What brand of cat food would u recommend and why?

Davis

I want to spoil my cat! and i want him to have cat food that is well known and healthy yet at the same time tasty for my soon to be cat. Also do you think i should use catnip for my cat???



Carola

Its entirely up to you whether you wish to use catnip with your kitty. Not all cats react to it, but yours may enjoy it. I personally would recommend a high quality wet food for your kitty! Contrary to popular belief, wet food is actually healthier than dry. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just dont drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least (cats barely even chew their dry food and, really, does a pretzel clean /your/ teeth? Cats should have their teeth brushed with cat toothbrushes and cat toothpaste at least a few times a week as well as see the vet for dental cleanings when necessary /regardless/ of what they are being fed). Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cats natural diet. More on why canned food is best:http://www. catinfo. org/ (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)http://cats. about. com/cs/catfood/a/canne… (Canned Cat Food: Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?)http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac… (Why Cats Need Canned Food)http://www. felinefuture. com/nutrition/bp… (The Dry Food Crisis)http://maxshouse. com/feline_nutrition. ht… (Maxs House: Feline Nutrition)http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac… (Does Dry Food Clean the Teeth?)Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water. Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that arent safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot. Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets. Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption. Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix. Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Natures Variety Prairie, Natures Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics. A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Diets high in grain/carbohydrates have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Natures Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Merrick Before Grain, Fromm Surf Turf, Now!, Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Ziwipeak, and Taste of the Wild. Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing new slowly in with the old over about a week or so), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies. Also remember that freefeeding (leaving food down) is the fast lane to feline obesity. Make sure to have scheduled feeding times based on the feeding instructions on your cats food. More:http://www. dogfoodanalysis. com/dog_food_… (Dog food reviews. Its for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)Darksong~



Hector

My cat suffered horrible diahrrea when she was given wiskars and felix and cat milk and she is ever happy and healthy when she eats any brand drie food and tesco luxury or premium food made of 50% of fish. so far the last one is the best, i tried many, whe wouldnt like it or would make her sick.



Delma

We rely on Science Diet. Iams is also a good brand, but we think Science Diet is the best. Most of the brands that you can buy in the grocery store (as opposed to PetSmart, etc.) are called "beaks and feet" by those who have read up on this subject. This means that these parts of the chicken are included in the food. Science Diet will also keep your little guy or girl from developing kidney problems later in life. Sure, try the catnip. Some cats respond; others dont. Cat Claws (www. catclaws. com) has really good catnip. You want what is freshest. Our cat also enjoys grass we grow from wheatberries. You can also purchase this grass at some health food stores. Just please keep her or him indoors. Letting cats out of doors shortens their life span by at least ten years if not more.



Letty

Okay, here is the thing about modern cat diets. They have a lot of carbohydrates like rice, corn, corn gluten, etc. These are things that are main ingredients in some of the most well known cat diets, and even in the super-expensive vet-recommended ones. The problem with this is that cats would never eat this stuff in the wild. They need protein, like meats, but they are getting the majority of their nutrition from corn. Cats have to eat huge amounts of carbs in the current diets to get the protein and nutrition they need. Thats why there are so many over weight cats nowadays! Look for foods where the main products are actual meat, and preferably poultry like duck, chicken, or turkey. Do not buy food where some of the top 5 ingredients include meat by-products, corn, or corn gluten. Brown rice (whole grains) later on down the ingredient list is okay. What you really should look for is Grain free, BALANCED diet food without meat byproducts. Our cats each get a 6 oz. can of either Innova or Evo wet cat food a day, divided up 1/2 in the morning and the rest in the evening. We sprinkle dry food on top, I think the brand is Eukaneba. The idea is to try to get the diets as close as to what cats would eat in the wild. Some specialty stores even sell raw meat diet, but we dont go that far.



Kasi

I have always used Purina complete formula, they have different kinds for indoor and outdoor cats. you could try cat nip to see how your cat reacts to it. my male went crazy attacking everything that moved and when he was tired or playing he tried to nap but every little noise paranoid him and he would jump up. i will not use it again for him.



Amberly

If you really love your cat, then feed him a grain free wet diet. It is the natural way for cats to eat. Dry cat food is crap and contains carbohydrates that cats cant digest. Cats are obligate carnivores and have to eat meat. Wellness, Innova EVO, Avoderm, and Fancy Feast are some grain free varieties. For information on feeding your cat, go to http://catinfo. orgReal information from a real vet. Feed your cat the right diet and you will have a happy, healthy beautiful cat that will love you with all his heart. :-)



Kimberli

I give my special kitty Blue Buffalo. She loves it and it is a very healthy food. Also a plus for me, it is on the cheaper end of the "good" foods. I tried feeding her Innova Evo once (which is widely accepted as the best because of its high protien content), but she developed bloody diarrhea that stopped as soon as I put her back on Blue Buffalo. I think some cats digestive systems cant take too much protein. I gave my kitty a catnip toy for the first time this week. She played with it a little and then went back to playing with my hair rubber band! Go figure!



Laurene

To me, the best cat food is a TYPE of food, not so much a particular brand. And that type is grainless wet food. There are many good brands in this category - see the list for suggestions. Brands I have used include Natural Balance, Natures Variety Instincts and Wellness. NB and Wellness are both available at Petco and are reasonably priced (about $1 per 5.5oz can). The Instincts is pricy - nearly $2 for a 5.5 oz can, but it is really excellent food. The NB also seems to be tasty - many cats seem to like it. If you want to serve dry food even if just as a treat, go grainless here as well. Wellness Core, Natures Variety Instincts and Evo are good choices, with Evo being the most popular. Catnip is an excellent thing, if your cat is susceptible to it.



Irvin

I would recommend Felidea, Wellness or something along those lines. It is very good food with no by products or crap thats in foods at wal-mart and has lots of protein from meat.



Bernarda

Thats a tough question. can cats taste and does it matter? normally I would say no. Ive been feeding my cat dry cat food Purina cat chow, for 6 years and occassionally moist on special occassions. thanksgiving, christmas new years...but, that doesnt mean I dont sneak her some people food. my cat loves pasta, or ground beef, or turkey/chicken steak. she usually wants to see what I am eating and wants a piece just for taste. if she dosent like it, she will try and hide it by covering it up, and walking away. incidentally I gave her cat chow cuz when I adopted her from the aspca they said thats what they give them. Cats are creatures of habit.



Nga

Wellness CORE and Evo (made by Innova) are the best dry foods Ive ever seen. Both are grain free. My cats enjoy both. I think they like Evo a little better but that may just be because they get Wellness most of the time and they love anything that seems special. Evo makes some wonderful canned food too. Canned food is better but of the moisture content and because it can be made without fillers and junk. Even the very best hard food needs something to hold it together. Most cat food is lousy. Anything you find in a grocery store and almost anything you find in most pet stores. They have ingredients like corn, soy, wheat, and meat by-products -- all of those are worthless calories for cats. They use things like that to make the food cheaper to produce and to claim more protein in the food even though cats cant make use of that protein. Cats need meat and some added vitamins. Thats it. Brands like Purina and Iams are junk. Take some time to read the ingredients in a variety of pet foods. Youll recognize the differences. And their are plenty of foods that claim to be natural and all that but are still lousy. I dont understand AvoDerm. Avocado can be deadly to cats, so Im confused about why a food would be proud to have it in there, even if they found some safe part of it. If youre going to get a really high quality food then go grain free. Thats the closest to natural youll get without going raw. And the more of their diet is made up of high quality wet food, the better. My cats are perfectly happy to eat grain free food. I have added a little bit of Wellnesss Indoor formula (which has rice, boo) because the fiber helps with their hairballs. They think its a great treat but they have no problem with plowing through their CORE too. If you happen to live in the los angeles area I can recommend a nice little store that sells only the best food and has helpful, knowledgeable employees. Im sure there are stores like that in other areas too. I found them using Evo search to find stores that carry their brand: http://www. naturapet. com/where-to-buy/ There are lots of varieties of great canned food that can be found in non-chain stores. If yours is like mine then variety of high quality food is the best way to be spoiled. Catnip is great! I dont care for the spray kind but the dry catnip is great fun to most of mine. I have grown it before and I think the plants are quite pretty but they tend to get destroyed. I had one that grew nice and big because my one cat at the time only likes it dried. I gave it to my parents and one of their cats demolished it. But at least he had fun. Catnip is safe. The effect wears off fairly quickly and they lose interest for awhile so they dont "overdose". Its best if they dont eat a lot of it just for the sake of avoiding loose stools but a little is fine and many just smell it then roll around. If youre looking for catnip toys then find some that smell strongly. Some of those toys dont seem to have a catnip smell at all. Although rubbing the leaves or dried bits generally increases the smell. Not all cats react, but many do. Young kittens dont tend to react either. I think 8 months is supposed to be the age when they start to care but my 7 month old seems to love it already. Best of luck!



Hildred

I use Purina One Sensitive Systems. One of my cats had diarrhea and this is one of the few foods that wont upset her system. Theyve been around forever and I trust them and the cats are healthy and happy. I also like that the main ingredient is turkey.



Malcolm

Here is best quality cat food in many varieties. These Cat Food is complete meal of either poultry meat or fish packed in foil for freshness and ease of use. Contains wholesome oils to help keep puss in great shape! I purchased this cat food from http://www. agritura. com/index. php/cat/c2… My cat very like this food.



Gerry

Royal Canin Duck and Green Pea formula. My cat was allergic to all the other cat food preservatives so our vet suggested Royal Canin. His fur coat has never looked more beautiful and his bowel movements are not so runny and are more regular. It has improved his overall health and he looks great. Catnip shouldnt hurt your cat but some cats are allergic to it. Ask your vet to make sure.