Cat Food Question

[dcompton]

This may already have been discussed in the forum, but I was wondering if you folks who have cats feed them dry food, wet food, or a combination. There are violent factions for both sides from the look of the cat forums, and even the veterinarians can't agree. I like dry for convenience -- I can put it down and go away. With wet food I have to hover and scoop up Mr. Greedy, who just inhales it, and hold him until Miss Tease the Lunkus By Eating As Slowly As You Can finishes or he muscles her out. But they do love it. This is probably anthropomorphic too, but I ask myself if I would want to eat nothing but crackers for the rest of my life. Dry is not a normal form of food for them.

I feed mostly dry (mixing about equal parts Eukanuba, Iams, and Purina One to ensure some quality but take some of the bite of the pocketbook). When I come in from work about 11:30 in the evening, I usually give them a little wet. I want it convenient, but then, I'm not the one having to eat it, so what's best for them should be the criteria.

[Darlene]

I've always given mine dry and since he had problems with a urinary tract infection years ago started him on purina one for urinary health. He just turned 12 and is a happy boy. he does get hard tartar control treats everyday too, lol. Always has water available too.

[sunnysideup]

I feed my cats mainly dry food. They do get wet food sometimes if I feel like giving them an extra treat. I have a male cat who is just over a year old and a little kitten who is about 6 months old. The older cat hogs the dish when there is wet food, so dry is just easier.

Does anyone use hairball control cat food and if so does it really work? My older cat has been having lots of hairballs lately and I'm thinking about getting food that could help him.

[YankeeMom]

Since both of our cats are male, and male kitties are prone to urinary troubles, our vet recommends they get wet food at least every other day...mostly to increase their water intake and help prevent blockages. They love their stinky goodness

[Telephus44]

I feed my cats dry food almost exclusively. Sometimes we get a few cans free with purchase, and we use that as "emergency" cat food when we run out of dry. The cats love it, but I think its because we keep it a treat.

[chatterweb]

I feed my cat one can a day of wet, around 5 pm, and dry as well.

[bevjean]

My cat now eats mostly canned, he's 15ish. Up until a year ago he ate mostly dry, then all of a sudden he stopped eating. We finally got him to eat canned (after trying a zillion different brands of cat food). Sometimes I stir a bit of tartar control into it to help clean his teeth, so I know he can eat hard.

Re hairballs. I've never tried the hairball food, Oscar has never had that problem. Alot of cats don't like the nasty hairball medicine (the stuff in a tube), I read that a good alternative is canned pumpkin. (I don't remember where I read this, it was a long time ago).

[YankeeMom]

Alot of cats don't like the nasty hairball medicine (the stuff in a tube), I read that a good alternative is canned pumpkin. (I don't remember where I read this, it was a long time ago).

And if your cats are anything like my cats, they LOOOOOVE pumpkin I can't leave a loaf of pumpkin bread anywhere or they will get to it & eat it lol.

[MirandaK]

Our cats like wet food but since I won't feed them most store bought brands (they put some really nasty stuff in pet food!!!! read "Foods Pets Die For") I started buying the bags of really small "salad shrimp" in the frozen foods section of our grocery store. It's so easy to grab a few and run them under water to defrost for the Cats. We vary it up by using whatever we are eating. If we have chicken we'll take 1/2 a piece to use for the cats that day. It's much cheaper than buying cat food and it's much, much healthier for the cats.

We also leave dry food out in a bowl in case we run late at work. Neither of our cats are big eaters so they only ever pick at the dry food.

Hope this helps!
Miranda

[MirandaK]

Re hairballs. I've never tried the hairball food, Oscar has never had that problem. Alot of cats don't like the nasty hairball medicine (the stuff in a tube), I read that a good alternative is canned pumpkin. (I don't remember where I read this, it was a long time ago).[/QUOTE]

Another easy hairball fix that we use is a pat of butter the cats love it and it seems to do the trick.

Miranda

[Lori Biever-Launder]

Don't bother to buy Petromalt (a hairball medicine). It's just flavored petroleum jelly (vaseline). One of my cats is a vaseline JUNKIE and even though the other one doesn't like it, I rub it on his gums a bit and he licks it right off. My dog? She loves the stuff!

[ama]

"Foods Pets Die For")

I've got this on my list to read. Something tells me it will be quite disheartening... Has anyone read the PitCairns book?? Probably slaughtering the name. Its holisitic vet care -- for the natural pet. They have alot of homemade recipes as well as add-in's to dry food you can do to up the quality.

[Nada.Leona]

My vet put Tempest on a diet of 1/2 can of Hills Weight Control soft cat food, and 3/4 c. Hills Tartar Control hard cat food. I try to break it up into 3 seperate meals a day -- 1/4 c. dry, 1/6 can wet per meal.

[Sari]

We have 4 cats and feed dry food because it's so much cheaper, but we will give them the occassional can of food or split up a can or 2 of tuna a few times a month for variety. As 3 out of the 4 are males, I'm working on switching them over to a urinary health diet, probably the Purina One brand.

[AGierald]

we give our two cats mostly dry with a can of wet every other day or whenever my brat boy cat tries to trip me because he wants some, lol.

for hairballs, we used to give them the hairball treats that worked, but the active ingredient, in the majority of hairball treats is petroleum jelly-- so i just take some vaselline, put it on their paws and they lick it off... well one does the best he can to KICK it off,lol...