[KittyLover2012]

Hey everyone

Ok so just wanted to update on my previous post, my 2 BSH kitties are now 12 weeks old (and VERY mischievious may i add), had them weighed on Friday and my little boy is 1.84kg and my girl 1.54kg so vet seems very happy with them.

After having a bit of turmoil over what to feed them i've decided to settle with James Wellbeloved pouches (2 a day) and the Royal Canin biscuits (one bowl left out for them to share whilst im at work) then twice a week they get a tin of tuna or cooked chicken to help with their growth.

Can someone just confirm that this is a decent brand i am feeding AND whether there is anywhere else that has offers / flavours as with having 2 kitties you can imagine their food bill can get quite high and Pets at Home only seems to do Turkey flavour.

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[mypetpolly]

Hey

I really want to be of help but I also have the same dilemma.

I am in the process of changing my cat's food from dry to cat. I hope you can give some advise on how you ended with royal canin?

Thanks!

I would really appreciate your help

 

[KittyLover2012]

Hiya,
The breeder who i got my kitties from was feeding them on Royal Canin BC biscuits and Whiskers pouches when i first got them, I've heard quite a bit that Whiskers is utter rubbish with only about 4% meat, think this is the same with most supermarket brands (even foods like Sheba etc) whereas the James Wellbeloved is 35%
Decided to keep them on the Royal Canin as the vet advised this was a good brand but to ditch the whiskers. I've still been a bit confused about portion sizes and as im out at work all day I cant be there to feed them 4 small meals throughout the day, I've tried them with 3 meals (6.30am, 6pm and 11pm) but the one I feed them at bedtime always seems to get wasted.
I called and spoke with the Vet yesterday and he advised me to give them both half a sachet each in the morning, and again when i get in from work and then give them 50g each of biscuits (these are put out in the morning for them to go to whenever they want). They both seem totally happy with this and never cry for food.
So many people will tell you different things and i think thats what can cause a lot of confusion but i think its what works best for you and your kitty.
I got my JWB pouches from pets at home they are on offer at the moment, i got 15 boxes for £70, this should last them about 12 weeks and the Royal Canin is also on offer same place for the 2kg bags but you can also get a 10kg bag from Zooplus for about £50, think this would last forever and would prob go stale is you've only got 1 kitty so you may be best with the 2kg ones like me. Hope this helps xx

 

[spid]

Hello there,

Firstly if you can try to get them off the dry - they do love it - but we like cake but don't eat it all the time! It's full of completely unnecessary carbs that are there to bulk the food out and make it cheaper for the manufacturers to produce. Add to that that cats find it incredibly hard to metabolise you end up paying for them to poop it out. The additives and sugars that are in dry are a contributory factor to feline obesity.
Also dry is incredibly dehydrating for cats as cats have evolved to get 99% of their fluids from their prey and so have no natural thirst drive. For each 50g of dry they eat they need about 1/2 pint of water to counteract the dehydrating effects. Even with a water fountain most cats find this a hard amount of water to drink.
Dehydration can lead to kidney problems, UTIs and crystals forming in the bladder. This is especially bad for neutered boys (no idea why neutered) but boys because they have a longer urethral tract and often the crystals get stuck in their willy when they try to pass them and it is incredibly painful. Obviously not all cats will get this - but you have to weigh up the risks and decide to do what is best for you.

The worst wet is better than the best dry. Yes even Whiskas and Felix!

For wet the higher the meat percentage the better. I like to feed anything above 60% but tend to go for 97% or more, watch out for the offal content though.

I personally feed a mixture of raw, Bozita, Aminonda Carny, Smilla, and Grau, I have fed Natures Menu and Hi-life in the past, and probably will again. Other good ones are Petnatur, Tiger etc. These foods are found either at Pet Supplies, Pet Food, Dog Food, Cat Food and Pet Accessories at Zooplus or other german suppliers. Other have ordered from the other suppliers but I haven't had the courage yet. Nature's Menu can be found at [email protected] as can Hi-life.

If you really need to feed dry - look at Orijen, Applaws, and Acana - these are grain free.

As with all good food they may seem more expensive (wet and dry) to begin with, but you feed less and they poop less, AND it's a lot less smelly.

Hope that helps.

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[KittyLover2012]

Hey Spid, my vet told me that the Dry and Wet im feeding them are fine? He actually advised me on the JWB, also said that feeding them a mixture would be fine seeing as im out at work and cant be feeding them small meals often.

I have tried feeding at 6.30am, 6pm and 11pm but they always leave the last meal even if i only give them half a pouch. I also have a friend who owns Bengals and she's always fed hers on dry only and wouldnt ever give them wet and she said they are all in perfect health, perhaps like with everything its down to the individual cat. For now im keeping mine on a combo, mainly because of working fulltime I'd hate to think they were at home feeling hungry, as they get a little bit older i will however start reducing the dry and move them solely onto wet

 

[Space Chick]

KittyLover2012 - please don't take this the wrong way, but you came on here to ask if what you was feeding was right. What Spid has told you is spot on.

In fairness to vets, they do not get a massive amount of nutritional training at vet school, and what they do is sponsored by pet food suppliers.... So they are brainwashed into believing the hype about Royal Canine/JWL etc etc

A little story of my own.... I had an adorable rescue cat named Thomas, he would only eat Whiskars and Felix pouches and Go Cat dried.... Despite my best endeavours to feed him better food.... I lost him to cancer at 10. I then adopted Harry and Sabrina. Harry had really bad gingervitis, and both were not a picture of health. I, like you, came on here for advice.... I had gradually switched them from Kitekat and Go cat dried (what they were fed at the shelter) to Feline Fayre wet and James wellbeloved dried as I naively believed this was better food. However, they both started having dreadful runny poos as they couldn't handle to richness and grains. I then, following listening to the advice on here, switched them to the quality German tins mentioned by Spid, raw feed and a very small amount of grain free dried. They are now a picture of health, Harry's gingervitis has gone and they are both healthy with shiny coats.

I am now trying to increase then raw and remove the dried altogether.

So, what I am saying, is if you do listen to the advice on here, your cats will thank you in the long run.

 

[KittyLover2012]

Thanks Space Chick, I do really appreciate all the advice given on here and was simply relaying what my vet has told me, of course i want the best for my kitties and will do what i can. There is so much advice out there sometimes its hard to decipher which is best. Both my kittens seem to love the JWB pouches unlike the whiskas the breeder had them on. I did check out Smilla but was concerned that the meat content is lower than the JWB? Im not keen on doing the raw feeding, mainly because of fridge space, cost, and time, plus im not keen on the idea of it being left out whilst im at work and if im honest i would be worried im not doing it right.

I understand the importance of feeding them a healthy diet and thats why i came here in the first place, It seems every option I try has it's pro's and con's?

If you have a breakdown of your cats diet i would be interested in taking a look, like i say any advice is always appreciated

 

[chillminx]

Kittylover -- JWB pouches are not a bad food, but each pouch weighs only
85 grams (instead of the 100 grams of most pouches), and contains a high proportion of liquid (gravy) so JWB it is not good value for money IMO.

Not, I should stress, that a high proportion of liquid in a cat food is a bad thing per se, just that rather than pay for it you can add a bit of water yourself to a food with a high meat content, such as one of the pate foods recommended in Spid's post.

However, if your kitties really like JWB wet and are doing well on it, then I would keep it as one of their foods, and find another couple of good quality wet foods they like, so you can rotate 3 foods. Never a good idea to just feed one make/flavour of food as (a) they may get bored in time and refuse to eat it and (b) if the food gets discontinued by the manufacturer, you are stuck with nothing to give them they are used to eating.

It is an idea to get them into good habits whilst they are young and not had a chance to get faddy!

 

[KittyLover2012]

thanks Chillminx, i've been on Zooplus and had a look at Smilla but couldnt seem to find a kitten version in the wet, would they be ok on the Adult ones?

 

[mel d]

Hi, I have a bsh kitten who is 12weeks on friday, I have been having problems getting the right food for him as he was on royal canin wet and dry but was too rich for him so it gave him diahorrea, I tried him on jwb which he wasnt too keen on but would eat a small amount. I have now settled on Applaws wet and dry and he loves it, there are so many different foods for kittens, I had to try loads before we found out what he liked. I was told the higher the meat content the better and foods you get in the supermarkets usually only contain around 4% meat.

 

[chillminx]

Yes, they should be fine on the adult Smilla. It is a pate and quite dry, so best to add water to it when you serve it.

 

[KittyLover2012]

Thanks Mel D, I've got a pretty decent stock of JWB at the moment but think as soon as payday arrives i'm going to do a big old shop on Zooplus of a few varieties, im assuming they can eat Adult food as i cant seem to find kitten in any of the German brands?

 

[Jonescat]

Yes they will be fine on this adult food. With the better quality foods, it doesn't have to be specially for them. As somebody else on here said once (apologies but I can't remember exactly who it was) mice don't come with labels saying "kitten" or "adult"

 

[KittyLover2012]

hahaha i like that!

Thanks so much guys and gals x