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[Mydogsnotfat]

Hi, I've always had cats and had quite a lot over the years but only ever fed them regular supermarket brands, whatever they will eat on a rotation! They have all lived long lives and been pretty healthy including one almost 20. I'm seeing lots of ads on FB for foods like KATKIN and wonder if all the hype and advertising claims are true? Does anyone here have experience of these foods that can give me some advice please. I'm happy to try them if they really are much better for the felines in my life.

All I can confidently say is that cheap dry food is very bad (dangerous really) for male cats. By cheap I mean Whiskas, Go Cat, Supermarket own etc. It's something to do with the magnesium content which can cause urinary crystals and blocked bladders.

Of course not all male cats fed with that stuff will end up with a blocked bladder, just as not everyone who smokes will get lung cancer, but it's a risk.

Wet food is more of a grey area and even the cheapest food probably isn't that bad. In fact many vets I've known have praised Butchers Classic tins, which are very cheap. The better food, such as Lily's Kitchen, probably is better, but how much difference it actually makes I don't know.

As PP said, you want to feed a good quality dry food (especially if you have male cats) as cheap food can cause urinary blockages - especially GoCat.

But wet food isn't something I can get worked up about. I know people will come on and tell you that Whiskas and Felix are like McDonald's for cats but IME cats can be so picky that any wet food is better than no wet food, especially for males.

My own boy is prone to urinary crystals and we were told it didn't matter what wet food we fed him as long as he ate it - he thought it was more important to get liquid into him than anything else. Mine are fed Felix.

We use Katkin and I'm evangelical about it. It actually looks and smells like real food and both of my cats have such lovely glossy fur since they've been eating it. They also LOVE it, and are extremely finicky eaters. I don't intend to give them anything else now.

Interesting. Thankyou for your replies. My cats are all females. I’ll attach some gratuitous pics. They have access to dry always Harrington’s but are actually fed wet and boiled chicken/mackerel/sardines etc.

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@SpaghettiPrincess

We use Katkin and I'm evangelical about it. It actually looks and smells like real food and both of my cats have such lovely glossy fur since they've been eating it. They also LOVE it, and are extremely finicky eaters. I don't intend to give them anything else now.

Mine looked like I was trying to poison him when I tried it!

Well, that's Harry for you... :)

I buy expensive pouches that look like human food and don't make me retch smell wise ... both cats look enthusiastic at food time and eat them.

However, the other day I opened a tin of baked beans. I hardly ever have cans and this was the first I opened since they arrived now nearly two months ago.

OMG - the excitement!!! - rubbing around my ankles, meowing, drooling, both jumping up to get to the can and generally trying to tell me they were half-starved.

I'm guessing that in their former home they were fed from supermarket cans and prefer this and not the expensive pouches I buy!

I tried to feed Asbo amionda carney once and he looked at me liked I’d gone quite mad. It smelt like dog food to me.

Very good of your cat to let the dog sleep in the bed too @Mydogsnotfat, it’s important to remember the little people isn’t it?

I've got my first Katkin food arriving in the next hour, largely based on the good feedback I've had on MN.
I'm hoping against hope that my cats eat it because one of them has recently turned his nose up against every other food.
Knowing my luck he'll create merry hell so I've got some back up chicken breasts in reserve as that's all he'll currently eat.
As an aside would it be really awful to feed him purely on chicken (breast not thigh, he's really that obstinate)

Yes, it’s too low on taurine and that’s an essential nutrient for them.

I fed mine on chicken for nearly a year then put him on normal food again. He’d had such awful digestive problems with cereals I was scared to feed him cat food but I was glad I did. I honestly thought he was going to die one night when he was first ill, he was so weak.

As an aside would it be really awful to feed him purely on chicken (breast not thigh, he's really that obstinate)

@drivinmecrazy yes - cats need taurine in their diet or it can kill them.

vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/taurine-in-cats

We tried Katkin, they were disgusted with us. We have Untamed and Carragan dry and wet now. Both love it.

Now I know how my dm felt when she served me healthy fish dinners and I told her at grandmas we have fish fingers. It’s a miracle I made it past 7.

@Mydogsnotfat

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Aww ....so cute!!

I tried mine on it, and loads of others, they only want whiskers