Feeding my cat

[Maggs]

Just a couple of questions. Molly is our tabby cat, got it from my SIL when her cat had kittens. She's generally just eaten run of the mill store brand stuff. Usually Asda or Aldi. She much prefers dry food unfortunately! I try different wet pouches every now and again but if she has more than a couple of week, she doesn't want it. The last ones I got were Feline Fayre (which she wolfed down) and Applaws (which she hummed and haahed about). How can I encourage more wet food and if her diet is still going to be 80% dry, which should I be giving her? Just thinking something much better quality but don't know which. I know all the high end stuff is very good but is also very expensive! Any advice on something maybe middle range in price?

Also, I've never measured out her food before. Give her a couple of small handfuls morning and night. Often half a bowl is still left overnight and she won't it. Now this morning, for the fun of it, I measured out an approximate amount of dry and it's nowhere near what she'd eat! She's not fat by any means and spends a good couple of hrs outside running around. I'd say she eats probably 80g of food a day, give or take. And she's only about 4kgs.

 

[Yo_Yo]

I'd stick to dry food personally. It's much better, especially in hot weather with flies.

My cat also prefers dry food, but she occasionally has Sheba cat food in the small foil tins

 

[loeylo]

My cat is 19 and only ever eats IAMS dry. She looks and acts like she did when we got her at 6!
With a high quality dry food, you do not feed as much, so actually price wise you probably break even. We also feed our dog IAMS for 100% of his diet.
The change in our pets behaviour since putting them on high quality food has been fantastic!
Ps. The reason for the 80% dry recommendation is to discourage overuse of wet food, not dry food. 100% dry is fine, 100% wet is not!

 

[CountryBride]

I know this is an ancient thread, but I thought it worth mentioning: Dry food absolutely needs to have real meat as the first ingredient. Cheap dry food is essentially like you trying to live off of cereal for the rest of your life. You need protein, and cats definitely need protein. If you can afford grain free, get it. Otherwise, just make sure real meat is the first ingredient. There are many great brands carried in the pet store, but if you want one that is reasonably priced and available just about anywhere I suggest Good Life Real Chicken. Also, cats need wet food too. They can easily dehydrate on dry food alone. Look at the ingredients on it as well and try to limit by-products, choosing instead real meat. And Loeylo is right, when you feed a more nutritious food they will eat less of it and still be healthier.