I've been reading a lot of discussion about what type of cat food should our bengals be given. And I've come to realize that good premium cat food or home made cat food is best. I'm a new cat owner and really want to know all I can about keeping Tiger healthy. I had no idea that fancy feast or nine lives or almost any shelf canned food was considered junk food and this is what I've been buying him. So I guess my questions are. Does anyone recommend a good premium brand of cat food that is filled with nutrients and very healthy for my Bengal. Or do you recommend home made cat food with a selection of ingredients that's packed with nutrients. If so would you mind sharing the recipe, because I don't mind going the extra mile to prepare my cat food at home if it's best for him. Thanks

I am working on getting Raiden used to the better food. He was brought up on Friskies the first six years of his life with his previous owner. Problem is, there isn't much of the good stuff that he will scarf down. I currently have a can of Halo and a pouch of something else that he turned his nose up at the first time. The best food is not cheap. I brought home $63 worth of in a small bag that wasn't going to last but a couple of weeks. Raiden is really particular.

I think making your own (often referred to as a "raw diet") can be the best food or it could be the worst food, depending on how you make it. The real fear from my standpoint (despite not having the time) is that if I were to do it, I'm not a nutrition expert, so I may be omitting some essential ingredients, or just getting the balance of ingredients wrong, which could result in disastrous consequences for my cats. But many people swear by it, and I do admire people that can pull it off, and get a great result. So if you do decide to do it, I would try to use recipes that have been tried by many many others, rather than trying to "roll your own" or improvise.

I think http://www.catinfo.org has a lot of info about raw diets. Also there are two books that I know of that feature raw diet preparation, nutrition, and recipe info for cats:

This book is kind of nausiating because half of it is devoted to pseudo-scientific evangelizing, but the other half is devoted to all the nitty gritty details (including recipes), so it's not a bad choice:

http://smile.amazon.com/Natural-Nutriti ... +nutrition

This book is mainly about commercial cat foods, but it does talk about raw food as well and provides info and recipes I believe:

http://smile.amazon.com/What-Cats-Shoul ... +nutrition

There is also this facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/CatCrap/

There are several current members who feed raw (we used to have a bunch more) so hopefully they will contribute to this thread as well.

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The little monsters 3

Thanks for all the great advice you all. I'll look into the brands and recipes to compare prices and time consumption.

I feed both of my cats dry and wet food from the brand ‘Applaws’. It is fantastic and they love it. There are no preservatives, grains or fillers in the wet food. It is 100% ingredients and come in many flavours, including chicken, tuna, duck, etc. This is good for variety as cats can also get bored if they are fed the same thing every day. Their dry food is also fantastic and a very healthy choice. They also sell whole tuna loins as treats. I highly recommend them.

I would also really recommend a raw diet. It is not simply though – given your cat some raw chicken or steak just won’t cut it. You need to make sure they are getting all the nutrients they require from their food. This means creating raw ‘meals’ which incorporate flesh, bone, and organs. It can be the best option, especially for Bengals. If done correctly, of course. You will need to do a fair bit of research on it, though. I know that there are also companies which sell complete raw meals for cats. They usually come in a pattie already made with all the correct meats. You just need to break it up for your cat. More expensive than making your own, but also convenient if you don’t have the time.

Make sure you check the tins of Applaws - I bought this only to find what I was feeding them was a complementary food and not complete. I think the dry is complete, but you need to check the wet with this brand. If it isn't complete, your cats won't be getting all the necessary nutrients they require, particularly taurine.

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

Commercial raw is all good upto a point. Be sure to look out for 'complete' foods. (nature's menu, natural instinct, Nutriment) keep in mind you have no knowledge of how that food is prepared or how sanitary the conditions are.

Home made raw gives you more control over thesethese, and you put in exactly what you need. Some people can get confused with the ratios etc, but it's really quite easy. Think in terms of parts, not percentage, and that's half the battle won already.

For a quick and easy complete recipe, try something like this:

1kg poultry fillet (100% meat)
50g liver
50g kidney (or 100g liver and no kidney)
100g de-boned chicken wing or 5g of crushed dried eggshell (raw bone NOT cooked)
1 egg
100g of oily fish (salmon/sardines/pilchards)
250ml water

Granted it does get more complicated when you use whole chickens and you have varying meat:bone ratios but that's what notepads are for.

Interestingly most household brands have just a few parent brands as owners, the a look at who owns what you might be surprised.

Collate makes;

Hills


Nestlé makes;

ALPO
Beggin�
Beneful
Busy
Chef Michael's
Deli-Cat
Fancy Feast
Felix
Friskies
Gourmet
Just Right
Mighty Dog
Purina Beyond
Purina Cat Chow
Purina Dog Chow
Purina ONE
Purina Pro Plan
Purina Veterinary Diets
Secondnature
T Bonz
Tidy Cats
Waggin� Train
Whisker Lickin�s


Mars make;

ADVANCE (Australia and New Zealand only)
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
Buckeye Nutrition
Cesar
Chappi
Dreamies
Eukanuba
Exelpet
Frolic
Good-o
Greenies
Iams
James Wellbeloved
Kit-e-kat
My Dog
Natura
Nutro Products
Pedigree
Optimum
Pill Pockets
Royal Canin
Schmackos
Sheba
Spillers
Teasers
Techni-Cal
Treets
Whiskas


The J.M. Smucker Company - Big Heart Pet Brands make;

Meow Mix
Kibbles 'n Bits
Milk-Bone
9 Lives,
Natural Balance
Pup-Peroni
Gravy Train
Nature�s Recipe
Canine Carry Outs
Milo�s Kitchen

Interesting seeing what companies make what brands of food! Thanks for the info.

What's more interesting is why people wonder how their cats got diabetes...

Thanks for the the great recipe on homemade catfood. Im astonished :). I actually went with Blue Bufallo freedom indoor wet food. Hopefully I'll see how it goes with him. Thanks so much I'll deffinayely give the recipe a try in time

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The little monsters 3

So the fact that confectioners own a damn big portion of the commercial pet food companies has absolutely nothing to do with it, right? Now that's naive and arrogant. I didn't imply that people neglect their cats, it's not the owners making commercial food, it's the commercial food companies in the wrong, plain and simple. Their marketing strategy will hardly tell you about the unneeded sugar and carbs in their products. Genetics is another boat entirely, diet is what we pick for our cats.

If there were just a couple of brands owned by a confectioners, I wouldn't give a monkeys. My point was to inform others at the scale of which pet foods are owned by confectioners, which is evidently quite large, and quite telling. If that's an issue, maybe you should take it up with Admin.

Eating carbohydrate does not cause diabetes. It is a genetically influenced disease that is promoted through stress and obesity.

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~ Kyenta

I've owned 9 cats in my lifetime and only one developed diabetes and it was due to being overweight. Unfortunately cats can develop the same diseases that humans do. The pancreas simply stops being able to produce insulin to control the blood glucose level. It can happen for a lot of reasons, but I would think if it were due to a poor diet eating cheap, crappy cat food, then 80% of the cats in this country would have diabetes.