Cat food switching question

Ok ....so my cat eats alley cat, and my finace's cat eat's eukenuba (sorry for spelling) anyways, do you think it would be bad to switch his cat to alley cat food? his food is so expensive, but would like to switch to what i use, he just doesn't want something to happen to her. I dont' think anything would i think it would be alright if we slowly mix the foods then get to alley cat with her. another thing is she's already eating alley cat out of my cat's bowl so that's another reason it'll be ok....lol so reassure my finace it'll be ok. :y_the_best:

 

Its best to do a gradual switch which it sounds like she has started doing already on her own by eating out of your cats bowls.
Alley cat food is actually a very low quality food. It might be ideal for you to switch all of the cats to a better quality food but one that is not as expensive as Eukanuba. Just a thought. :wink:

 

I agree with nern. IMHO, eukanuba is not worth the extra money when you compare the ingredients with other supermarket brands, its really not much better. I think the price is all advertising personally. The best foods will be ones that list whole ingredients like chicken, brown rice, and eggs, ....rather than chicken by-product meal, animal fat, corn gluten meal and egg product. Also stay away from foods that use cancer causing preservatives like Ethoxyquin. Mixed tocopherols and rosemary used as preservatives are ok.

Unfortunately quality doesnt come free. Tho when you think about it, how expensive is it to feed one or two cats per month? I have one cat and i give her the best top quality, and sometimes pretty darn expensive food, but she never eats more than $20 worth of food per month, and thats all the good stuff. When you break that down per day, its less than $1 a day to feed her, which i consider to be a great deal for all the love and joy i get from owning her and keeping her healthy. Some of the lesser expensive quality foods to look for are brands like Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, Solid Gold, Authority from PetSmart, and D. Van Patten's Natural Balance. You can do your own checking, of course, but just remember, not all pet foods are made alike, and most times, price can be an indicator of quality, but dont forget to read the labels and compare

 

Personally I feed my cat Purina One Senior, and he's been healthy as a horse for 13 years.

 

I agree with others. It's best to switch to premium foods. Very rarely, some cats cannot eat premium foods since they will get very bad diarrhea. It all depends on your kitty. I was feeding mine Iams and switched them to Wellness, Pro Plan, etc. Monty's coat is much shinier, less dander, and he's happier. My 3 other kitties looked about the same. no matter what I fed them. I mixed the food portions 50:50 until they got used to the new foods.

 

ya we have 6 cats and we go through 23 lbs. in 2 weeks we used to buy them meow mix but that started getting expensive so we switched them to chefs blend, quite a bit cheaper but still the same quality, every once in a while we will buy a small bag of meow mix and mix it in with the chefs blend for ur cat dot, all of our cats are happy healthy twirps. so its the same for all animals you gradually switch the food and they will stay happy and healthy

 

fuz...you need to read the ingredients on those dry cat foods - they aren't quality. Mostly corn, fillers, etc.
Fillers only temporarily fill a cat. And they are cheap thus the low cost of the cat food BUT the cat has to eat more to satisfy its hunger, usually leading to the cat to being overweight. Less nutrients for the cat, cat needs more of the food, cat gets fat.
So you think you are spending less $$ cause the package is cheaper - the food is garbage. The cat eats more, so you buy more. So in reality you are probably paying just as much as you would if you bought a better quality food cause the cat will require less of the better quality food cause of the nutritional value.
I use purina one also and my cats are healthy. There are better foods but for my choices around here that is the best I can find unless I want to driver 45 minutes one way everytime I need cat food.

 

a good article
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/famil ... story.html

 

We recently lost 2 cats to CRF and while they were ill, we did a lot of reading on nutrition and commercial pet food. CRF is the #1 killer of house cats and one of the most likely reasons for that is because of all the chemicals and poor quality protein sources used in a majority of the common/inexpensive foods (wild cats that eat nothing but game hardly ever develop CRF).

I did a lot of checking on the foods available locally, and by far the best one I've found is Chicken Soup. It has absolutely no chemicals added. It doesn't use any meat by products (just actual, fresh meat - and good quality meat like chicken, not beef or pork) and the only non meat/veggie/grain things they add are vitamins, amino acids, and minerals (just to make it balanced)

IMO, even Iams, Eukanuba, and Science Diet (the "good" brands available locally) don't even come close to measuring up to Chicken Soup.

-Chelle

 

my cats, and my dog, like the Chicken soup foods and they aren't that costly either - my problem is getting it. And I won't order online cause I don't use credit cards. *heavy sigh* to have a decent pet store close by

 

Where can I get this chicken soup food?

 

Specialty pet food stores should carry them like Pet Supplies Plus:

http://www.wmji.com/warmhandsreadingbooks/petsuploc.html

 

I can get mine and 1 particular mom & pop pet store and two farm & home stores carry it.

-Chelle

 

our cats love chefs blend they dont eat that much and they dont really gain that much weight because they get plenty of excersise so we are all happy

 

When Shadow was a baby, she got Iams food. Then it got too expensive (only a few selected places sold it around here - high end places) to continue with it, so the vet told us that Purina Cat Chow Special Care (which is now Purina One) was a quality food and it was a bit less expensive (we could get it at Wal Mart or the grocery store). She was fine on that food for ages. She has a soft glossy coat, with a little dander problem in the winter due to the gas heat in the house, and the coconut oil the vet gave us cleans that right up.

Problem was, when her teeth started to go bad, she couldn't chew the nuggets, which were a bit big. She'd swallow them whole, then throw them up. I switched her back to Iams because the nuggets were easier for her to manage, and they said easier to digest.

I never associated the overgrooming with the change in food. I've been told by so many people today that Iams caused food allergies in their animals. We're a member of the frequent buyer's club at Superpetz, and you're not allowed to switch brands partway through, so I called and spoke to the manager. He told me to come down to the store and bring all my receipts. They gave me 10% for each receipt toward new food (I bought some Purina Pro Plan hairball and skin health formula) and started me over again. The manager said he wasn't supposed to say so, but that Iams was bought by Procter and Gamble 4 or so years ago, and their food is not the same quality anymore and he doesn't recommend it, but again, he can't say so. My mom said the vet told her that he won't recommend it any more or sell it in his office.

So far, she seems to love the Pro Plan, and hopefully it will clear the over grooming up and allow the fur to grow back on her bald belly.