What do you feed your cat?

[Miss_April]

Cat food.

[Miss_April]

But really just dry food most of the time, and sometimes I cook them up chicken and that's their treat.

[Lexiesmom]

We feed Medical preventative...its more pricey, but its a great food and lots of vets and techs feed this to their own pets.

[abbasgirl]

My one cat eats what we eat. lol. She gets all the leftover chicken, beef, fish or whatever we've had for supper in terms of meat. I did not realize that dry cat food is very high in grains...which cats in the wild would not eat. They are carnivores by nature. Seems so simple, really when you think about it. Our senior cat has diabetes and part of the treatment is eating lots of protein and fewer carbs.

I used to think canned food was a pain in the butt. But having to puree fresh meat at 6:30am in the morning when cat is screaming hungry and I haven't had my coffee is a total nuisance. lol. Senior cat also has lost some teeth which is why we have to puree the food. It's like having a baby all over again.

I do that too. I get a good quality, corn-free, mid-price ranged dry food (usually "Nutrition First" from President's Choice) and supplement it with real meat. That way I know my cats are getting the protein they need and I'm not paying premium prices for grain-free cat foods. There's also the added bonus of not having to pay taxes on it. My cats have shiny coats and they are a lot closer to a healthy weight since I started doing it this way.

[lekate]

We feed Medical preventative...its more pricey, but its a great food and lots of vets and techs feed this to their own pets.

I'd be wary, corn is in the first four ingredients twice. Your vets are biased since they probably get it free, and get bonuses or something for promoting their food (pet stores get bonuses by Royal Canin for promoting their store line too). Second thing to keep in mind, vets generally know nothing about nutrition, and most nutrition courses are provided by companies like Hill's or Purina, etc.

[bdogsmom]

Thanx everyone for the recommendations
I've always known that No name dry food isnt great, it says right on the bag that it may cause loss of appetite lol . I've always fed it to promote hunting since my oldest was born feral and is an outdoor cat 9 months a year. The newer cat came to me as a mature 100% indoor cat, i guess her needs are different. I've really enjoyed reading the posts, I thought my cat was the only one who drinks out of the toilet lol

[cushiebunny]

You know, I never knew it made a difference. I had my first cat for 13 years or so, and loved getting the sales, or the Whiskas that came with a coupon for another free bag inside. Of course I bought the first bags with coupons too. I just didn't know.
Recently I'd been looking for another cat and went by the Humane Society. The kitties I looked at seemed to be shedding like insane amounts of fur. A friend on another forum posted that she had given her cat whiskas and that the cat started to shed. That foods needed to start with protein, not with corn meal seemed to be the general concensus in the conversation.
We got a new to us cat last week. I've not seen one single piece of fur come off of him yet and he is not a hairless cat. He came to us with a partial bag of, 'Hill's Healthy Advantage'. I'm stepping out of that a wee bit and mixing it with Costco's brand to see what happens. If he starts to shed I'll switch back gladly at a higher price for no fur and no fur balls. Costco's cat food seems pretty high quality as the first two ingredients are chickena nd the third is rice.
Time will tell.

[FallenPixels]

Costco's food is known to be decent for the price, not a high quality food but certainly better than the majority of grocery store brands (Whiskas/Cat Chow etc)

[Lua]

I used to feed my cats what was on sale, or cheapest at the time.. until my male developed crystals in his bladder -- it was from his poor diet.

I now feed them Holistic Select. It's an all natural food. They get a small plate of wet morning and night, and I keep a small amount of dry in their bowl at all times. As for water, they have a fountain that is running all the time and they both love it. I signed up for Holistic Select's newsletter via their website and I seem to get coupons maybe every 3 weeks -- $1 off a can of wet and $3 off a bag of dry. It's a pricier food, but it's keeping my two healthy and i figure if I can avoid future $1K vet bills, i'm happy.

[Loner]

my cat gets chicken for a treat
also... milk, yogplait and fish oil
she loves dairy products
and drinking from the bathroom faucet.

[nadiabreckon]

Cats prefer running water, that's probably why! They also like their water source to "move". Natural instinct from the wild that hasn't yet translated well into a household (FUTI is common because many cats just don't drink enough water, some dry foods can cause or exacerbate these things though...)

Makes sense, never thought of it that way!

It's funny because, if either of us go in the bathroom (whether we use the toilet or not) the cat will sit there and look at us as if he's saying "Ummm, you gonna flush that or what?!"

[FallenPixels]

At least your cats wait for you, Quincy can flush it himself, we had to put the handle on backwards to we pull it up to flush

[lekate]

Makes sense, never thought of it that way!

It's funny because, if either of us go in the bathroom (whether we use the toilet or not) the cat will sit there and look at us as if he's saying "Ummm, you gonna flush that or what?!"

I have two water bowls out, and they barely touch the one in the kitchen, but I have to change the one that's in my room like crazy! I also have to keep glasses of water out of reach or else a furry face will find it's way in...

[janetta]

My cat was on Blue Buffalo (32% protein) and is now on California Natural (36% protein). She's super healthy and has a really shiny coat. I change her water twice a day and she gets lettuce whenever I'm eating salad. lol She loves it!

Friskies canned wet food every three days as a little treat. 1/2 can at a time!