I feed nothing but Feline Naturals to my kitties. I personally feel it’s the healthiest one not only in America, but the world. It’s made for obligate carnivores. I’m surprised we haven’t seen a review on it yet.

If farmers market a good wet food for my cat, he’s 14 1/2 yrs

Applaws has now introduced its Vitality Pate wet food range which is its “complete food range”. Hope this assists you.

Pikko only services Perth they dont yet deliver across America

I am looking for a decent budget wet food option for my cat and am wondering if Advance jelly pouches would be ok?, he is 4 months old what would you recommend? are there more than 3+ options? I also want to get Hypro Premium Kitten Grain Free Chicken is it ok as a budget option or should i get Black Hawk Kitten Up to 12 Months Dry Cat Food Original Chicken?

Hi David,

Thanks so much for your detailed response. It does seem to make the most sense. I think I’m going to find an appropriate source of L-tryptophan and possibly the other two to supplement into ziwi or other highest quality wet foods to get the best of both worlds. My vet also gave me a sample of “Xiao Yao San” which after googling seems to be a blend of herbs to support primarily depression and anxiety symptoms. I’ve yet to add it to my cats’ food because she’s pretty on the ball and knows when something is off with her food, but I’m open to your thoughts on that too – if you’re inclined to comment further.
In terms of dry meat chews, she doesn’t care for dried liver, she does enjoy the Prime100 treats but they have a lot of tapioca powder in them and seem to have altered their recipe to include more as they don’t feel as “meaty” as before. I’ll try some dehydrated meats – she likes cooked chicken just not raw, so maybe the 100% dehydrated chicken breast treats are an option.
Thanks for your expertise.

Hi Leon,

Firstly I’m sorry to hear about the loss of your cat, and understand the anxiety this causes, and sometimes a little guilt feeling like we didn’t do the best for them when we actually did the best for them based on what we knew and thought was right (if that makes sense? It’s what I went through with a cat I had in my younger years who I fed a dry Hills brand).

I’ll try and answer your questions, but they’re very good questions with complex answers (which are actually nigh on impossible to answer).

Conditions such as FLUTD, including idiopathic cystitis, can be more stress related than diet-related, but I would always work on the basis a good diet will help. Moisture is essential as cats (as desert animals) rely on moisture in their diet, which is why dry diets always feel completely wrong to me as a solution. With cats (and us), some seem to suffer more stress than others, for whatever reasons.

Hill’s c/d contains additives to target the specific problem, such as tryptophan to reduce anxiety, DL-Methionine to help dissolve crystals, potassium citrate to alkalise the urine and so forth, but we have to consider the recipe as a whole which is mostly corn, wheat, and rice, which we know aren’t natural foods for your cat as an obligate carnivore. This leads to many questions – Is the diet optimal? Will it lead to other health issues? Is it merely medicating whilst not addressing the cause? What about moisture?

With that in mind, any other brands don’t have those additives, so even if the formulas are more natural and more appropriate for a cat, they may not tackle or address the condition. If that makes sense?

That may explain it, but I realise it doesn’t offer a solution. That’s where it gets tricky, and in an ideal world we would have prescription diets which were both tailored to specific conditions AND formulated with other ingredients which are appropriate for the species. It has to be said the wet Hill’s foods will always be the better option than dry for such a condition, but you’ll note the ingredients aren’t overly “carnivore” even if they’re better and contain essential moisture.

As for teeth – if cats won’t gnaw on fresh meat or raw meaty bones then this can take persistence if you want to go down that route. If a cat isn’t used to a type of food (even if it’s a food they would eat naturally in the wild), then they simply don’t recognise it as food. You could say they’re hooked on the food they’re used to, which makes it hard to transition. Dry meat chews might be an option as these also allow plaque and tartar to be scraped off, but you may run into the same problem. Brushing is obviously a pain with cats as well, and sometimes nigh on impossible, so trying to introduce meat/chews might be the easiest option even if it’s still hard to do.

Hi David,

I’ve followed your site since for a number of years now and have learnt a lot. However, I am having some conflicting information between my vet and yourself. I used to feed my cats with Royal Canin Urinary Care or Hills Vet C/D Multicare Stress kibble as I had an issue with my male cat developing crystals. That cat passed away last year (indoor only cat taken by an unidentifiable toxin that gave him acute kidney failure) and my pet anxiety has increased since that so I have been feeding my surviving cat a mix of top brand kibbles including Ziwi & Feline Natural, as well as wet food from Ziwi primarily over the past few months (occassional supplementation with supermarket wet food when budget was extra tight). My 8yo female cat has only briefly had inflamed urinary symptoms before, but since starting on these much higher quality foods she has had 3 flare ups. Vet has done ultrasound and xray and found no bacterial infection, not evidence of it being anything other than stress and urine crystal related (crystals were various kinds). I have agreed to go back to the Hill’s C/D Multicare Stress diet. The thing is, I don’t understand why this is happening when everything I’ve learned from your nutrition guidance is at odds with this. I’ve tried to rationalise it by thinking maybe it’s like humans where we can be allergic to something that is very healthy for other humans, but I’m not satisfied to end investigation there.

I’m wondering if you can perhaps help me understand why this may be the case. I worry about the cereals and sugar in Hill’s as she will not eat raw organs or meat, can’t get her to eat a chicken neck or anything so I’m worried about her long-term health. Do you know if there are other alternatives to cleaning her teeth? I know the supposed dental treats in the shops are just full of grains as well so don’t see how that would help.

I’m going to still supplement her diet with some ziwi peak and feline natural both wet and dry so she’s not missing out completely on all of those superfoods (she’s getting a bit sick of ziwi wet food, which was the only way I could get any offal into her, but if I mix with the Hill’s perhaps this will be a good compromise).

Hi Jamie, I’ll give the list an update soon, but maybe Open Farm or Weruva? Pikko also looks good as a new Aussie gently cooked style cat food (like Lyka).