Help with smell cat poo!

[Tambrey]

All of my cats...and right now we have 15 in the house only eat dry kibble and have never had a problem...

the only time I feed canned food is when they are sick, or need a bit of something extra...

Right now I have a momma with 3 babies, so I was supplimenting her with canned food for a while because she also had broken pelvis and leg and had lost alot of weight, and it seemed eating soft canned food was easier for her in her weakened state...now that her babies are investigating her food, I am putting down a good canned food for them to try...along with KMR weaning formula...

DO not feed any raw meats...slvrwhispr has already mentioned why, so I will not repeat that...butwith all the good quality cat food there are, cats do not need meats to have a proper balanced diet

[kehorner]

A good quality dry food has all the nutrients they need. Look at the ingredients list on your dry nutro. First ingredient is chicken meal. This is ground up chicken. So meat, right there, first ingredient in the dry food. It just looks different, but it's all in there.

The only reason they would NEED to eat canned food is if they had a health problem that made them unable or unwilling to eat the dry food, or if you were feeding it just as a treat.

But you can also feed hard treats, which are better for their teeth anyway. I used to give my boys the Pounce treats, but I've switched to feeding Science Diet Oral Care as treats. I prefer to feed the nutro because they don't use chicken by products, but the vet recommended the oral care for their teeth. So I give them a few pieces of the oral care each a few times a day as treats.

[frawri]

OK I just looked up the site one of you sent me on cbs. And I see your point of view. I will check with my Vet to see what she thinks I should do. But I do have to say I don't care for Science diet. I think it is toted to be the best and it runs a little short of what is good. When I have mentioned the other brand that I use, the vet thought that was a good idea.

[Traci]

There's nothing wrong with Science Diet or the other diets most recommended by vets. Science Diet and Iams are the top sellers of pet foods for a reason..they are committed to research and science to develop nutritional requirements for specific species. They also stand behind their products 100%, you can't get that with numerous other brands.

Please remember that brands who claim "natural" are not always better, and in fact, can be harmful. Many of them add additional preservatives, herbs, excesses of vitamins and minerals and can cause health problems (vomiting and diarrhea amoung the top problems, food allergies/sensitivities following, nutritional deficiencies, etc). Tambrey gave you a good link, I'd also suggest reading Here for more information on raw diets. Also read our Feline Health links for more on feline dietary and nutrition information.

[frawri]

I just know what I have seen. A friend of mine worked at petsmart, and they had a bunch of problems with customers not liking what Science diet was doing for their animals. And when she was using it, her cats and dogs were not as healthy as when she fed them Purina One. If you happen to like the brand that is ok, everyone has their own ideas. I just don't care for it. I thank you for your advise though, and I will read up on those sites you mentioned. Thanks again.

[Traci]

If the Petsmart (or their customers) was having problems with Science Diet, then they would have taken that up directly with Hill's themselves, since they are selling their products. My guess is that you heard rumors and not much else.

Not every cat will do exceptionally well on any diet brand, it is an individual thing. Physiology, age and general health status, digestibility, metabolism, quality of food, etc all play a part. One thing however is for certain...there is NO raw diet that has been proven to be better or superior in nutrition than a high quality commercial diet. Raw foods can have serious problems and health consequences (numerous to mention), and those who choose to feed it must know what they're doing, the problem is they don't because there is no standard to proper ingredients, supplementing them, etc, regardless of what you read, see, or hear.

Play it safe and choose a high quality commercial diet that carries an exceptional reputation, research, clinical trials, and continued success based on their ongoing clinical nutrition research.

[frawri]

No it wasn't rumors, the customers told the store manager why they didn't like the product. And my friend who was the store manager, told them what they could do about it. But really this doesn't matter, what matters is that I like the brand I am using. I just wanted to know more about the Raw V dry cat food view.

[Traci]

Well, I'm not intentionally trying to defend Hill's, but if a customer is unhappy with the product, Hill's offers a money-back gaurantee, as well as a telephone number they can consult with to ask questions, they are very good about this. I'm not saying this is the case with the Petsmart you mentioned, but if there were a substantial number of unhappy customers, then it would be incumbent upon Petsmart to consult a Hill's representative, since Petsmart is buying their products and also putting their own reputation on the line. More important is that it is up to the customer to consult Hill's.

I would just add not to believe everything you hear, especially anecdotal information, which carries no sound, scientific, rational basis. Raw food proponents oftentimes are irrational in their anecdotal "testimonies", but cannot back up their claims with scientific evidence. The "articles" link I gave you earlier contains many links on how to subjectively evaluate such information.