what brand dry cat food do you buy?

[disney_5]

We have a 3 year old cat. He is healthy but a bit overweight. I have been buying store brand dry cat food for him. I amwondering if there are any benefit to buying a different brand and what brand you would recemend. I know there are many brands available.

 

[gator75]

For our 2 cats we buy purina one. They have alot of selection and my cats are healthy and at average weight.

 

[pk1959]

We use Purina 1 also. Our previous cat ate that almost exclusively and lived to be 19 and was never overweight. Our current cat eats the same kind (the hairball formula because both cats are long haired cats) and he is almost 3 now and not overweight. I did try the probably better/more expensive food (Blue Buffalo) on our current cat and he had almost constant diarrhea/loose stools. No problems with the Purina 1. Hope you find something that works well for your furbaby

 

[debbiecarr98]

For our 2 cats we buy purina one. They have alot of selection and my cats are healthy and at average weight.

I also use Purina One. I have persians and the breeder recommended it years ago after she had compared it to more expensive brands. It has been good and I have never had a problem. I do, however, use Innova for my dogs. They are Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and their digestive systems can be sensitive.

 

[Gigi22]

We recently switched our cat to Wellness Indoor Health kibble for adult cats because our cat has experienced problems with grocery store brands. The kibble has no "meat by-products, wheat, corn, soy". We also switched to the Blue Buffalo brand of grain free canned cat food (it was impossible for us to get a reliable supply of the Wellness grain free canned cat food). We have noticed a definite improvement in the healthiness of our cat's fur, also she seems to be more active--and no digestive problems.

 

[sara mom]

We use Iams Proactive Health indoor weight and hairball care. We have 3 cats. We started with Purina 1 and switched gradually to Iams. The hairballs have decreased and their poos are not as smelly (the litter box is in my laundry room, so I notice).

We get it at Walmart for about $22 for a 14 pound bag, but sometimes it is cheaper at BJ's (like Costco in NYS) with a coupon. Not the cheapest cat food, but I like not cleaning up the hairballs we used to have.

 

[KigerKat]

We recently switched our cat to Wellness Indoor Health kibble for adult cats because our cat has experienced problems with grocery store brands. The kibble has no "meat by-products, wheat, corn, soy". We also switched to the Blue Buffalo brand of grain free canned cat food (it was impossible for us to get a reliable supply of the Wellness grain free canned cat food). We have noticed a definite improvement in the healthiness of our cat's fur, also she seems to be more active--and no digestive problems.

Grain free really is the way to go. One of our cats developed feline diabetes over the summer and I did extensive online research regarding what to feed him. Within 2 weeks of changing his diet to an all-wet/grain free diet, he was off his insulin and hasn't had a blood glucose reading over 110 since.

I realize it's more expensive, but then again so are diabetic testing strips, insulin, syringes, and trips to the vet. I would much rather have a healthy and active kitty because he eats a good diet than lose him early to something that could have been avoided.

We now feed our cats Wellness canned chicken and turkey. In my research, I also read that wet food is much better for diabetics than dry food, so that's why we only feed wet. But I would highly recommend the Wellness brand!!

As for Blue Buffalo, we did have a bad experience with them. One of our cats is a Bengal, and they are known to have sensitive stomachs. I tried a couple of years ago to switch all the kitties to Blue Buffalo and within a couple of days he was badly constipated. Maybe I didn't take enough time to switch them over (you need to gradually change food over), but none of the kitties ever cared for the black "life bits" in the food.

 

[Redwitch]

I use Hills Science Diet - Hair Ball Control Light. Another pricey choice, but the girls maintain their weight better. I use the hair ball control version because they do not like grooming.

 

[Swimalie]

We use Blue Buffalo. A warning, though, the litter pan smells a lot more with it since it's more natural.

 

[chewysmom]

We use Blue Buffalo and I don't really notice any smells in the litterbox. In fact, it's 100 times better than when we were using Purina Cat Chow. YMMV I guess.

 

[Elleshoodat]

We use Friskies Indoor Delights, and neither of our cats has had a problem with it ... which I'm grateful for after reading some of these responses!

 

[akcire]

Royal Canin--there are many versions. It is expensive.

 

[branv]

Grain free really is the way to go. One of our cats developed feline diabetes over the summer and I did extensive online research regarding what to feed him. Within 2 weeks of changing his diet to an all-wet/grain free diet, he was off his insulin and hasn't had a blood glucose reading over 110 since.

I realize it's more expensive, but then again so are diabetic testing strips, insulin, syringes, and trips to the vet. I would much rather have a healthy and active kitty because he eats a good diet than lose him early to something that could have been avoided.

Totally agree. Take it from someone who made this mistake of ignoring the signs until the damage was done. I used to dry feed exclusively. Both cats became overweight. I had been free feeding, so I started limiting their amount. One cat lost a little of the flab, the other kept getting bigger. They both also had dander issues. I tried going to really high-quality, grain-free dry food. It did help, but still not much. The really big one developed asthma, and the "thinner" one kept having her eye get watery/itchy, itchy ears, lots of hairballs (we thought), as well as scarfing and purging. At my wits end! Finally, I switched to all wet. Holy cow! Finally they started losing the flab, their coat became so soft and silky. Less stinky potty visits too (more yay for me than them ).

Unfortunately, after all those years of weight, the damage was done to the joints. The larger one can only jump down and up to very small heights. We had to build her a ramp just for the couch. The thinner one had better mobility, but still greatly diminished from what it should have been. We just lost her a few weeks ago b/c it turns out her hairballs was actually asthma as well...just showed differently than my other cat, and she hid it very well. Her lungs became too damaged, and she suddenly went into fatal distress. I will never know if the asthma issues they'd had was related to the foods I fed them, but I know being overweight made it worse, and she showed signs of allergy issues with the eye and scratchy ears while on the dry food.

And as this is the budget board, I will add that it's better to spend money on better food than vet bills later. Of COURSE, many many cats do fine their entire life on even cheap dry food. Reality is cat's aren't made to be on dry food -- but I also know reality is it's better that they have any food from a loving caregiver than none at all. If you can swing it, consider going with wet. I'm not trying to freak you out. But if your cat is already gaining weight on the dry, consider making a change now.

That being said, if you have to go with dry, go with a grain-free. Wellness is good, as is Evo. Best of luck to you and your furry friend.

 

[POOHsie]

After that wheat gluten and corn gluten/melamine substitution scandal came out of China, where dogs and cats died from the melamine which didn't belong in the food, I switched to Iams. They don't have that stuff in their food and never did. It's more expensive, but I feel I am buying food created by people who actually care about animal health.

 

[daileyad]

Kirkland brand from Costco (hairball formula) !

We've had cats for years and tried every grocery store brand to stop the cats from throwing up hairballs. I thought we would just have to live with it. Then I bought the Kirkland once since I had a gift card to Costco and we won't ever go back to the other brands

 

[Sandy61]

My middle-aged overweight cat developed diabetes and the vet said it was from dry food because of all the carbohydrates. We feed her canned food now and the diabetes went away. Our other 2 cats eat Purina One hairball formula dry food. Meal times at our house are always a challenge...one cat eats canned food in the kitchen, the dog is leashed up to keep him away from all the cat food, the other 2 cats are in the laundry room with a bowl of dry food which I keep a lid on at all other times. It can be a challenge herding the cats to their correct food room!!

 

[PatriciaH]

Orijen-#1 pet food the past few years. Grain free.

http://www.championpetfoods.com/

We try to feed mostly high quality wet food though since it is better for animals. WeRuVa, Instinct, Addiction, Tiki Cat, etc.

We used to buy Innova Evo but P&G bought them out and they ruined Iams and Eukanuba when they bought them out. Wellness also got bought by a much bigger company and I do not trust them any longer.

If you look at this site:
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

it rates the top dog foods. Many of the companies also make cat foods.

 

[sherry7]

We feed our 3 cats California Naturals Chicken & Brown Rice (dry). It's a limited antigen food, which means it has very few ingredients (basically it's chicken, brown rice, a bit of oil, and vitamins).

One of my cats is allergic to some (most) of the ingredients that are in most cat food. He can't eat corn, beef, lamb, or fish. This is the only food I've found that doesn't make him vomit and get skin rashes.

 

[squirrel]

Iams for my cat. I try and get the indoor or hairball one as she has long fur.

I did purchase canned Iams when I was away and she wouldn't eat it. I tried a can when I was home and she still wouldn't eat it. So much for giving her some special wet food as a treat.

 

[charming23]

My girls get a mix of Purina One and Nine lives. They will not eat the purina one on its own so I mix a big bag of purina with a small nine lives and it works for them. I also give them a can of cat food 1 day a week for an extra treat.