Need good dry food for a cat?

[Unosmom]

I often purchase cat food for my parents cats and since I'm on a budget, I try to look both for quality and price. 2 of the brands I buy are Trader joes canned food which is $.50-.60 a can and chicken soup for cat lovers soul, its not grain free, but it hasnt caused any digestive issues like grained food did. Last time I paid $18 for 24 cans which is pretty good deal.
Chicken, chicken liver, salmon, turkey, duck, chicken broth, whole grain brown rice, white rice, oatmeal, potatoes, barley, egg product, guar gum, flaxseed meal, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, taurine, dried chicory root, carrageenan gum, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, copper sulfate, calcium iodate and sodium selenite.

[xchairity_casex]

i really worry about my cats ive had them since i was 9 years old and my mom growing up on a farm cats were well...cats they ate whatever was cheapest and we had 2 girls one boy we got the male neuterd and she said "why bother fixing the girls? they dont leave the house"
so then when i was about 17 i started reading about cats on the internet and learning more and more i was working so i switched them from the cheap meow mix and friskys to (what i thought) the better iams then one girl got pyometra-nearly died i was so upset and worried and the vet started telling me all about pet food and what crap iams really is. so i switched to felidea then jsut recently i find out how bad dry food is for cats period so im trying to switch slowly to raw and canned but unfortunatly a lifetime of dry the cats are reluctant to switch even to canned sure theyll eat a can 2 days a week then you set down a can and they snub it and scream at me for dry! and dont even get me started on raw i have tried grinding raw chicken up adding about a dime sized amount into an entire can of cat food only to see them somehow pick around it ive watched them eat if they get a bite of raw they will literly spit it out onto the floor and walk away. :( :(
i really worry about them you should see my room i keep 15 water bowls scatterd throughout plus our upstairs bathroom that no one ever uses ill fill the sink for them and every morning i scrub every water bowl and add ice cubes to 5 bowls,cold water to 5 bowl and the last five bowls i add luke warm water too. i know it sounds odd but my kitty ema will sometimes turn her nose up to ice water or even cool water and go for the room temp or warmer water. i also make absolutly sure the dogs cant drink from the bowls i wont let them if they do the cats will not touch the dish untill i clean it.
also it sounds strang but my cats like new bowls its almost like fun to them to drink from new dishes so i routinly keep plastic butter dishes or tupperware bowls to fill with water and set down all three cats will fight to drink from it for about 3 days then get bored so then i grab a new bowl.

[MollyWoppy]

I'm lucky in that one of my cats LOVES mice. He gets around three a week though it hasn't made any difference in his teeth (maybe no new tartar buildup). He loves to flip them around, play with them and eventually eat them.. I lock him in the bathroom and then mop afterwards.

Damn.....I'm at a loss, I'm really reluctant to start brushing her teeth. Bloody cat, why can't she get it through her thick head that I'm just trying to help her.

[Maxy24]

I feel like larger bones might clean teeth better, chicken wings might be good (and are about as big as you can go for a cat). I've also heard really tough meat like gizzards can help clean them as well.

[brandypup]

Geeeze- yea scary. Moisture is a cats friend. Kibble dehydrates. If you cannot afford a high quality canned then even a cheap canned IMHO is better then a quality kibble. That is what my vet told me after feeding oorijen to my cats, I switched them to friskies canned. They were healthy adn dropped weright. About a year after that I went back to raw. Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health


Most of my cats have geneticly bad teeth. The ones with teeth make a mess out of gizzards. :) Now My Miss Bones and Ringo and a past foster would eat chicken wings no problems. But current clan isn't into it. I still dont brush their teeth. I keep some chunks in t he ground food.

[Serenity]

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Lyza... she was a stray but now more of a "I'll come and go as a please" lol. Shes on Vets Choice dry cat food... (which I didnt know exsisted until she showed up)
I sound like a broken record I'm sure but I love this Co products I really do. I swear by it and tell everyone... They only have one dry food formula but it works for her : )

[whiteleo]

Attachment 6236

Lyza... she was a stray but now more of a "I'll come and go as a please" lol. Shes on Vets Choice dry cat food... (which I didnt know exsisted until she showed up)
I sound like a broken record I'm sure but I love this Co products I really do. I swear by it and tell everyone... They only have one dry food formula but it works for her : )

So, lets see an ingredient list of the foods!

[Imgliniel]

I consider myself EXCEPTIONALLY lucky to have two cats that took to raw with gusto, and can handle pretty much anything I put down bone included. *starts knocking on everthing wooden in the office*

For those of you trying to switch your cats and meeting with resistance, may I suggest trying a different approach? Remember cats don't need to trasition slowly through bone in chicken the way dogs do. Many cat raw feeders in a group I am part of suggest trying chicken hearts, or small pieces of gizazards. They are both high in taurine, and tend to be stronger in taste and smell then something like chicken breast. Many cats who have snubbed other things devour chicken hearts like candy.

As to the vet who says no canned food, I think he is bat$hit crazy. Your brother needs a new vet! Wet is definately much better for a cat then any dry out there. At LEAST try and convince him to top the dry with some wet with water added or something. Someone else mentoined that most dog food brands you would consider top notch have equally top notch cat formula's and I find this to be true for the most part.

Good luck with the little kitty and here is hoping he makes a full recovery