natural cat food

I am starting to research more into natural cat food.

I am wanting to take the food I currently feed Smokey away and transition him to other stuff. Right now I feed him Meow Mix or Friskies

But i have started to look into Buffalo Blue, AvoDerm and Wellness

I was wondering what do you feed your cat? Do you factor in the ingredients like ground corn and all that stuff or does cost of food outweigh if it is more natural based or not?

I have cats and found that Blue Buffalo made their stools smell worse.  My late, beloved Norwegian Forest Cat did very well on Wellness, Solid Gold, Merrick (made in Texas) Evo and Nature's Variety.  I have fed Avoderm without a problem as well.   

Nature's Variety often has a coupon on their website for a free bag, or buy 1/get 1 free for new customers.  Merrick is made of human-grade ingredients.  Merrick, and the other brands you mentioned, are carried at Petco, and in some feed stores.  Blue Buffalo is carried at Petsmart as well.  My cats get cans of Merrick's food as treats a few times a year.  Merrick, Evo, Nature's Variety and Solid Gold have grain-free options, if that is an issue for your cats.  A friend of mine has a dog that needs to be grain-free, so I thought I'd mention it.

I think all the brands I've mentioned have websites with store locators, so you can find the sources closest to you.  Good luck! 

thanks...

Before I read this i brought some buffalo blue. I wish I had read this before about the stinky poo. One of the main reasons why I want to change his food is because of the smell.

I will use it up because I am not going to throw away food.... so I will make sure to pay attention to any smells.

I will try some of the other ones too though. thanks

I feed my cat raw - his poo does not smell.  It is more expensive than cheapy dry cat food but it is not prohibitively expensive because they eat less than on dry and it is really good for them.  In the UK it will take a bit of planning but it can be done.  Do some research - you won't have to look far as to  how to do it. 

Stay away from foods that have corn as their first or second ingredient. Look for whole meats or fish as the first ingredient and maybe brown rice as a second or third. My cats got really sick from Blue Buffalo.

I feed my cat raw - his poo does not smell.  It is more expensive than cheapy dry cat food but it is not prohibitively expensive because they eat less than on dry and it is really good for them.  In the UK it will take a bit of planning but it can be done.  Do some research - you won't have to look far as to  how to do it.  

Do you supplement your cat's food with taurine?  I don't see the point if the raw food is mostly meat or entirely meat, but most sites I've gone to regarding raw food and BARF (biologically appropriate raw food for those wondering) do.  If you do, where do you get it?  Places that sell weight lifting supplements?  Do you recommend one site over others?  There seems to be a bit of conflicting advice out there.

We can't feed our cat kibble except in small amounts as a snack (and only because he was given it as a kitten and now seems to have a had time adjusting to not having it at all).  I am really shocked at how much dry food is promoted as preferable in the US.  It nearly killed my cat who developed kidney problems and a blocked UT because that is what he ate (and I thought I was doing him a favour and being a good human).  I think first and foremost people should avoid kibble if possible.  If you can't, use those that are high in meat content (harder to get here) and probably add water to it anyway.  IMO, if you are feeding your cat food with a good water content and is mostly meat, you've got half the battle won right there.

There are some brands available in the supermarket which have a pretty high meat content:

http://www.encorecatfood.co.uk/encore_cat_tins.php  This is available only at Sainsbury's.  The filler is rice, but is 1%.  Cats aren't rice farmers in the wild, but the content is better than most, even some of those touted as "natural". And I agree with WCW that some fillers are better than others, and rice is definitely better than corn. The kibble is pretty high in meat content if your cat absolutely won't eat wet.

The other is HiLife, but their products vary in meat content, use tapioca as a filler, and would be hard to be called "natural".  They are fairly good compared to a lot of them.

I don't know about the pet shop ones, because I've not found any that really fit what I am looking for at the pet shops.  I've seen mostly bigger lots of supermarket food and stuff like Royal Canin (fancy Iams).

Do you supplement your cat's food with taurine?  I don't see the point if the raw food is mostly meat or entirely meat, but most sites I've gone to regarding raw food and BARF (biologically appropriate raw food for those wondering) do.  If you do, where do you get it?  Places that sell weight lifting supplements?  Do you recommend one site over others?  There seems to be a bit of conflicting advice out there.

No.  We are lucky in that we have a natural pet food store where I live and the raw food I buy is already prepared and balanced with everything he needs.  But really, taurine is naturally found in organ meats, particularly in the heart.  it says they need 1000mg/2.2 lbs of food but my kitty only eats 1/8th of a pound per day so it would be easy to ensure that he has enough by giving him some organ meats even if I fed him only chicken legs.  In the wild, cats only eat meat - and they eat the whole animal so as long as you don't cook the meat, and you give them organ meats, particularly heart, you will be ok. 

I had a cat with inflammatory bowel disease and ultimately, that is what killed her.  If I had to do it over again, I'd forgo the junk Hills diet that the vet had us put her on and I would have gone raw.  But hind sight is 20/20..