Advice on changing cats diets?

IrishHomer

Apologies this was probably covered many times but i cannot find it and anyway here goes!

W e have for the past 2 years 3 rescued cats and we ahve always been feeding them cheap cans of cat meat only as they always seemed ot dislike cheap varieties of nuts.

I heard recently on the radio from an animal welfare offficer that all cats should be fed nuts and given little or no tinned meat.

If this is correct can someone please advise me how to change the cats diet and what brand of food would be recommended wothout breaking the bank balance

Magenta

Hi OP
Both diets have their pros and cons. Nuts are made mostly of cereal which is not natural for a cat and tends to make them put on weight, however the tinned food is usually about 80% water.
One of my cats only eats the nuts, she prefers them and she is the type who prefers to eat little and often, so I leave her out a bowl of the nuts in the morning and she just eats a bit now and then. It's great because the nuts don't smell if you leave them out.

However the rest of my cats eat the tinned food in 2 meals a day and they are all doing great.

To change over, start by mixing a little of the nuts in with the tinned food and over the space of a week or two, put in more nuts and less tinned food until they are only eating nuts. They might get a few runny poos from the change in diet but this method should minimise it.

By the way I feed mine the regular supermarket brands and have never had any problems with them in 20 years of cat ownership

Adventure Pout

cats are OBLIGATE carnivore so dry food is really not a good thing for them,although marketing and ads etc.. make it look good..
You can try giving them small bit of raw meat (chicken,turkey,beef -- but NO raw fish or pork!!). Usually they will crave for it,then you can start giving them a bit more and more gradually...
Can food are not too bad but you have to check the content of protein and what is in it - I recommend you to invest in a good quality can food if you can (Encore,Applaws etc..).
I mainly feed my cats raw meat and they have no problem at all.. Healthy kitties, fantastic fur, no smelly poos (with cheap cat food, you will see that their poos smell horribly strong!!)..
This is what I used in my cat raw meat:
http://www.felinefuture.com/
Hope this helps.. and make sense..

lrushe

I feed my cat on a small handful of cat nuts mixed with a pouch of wet food. I feed the nuts as much for her teeth as for nutrition as you can't give a cat a bone to help clean their teeth so dry nuts are the next best thing. My cat is almost 8 and her teeth are still spotless

susanna

I wouldnt take the cats off wet food completely, as most cats dont tend to drink a lot of water, and they get the moisture from wet food. Think about how a cat would eat naturally in the wild. A small amount of nuts to nibble on during the day won't do any harm though

Adventure Pout's post is spot on, you should look for wet food with a high meat/protein content if possible (the supermarket brands only have 4%, the rest is filler).

The Sweeper

lrushe wrote: »

I feed the nuts as much for her teeth as for nutrition as you can't give a cat a bone to help clean their teeth so dry nuts are the next best thing.

Yes you can. You can feed a cat a raw chicken neck and it will clean their teeth quite effectively. Many vets recommend them in conjunction with tinned food diets, as evidence is emerging that kibble-only diets contributes to struvite crystals in the cat's urine and can lead eventually to kidney failure. This is due to the lack of a strong thirst drive in the cat - they're used to getting most of the moisture they require from the small animals they would kill and eat in the wild.

Consider that even though cats have been domesticated for a few thousand years, it was and is still extremely common to allow cats to roam freely, and their predatory instincts are still very strong so they will often kill and eat their own prey if given the chance.

Kibble is a convenience food for humans, not the best thing to feed your cat exclusively. Try a combination of different things - some kibble, some tinned food, some raw meat, some chicken necks. Vary the diet to keep it interesting and do not concentrate on feeding one thing in particular, as this can cause an imbalance in the cat's system. Also always purchase the best quality food you can afford to buy - this means a dry food where animal protein is the first ingredient and there is very little cereal as filler if possible, and no food colourings.