Dixie Flyer wrote:
I feed both Levi and Old Fella Kibble and Bits and early morning they each get can food. I leave the dry food out so they can eat as they feel like it.
DF,
I have some pretty strong opinions about the importance of top-quality nutrition for cats and dogs. Hope I don't offend you by saying Kibbles and Bits doesn't meet my standards :)...
I once adopted a litter of Maine Coon kittens (it was supposed to be a foster situation but they all stayed). They were malnourished, had pneumonia, and ringworm so bad they all had about 3 hairs left on the top of their head. It took me 6 months to get them well but I had a lovely wall full of cat show ribbons from their respective careers in the show ring. What got them, not just well, but in blooming good health, was mostly good nutrition (once we got the pneumonia taken care of).
My dog was adopted from the shelter at the age of 6 months, with ear and skin infections and a horrible body odor. Within just a couple of weeks, the best food I could find for her had turned her around an amazing amount, the vet could hardly believe it. I just got another compliment today on her condition when I picked her up from a weekend's boarding.
The FIRST place that nutrition that is "less than optimum" will show up, is the skin and coat (smelly ears are included in skin issues). A dog who's susceptible to skin trouble needs the best nutrition you can give them.
My advice would be this: never feed anything that comes from a grocery store (except for raw bones...more on that later).
Nutro Natural, which you can find at Petco and Petsmart, is acceptable, but what I would really recommend is a 'super premium' brand, that uses human-grade ingredients. They're a bit harder to find, but they are definitely worth it.
They're also more expensive but you save the money on vet bills. Why use medicines to try to suppress a skin condition, when you can just keep it from happening by feeding a high quality food?
Super premium brands include Canidae (there's a Felidae for cats), Innova, Eagle Pack, Flint River Ranch, etc.
I've tried both Canidae and Innova, but Rommie has a bit of a sensitive stomach and something in them gave her a bit of loose stool (Canidae uses multiple meat proteins, which increases the chance that one of them will not set well on the stomach). I've fed her Eagle Pack Holistic Select
(http://www.eaglepack.com/)
for about a year and a half, and I'm VERY happy with it. My cats get Eagle Pack Holistic Select cat food as well.
As a bonus it's a bit less expensive than Canidae and Innova. I'm really lucky that a store that carries all of these brands plus a few others is only a couple of blocks away. When we lived in other places, though, I made the extra effort necessary to get the super premium foods. If you want more info or help finding a place that carries these, just let me know. Most of their web pages have retail locators you can use to look up stores.
Also, every couple of weeks, Rommie gets a RAW bone (soup bones, knuckle bones, rib bones). This cleans her teeth til they GLEAM. Dogs or cats shouldn't be given COOKED bones ever, but RAW bones are very good for them.
As for leaving food out...I, personally don't do that. There's some evidence that it's better for them (dogs and cats, after all, aren't "grazers" like a cow, they're naturally predators that eat big meals at intervals). Another argument is that a dog or cat who 'grazes' a bit all day, has a more sluggish digestive system than one who eats only once or twice a day. If the blood's not being used for digestion that frees it up for it's other important bodily duties. People have said that dogs or cats who had 'less than ideal' skin and coats, or eye gunk issues, cleared up once the food quality was improved and food was not left out all day.
It's easier to keep their weight under control, plus they really enjoy the excitement of mealtime (my cats in particular act like food that's been sitting out for an hour or 2 is 'stale' and needs to be replaced).
