Mostly, we feed a Frankenprey raw diet, but we do also feed some commercial food. As you'll note from my other posts on commercial pet food, finding a good one is REALLY HARD! I also didn't know much about feline nutrition when we first got Kato, so I made the mistake of feeding him kibble - it is kitty crack, and he STILL hungers for it like nothing else, although we use it only as a treat, in treat-sizes, these days.
So this list has some notes to it. It is not a complete list of GOOD commercial cat food, but we have been able to find some good stuff...
So this list has some notes to it. It is not a complete list of GOOD commercial cat food, but we have been able to find some good stuff...
1. Ziwipeak. I think this is a good food - probably the best cat food currently on the market in Australia. Kato doesn't care much for it, but Ava is mad about the dried 'jerky' Cuisine and the Good Cat Treats. Unfortunately, she doesn't much like the canned food (and remember wet food is always preferable due to the moisture as this helps guard against urinary tract problems). We use the Good Cat Lamb and Liver Treats to help get a little liver into their raw diet, and a very small side 'entree' of the Cuisine to tempt Ava into eating her raw. Availability of Ziwipeak is limited to really good pet food stores, usually online, but we are lucky enough to have it available in our local store, 'Laundrymutt' for $24 per 400g bag of Cuisine. Initially I wrote to Ziwipeak and they were lovely enough to send out some free samples, which was really useful as the food is expensive and it's good to know if our cats will eat the stuff before such a large investment.
Update 24/04/2014: Ziwipeak has increased in price. I paid $30 at my local store this morning, so I did a price check online. The cheapest price, including postage, was $31.15 at
http://www.animalhealthstore.com.au/ziwipeak-daily-cat-cuisine-400g.html . The next cheapest was $32.15 at https://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/products_id/920, while Bowhouse and the Natural Pet Store were around $34.
Update 29/06/2015: I also liked this site: petcircle
Update 24/04/2014: Ziwipeak has increased in price. I paid $30 at my local store this morning, so I did a price check online. The cheapest price, including postage, was $31.15 at
http://www.animalhealthstore.com.au/ziwipeak-daily-cat-cuisine-400g.html . The next cheapest was $32.15 at https://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.php/products_id/920, while Bowhouse and the Natural Pet Store were around $34.
Update 29/06/2015: I also liked this site: petcircle
2. Dried Lamb Liver. Kato and Ava both avoid fresh liver (goat, lamb, cow, chicken!), which is a problem when we feed a balanced home-made Frankenprey diet. We have solved this problem by finding dried liver that they like! 'That they like' is key, as not all dried liver is the same, and we tried three different brands before we found the one they wanted to eat. We first tried one designed for dogs - but it was too thick to entice our cats. Then we tried Baliz organic liver treats (the 'woof woof' ones - fine for cats as nothing else is added that a dog could eat but not a cat, and they were thinner. I do note they have since made a 'pussies' one). Unfortunately, they didn't like it. So I then tried an un-branded packet from our local family pet food store, Laundrymutt. It is lamb liver from a local Victorian farm, dried in a facility just 5km away. Thin, crunchy, only $5.50 a bag, and the cats eat it. Actually, we need to coax Kato, but Ava is mad for it and will grab for it before I can even break it into bite-sized pieces!
I calculated how much dried liver to substitute for fresh liver in the formulas provided here - remember that too much liver is poisonous for cats: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264261/calculations-for-dried-liver-as-part-of-frankenprey
I calculated how much dried liver to substitute for fresh liver in the formulas provided here - remember that too much liver is poisonous for cats: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264261/calculations-for-dried-liver-as-part-of-frankenprey
3. Artemis canned food. For the non-fish seekers, Artemis does a chicken, and a turkey variety. I rate them fairly well as they have no grains, carbs, fillers, or byproducts. Distributors are listed by state here. A 156g can is approx $2.40. Ava will eat small portions of the turkey (she doesn't do well or like chicken), and very rarely, I have seen Kato have some - usually he tries to bury it! (Worked out that he is a problem child yet??!)
4. Nature's Gift canned food. I rate this fairly well as it has no grains, carbs, fillers, or byproducts. Some varieties contain fish, but there are also the Duck and Kangaroo ones that are single protein - very useful if you are working out food allergies. Unfortunately, they do use carageenan as the 'gelling agent' (linked to bowel cancer), but it is extremely rare to find a canned food in Australia that doesn't use carageenan - another reason to make your own cat food! The website lists online providers (don't use 'Ethical Buying' as their customer service is non-existant). Limited varieties (the kitten one only?) are sometimes stocked in Woolworths ($1.18 /100g). Ava will reluctantly eat Nature's gift, but not so Kato.
5. Dine canned food. Update 31 March 2014: Dine appears to be changing their packaging, so I checked that they weren't also changing their recipes. Unfortunately, the variety we normally choose now comes with CEREAL. At the present, we are reviewing whether we will feed this in rare rotation, or completely stop feeding Dine.
I cringe to admit this, but yes, we do bow to problem child's taste-buds (Kato!) and feed some Dine. Ava loves it too. If you look at the protein content, you will see it is not as good as the previously mentioned canned food, but at least - if they have honestly listed their ingredients (and there is no law to make them) - there are no grains or carbs. They wouldn't tell me their exact ingredients when I wrote to them, but I did get an answer as to caragreenan - it IS thickened with problematic carageenan. My vet also said it is full of disaccharides, which makes it tasty, but is bad for cats. So we limit this, and while we were investigating Ava's tummy problems, we banned it entirely for her. We do associate feeding Dine with the occasional tummy upset in both cats, and I wish I had the fortitude to entirely get rid of it...
I cringe to admit this, but yes, we do bow to problem child's taste-buds (Kato!) and feed some Dine. Ava loves it too. If you look at the protein content, you will see it is not as good as the previously mentioned canned food, but at least - if they have honestly listed their ingredients (and there is no law to make them) - there are no grains or carbs. They wouldn't tell me their exact ingredients when I wrote to them, but I did get an answer as to caragreenan - it IS thickened with problematic carageenan. My vet also said it is full of disaccharides, which makes it tasty, but is bad for cats. So we limit this, and while we were investigating Ava's tummy problems, we banned it entirely for her. We do associate feeding Dine with the occasional tummy upset in both cats, and I wish I had the fortitude to entirely get rid of it...
6. Fit'n'Flash dried chicken breast fillets - treats. Really happy to find these treats! They are human quality dried meat. That's it! I get them from our vet (they stock the big 100g packs) or local pet food store, laundrymutt (50g packs). I did see free shipping on them here as I did I quick search for you guys!
7. Treats only...cringe...kibble. Ava doesn't recognise kibble as food YAY!! But I fed Kato kibble as a kitten when I didn't know any better, and he really, really loves it (still). It is incredibly handy to have this powerful 'drug' to get Kato if/when he escapes - I just rattle the kibble tub and he comes running. But please remember kibble has little nutrition and is linked to a host of serious health problems and deaths. We feed only about 6 bits of it as a treat every now and again, because I did the wrong thing in the beginning. We have also gone for a grain-free variety, with no fish, to try and mitigate some of the known irritants.