Cat food

Bowie gets Blue Buffalo Hairball Control mixed with Nutro Max canned in the morning, and a raw meal at night. Her raw meal usually consists of offal from home slaughtered chickens (heads, feet, organs, whatever we don't eat) the occasional thawed feeder mouse, scraps from meat I'm preparing for our own dinner, and the occaisional small RMB (chicken wings or legs.) She's an outdoor cat (by her own choice...she hates being inside) and hunts alot of her own food, so she doesn't eat much of what I give her. Because of that, I don't do much in the way of  actually buying and preparing raw meals for her. She mostly gets raw scraps, about 1/4 of a cup or so, and that's enough for her. A couple of times a week I add 8 in 1 Kittyvite Senior to her morning meal too.
 
Pretty Bowie cat:

 

I currently feed my cat Nature's Variety canned food.  I try never to feed my cat kibble, especially where he is a male I want to prevent kidney problems and blockages.  I give him raw meat along with my dogs, muscle meat, heart a bit of organ a couple times a week, not often tho for the organ meat.
 
I rotate canned foods, feed canned sardines packed in water, canned wild salmon...or left overs of my salmon dinner etc.  When we were kids my brother used to give all our cats the head and guts of his trout he caught...since the waters are so poisoned now a day it could be dangerous.   

I fed dry Eukanuba chicken for years. The cats loved it and did wonderfully on it. Every once in a while, I'd try a different brand like Nutro (icky coats), Felidae (wouldn't eat), Wellness Super5Mix (weight & coat loss) but the only food that did as well as Euk on (actually a bit better) is Wellness Salmon. They also get meat scraps, tuna, etc. whenever I have anything.

I'm trying out Healthwise by Natura right now. The price is great, and my older cat seems to have an eaisier time chewing the little star shapes than the pellet shapes of Wellness & Euk. So far, they seem OK with it. But I think the "newness" of the food has worn off, and I'm finding leftovers in their bowls in the AM. Poops are bigger, but fewer.

I've been somewhat free-feeding for years. I put 1/3 to 1/2 cup of food in their bowls and their good for the day. They usually still have food left at bedtime, so I know they ration themselves pretty well. I have had to change routine due to our older cat. She has been losing weight, while the younger cat is gaining. I think due to the stress of getting another dog. So she gets a pouch of Nutro or any grocery store food I can find that has little or no by-product. (So far I've found Meow Mix & Friskies pouches aren't too heinous). Pouches just work better for me, because I feed the cats in their own room in the basement and have no fridge nearby to store opened cans. I also now pick up their bowls after breakfast and put them back down at suppertime. But so far, the older cat hasn't adapted to the routine so I may have to stop - she won't go downstairs where her food is if the dogs or kids are around.

I've fed max science diet w/d prescription diet for years since his diagnosis of ulcerative colitis.  I tried switching him once to another food and he got a urinary obstruction from crystals about two weeks after.  I switched back and have been on it since.  I really would like to switch to innova senior kitty, but I'm paranoid since last time I tried to give him something else he had life threatening issues.  He will NOT eat wet food of any type, I've tried them all.  It's wierd actually.  I free feed him right now with no weight issues.

My father has two cats - one of whom loves wet food and will eat most anything (his favorite treat is roast beef), the other of whom will take a few small nibbles of wet but eat almost exclusively dry food. They get cans of Fancy Feast (nutritionally not the best, but it's the one canned they'll eat consistenly) and a bit of dry Meow Mix for snacks (again not the greatest, but they'll eat it). They're both in great health, very active with glistening coats, few hairballs, and no health issues. The vet "oohs" and "ahhs" over them every time we bring them in. Another reason I believe strongly that the "best" food is the one that works best for you and your pet!

I feed Blue Buffalo Spa.  I rotate the flavors.  I also feed the canned but my boy won't touch any
wet food, just my girl.  Once I switched them off SD I noticed a change in their coats.  My girl used to have dandruff real bad and now it's gone.  I may try the canned sardines and wild salmon
as Colleen does. I never thought about trying that to get his interest.  Neither one of em like table food either. 

Our cats eat Science Diet. [&:] I tried Innova for a few months, til one started peeing blood, and another constantly had poop stuck in her hair (yuck, sorry). Went back to SD til they were all good and fine again, then tried Felidae. 3 (of 4) lost lots of weight, one of them got like emaciated thin, and she again had poop problems, so we're back on SD for a few months, and then I'll be trying something else... I live with my Mom, and two of the cats are hers (the blood-peer, and poop-problem-skinny one), one is mine (the only one who does well on whatever they're fed), and the other is my cousin's, because she lives in an apartment that doesn't allow cats (don't get me started [:@]). I really wish I could just feed my guy something decent, and the other three SD, but I don't know how to stop free-feeding four cats, nor how to keep fatty Kovu out of the food the other three eat.

Here's my fat boy (who has now ballooned up to 16 pounds back on SD [&:]).

Pebbles is fed Whiskas usually, fresh chicken necks or kangaroo mince.
But we may change it, he is sick at the moment with Hyperthyroid.

My cats get a rotation pretty similar to the dogs,if not more! We currently have in our pantry,innova,eaglepack,naturesvariety and evo.

I also feed the stray and feral cats that migrate around my front yard(my fault for feeling sorry for them and feeding em') [:@] They get Pro plan or purina one [&o] Every now and then i'll give them the good stuff,but i cant afford it for every meal.

I had a cat die in 2002, at the age of 18 due to kidney failure, we have another cat coming up on that age in Feb., also 18, another cat will be 15, and the youngest will be 4, he is a rescue......

We have been feeding Purina One, then Science .....bad move, then to Purina Pro Plan/Indoor....seems to be working fine at this time.
 
Also, canned food, and some fish that DH brings home, or canned tuna or salmon.

I grew up with cats, but don't have any at the moment.

Chelseab- just wanted to suggest trying Eagle Pack Premium food for your kitties. From what I've heard, corn is actually good for cats that have urinary issues, so it would probably work well for the cat that was peeing blood. It has more meat and less carbs than Science Diet so it would probably be good for your overweight kitty. I'm not sure how it would be for the kitty with the digestive issues, but it just might work. And of course it should be okay for the kitty that can eat anything. []

Chelseab- just wanted to suggest trying Eagle Pack Premium food for your kitties.

 
Thanks! I will consider it. I don't have a problem with corn in general, but corn gluten meal fairly high on the ingredients list kind of puts me off. I'm not saying I won't try it, because I still might, but I don't think it will be my first choice.
 
Right now I'm leaning towards trying to feed Kovu something and keeping the others on SD. It might not be as hard as I was thinking, because we have food in the main bathroom and my Mom's bathroom, but Kovu hardly ever goes in my Mom's room, and Taz (my cousin's cat) never goes in the main bathroom. The other two go in both, but it probably wouldn't make that big of a difference to them to not have food in the main bathroom anymore. So I think I'll try it. Hopefully fatty boy will lose some weight. We'll see.

My Bengal Genghis is fed strictly prey model raw

ORIGINAL: chelsea_b

I don't have a problem with corn in general, but corn gluten meal fairly high on the ingredients list kind of puts me off. I'm not saying I won't try it, because I still might, but I don't think it will be my first choice.

You'll probably like the ingredients in Eagle Pack Holistic better since it doesn't have any corn. I just suggested the premium because corn is actually supposed to be good for urinary problems; I think if it wasn't fairly high on the ingredient list it wouldn't have much of an effect. But I really would recommend trying Eagle Pack because I've heard of people having GREAT results with it for their kitties- like the regular holistic food preventing hairballs better than other brand's hairball formulas, stuff like that. Anyway, good luck with whatever food(s) you decide to feed! []