Quick kitty question; please don't click if you eat Paleo/WAP

[Guest]

Hi, I'm probably going to crosspost on veggie views if I can remember my password there but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask here first.

 

Finances are better and we're going to upgrade kitty from grocery store food soon. A friend who lost their kitty gave us a bunch of leftovers to try and kitty has shown a definite preference for this:

 

https://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/health-support/wild-pursuit

 

and will absolutely be getting some.

 

I just wanted y'alls opinions on whether it was suitable for a main kibble, supplemented by 1-2 fancy feast sized cans of wet food a day (kitty is tall, thin, and very, very active) or better used the way we use Whiskas temptations now.

 

It's actually my grandcat and I just need some help sorting out clever marketing and human diet fads from scientific nutritional facts.

 

TIA

Edited May 7, 2017 by Guest

[Guest]

Okay, 34 views and no replies; just PM me if you're not comfortable saying it around the Paleo/WAP folks either. :P

 

No offense intended, just trying to do what's right for my furgrandbaby.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Guest

[Paige]

It seems like a fine food to me. I've bought that brand often in the past, but mostly for my dogs. I prefer to stay with grain free, and it looks like some of their food is grain free and some not so you may want to check the labels. . 

 

I am a food snob but I actually feed my cats Friskies wet now. I have one who has a hard time getting enough water and Friskies is the only wet he likes, and I need him on wet food, so he gets it. The "best" is not always the best for your specific situation, so don't stress too much. I wanted to get my cat on raw food to help with his issues, but he refuses to touch it!

Edited May 7, 2017 by Paige

[MistyMountain]

I am definitely do not follow the paleo type trends but cats and humans have different needs. Cats are carnivores so they do not need grain fillers. Cats do better on wet food then kibble and with grain free food. That wet food brand you linked is a very good one nutritionally for a cat. The kibble should be better then other kibble brands with more protein. Pate wet food tends to be better and even a few main brands can be low in fillers. My cat of course will only eat a name brand kibble with lots of fillers and not very sound nutritional and the wet food that is shredded and has fillers. I tried all the good stuff but no go.

[itsheresomewhere]

I have used that for my dogs.  Good food without a lot of crap.  One dog is now on a high protein diet (medical condition) and we now use Solid Gold mixed with Whole Earth Farms.  

Edited May 7, 2017 by itsheresomewhere

[rebbyribs]

Sounds good to me.  We give our cat one feeding of Natural Balance kibble per day (not the wild pursuit, but maybe we'll try that next) and 1-2 small cans of wet food.  He's a big cat too - not overweight, just long. We mix extra water into the wet food to make sure he's well hydrated. It's nice to have him eat kibble as part of his diet, so that we can leave dry food for him if we're away overnight on occasion.

 

ETA: The humans in our household are mostly vegetarian, so I'm not answering from a Paleo / WAP perspective.

Edited May 7, 2017 by rebbyribs

[Pawz4me]

I think it should be fine.

 

Fancy Feast is quite good, especially the Classic (pate) line. I would personally be more concerned with providing the 1 to 2 cans a day of it and consider whatever kibble I fed as a supplement to that. Or to phrase it another way -- as long as I was feeding FF as a good portion of the diet I wouldn't be overly concerned about what type of kibble I used.

 

Edited to ask: What does WAP stand for? I know Paleo, and I seem to remember at some point knowing what WAP stood for. But my brain is blanking.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Pawz4me

[Guest]

 

I think it should be fine.

 

Fancy Feast is quite good, especially the Classic (pate) line. I would personally be more concerned with providing the 1 to 2 cans a day of it and consider whatever kibble I fed as a supplement to that. Or to phrase it another way -- as long as I was feeding FF as a good portion of the diet I wouldn't be overly concerned about what type of kibble I used.

 

Edited to ask: What does WAP stand for? I know Paleo, and I seem to remember at some point knowing what WAP stood for. But my brain is blanking.

 

 

WAP is Weston A. Price foundation, which is apparently different from Weston A. Price the man.

 

Thank you all so much! He currently gets one can of Fancy Feast a day and wakes me up in the middle of the night or disrupts my kid's schoolwork when the kibble bowl is empty.

 

I'll take your advice and up him to two cans a day before I worry about the kibble. We get him tiki cat sometimes, which he likes, but that's been too expensive and too rare a treat for us to worry about it being grain free.

 

I was so done with cats until I met my sweetie. :wub:

[displace]

I was scared to click on this thread, mentioning kitty and paleo diets...

 

😮

[Guest]

 

I was scared to click on this thread, mentioning kitty and paleo diets...

 

😮

 

 

OMFG, I didn't even think about that double meaning. I'm such a dork sometimes!

 

:rofl: :lol:

 

"Do you like chicken, IEF?"

 

"Yes, I love them! Their feathers are so pretty and the boys are just like natural alarm clocks. I wish my landlord would let me keep them."

[sangtarah]

We have fed Natural Balance foods to both our cat and dog for 4-5 years. They are both healthy and doing well. Our cat is 12, and this past year I added Natural balance wet food. She gets a can every other day or so, and doesn't always finish. She eats both, but definitely prefers the dry. So I think dry would be fine to leave out alongside the wet.

[Barb_]

This thread was funnier than I'd imagined it would be when I opened it lol

 

Just a chatty aside, there are a few high quality cat food brands listed on subscribe and save if you have prime.

[Barb_]

I think it should be fine.

 

Fancy Feast is quite good, especially the Classic (pate) line. I would personally be more concerned with providing the 1 to 2 cans a day of it and consider whatever kibble I fed as a supplement to that. Or to phrase it another way -- as long as I was feeding FF as a good portion of the diet I wouldn't be overly concerned about what type of kibble I used.

 

Edited to ask: What does WAP stand for? I know Paleo, and I seem to remember at some point knowing what WAP stood for. But my brain is blanking.

I can't remember why you are an animal expert. Bet? Vet tech? Rescue? Everything that I've ever taken my cats to insist that kibble is important "for healthy teeth." True? False? Is this something that is repeated without any sort of studies being done? Old vet's tales? I have an apple head Siamese who blew up to 19,5 lbs on (expensive, grain free) kibble all while crying like he was starving. It's like crack to him. I weaned him off about a year ago and he's slowly dropped 4.5lbs over the course of 11 months. He has two cans of food a day and a tbsp or two of kibble maybe once a week as a treat. And he never cries for food anymore outside of his regular feeding time.

 

Invariably when I tell a vet what he eats, they tell me I must add in some kibble or his teeth will rot and fall out of his head.

[Guest]

They used to tell me kibble was healthier than canned too. We only gave the wet to our boys who had urinary issues. I remember reading the labels on the cans to make sure they were low enough in ash, whatever that was, in the 1970s.

 

Fads and fashions----I would rather rip out my still-beating heart with my bare hands than eat paleo but I'd never want to make anyone who chose that diet and felt better on it feel the way I felt when I was the only vegetarian on the block and no one even knew what tofu was.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Guest

[emmaluv+2more]

I have a cat with major food sensitivities and she is in renal failure (she's 18 yrs old). I have been feeding her Natural Balance (but this one https://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/cat-formulas/dry/limited-ingredient-diets/green-pea-and-duck)dry and canned food for many years. She is a free feeder who never overeats. I leave a bowl of dry food down at all times and she gets 1 can (the larger cans) of wet food per day.

I remember being told that dry food is better because the wet will rot their teeth, but I've more recently been told that cats tend to not drink enough so the wet food helps with hydration. So I just give both ;).

[Paige]

 

Just a chatty aside, there are a few high quality cat food brands listed on subscribe and save if you have prime.

 

Yes, but you have to watch them! One month it will be a really great price and another month it will shoot up in price but the food that used to be expensive will be a good deal. We've gotten TIki cat on Amazon for really good prices before but it's not consistent. My cat really likes their wet food but it's too pricey for all the time.

 

Barb- what do you feed your fat boy that made him lose weight? I've been trying to get mine to drop some weight which is part of why he's on wet food, but despite absolutely eating less calories he still hasn't lost more than 1/2 lb in almost 2 years. He's always hangry and grumpy but he was massive and the vet said he was dangerously obese. This boy is also super long and tall so I'm sure he's meant to be big, but 20lbs is ridiculous. 

[Barb_]

Yes, but you have to watch them! One month it will be a really great price and another month it will shoot up in price but the food that used to be expensive will be a good deal. We've gotten TIki cat on Amazon for really good prices before but it's not consistent. My cat really likes their wet food but it's too pricey for all the time.

 

Barb- what do you feed your fat boy that made him lose weight? I've been trying to get mine to drop some weight which is part of why he's on wet food, but despite absolutely eating less calories he still hasn't lost more than 1/2 lb in almost 2 years. He's always hangry and grumpy but he was massive and the vet said he was dangerously obese. This boy is also super long and tall so I'm sure he's meant to be big, but 20lbs is ridiculous. 

 

My little boy is a big kitty too, but his middle started looking like it was inflated, so no bueno.  The only thing that worked here was weaning him completely off the kibble.  Once he hit about 17 pounds he started playing a little more and the increased activity helped him to continue dropping weight on the same amount of food.  At first I was giving him a can of food in the morning and a couple of tablespoons of grain-free kibble midday when he started crying.  Then a can of food at night.  Over time he stopped crying for his kibble early in the day so I would just put a tablespoon over his dinner.  Eventually I stopped doing that too, but right before bed I'd throw just a few in his bowl (maybe a teaspoon or so?) so he didn't wake me up in the night.  Over time I realized I wasn't doing it every night and he stopped bugging me.  So now he just eats the two cans of food.  I weigh him once a month and he's always a few ounces lighter each time. 

 

What is your guy eating?  Is there any way to increase his activity a little?  Our dog chases mine up and down the stairs a couple of times a day.  I always joke that she's his personal trainer.

[Barb_]

Oh!  A good alternative to Tiki Cat is Fussie Cat.  Similar shredded style, people-type food, but sometimes the prices are a lot better.  I buy a 12 pack every month and feed him a can every so often.  I know the conventional wisdom is that you should feed your cat the same thing all the time for fear of making them fussy, but I find that makes food-motivated cats cranky.  He tends to eat all of his bowl in a sitting and not complain or cry in between meals if I rotate a few different flavors and brands at every meal. That also help with the cost because I can be on the lookout for good deals. Milo's new favorite is by I and You and Love (weird name).  They have a rabbit flavor named Wascally Wabbit that he adores. If you live on the West Coast, Sprouts sometimes puts their natural pet food on sale for buy one get one free.  That brings it down to around a dollar a can.  Still not cheap, but cheaper that vet bills!

 

 

[Paige]

He eats a can of wet in the morning and a can at night. He whines nonstop but we don't give him more. He hasn't had kibble unless we're out of town in over a year. His weight doesn't seem to budge anymore. I can't imagine giving him less food. He isn't a complete slug. He likes to play with our other kitty and will go outside and stalk birds and squirrels but he's too slow to catch anything. He is so fat I don't have to worry about him getting out of the fence- he can't jump that high and he can't squeeze through.

[Daria]

Okay, 34 views and no replies; just PM me if you're not comfortable saying it around the Paleo/WAP folks either. :p

 

No offense intended, just trying to do what's right for my furgrandbaby.

 

A fair number of those 34 people are probably people like me, who were curious what kitties and paleo had to do with each other, but actually don't know much about either.

 

I think your kitty is lucky that you care so much. 

[TechWife]

I wish I could get my girl to eat canned food! She simply won't have anything to do with it. She needs to loose weight - she is 16 pounds and arthritic. We were at the vet last week and the vet recommended Fancy Feast Classics - it's all protein. However, she won't touch it. I am going to be calling the vet to get the prescription weight control kibble on Monday. The vet didn't say anything about her needing kibble for her teeth. Previously, we tried a weight control kibble, but she growled at it and went on strike, eventually ending up with fatty liver disease. We are going to try a different brand this time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

I'm totally confused by the warning. Kitties don't need grains, they're carnivores. The food looks great to me?

[Barb_]

He eats a can of wet in the morning and a can at night. He whines nonstop but we don't give him more. He hasn't had kibble unless we're out of town in over a year. His weight doesn't seem to budge anymore. I can't imagine giving him less food. He isn't a complete slug. He likes to play with our other kitty and will go outside and stalk birds and squirrels but he's too slow to catch anything. He is so fat I don't have to worry about him getting out of the fence- he can't jump that high and he can't squeeze through.

 

Oh wow, he's a tough cookie. Is he getting into your other cat's food when you aren't looking? My cat will sometimes sneak the dog's kibble so we have to pick it up if she decides to graze.

[Pawz4me]

I can't remember why you are an animal expert. Bet? Vet tech? Rescue? Everything that I've ever taken my cats to insist that kibble is important "for healthy teeth." True? False? Is this something that is repeated without any sort of studies being done? Old vet's tales? I have an apple head Siamese who blew up to 19,5 lbs on (expensive, grain free) kibble all while crying like he was starving. It's like crack to him. I weaned him off about a year ago and he's slowly dropped 4.5lbs over the course of 11 months. He has two cans of food a day and a tbsp or two of kibble maybe once a week as a treat. And he never cries for food anymore outside of his regular feeding time.

 

Invariably when I tell a vet what he eats, they tell me I must add in some kibble or his teeth will rot and fall out of his head.

 

I'm no expert! I did work in rescue for a long time, and for several years I helped moderate a very active pet board that was owned by two fairly well known trainers (they've had multiple books published). Many of the moderators and members there were very knowledgeable--vets, trainers, top breeders, people who competed in all sorts of dog sports, etc. I was very fortunate to be asked to help moderate that board and I learned a lot. But anything I say is just my own opinion, nothing more.

 

I've never bought into the notion that kibble helps keep teeth clean. I don't see how it could. So I say mostly false. The exceptions to that would be the prescription dental health kibbles and the very small number of other products that have been approved by the Veterinary Oral Health Council (there are a couple of non-prescription kibbles on their list of accepted products). But as you can see that's a fairly small list of approved products, and I'm pretty sure some of them work by depositing enzymes and such on the teeth that help control plaque and tartar (so chewing of the product is only important as a delivery system for the enzymes). My guess is that if kibble in general worked to clean teeth the manufacturers would get every one of their products approved by the VOHC so they could claim that in big bold letters on their packaging. The fact that very few products are approved tells me that most kibble doesn't work to promote dental health.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Pawz4me

[Carrie12345]

I don't eat paleo, but I'm not a kitty!

 

My cat gets grain free kibble and standard crappy canned food.  No matter what brand or flavor we tried (and we tried every one we could get our hands on) he wasn't giving in to filler-free wet food.  He does, however, scream for more and more kibble whenever he thinks I look too happy, busy, comfortable, or otherwise uninterested in making him the center of my world.

 

I do not like him.  :tongue_smilie: