What kind of cat food should i feed my cat?

Siu

He poops alot and i dont even give him that much food. I had a cat before and she ate the same about as he does but he just seems to poop alot and i have to clean his litter 3-5 time a day. Does it have to do with the food i give him? The food that he eats is Friskies® Feline Favorites®



Enoch

I’m glad you’re looking into why certain foods are bad or good. It is true that many many brands of manufactured cat foods claiming to be "healthy" really are not. In fact they are made of the lowest ingredients possible. Im not saying that a cat cant live off them... just the same as you could live off hot dogs forever, but better choices can and should be made. I would not venture to say that any manufactured food is "best" for a cat but a grain free organic food would be good. And canned is certainly better than Dry in all cases. I personally feed a Raw Meat and Bones based diet to my cats and they are very healthy on it. I HIGHLY recommend it. Once I got the hang of it and felt comfortable with it its a snap to prepare. Its something you might want to consider someday. They are obligate carnivores after all and must derive ALL their nutrients from meat based sources. They are unable to absorb them from any other source. Despite thousands of years of domestication they remain strictly carnivorous. True and honest meat eaters and that is what they need most. Protein from meat! If raw is not an option for you be aware that there are three Categories of Pet Foods: -"Grocery store" foods – (Generic Brands and cheap name brands) Those foods found in grocery stores and mass-market retailers are made with lower-quality, less-digestible, inexpensive ingredients and are therefore a cheaper alternative. While easy on the pocketbook, "grocery store" foods normally do not provide your cat with the healthiest, most nutrient-dense ingredients.-Premium foods – (Iams/Eukanuba, Purina One, Hills Science Diet, Nutro and such) Foods often found in grocery stores, pet stores, and veterinarian offices that contain higher-grade ingredients, but still include many elements of "grocery store" food, such as artificial colors, artificial flavors, chemical preservatives, and "filler" ingredients such as corn and wheat products, by-products and even animal digest. Yuck! Premium foods are usually more expensive than "grocery store" foods because their ingredients are sometimes of a higher quality, and are therefore somewhat more beneficial and digestible. But don’t be fooled, some of those same so called Premium brands are sometimes worse than grocery store foods, but they charge prices like they are better. They aren’t! - Healthy foods – (Wellness, Eagle Pack, Drs Foster and Smith) The newest addition to the pet food market - provide pets with the highest quality, healthiest, and most nutritious ingredients. They are typically available for purchase online or direct from the manufacturer. Some better retailers are starting to carry them now. Complete Petmart carries a few healthy brand foods. Foods in the Healthy class - contain nutrient-rich ingredients. Formulated to provide optimum health benefits for pets, these foods often use real meat as the primary protein source, carbohydrate-rich whole grains like brown rice and barley and whole, fresh fruits and vegetables. They should not contain artificial preservatives, flavors, or colors. They will almost always be fortified with additional vitamins and minerals, and will use the best natural sources for fatty acids to help build healthy skin and a beautiful coat. Because healthy foods use high quality ingredients, you should expect to pay a little more than you would for other types of pet food. Remember, though, with healthy foods you can feed less since healthy foods are more nutrient-dense than other types of food so it often evens out or cost’s les than feeding foods filled with cheap non-nutritional by-products fillers. With all that information in mind, when you are choosing a new cat food, study the ingredients. All ingredients on pet food labels are listed by weight. Meaning whatever ingredients are listed first on the list, there is more in there. The first ingredients listed should be whole meat ingredients, protein sources, such as Chicken or Turkey. NOT just the word “meat”! Who the heck knows what that is? The word Chicken Meal is ok, but it should be a secondary ingredient, not first. Meal is the meat dehydrated and ground into a powder. The ingredients also should NOT include any by-products or animal digest whatsoever. Those are disgusting left over animal parts that are scraped off the filthy floors of meat and poultry plants. They should just go into the trash but they put them into pet food instead. EW!!!! Also make sure there are no artificial colors or flavors. And make sure there is no BHA and BHT used preservatives. These preservatives have been shown to cause cancer in both cats and dogs. Bad Bad stuff and it’s in almost every cat treat on the market. :(So, in summery of the ingredients… if you see the words by-products, Animal Digest, the word “meat” alone, Corn, Corn Gluten, Wheat Gluten, or BHA or BHT… stop reading, put down that product and move on to the next. Be aware that when switching to a Healthy, Holistic or Organic food, you will pay for what you get. Good foods are not cheap. They are pricey and will cost you on a per bag basis much more. Just like steak costs more than hotdogs. But again, you will be feeding a better food and improving the over all health of your pet. Which in turn leads to less vet visits for illness now and more importantly later in life in their Geriatric years. You will also feed less of this food on a per animal basis because a smaller amount of food contains what your cat needs. Overall healthy foods are well worth it, if only for the piece of mind that the ingredients are better for your cat than cheap crap. You can start your search here if you are not ready to try feeding a Raw diet: http://www. onlynaturalpet. comIf you want to buy in a store, Complete Petmart is a good store and carries quite a few natural, organic, and holistic blends. Also check with your local feed stores. Old Mother Hubbard Wellness Brand is a great holistic food I feed. As is Eagle Pack Dry Cat food. Merrick canned is also a great source of nutrition and they will be coming out with a dry line this summer. I highly recommend people take the time to research for themselves, but the information I have given should get you off to a good start. Good luck choosing a new food for your cats! ********IMPORTANT*******Don’t forget to switch your Pets food slowly over a period of 10 to 14 days, if you can. Mixing 25% new to 75% old. Then 50/50… then 75% new to 25% old. And finally switch over to 100% new. Take it slow as not to upset their digestive system. Side note… Please don’t feed Iams / Eukanuba. It’s ALL fillers, byproducts, animal digest and CRAP. Read the ingredients! There is nothing good for your cat in that food. Not to mention they conduct the most appalling animal testing you have ever seen. http://www. iamscruelty. com to see the terror they create. Foods I can recommend based on personal experience - Drs. FS Food Link - http://www. drsfostersmith. com/product/Na…Wellness Food Link - http://www. oldmotherhubbard. com/wellness…Eagle Pack Holistic Select - http://www. eaglepack. com/Pages/HS_Home. h…Merrick Foods: http://www. merrickpetcare. com/You can find more great foods at http://www. onlynaturalpet. com ****DO NOT FEED IAMS!**** http://www. iamscruelty. com



Sammie

I give my kitty Iams food. Look on the ingredients, the main ingredient should be chicken, fish, etc not a meal or grain



Cleveland

It may be his food. I cant recommend any brands because I live in the UK, but I dont think Friskies is a terribly good brand. I would look for a wet food that contains a lot of meat and no or minimal grains. http://www. catinfo. org/http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac…http://maxshouse. com/feline_nutrition. ht…



Magda

I feed my cat that to and she has lived for a long time and she is 18. that is the best cat food you can buy.



Buddy

I feed my cat a mix of purina and iams he likes a changedo you just feed him dry??i feed my cat a mix of everything wet and dry and a combination of brands flavours! hes absolutely fine



Shaina

Well you could try other brands like Fancy Feast or Purina Cat Chow, experiment with hard and soft food. But odds are the cats gonna poop a lot anyway. But maybe not. Some cats have food allergies and that turns them into little poop monsters. If Beef alone does nothing but Beef with Chicken or Beef with Liver causes increases in poop, you might have a food allergy. With me, I just feed mine whatever is cheap and theyll eat. I have no use for fussy animals. Get too fussy with me, and you can hunt your own damn food! I trained all of mine to poop outdoors, Snow, Rain or Sunshine. Liter boxes can be a real headache and stinkier than all get out. UGH! So I dont care if my cats poop 20 times a day!



Gay

I feed my kitty canned tuna. its cheap, my kitty loves it, and shes very healthy.



Billy

I have changed my cats over to the raw diet, and they love it, i also keep dry down for them as well, but I only feed royal canin and i have very little poops from each one, please dont feed purina or meow mix or friskies, or any of that cheap stuff it is kinda like you and i making a steady diet of potato chips and chocolate bars and mcdonalds, its just crap,



Benny

Friskies and other lower quality foods, have animal byproducts and fillers, wich inturn make your animal poop more. I would suggest Nutro ( not the best but it is still rather cheap and not compleatly horrid) If you want to go the compleatly natural rute Orijen(Kitty) and wellness are great kitty foods, as well as Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul. These should help her not poo as much, as they dont have fillers and all that. edit: Also you SHOULD feed wet food, cats need lots of water/liquids.



Cyndy

I teach u how to care of yr cat, first point is to give him or she to give can food like friskie salmon fish in day time or mid afternoon, second point is night time to give it to eat same brands of dry foods n plus sometime give yr cat pet milkor water. wat u give to yr cat having meal as long must put some water on the side of yr cat meals. if cant help so must to vet clinic.



Dagny

The food probably just disagrees with him. Its not a good food, and the fact that another cat can eat it without digestive problems doesnt contraindicate that. That food is full of filler so its not terribly surprising that a cat would poop more. Look for a better quality food, which you wont find at the grocery store. See the link for suggestions. In addition, Wellness Core or Natures Variety Instincts are good dry foods as well. Or better yet, serve a canned food. Dry food doesnt clean the teeth so theres no need to feed any.



Luann

Purina is the best, and they make food for all ages of life.