For a balanced and complete feeding.. any suggestion?

[Lily-]

You are welcome :D
I hope yours will like it too it's a bit low in fats too (even if not as much as Porta21) but under the ingredients it suggests to feed the cat with it + dry food to have a balanced diet, so it shouldnt be too bad

[Mymblesdaughter]

Hi Lily

Thanks for taking the photograph. I'll definitely get some to try on my next zooplus order. 

[Lily-]

Picsss
Sorry for the low quality of my phone 
In real it doesnt look so orange as in the 1st pic, the colour is pretty close to the "Natural Chicken" by Porta21 like in the2nd pic

[Lily-]

Oh, if Thrive is in strips and complete it would be great! I have never heard about it, but if I find it here in Italy or from an online petshop I surely will ^^

Oh ok, thanks for the info then

I'll surely give that Rouge label tomorrow morning, I just checked if they were hungry but with this heat they prefer to sleep in cool places rather than eating

[Mymblesdaughter]

I've just seen someone on a zooplus review recommending adding goose fat and taurine to the porta 21 wet food. I do already add seaweed for taurine. I also saw someone mention Thrive it's strips like the porta 21 but is complete. Has anyone tried it? 

The Hermanns and Defu aren't strips. The hermanns is a pate and I think the defu was chunks, so I wouldn't bother trying those Lily as they probably won't like them.

I'll try the rouge chicken and cheese that sounds like Xanders sort of thing, if you could post a picture that would be great. Thanks.

[Lily-]

Mine didnt like the orange label either (luckily my other cat eats really everything so finally I used them all). Among the Almo Rouge flavours he likes Chicken and cheese and Chicken and surimi... like yours, he likes the ones where there are strips of chicken and these 2 should be quite complete This evening or tomorrow morning I'll give him a Chicken and Cheese (Almo Rouge), I'll take a pic to show you so you can see if yours could like it too

I have no idea if olive oil is ok too... anyway as soon as this woman reply I'll let you know here, hoping she brings us good news ahah :D

Are Defu and Hermanns in strips too? I havent tried them yet, but maybe I could add them the next time I make an order from Zooplus

[Mymblesdaughter]

Hi thanks Lily, I tried the orange label almo and neither of them liked it, I had to buy a box from zooplus as no one stocks it locally and I ended up sending it to a cat charity. Do you know if the almo rouge is the same? If you could let me know about adding fat that would be good. I wonder if I could add olive oil? I must say they aren't exactly skinny cats and they seem really healthy and full off life. 

He didn't like the Defu or Herrmanns either

He only seems to like the wet food that looks like strips of chicken - Applaws, Porta 21 and Almo nature in tins (complimentary food)

[Lily-]

Hi Mymblesdaughter I can totally understand you, one of them is like your male, but I'm lucky he accepted at least the Trainer wet food I dont know if it can help you, but I read some days ago you can "add" the missing fats with goose lard... I sent an email to the person who wrote it (it was in Italian website and this person is really precise about cats' nutrition), but I didnt get a reply yet... if you are interested, I'll let you know as soon as she replies
In the meantime, I dont know if you already tried it, but my little devil with difficult tastes appreciates a lot the "chicken and cheese" flavour by Almo 4Labels (Rouge Label if I remember right)... it seems to be more complete than Porta21, but as regards me, I dont give him always this Almo wet food cos I'm afraid if I give it too often he will totally refuse to eat the Trainer.
It's pretty expensive compared to Porta21, so I try to buy a lot of it when it's on sale If you havent tried it yet, maybe it is worth a try

[Mymblesdaughter]

I give mine two small meals of the porta 21 wet food a day and leave down the dry holistic one. The wet isn't complete but it's the only wet food I can get my male cat to eat. I give my female cat a complete wet food a couple of times a week called lily's. I do worry that they are getting quite a bit of complimentary food but porta say as long as you have the dry and wet it is a balanced diet. The other alternative for me would be feeding my male cat only dry food which I really don't want to do. I keep trying him with new things every time I see a different food but without success so far.  I'm like you and would really want them to have a cruelty free food.

I've spent many hour online trying to find the best cat foods and it's so difficult , you find a really great organic, high meat content food then the little horrors won't eat it. 

[Lily-]

Thanks Susanne
Yeah I noticed they are poor nutritionally too, that's why I give them just one evening per week (luckily they chew it well, but before deciding if continuin with them or not I'll wait few weeks, when the vet will see them)... I tried to offer them raw chicken (my dog is fed with a B.A.R.F. diet, which I tried with them too, but no way... Joy looked at me like "Are you serious?!"... and they are just 1 year old, so they didnt have back years and years of commercial food  ). As regards the toothpaste, I have never seen it here, could you suggest me a name please? They get on well with the paste for hair balls, maybe it could be a good option

Thanks for your opinion, my goal would be giving them a good variety too, it's nice seeing them happy to eat something different (mine go mad for chicken! Well, one of them... the other goes mad for pretty everything  ).
Unluckily I can't avoid completely the dry food, especially during university months, as it keeps me away from home for several hours

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I would avoid the hills t/d.  It's pretty poor nutritionally and I would question the benefit for teeth (I once tried it and found Jaffa just swallowed the kibble whole, despite them being larger than normal kibble).  Much better for teeth would be raw chicken wings and/or something like logic gel (toothpaste that you can rub on the gums or let them lick off your finger).

I prefer to feed all or mostly wet food to cats as I think it's more close to the diet they would naturally eat in the wild (being obligate carnivores), plus cats don't have a strong thirst mechanism due to getting most of their water with their prey.   When it comes to choice of foods I look for foods that do not contain cereal, vegetable deriviatives or soy.  I prefer no sugar but if there is a little added (usually listed last) as a preservative I will accept that.  I don't know what foods you have available to you, but I think a variety is good if possible.  My Jaffa gets bored with the same thing at every meal although Mosi would be happy to have hi life essentials all the time.  Any food labelled as complete will meet minimum requirements, but some foods are high in fat, others low in fat etc. so the best way to get a good diet is, imo, to feed a variety of foods. 

That's the theory.  Getting the cats to eat what we want them is the hard part as they tend to have their own opinions on that!

[Lily-]

Hey there
I'd like to know your opinion about my cats' diet ^^
My first cat had kidneys problems (Rest In Peace my beloved babe  ) and now that I have some experience in more I'm trying my best to feed my two furry babies in a complete and healthy way... but how many doubts 

Their daily food, at the moment, is (for both, not per cat):
140-210gr of wet food, depends on how hungry they are (Trainer Adult, in all the 3 flavours, Lamb, Chicken and Fish)
50gr of dry cat food (Trainer again, I leave them this avaible for the night/early morning)
I'm trying to give 2/3 of wet and 1/3 of dry food, not to make their kidneys work too much but makin them chew at the same time.

The Trainer wet food should  be complete, according to the ingredients reported on the can.

At the same time, I'd like to make them change the wet food once in a while.. I mean, they get bored easily to eat always the same kind of wet food  (I dont know if my cats are strange or if it's typical ahah :D), so I'd like to feed them in a bit more various way.
I tried to give them many different kinds of wet food, but the only one that both like is the Porta21 Feline (not the holistic kind), but from the ingredients it looks balanced except for the fats... is it right?
Now my question is.. as they'd eat just 45-50gr each of Porta21 (daily), do I need to add fats to their diet or the fact that the other wet food is already complete makes it balanced without add?

And.. a last question... the vet suggested me to give them once a week t/d Hill's dry food, to keep their teeth cleaner... they love it and all, but I'd like to give them only cruelty free food. In Italy, everyone I asked to told me it's the only specific product for teeths, but I was wondering if maybe you know any cruelty free alternative

Thanks everybody, I hope I didn't make too many mistakes with language