Cat Food Quandary

[LvR]

. .

[cjolley]

Try Science Diet
Our only experience with it is with dogs, but we have had pretty good luck.
One of our dogs has sensitive skin and breaks out at the drop of a hat.
They have a food that he does well on.


PS He has 2 inch fangs so no comments for the peanut gallery.

[Claymonkey]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA where is my gun?

An ex of mine had house rabbits... cute but those things chewed EVERYTHING. I once specifically ordered rabbit at a german restaurant in front of her and her mother and enjoyed it immensely.

LvH - except for the tummy issues I've been nothing but happy with Iams. She WAS fine with the stuff for almost two years. Maybe I should return her to Iams kitten since she had that for the first year and was fine.

[Umfriend]

U guys are heartless.... (but with a full tummy and warm hands)

[Fat Tone]

Not to mention a good sized cat can result in a trendy and warm pair of gloves.

[Brian Ellis]

I find cats make the best food when they are slightly overweight and roasted: the marbling of the flesh ensures that the fat melts and penetrates the muscle tissue in the oven. Delicious! Cat's liver is also excellent.

[LvR]

Well - to me it looks like you have everything basically under control and the final decision will have to depend on what the vet has to say.

We have raised 2 cats on IAMS and Eukanuba, and they had real healthy and happy lives right up to the end - 18 years later.

The 2 we currently have are only 6 years old and are basically refusing to eat anything but IAMS (even raw meat yet they will go and catch a bird and devour that - both will attack a bowl of tuna as if they have never seen food before) and they are in very good condition - needs an annual jab for cat-flu etc, but other than that they never see a vet for ailments/problems.

Lots of my friends here with cats known to have tried other brands invariably return to either IAMS or Eukanuba.

[Claymonkey]

So if you don't feel like talking/reading about a cat's digestive system no need to read further - you have been properly warned.

Looking for personal experiences and thoughts on the best dry cat food.

After Christmas I brought one of my cats back down from Maine. They both went up there right after the fire and have lived there since. First because I was couch surfing, and then because my living situation wasn't good for my girls. One snuck outside (indoor city cat versus Maine) and we haven't seen her since. Widget came back with me.

Widget has always had a sensitive stomach and/or eats to fast. I hand raised her from an extremely early age (I might have made another post about this.. can't recall right now). A coworker's brother found her her in a paper bag behind a trashcan. My coworker knew I was thinking of getting a second kitten to keep 3-4 month old kitten entertained. I happily (if worriedly) took and the vet placed her at 3-4 weeks old. No it's not as bad as a child, and the time span is shorter, but there are still four hour feedings, and inducing at that age (don't ask if you don't know). That and my first kitten was to young to know that her mothering instincts meant go for the scruff at the back of the neck not the throat. Anyway, the point of that is that research has shown that hand raised cats have issues with worrying that they won't get enough food, and scarfing whatever food exists down and then being sick, or she could just have a sensitive stomach.

Most of her life she has grown up on Iams. This didn't seem to really be an issue until a couple years ago. Which might correspond with when Iams changed owners and the recipe changed and would get sick 1-4 times a week. When she got up to Maine my dad switched to feeding all the cats very small amounts 4-5 times a day. This mostly fixed Widget's problem. During my recent job change I made due with cheap food for a couple of bags, Whiskas and Friskies. She actually LOVES the stuff and begged for it. The problem with this junk food cat food is that while it might be tasty for her its mostly filler, and cheaper cat food makes for a more quickly full and stinkier cat box. Oddly, she puked MAYBE once through two bags of food. I recently bought a bag of Eukanuba Sensitive stomach cat food. She doesn't like it nearly as much as the cheap stuff and she gets an upset stomach almost every time I feed her, cutting that out right away.

Obviously I'm going to take her to the Vet soon about this (as I have in the past), but my net research has generally shown the opposite problem with more expensive food fixing the problem.

So... anyone have any suggestions on a cat food that would work better for her? I've generally heard bad things about Science Diet and they were near the top of the list back in the dog food scare a year or so ago. She also generally doesn't like wet cat food and most people foods (oddly doesn't seem to think much of tuna). Though there ARE exceptions to that. She loves Altoids and mint gums, have to hide them. She is also a huge fan of butterscotch pudding and some ice creams, not that i let her have either often.