2 6 month old boys. They LOVE Encore/Applaws wet. They hate HiLife.

One is kitten size will eat a varied diet of Kitten pouches, dry and water.

The other is a big boy and pretty much is only interested in Encore and will only eat a small amount of other stuff if Encore is mixed in (incl Natures Menu, Hills, raw).

Encore/Applaws states it's complementary so I want to ensure they are getting all the stuff they need to be healthy. I am happy to continue the non fussy one on kitten pouches with some Encore, but the fussy one, am I doing him harm just giving him Encore with say a much smaller amount of kitten pouches/raw?

Or can they have Applaws/Encore with Applaws/Orijen dry?

FAB have a warning on their Breeders Page about some wet foods:

If for whatever reason you want to feed a diet that is manufactured by a company that is not on their list then please consult your vet to check that it is a balanced diet containing adequate essential components, for example taurine, and also the calciumhosphorus ratio in the diet. This information is unlikely to be provided on the food packets; the manufacturers would need to be contacted for that. Diets consisting solely of high quality cuts of meat will often contain inadequate calcium. The optimal ratio for calcium to phosphorus is 1.2 : 1 to 2 : 1.

The petfoods of concern are being looked into and the matter is being taken seriously. However, because investigations are currently underway any further information at the moment remains confidential.

I spoke to Claire Bessant, the Chief Executive, yesterday to point out that it's not helpful to have that hidden away on a Breeders Page and that we could all do with knowing more about it. I certainly don't know how to work out how much phosphorous and calcium my cats should have, so I am following my vets advice at the moment.

Thanks for that. My vet says Hills wet and dry is the best, but then they would, they sell it

Because Encore is complementary, it can't be the main food in your cat's diet. You will do him harm if you feed that as the main food, because he won't get the calcium, vitamins and nutrients he needs to be healthy.

Have you tried Porta21? The chicken variety is pretty much identical to Encore, but is complete. It can be found here Porta 21 - 6 x 90 g: Great Deals on Porta 21 Cat Food at Zooplus

If he doesn't like Porta, you could use Applaws/Orijen dry as the main food and give him a tin of Encore a day on top of that - however, dry food is nowhere near as good for your cat as a complete wet food.

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Exactly, im glad you said that i dont like hills

Other good wet foods are Natures Menu, Tesco finest/luxury. Theres many more bad than good, just have a look at the ingredients list, higher meat content is a good thing to look for. As someone has already said applaws is complimentry not complete but if you feed it with something like orijen then thats fine. I personally prefer wet food

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Thanks for the replies guys. Neither cats will touch HiLife, fussy one will only eat NaturesMenu if mixed with Encore. Will give Porta a whirl

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Completely agree re: varied diet. Just finding what I consider high quality food that one of them will eat is such a pain. It's not cheap and seeing most of it go to waste day in, day out is a pain. I'd happily pay whatever if it was eaten.

Are there any stores that stock Porta21? Just this morning placed an order with Zooplus and I can't get through to them to amend the order. Home delivery is pretty impossible.

I wonder of the internet causes more issues though and our knowledge of the subject. My nan had lots of cats over the years and speaking to her at the weekend, the crap they ate was immense. One lived until it;s early 20s (this was 40 years ago) on chocolate biscuits and Guiness

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Thanks, won't allow an amendment. Still engaged

I was going to get a few other little things that were out of stock, just means a trip to mums where its delivered