirely from the bowl or toilet or sink or shower, so she gets 100% of her water intake from the food dish. As a result I end up adding a teaspoon or two of water to her morning can, and on days when I prepare the Stella and Chewy's I always make it extra wet.
It sets us back around $50/month.
Ghaati,
Thanks for taking the time to share such a detailed response. This information is extremely helpful and I really appreciate it.
Your cats are drinking lots of water because you feed them dry food. I don't feed my cat any dry food and she practically never drinks water.
Dry cat food is not good for cats.
ITA with this. We have four cats and feed a wet diet. The only cat who I see use the water bowl regularly is our 19 year old, and he has issues that old cats have (aging kidneys, etc), so I don't consider him the norm.
I almost never see our calico at the water fountain, except maybe after she's puked or having a hairball on occasion.
I use the Nulo brand dry food. There are several flavors. It's grain free and just seems to have much cleaner ingredients.
My 2 kitties each share a small can of food once a day, mostly as a treat. I vary that a little, but it's still always grain free. Usually Nulo brand or Blue Buffalo.
Edited to add that I don't notice that they are drinking an unusual amount of water. No digestive problems at all either.
Feed homemade raw food! We do. Learn how. It's easy once you learn it. Takes a few months to get it all "down". We do it completely from scratch and buy each supplement (you need a few) on-line. I would never in a trillion years return to canned or dry food. We feed 14 cats raw and it has been over 6 years now.
Go here: Feline-nutrition.org; catinfo.org; rawfeedingforibdcats.com
Your cats will be healthier and happier and rarely do they get fat. No downsides.
It costs us $1 per day to feed each cat good meals twice daily. (As I said, 14 cats.)
I agree, they drink water because with their diet, they need it. What I am countering is this idea that cats never drink enough and if you feed dry food they'll die of kidney disease. Ours clearly do drink. They're not dehydrated, I think they drink what they need. I don't have an explanation for the difference except that maybe if they grow up learning to drink, they drink.
I appreciate that all of you who have one pet cat can feed them fancy boutique diets. That's not practical for us. We do feed the best quality dry we can, because I do think there is a lot of crap out there.
Can you afford to spend less than $1 per day to feed two large meals to your cat? If so, you can prevent a lot of diseases by feeding homemade raw.
I make it for 14 cats! Easy peasy and it's AFFORDABLE.
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