Dry Cat Food - Update to Best Cat Food for Our Cats

Dry cat food was not an option for the cats at our house for a long time. Many of our cats had problems with it. There was lots of vomiting, loose runny stools, dry coats, and a general malaise with our cats when they were eating dry food. So we transitioned them to an all natural, raw meat (BARF) homemade cat food .

Health improved dramatically. Our cats rarely vomited, their stools were nice and firm, they had shiny coats, bright eyes, and their energy level increased tremendously! We were very happy! But some of our cats were not.

Our 'nibbler' cats are timid by nature and are easily pushed out by the more 'piggy' cats at mealtime. We tried isolating them for extra meals but then they refused to eat and seemed to act like they were being punished. So they weren't eating enough at mealtimes and trying to feed them extra food wasn't working. We puzzled over what to do.

The final straw was when Buddy wasn't getting his lysine because, for some reason, he stopped eating the baby food we would mix it in. We tried putting tuna juice on it, salmon oil, anything we could think of, but still, he wouldn't take it.

We had a sample of some dry cat food so we figured 'what the heck', and put a few pieces on top of Buddy's lysine baby food. Boy, did he eat it up! We put the rest of the sample on a plate and several of the cats devoured it up in seconds.

After a lengthy discussion, we decided to search for some quality dry food that our cats could tolerate without the problems we had before. Maybe, if there was dry food out that they liked, our nibblers would eat better. (We'd worry about others over-eating later, if we had too!)

We immediately eliminated all of the dry foods found at supermarkets and discount stores as most of them listed corn as the first or second ingredient. We finally chose a few different dry cat foods that we found at PetSmart that seemed to fit the bill (or were close at least) and gave them a try. While some of them would eat a bite or two, the food sat mostly untouched.

We then starting searching the few small pet stores in our area but they had very little choice of dry cat foods. So, we hit the internet and continued our search.

We tried several different types of quality dry foods without success. One interesting thing we did discover was that more of the cats seemed to prefer the dry foods that were shaped like an 'X' and none of them would take more than a bite of food that was round shaped. We can't be sure if it was the taste of the food or the shape but we found it interesting.

Then, we finally hit the jackpot! We found a quality dry cat food that had everything we wanted and nothing we didn't want - and the cats love it! We've had no digestive problems; no vomiting, no diarrhea, none of the usual problems we experienced with dry cat food in the past.

It's called Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul Adult Cat Dry Food Formula 18 lb. Bag It is made from fresh (not frozen) chicken, plus Salmon, Turkey and duck which provides a good balance of protein. And, there are no corn, wheat or soy products, nor any artificial colors or flavors. All of our cats tolerate this food well.

We swore we'd never let our cats eat dry cat food again but we decided to make an exception with the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. Our nibblers are happy and putting on weight. They are even eating better at mealtimes. Even the kittens are nibbling on it and have had no problems.

We set out 3 separate bowls of dry cat food in 3 separate locations and let everyone free feed. We initially worried that the big eaters would start gorging on the dry food and we would then start to have problems with over-eating. But this didn't happen. They nibble on the dry but after almost 6 months, not one of the 'piggy' eaters have gained weight inappropriately (we weigh them every 3 months) and the under-weight 'nibblers' are finally putting on weight like they should.

And it seems like all of the cats are eating the homemade cat food and canned cat foods better too!

And regarding Buddy, he has not refused to eat his lysine laced baby food once since we started putting a few pieces of the Chicken Soup dry cat food on top!

So, all things considered, we will deal with our guilt over allowing our cats dry cat food even though it is not the best food to feed them, continue giving them their healthy homemade cat food, keep monitoring how everyone is eating and eliminating, and let them enjoy their Chicken Soup dry cat food.

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