What is the best Cat food?

[PieterseMJ]

I've also heard that Hills is the best one (especially that they have the varieties for when kitty might get sick it's easy to change to a dietary version of Hills). If they start off eating a brand type, they'll stick to that their entire lives. We have two old kitties that are on Whiskers and the one refuses to eat if it's not Whiskers.

Hills is a bit more pricey but by far the better choice. It's like dogs just eating Bobtail (where Royal Canine and Vet's choice etc. is the better quality food) or humans just eating bread their entire lives and nothing else more healthy to substitute their diet.

I’ve also noticed that they eat less of the quality food than they do of the normal ‘grocery store’ bought food when comparing to other cats and our dogs, who are on the quality Royal Canine. The quality food contains all the right vitamins and minerals that they require whilst the cheaper food (like Whiskers and Friskies) just fills them up with an unbalanced amount of vitamins etc. I suppose it’s also specific to what breed or illnesses perhaps, but with the variety that Hills offer I’m sure you’ll find the ‘perfect’ one for your kitties. I know Hills also has a loyalty programme (available at some pet stores and vets) where you get a bag free for how many ever bags bought. We have that on Royal Canine with our vet where every 9 bags we get a free bag of food.

Start them off right and you’ll have a happy healthy kitty for a long time to come

 

[Stevi]

Mine eats Catmor and Epol and have never had any problems.
Just make sure you clean their bowls often so bacteria doesn't build up and throw away old food.

One thing about cats is that you cannot really control their diets 100%.
Mine eats most living things that crawl or fly into our home, and I have seen him having a feast at the neighbours cat bowl once

 

[Thor]

No need to feed your furballs food from a bag. Go to local butcher and get a few kilos of different fish, and get quality milk. My last cat lived for 15 years on this diet and was a walking menace.

what about real raw mince? I heard it more benefit than cat food.

Iirc you should never feed a cat human food.

 

[KleinBoontjie]

Iirc you should never feed a cat human food.

+1, yep, that's where fat cats and dogs come from. Too much carbs. Like those grandma's that cook their pets some mielie pap with leftovers mixed in.

 

[Judgewarrick]

I agree with the mince part as it is already processed and additional ingredients added . I am doing a raw diet and my cats on 13 years going strong . No issues with health . So far .

I will never buy or feed my cat whiskers ect. Hills if you are looking for a decent dry food then the way to go . Enjoy your kittens . Happy to see fellow internet peeps that care so much for their animals!

Cereal ,soya wheat just a no go area . Must say overseas the quality of good dry food especially in Canada has amazing ingredients . Origen one of those products

 

[Roxi_B4b3]

I agree with the mince part as it is already processed and additional ingredients added . I am doing a raw diet and my cats on 13 years going strong . No issues with health . So far .

I will never buy or feed my cat whiskers ect. Hills if you are looking for a decent dry food then the way to go . Enjoy your kittens . Happy to see fellow internet peeps that care so much for their animals!

Cereal ,soya wheat just a no go area . Must say overseas the quality of good dry food especially in Canada has amazing ingredients . Origen one of those products

We do get Orijen here, but it is crazy expensive. I pay +-R95 per kilo for Hills Natural Balance (which I admit is not cheap). The Orijen is closer to R150 per kilo

 

[Thor]

What qualifies as wet food?

I really want to nail this kitten parenting

 

[greg0205]

What qualifies as wet food?

I really want to nail this kitten parenting

Cans or sachets... Not dry pellets.

 

[upup]

ask your cat, buy different makes, let the cat taste and decide.

 

[ISP cash cow]

What qualifies as wet food?

I really want to nail this kitten parenting

anything wet

basically if it is in a can or meat and gravy in pouches. the others are in pellet form.


All the main companies make decent animal food products and they have lower and higher quality foods which will obviously determine the cost. all that usually happens is that the quantity of protein, fibre and fat varies due to brand, which will determine the cost of the product.

Most of the reputable brands all have decent product, it is just up to your kitten what she likes and enjoys. I would suggest to buy the products from veterinary stores as they tend to keep the better ranges while your normal retail stores can stock decent product but they tend to be more price sensitive and so rather look at price when buying into the stores rather than quality.

If you get a kitten rather just start off with kitten food.

 

[ISP cash cow]

True, after Royal Canine's & Vet's Choice being contaminated with melamine more than a decade ago we only purchase Hills. I think Royal Canine had close to a dozen recalls in 2006/2007 and a number of class actions. Not quite sure if there was ever a conclusion how the pet food was contanimated.

it is a bit unfair to Royal Canin on this as melamine in the past was not something that you would not naturally test for in your product as it shouldn't be there. It was raw material they were bringing in from China and what happened was that the raw material price was determined by the protein content of the product (which is tested via a nitrogen test) however protein is expensive and so the company in China decided to add inexpensive melamine into the product which boost the appearance of nitrogen and hence looks like the product contains more protein than it actually does.

It was not only Royal Canin that got hit worldwide with it but it was only Royal Canin in South Africa that bought from this one specific supplier in China. Due to this they have implemented a melamine testing protocol, and ironically all the other pet food companies did the same as the melamine scandal scared them ****less as well.

China companies are known to add melamine and other compounds to fool tests to try get more money. There were even infant deaths in their own country around about the same time due to them adding melamine into baby formula.

 

[acidman1]

We feed our cats this Primitive Feline

 

[chromedome]

We feed our cats this Primitive Feline

Looks good. Who do you buy it from?

 

[Neoprod]

No advice on the choice of food beyond reading the labels and making sure there isn't an unholy amount of carbs in the mix and the source of protein is clearly identified and a good quality.

What I will say, is that the manufacturers obviously don't know your particular cat and more specifically, how active it is. For my cats, as kittens I didn't have any weight issues following the guidelines on the packet but as they've gotten older, the guidelines became excessive. If I fed as much as advised, they would be fat.

So might be an issue for the future you should look out for - kittens burn calories like mad so it won't be a problem for now.

 

[BlackMamba]

Hello.

I want to get two little kittens ( absolutely luv cats )

But. Is here anyone that has experience regarding cat health?

Bob Martin and Whiskers was my go to, but I'm starting to think those options might not be the best choice.

Money is not an issue, please assist me in what would be the best and most ideal feeding strategy to ensure maximum health and longevity for my soon to be kittens.

Cats love rats so get a load full of rats

 

[Thor]

No advice on the choice of food beyond reading the labels and making sure there isn't an unholy amount of carbs in the mix and the source of protein is clearly identified and a good quality.

What I will say, is that the manufacturers obviously don't know your particular cat and more specifically, how active it is. For my cats, as kittens I didn't have any weight issues following the guidelines on the packet but as they've gotten older, the guidelines became excessive. If I fed as much as advised, they would be fat.

So might be an issue for the future you should look out for - kittens burn calories like mad so it won't be a problem for now.

Thanks for this I never actually thought of it like this I will definitely monitor them throughout their life cycle

 

[furpile]

Our cats started off on Whiskas and Friskies etc. Wife got them some Purina One on special, now they don't eat anything else. That is one of the better store bought foods. Vet also advised a vet food (obviously) as they can develop urinary problems if they are not very active. The vet did say they usually see the urinary problem with normal store food, but not with the Purina yet. We tried some of the vet food but the cats don't want to eat it. So we are sticking with Purina but will keep an eye on them. They also get wet food pouches from time to time, but they quickly get fed up with the same thing. Currently they like the mince pouches.

 

[Baxteen]

we have tried quite a few of the higher cost brands of food, because we found that looking for protien as the first ingrideint is important.

our cats only eat royal Canine active. not even other flavours gets their interest. hills and all the other eukenuba they simply do not care for.

strangely, when it comes to wet food, its friskies jelly favourites or nothing. and no not even the more expensive wet foods make an impact they only want friskies.

and if they dont get their packet each night there is hell to pay, so much cubbord loving its not even funny.

 

[Neoprod]

Thanks for this I never actually thought of it like this I will definitely monitor them throughout their life cycle

Don't fall for the begging...they're expert manipulators. I don't do the automatic feeder thing mainly because my cats were feral and feeding them personally had a lot to do with how they eventually bonded with me but an automatic feeder might be good for "normal" house cats in terms of disciplining them to eat on a fixed schedule i.e. it might help prevent them seeing people as food sources and trying to con themselves into more food.

 

[Neoprod]

strangely, when it comes to wet food, its friskies jelly favourites or nothing. and no not even the more expensive wet foods make an impact they only want friskies.

and if they dont get their packet each night there is hell to pay, so much cubbord loving its not even funny.

also...they won't even eat the Friskies gravy version. I've been having trouble finding the boxes of jelly sachets (I see loose ones alot but not the box)...luckily, Takealot sells the jelly in packs of 6 which I stock up on.

Sleeping by the food bowls because the coffee table is soooo comfortable