Cat Food - Raw, Canned or Kibble? (NDR)

Thank you.

I do want to help them out....but MAN I could not deal if they smelled funky lol. They are just so rude lol...they get on your lap, put their pws on your chest and headbutt your chin LOL!

our large number of mostly raw-mouse-fed barn cats never to seem suffer from any of the afflications that plague all of my friends indoor commerical cat food fed cats.

Gina, none of our cats had cat funk on wet food or raw.  We used top end foods, grain free (Eagle Pack holistic, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, etc), and of course eventually all raw.  I am extremely, violently allergic to cats and especially cat funk - I can't even get near the litter box if it hasn't been faithfully cleaned out daily.  Hemi is an in-your face  cat and since we switched to raw I can actually pick him up or give him a little scritch without instantly becoming uncomfortable (if I wash my hands immediately).

I feed Monster once a day about 5/8th's of a cup of dry Felidae mixed with about two tbsp of their canned.  He loves it.  I can also feed straight kibble to him, though, as he loves to drink and comes to bug me and meow at me quite frequently to complain if his water dish is empty. He actually gets straight kibble about a 1/4 of the time when someone is sick around here, because I'll just go scoop his bowl into the bag of food and set it down for him.  I do make it up to him with occasional supplements of salmon or sardine.

His breath isn't too bad, and neither are his poo's.  He does occasionally get the toots, but that's more from foraging through dirty dishes in the sink than from anything else. :oP 

My cats breath REAKED on dry food. seriously, I couldn't stand him to even be near me. I don't notice that with wet food though - for whatever reason. Yes, the pooped changed though. 

FourIsCompany

Today, while buying dog food, I asked my guy there if there were any good cat foods for UTI and he told me that recent studies have shown that it’s not so much the magnesium and ash content that contributes to UTIs in cats, but eating dry kibble.

This is EXACTLY CORRECT.  Cats should NOT eat dry kibble. Cats were originally DESERT DWELLING animals and evolved needing very little water in their diets because they are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES and got all the water they needed from their raw prey.  Most kibbles contain grains... even some of the better ones. Cats CANNOT digest grains. They need a diet that is 95+% MEAT .  Cats on a kibble diet cannot get the water they need to concentrate their urine no matter how much they drink.Cats normally do not drink and  pee infrequently.  Cats on a kibble diet are continually thirsty and pee volumes, that is until they develop crystals.

 I have 2 male cats. Last year one of them had crystals so bad he was peeing pure blood.   First I cut off the dry food.  Then I feed only canned foods that were grain free.. mostly Wellness and California natural  and I also feed Nature's Variety raw medallions.  In addition my holistic vet recommended Chinese Herbs,  Tinkle Tonic added to the food and I used holistic remedies like Cantharsis, Uva Ursi, Stinging Nettle, Apis Mellifica.  In 2 weeks he was cured and has not had a problem since. On the other hand, my neighbor, whose cat was having the exact same problem listened to her vet.... fed  Rx foods and took antibiotics. It's almost a year later and the cat has CONSTANT problems.
 

 I have a male and a female cat who have both had problems with blockage.  I feed canned food, AND I add water to that.  They haven't had any problems for a few years, not since I stopped the dry.

I'm actually dealing with the same issues with my cats. I have 3 cats, 1 female and 2 males. One of my male cats has issues with struvite crystals. Since finding out about 2 months ago I've switched all the cats to canned and raw. They get Innova Evo 95% meat canned and Nature's Variety medallions. So far so good. Even though they were on high quality dry food before hand, I've seen an improvement in coat and muscle condition since making the switch to raw/canned.

24Pawsnclaws - Whats 'Tinkle Tonic'? And are there other supplements I can give to prevent and to help when he has crystals?? I'd love to get more info, since my vet insists I put all the cats on to c/d, and that just ain't gunna happen Thanks in advance!

rwbeagles

I'd love input on folks who've switched kibble to wet recently so this is you, FIC and others too lol.

Does it affect their odor? Breath....poop....body. MOST cats I know that eat wet you know it soon as they get close to you because they reek. Granted what they eat is likely NOT top of the drawer stuff. But I'd like some honest input on this....because it DOES matter to me. Our cats BOTH are lap sitters and face getter inners and no way would that continue if they smell like what they eat...

So honest input is really appreciated...thanks!

Neither of my kitties smell better or worse than the other two cats that get 1/2 canned and 1/2 dry. I think that it has more to do with the lower quality wet food or perhaps an underlying medical condition. I would be concerned about a cat's health if they smelled that bad even on low quality wet simply because its still, usually, better quality that low end dry.

Their stools don't generally smell up a room either uness they fail to cover them, and even then, this seems less of a problem since we switched stinky boy Frankie to all wet. I don't know if it has to do with the cat litter either though. We use World's Best for our kitties and it seems to mask odors better than the clay we previously used. Too many variables to be definitive though.

 Hi,

I would like to say its Perfectly safe but why don't you try something else for like cat food including daily supplementation so it would be Premium Cat Food for your cute cat, in that case i can help you in this, i found very good food supplement for my cat and my experience was very good, why don't you try out, just look *removed by moderator* and i am sure you will get what you are looking for.

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jennie_c_d

The vet told me to feed Teenie distilled water. We have well water, too, and it's high in minerals. That may have been one of the things that contributed to her bladder stones. I don't know how big of a difference it made, but I felt like I was doing something for her, LOL. If she'd decided to live a couple more years, I would have been able to gauge how successful my attempts were... 

My vet recommended distilled water too. But... I read a huge article about how distilled and purified tap/bottled water leach the minerals from your bones and can be a health hazard. Not sure if that's just for humans  of for all living beings.

FourIsCompany

He pushes raw (pre-made and frozen) but he also suggested Wellness grain-free Turkey so I got some canned and they LOVE it! Is this a good cat food?

 I have two cats that USED to have serious UTI problems /crystals. They eat grain-free canned ( Wellness mostly), some raw ( mostly organ meat  or NVI raw medallions ) and boiled shredded meats.  I still give them a bit of dry grain-free kibble because they like having something crunchy to chew on.  I give them distilled water ONLY to drink. But... the miracle cure I discovered which actually saved both of my cat's lives is a homeopathic remedy by BOIRON called  Urtica Urens mother tincture.  It neutralizes pH, dissolves calcium deposits , will actually dissolve crystals with the first dose and then prevents any kind of calcium build up ( stones) and crystal formation. It also works great for good dental hygiene because it dissolves dental plaque and prevents buildup.   Humans use it for gall stones, bladder stones, dental plaque, arterial plaque, gout, rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments.  I bought a 4 oz bottle and gave it daily to all 4 of my cats. The bottle lasted almost a year and cost me $23. None of my cats have ever had another problem (before I discovered this stuff two cats were literally on the verge of death and were recommended for surgery ).

I can't get to the bookmark for the site that has the info that I found because I'm not at my regular computer. I'll try and post it later on.  You can buy the Urtica Urens at  http://www.nationaldiscountvitamin.com     The dose is ONE drop (in food) per each lb of body weight.