Best brands of dry food for an indoor adult cat?

[Namechanger67]

I usually buy the Royal Canin British Shorthair dry food. My cat is indoors only and I have been advised to mainly just stick with dry. I was reading that Royal Canin, although good, isn't the best option as they do tend to put some additives and grains in it. Do you have any other brands to recommend on a similar price range?
Not keen on subscription based ones.
Thanks!

Thrive dry
Encore dry
Applaws dry
These are the ones I tend to use
I do also give wet food a couple of times a day as thats a way to get moisture into them if they dont drink much

Im feeding Iams but I also give wet food. What is the reason you have been advised only feed dry?

It's probably not the best nutrition wise but my ( 5yr old neutered male ) has been on gocat indoor fed freely and 1 80g sheba in jelly per day and he is still zooming around like a 6 month old.

Hills science plan
My indoor kittens eat this along with wet food.

So my cat is just over 1 year old. She used to be fed wet and dry until about 9 months or so. Breeder and vet have suggested we move to dry food only as BSH cats are prone to weight gain and this gets worse after neutering. That’s why she is on dry mainly (apparently wet food increases weight gain whereas they self regulate more with dry)

Do you do half can/pouch each time? When I was still feeding her wet food, a lot would go to waste tbh. We did however always provide dry food as advised to do so so perhaps she wasn't that hungry when we served the wet one

I would have thought they would put on more weight with dry food as its more dense compared to wet food

You could try the small pouches that are only 50g each. (I have 2 cats so they share a larger pouch/tin between them)

Apparently not if it’s left out for them to graze throughout the day as they will self regulate

I find it strange they say that, I find the exact opposite!
They self regulate with wet food, they tend to eat it more slowly, whereas they can wolf down a lot of dry food quickly. And unless you have a cat who drinks plenty of water, feeding only dry food can cause urinary tract problems.

I aim to feed 50/50 wet/dry. Dry is usually Royal Canin, sometimes Hills.

We have two (moggies) so we give them half a can/pouch of wet food each in the morning then the same in the evening, if we only had one cat we would open one in the morning and put the other half in the fridge for later. They do go through phases of stealing off each other but it evens out generally.

Then they have Canagan dry food left down, this is a good quality no grain food, no idea about price comparison as we've never used Royal Canin, it's not cheap but they love it and are in very good health at 13yo. One of our cats has tended towards plumpness at times over the years but not seriously, the other is always slim. Always have water left out in a separate place too.

Ours wolf down the wet food, they are clamouring for it at feed time and they are little vacuum cleaners, clean plates in no time, the dry they just have a munch on here and there.

Thank you. Are they indoors only? That makes a difference as more prone to weight gain

My cat is prone to weight gain and spends most of his time lazing around (though he's a moggy who is allowed to go outside when he likes - he just doesn't do a lot of exercise regardless). We just ration his food, both wet and dry.

Dry food is way more calorie dense so I would have thought it would be easier to put on weight with dry than wet. I think 'self-regulating' is probably more of a personality thing rather than what you're feeding? Anyway it's easy to prevent them overeating - you just give them less.

Oh and he has Royal Canin dry. I don't buy into the grain-free thing and RC is a big brand that does lots of research, so I trust them over a boutique brand that is more about the vibes. Anyway he likes it and that's the main thing.

He has mostly Wellness Core wet.

No, but they have always been pretty lazy. They go into the garden, wander about a bit, maybe do a little climbing up fences, lie down and watch the world go by, even when they were younger. Never really managed to catch anything (thankfully). But yes, probably still a bit more active than if they were indoors.

I feed this atm, purely because my cat will eat it, plus a canegan pouch, used to feed canegan dried too until 🤴 decided it wasn’t to his specification.

https://catit.co.uk/products/catit-recipes-adult-indoor-poultry-dry-cat-food

Concept for life!

My indoor has Amazon lifelong dry food. It’s grain free. It was great for Cheddar who had a very sensitive tummy.

Our indoor cat has Thrive dry and Untamed wet. Last time she was weighed she was overweight and the vet advised cutting down on the dry because it’s more calorie dense. She didn’t seem to learn to self regulate when we left dry out all day - she’s like a Labrador in a cat body as far as food goes!

I used to use RC Persian but it made Cheddar sick.

Mine have all only had dry but only because they just would t eat wet. Penelope is the first of mine who likes wet food. (But only fishy flakes in gravy. 🙄) she has thrive wet.

Acana Wild Prairie
Thrive
Applaws

I mix these 3 together, all are complete foods with no grain.

.. They do have wet food in the mornings though.

Scrumbles and/or Thrive dry.
He's fussy with wet food but he likes Purina mousse.

My indoor boy is now on Carnilove TrueFresh. Made from fresh meat, no dried or meat derivatives, hIgh protein and grain & potato free. He also has Royal Canin Fibre Response as he has a slow metabolism and a tendency to get constipated. I used to buy Purr & Miaow from Amazon which is 70% protein and good value for the price.

He's not mad keen on wet food though does eat Purina Revelations mousse. He loves his water fountain and drinks well so makes me less worried about kidney issues. He's a big framed cat and 7kg so I am watching his calories to make sure he doesn't get any heavier.