What pet food is good for a one year old cat?

I just got my first cat, and he is about 7 months old now. I know I should switch up his food soon from the kitten formula to something, but I want to know which food is best for him. I know foods like Purina and such is like feeding your cat fast food leftovers. (and in some cases spoiled leftovers lol) So I want something good for him, but a lot of the brands I see like Wellness is $13 a bag. Any suggestions on a happy medium?

You do not want a "him" cat on a dry food diet. It should be a minimum of 50% canned food.

There are a lot of great articles on cat nutrition at http://www.littlebigcat.com in Dr. Jean Hovfe's article library. Read: "What Cats Should Eat". "Why Cats Need Canned Food", "Selecting a Good Commercial Cat Food", "Urinary Tract Disorders in Cats" etc. Those are all at the end of about fifty articles on cat nutrition, health and behavior.

Whatever the cost of feeding your cat a quality food it will pay off for you in fewer veterinary bills in the long run so it is a worthwhile "investment" even if it seems expensive.

The best thing you can do is ask your vet, who knows your cat's medical history and needs. The best foods for your cat honestly are the best ones. You should take a stroll down the cat food shelf and see what's available. Just for the record, I have a cat who will be 2 in September, and I give her Nutro® Natural Choice® which is one of the higher-end brands but it's only about $9 a bag. That brand has indoor cat formulas, outdoor cat formulas, senior cat, kitten, etc.....specifically tailored to meet the needs of all different kinds of cats. It has an Overall Rating of 4.8 (out of 5) and a Pet Rating of 4.7 (out of 5) so apparently it's meeting everybody's needs! :)

iams is the best but hard food definetly or its a big mess to clean up.

That $13 bag should probably last you a couple of months since you only feed like 1/2 cup a day, depending on weight. Isn't spending $6.50 a month on a quality food worth it for your cat? He will be so much healthier than if you put him on Iams or some lower quality grain filled food. You should also get some of the Wellness canned food as well and feed that daily too.

Iams is good, but costs$$$$$$. i have a cat that is 19 and has just had a check-up; all that is wrong with her is a slight tyroid problem. shes had iams all her life.

Canned would be better, and a raw meat diet would be even better than that. But raw requires research. You still have time - if you want to learn more, check out the groups from my 360. The people there - and the documents on file - will tell you all you need to know about how to properly balance your cat's food and how to get them started.

That would be my first recommendation, but failing that, canned is the best commercial type of food you can buy.

I would choose one of the foods from the What to feed list. You should be able to find one that's readily available and since you probably don't have any bad kitty feeding habits to break, it shouldn't be too difficult.

As for the price, it's been said that because these better quality foods are ... well, better quality, you don't have to feed as much of them. If I were you, I would start out feeding between 1/2 and 2/3 of a can (6oz) per day. No point in overfeeding to start with - it's easier to increase intake than to decrease it!

Nutrience is good. Plus, no! That kitten is too young to swich to adult food yet! If kitty starts getting fat on kitten food, change it to adult. good luck! :)

When your cat is older try Purina Cat Chow complete dry cat food.

Good luck with your new cat,all I can say is that I've trusted Iams dry cat food for many years. Yes it is a bit expensive but

the benifits (at least in my opinion) are noticable. Great coat,

clear eyes,happy content cats.the first ingredient is chicken by products,Cats like their meat.

I like Innova EVO and Chicken Soup for the cat lover's soul brand

well i have owned at least 10 cats in my life and at the moment i have 5 and the only thing that all of them will eat is meow mix every cat i have ever fostered or babysat have all eaten meow-mix and my sister swears by it and shes a vet and it only cost 8.88 at wal-mart it might cost a little more at the grocery store

Bulldog.

Any food you can pick up at your local super market or wal-mart are pure garbage. That includes Iams. They have a wonderful website and great commercials to mislead the consumer. Same with pedigree. I know they only have dog food, but their commercial is a tear jerker but one of THE WORST foods you can feed your pet. Anyone can reccommend a food that is best, but you really need to learn how to read food labels so you can make an educated decision.

Start with the name of the food.

100% Rule:

The terms “all” or “100%” cannot be used if there is more than one ingredient, not including water sufficient for processing, decharacterizing agents, or trace amounts of preservatives and condiments.”

95% Rule:

Ingredients derived from animals, poultry, or fish constitutes at least 95% or more of the total weight of the product.

25% Rule:

An ingredient or a combination of ingredients constitutes at least 25% of the weight of the product. These foods are characterized by the descriptions “recipe,” “platter,” “entree,” “dinner”, and “formula”.

“With” Rule:

The “With” rule allows an ingredient name to appear on the label, such as “with real chicken,” as long as each such ingredient constitutes at least 3% of the food by weight.

“Flavor” Rule:

The “flavor” rule allows a food to be designated as a certain flavor. A “beef flavor” food may contain a small quantity of digest or other extract of tissues from cattle, or even an artificial flavor, without containing any actual beef meat at all.

What to be aware of in pet foods and what to avoid:

Rendered ingredients:

“Because of persistent rumors that rendered by-products contain dead dogs and cats, the FDA conducted a study looking for pentobarbital, the most common euthanasia drug, in pet foods. They found it. Ingredients that were most commonly associated with the presence of pentobarbital were meat-and-bone-meal and animal fat. Industry insiders admit that rendered pets and road kill were used in pet food. Although there are still no laws or regulations against it, pet food companies universally deny that their products contain any such materials. However, so-called “4D” animals (dead, dying, diseased, disabled) were only recently banned for human consumption and are still legitimate ingredients for pet food.”

“An animal that died on the farm might not reach a rendering plant until days after its death. Therefore the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli. Dangerous E. Coli bacteria are estimated to contaminate more than 50% of meat meals. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins some bacteria produce during their growth. These toxins can survive processing, and can cause sickness and disease. Pet food manufacturers do not test their products for bacterial endotoxins. Because sick or dead animals can be processed as pet foods, the drugs that were used to treat or euthanize them may still be present in the end product. Penicillin and pentobarbital are just two examples of drugs that can pass through processing unchanged.” http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&more=1

Meat-and-bone-meal and animal fat are two very common ingredients in “popular” pet foods.

What do some of the ingredients mean?

Corn: Dogs and cats are obligate carnivores which means they are true meat eaters and lack the physiology to digest vegetable matter. Corn is the most commonly used filler and holds absolutely no nutritional value.

Brewer's Rice: The dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent.

Another deffinition says: Brewer's Rice is the small milled fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice.

Both are pretty bad.

Animal Digest: This is the dry by-product of rendered meat. During rendering, all usable animal parts (including fetal tissues and glandular wastes) are heated in vats and the liquid is separated from the dry meal. This meal is covered with charcoal and labeled "unfit for human consumption" before processing it into pet food.

Animal Fat and Tallow: Animal fat is a "generic" fat source that is most often made up of rendered animal fat, rancid restaurant grease or other oils that are deemed inedible for humans. Tallow is low quality hard white fat that most animals find hard to digest.

By-Product: After the lean meat is removed for human consumption, the remaining animal is sent for processing. Whatever remains of the carcass â€" heads, feet, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, spleens, livers, ligaments, fat trimmings, unborn babies, and other parts not generally consumed by humans, is used in pet food.

Ethoxyquin: Fat stabilizer suspected of being a cancer-causing agent.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)

Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)

Known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction

Propylene glycol: Causes the destruction of red blood cells.

A good rule of thumb is that if its sold in super markets and multipurpose stores like Wal-Mart, or if you’ve seen it on TV in a commercial, don’t feed it to your pet!

Hills Science Diet â€" brewers rice, poultry by-product meal, ground corn, animal fat, BHA/BHT, corn gluten meal

Purina - corn, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, beef tallow, animal digest

Friskies - corn, chicken by product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat, animal digest, wheat gluten

Meow Mix - chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, corn, brewers rice, beef tallow, turkey by-product

Fancy Feast - brewers rice, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat, corn, animal digest

Iams - chicken by-product meal, corn, Animal Fat (FDA found the chemical used in euthanization in the meats)

Eukanuba - chicken by-product meal, brewers rice, chicken by-products

Also beware of any foods labeled as “organic”, “premium”, “human grade”, “USDA or other organization Inspected” etc. These are usually sales gimmicks. Do not trust brand name labels. Do your own research!

Also, even though higher end foods are more expensive, they end up equaling out in the long run. Paying for a cheaper food may save you money, but your cat will be eating more of it to gain the proper nutrition that it needs. With a higher end food, it will eat less beacause it is meeting the nutritional needs and the food will last longer. Another positive point is that with higher end foods with less fillers, the cat will be creating less waste so theres much less poo you will be cleaning up after which also means saving money on kitty litter!

Most higher end foods can be fed to both cats and kittens which means you dont have to worry about when to switch over. I currently have my boy on Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. When he was a kitten, I had him on their kitten formula. I have to say that he is doing great on it. His coat looks wonderful and I leave dry kibble out for him at all times and he munches as he likes and he is nice and fit and quite a handsome cat. He's going to be a year old in July.

Im planning on switching him to something else only because of the pet food recalls. I am a worry wort and I would do anything for all my babies. I have kept a close eye on the recalls for nearly 6 months now and with the growing trend of cross contamination, I fear that the food he is on will eventually be recalled as well. They have a few items on the list and thats enough for me. Wellness does also and even though its a really good food, I still worry about the cross contamination. So what Ive decided to do is once he's running low on his current bag of food, I will begin weaning him onto something that isnt on the list at all.

My top picks are Felidae, Innova, Solid Gold, and Natures Variety. Yes they are kinda pricey, but a single 20 - 25 pound bag which costs about $25 - 30 lasts me almost 3 months! I just use ziplock bags to keep the food Im not using fresh. Buying in bulk also saves a lot of money too. When switching food though, I would buy the smallest bag possible to make sure your kitty likes it first. You wouldnt want a giant bag of food that he wont eat! And you need to keep some of the older food to wean to prevent stomach upset and allow him time to get used to the new stuff.

The main ingredients in my chosen foods:

Solid Gold - Kat n Flocken - Lamb, Chicken Meal, Millet, Brown Rice, Ocean Fish Meal (all US ingredients)

Felidae - Cat and Kitten - Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat, Herring Meal, Eggs (all US ingredients)

Felidae also has a chicken and rice formula that is good for cats and kittens too.

Innova - Cat and Kitten - Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Whole Steamed Potatoes

Innova Evo Cat and Kitten food is another good one.

(does not say it is made in the US)

The importance of having a food where ingredients are obtained and manufactured in the US means that the threat of contamination because of the recall is greatly reduced as most of the contaminated products are coming out of China and they are difficult for the consumer to determine where the ingredients came from.

So for me personally, I am greatly leaning toward Felidae.

Cats also are very prone to kidney problems. I would normally suggest to feed wet food to help keep a lot of moisture in the cat's system, but again, the recall has left me incredibly wary and I personally have opted to not feed wet (which also gives my cat the farts which isnt pleasent) and I keep multiple water dishes throughout the hose so he can drink as much as he needs.

I always feed any kittens we have Purina Kitten Chow up to a year old. My veternarian explained to me that kittens need all the nutrients in kitten food until adult age, right around 1. Then I've started mine on various foods. Cat Chow (blue bag) is a very good one but we use Purina One Urinary Tract Formula because we have a cat who has urinary problems. And they're all fine with that food. I don't use Iams. Too many recalls on some of their food so I just flat out don't trust it. We've used Pro-Plan foods as well.