What are some foods I can feed my cat?

Question

that will be safe for him ?

Answer 1

if you are refering to table or people food, then the following are OK I feed these to my cats as treats but never as a steady diet,

Canned tuna  they LOVE this

Canned chicken, this one is a hit as well

turkey breast

Cheese

Eggs

Canned Salmon

Sardines  

Answer 2

I'm going to assume you meant cat foods since you didn't elaborate.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety, Nature's Logic.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less p**p!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Diets high in grain have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diet's include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, and Sold Gold Indigo Moon.

Some of the high end foods can be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness and Solid Gold. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...

Now the question is, do you feed wet or dry? Wet is the correct answer. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least. Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:

http://www.catinfo.org/  (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canne...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

More:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. It's for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Anything with five or six stars is a great food.)

Answer 3

Some cats will eat almost anything.  I just found out today that my cat is rather partial to houseflies *gack!*  He also loves to have a little bit of vegetables, absolutely in moderation, nothing more than a teaspoon full.  

So far he has chomped down on:

Iced Tea (I wasn't paying attention and turn and his head is buried in the glass)

Corn (only let him have 4 kernels of corn)

Asparagus from a can (got the head of one sprout)

A piece of banana

I've also heard that green beans are ok for cats as well.

Answer 4

Feed it what the vet recommends. People food is not meant for cats and if you start feeding them people food they are more likely to go on counters and tables to mooch.  

Answer 5

When you are choosing food, it is important for you to learn how to read ingredient labels. They tell you a lot about what kind of meat is being used and whether the food has any cheap fillers which does not benefit your cat/kitten.

You want to feed a food which is high protein - meaning the meat source must come from wholesome muscle meat. Make sure to select only food that list chicken, lamb, rabbit, beef, turkey, venison, salmon, whitefish, herring or a combination or those and not one that says by-products (chicken by product, meat by product, fish by product)

Stay away from too much fillers like corn, corn gluten meal, wheat, wheat gluten, soy, oatbrans, etc. These are all cheap filler which help reduce the cost of manufacturing but brings little to no benefit to your kitten.

You would also want to stay away from preservatives like BHA/BHT and Ethoxyquin which are proven to be harmful to your kitten. Also you do not want other artifical preservatives such as propylene glycol and propolyneglycol .You need natural preservatives such as Vitamin C, Vitamin A or Rosemary.

Your cat need an essential amino acid called Taurine. Cats can only receive this from eating wholesome meat. Choose a food that contains ample amount of Omega 3 sources - Salmon Oil, Flaxseed Oil or Canola Oil.

When you are well educated in learning how to read pet food ingredients, shopping for the best food for your kitten would be easier.

The general agreement on this board is cat should not be fed human food, mainly because a cat has a very different diet from humans. However, occasionally, it won't harm the cat if you give it a little human food in the form of wholesome meat like chicken breast.

Tuna and fish are a favorite but be very careful because Tuna is very appetizing and your cat might develop a taste for it and nothing else. Tuna also does not contain significant amounts of vitamin E, for example, so too much of the fish can lead to vitamin E deficiency, resulting in yellow fat disease, or steatitis. Fish also contains some level or mercury and careful consideration should be used before feeding your cats. Tuna and fish should never be used as a staple of your cat's diet.

Some plain scramble eggs (no seasoning and salt) is fine, pureed pumpkin (fresh pumpkin not canned) is recommended to be given to cats who has loose stools.

Some cats love luncheon meats, ham, sausages and hot dogs but refrain from feeding those due to their high sodium level.

Most cats are lactose intolerant but if your cat does fine with dairy, you can offer some diluted warm milk with water, plain yogurt, and once in a while, a good old slice of cheese. Any amount of dairy in large quantity is bound to upset the cat's delicate digestive system.

Vegetables, although is not harmful, provides little benefits. But cats can eat them but make sure they are cooked and not raw because cooking breaks down complex carbohydrates into simple carbohydrates and aids digestion. If you are feeding too much vegetable matter, or not cooking it enough, it will show up as constipation or diarrhea.

Some cats love melons - watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe. Fruits contain primarily simple carbohydrates and need not be cooked.

Like vegetables, be moderate and beware of intestinal distress.

Just be very careful when feeding your cat human food. As a precaution, it is best to avoid the best you can. Cat really doesn't need any extras if they are already eating a balanced and nutritionally superior food, in the form on wet cat food.

Answer 6

catfood

Answer 7

It is best to feed cats mainly on cat food - these have all the extra vitamins and minerals which are essential for their good health.

As a treat cats like fish - we buy Coley steaks and keep them in the freezer, cook them in milk...   Have been doing this for many years and all our cats have loved it, don't skimp on the milk as this is usually very popular..

Boiled chicken livers are another occasional meal treat for cats.  

Always have fresh water to hand, especially if dry cat food is being offered (ours insist on both tinned and dry cat food).

We were told at our Vets that we should not feed out cats on IAMS as there is an additive in this brand which makes the cats addicted..   Had a sample years later and my cat spat it out.. (this pleased our vet when I owned up)  

I have discovered over the years that most cats also enjoy the following as occasional treats:-  

Bacon (crispy)

Prawns (we always have some in the freezer - defrost but don't let them have too many or they will be sick)

Duck (as in chinese crispy!)

Ham / turkey ham / garlic sausage

Pate (excellent for popping around tablets)

If you have leftovers on your plate which are not too heavily seasoned why not let them try?   Animals are very sensible and will not eat food which smells odd to them - my cat was eating sweetcorn the other day, sorted it out from the peas!

We have no lawn so have a tub of cat-grass on our patio for our cats and have recently brought some cat-mint which went down much better than expected (try to let some get established before any cats can get at it).

My cats always have a few treats at night before we settle down, I keep a few special biscuit treats in my bedside table and they love this - there is usually a section in the pet-food aisle of the supermarket with treats (one of the cheapest is very tasty according to my cats).

Don't forget:   Variety is the spice of life!  

Enjoy, have fun with your pet..  

All best wishes,