What brand of cat food is the best for indoor kitties? My Buffy is getting fat and I tried to cut down on her food intake but since my fiance and I work different/overlapping shifts our cats sometimes get accidentally overfed. I decided I´m going to start buying the best cat food I can get, and premeasuring it every night into two seperate cups (marked Buffy and Binx) so we know how much they´ve had already and what not to exceed.
Her annual exam is tomorrow and I was supposed to have her on a diet this whole year so she would lose a couple of pounds...but I don´t think I did a very good job.
She has very bad smelling stool (and health issues HAVE been ruled out) so we are to stick with dry food. The vet said dry food would also be better for her teeth as they do get a bit of build up.
Any ideas? Science Diet?

science Diet, i think is what it is called. Oh! You have it there! Yes it may work! Try it

If money isn´t a prob I would ask the vet. They´ll give you some ideas. I agree Science Diet is one of the better ones.

Thanks WGB and furrypaws.
I assumed Science Diet as the best out there but I wasn´t sure if there was anything else.

Hills, Iams, Eukebana and probably some of the other big pet food companies make food for overweight, inactive and senior (supposedly less active) cats as well as their regular cat food. There´s some controversy over whether or not these "special" formulas are actually better for the cats or if their labeling is merely hype directed at concerned owners. Hopefully some users who have tried these special foods will share their experience with them.

It would be very interesting to hear what the vet has to say after Buffy´s exam tomorrow as this is an issue of interest to many. Please let us know.

Royal Canin Indoor, it´s great all my cats love it and their poo´s don´t really smell, as the food reduces stool odours, their coats are also in tip top condition too.

Thank you marcatmm and bratzncatz!
Royal Canin sounds like it could be good with the stool odor control and coat conditioning... Buffy´s long haired and her fur has been a bit disheveled these days (most likely because she´s lazy and rolls around into different sleeping positions all day... and because she´s pudgy so she has a little difficulty grooming).
I will DEFINITELY keep everyone up to date.
Have a good weekend, all

Smelly poo is a sign, that your cat is not able to digest the food properly. Really foul smell is undigested meat. With regard to weight, there are various good food ranges, which produce "indoor", "home" or "light" foods. I would say that Hills Science mentioned above is pretty good. My cats also like One by Purina.

I would consult the vet about this, but essentially you need to find a food, which your cat gets on with by trial and error. The vet can prescribe more digestible foods such as Feline CD.

Royal canin Indoor is a great dry food. My cats are all indoor cats and Muffin was also a bit overweight. The vet said that it is a very good dry food as it has lower calories. Since starting Muffin and my other cats on the indoor food, she has lost weight and they are all on ideal weight. The Royal Canin Indoor kibbles also reduce the odour of the cat´s stool. The sand box used to have horrible smells coming from it, but it is now much better. The kibbles are easily digested and they really love the taste.

My one friend on the other hand only feeds her cats Hill´s Science Plan and they are just as healthy and on ideal weight.

Before I made my final decicion, I asked the vet for samples of all the different brands to test which one my cats would prefer (as Muffin is very fussy). They all liked the Royal canin more than the other brands.

Royal Canin is good, but I switched to Felidae and I´ve had nothing but compliments on the condition of all my cats. One had a skin problem that wouldn´t clear up, within 2 months it was gone!

But as suggested above, get samples because it may come down to taste.

As to cost, when you factor in the amount, a premium food is about the same price as a cheap one. You have to look at the cost per serving to see that but many cheaper foods have a lot of fillers in them which aren´t nutritious so you end up feeding more. I teach an animal science class and we calculated cost per serving on several brands and it was pennies a day difference.

As to asking a vet, they are simply going to recommend what they sell in their office. They are not nutritionists and really rely on their salesmen to tell them the benefits of what they are offering. They will offer a premium food of course (mine has Royal Canin) but that isn´t what they specialize in. Unless your cat needs a prescription diet for some medical condition, I would simply check out the different premium brands available and try samples until you find one they like the best.

Thank you to everyone who has responded to my post!
I just got back from the vet, and Buffy has gained 3 pounds in a year and a half... she was supposed to lose at least one and a half.
So! The vet put her on Hill´s Prescription Diet Feline R/D, which is lower in calories, and also has high fiber content which will change her bowel movements (he said it will change the smell, for the better or worse depends on how she digests it...) I´m to feed her 3/4 of a cup daily, and since Binx needs to maintain her weight, I will be feeding her the R/D as well, about 7/8 of a cup daily (this will also be easier, because they steal each other´s food all the time, so having them on the same diet will work for the best).
I´ll be away this weekend, so I´m going to pre-measure out 2 and a half days worth of food, mixing 3/4 of the food they´re on now with 1/4 of the new food so they get used to it.
We´ll see!

Just switch her to a dry "all natural" food such as Science Diet Nature´s Best or Natural Balance dry...the "prescription" foods have massive fillers and preservatives in them. Organic will trim down your kitty and help her general health and energy levels. Cats are picky...don´t let them choose the food or they will pick Whiskas ro such every time...read labels and choose "all natural" foods that stay away from fillers and such.

My cats love PURINA INDOOR FORMULA its in the green bag....they love it and they are not that overweight....vet says they are healthy and says this formula is great for them.

So far I´ve been feeding Missy ´Science Diet hairball control´ wet and dry food for about about a year or more and so far it´s great(not price wise tho), she´s full of energy and very vocal when she wants some. she´s been running around playing with the other 2 cats at times,playing on her cat tree and periodically snoozing on her window perch on my room. So I would say it´s good for your cat,but then again every cat is different so look around and try some b4 sticking with something you or your cat isn´t happy with.

Hi there, My kitties absolutely love Royal canin for indoor cats! They also enjoy science diet for indoor cats and iams original.

For a few months now My cats have been on Purina Indoor Formula. I checked the contents before changing and they don´t have chicken bypoducts but real chicken. That did it for me. BUT about 3 wks ago Tuffy started throwing up almost daily. It was hot and very humid here so I thought that might be the cause. I watched him and it subsided for a few days then he was hurling again. I am in the process of taking all them off the Purina and switching them to Technical which is costly. Tuffy still threw up with the combination food but now it´s been over 48 hrs and I am not stepping in vomit. The humidity for the past 2 days is gone too. So I don´t know what the real source of his throwing up was, but still monitoring it.

I was having the exact same problem saucykats.

Last weekend, Isis and Ozzie vomited about 9 times between them (I didn´t see them vomit every time). After determining no other cause, I took away their Purina Indoor Formula and gave them a small bit of canned food. They went to the vet Monday, with no vomiting, but he said they looked healthy to him. He told me to give them some hairball medicine just in case, and continue giving them canned food for a few days, then slowly mix dry food back in.

I put them on full dry again, but I find one vomit almost every day. I bought a bag of Iams recently, so we´ll see if I still find the vomit. And if it doesn´t stop I´m calling the vet again.

Well im not saying the purina indoor formula caused the vomiting but my two cats vomit but not on a regular basis with purina indoor formula......but they have been on the food for 3 years now and only vomit probably once every 2-3 months...which i hear is normal the vet tells me b/c my cats eat and drink too fast and this causes them to throw up PURINA INDOOR FORMULA is good for my babies

but i will buy a more expensive high quality food product for them when I get some more money

what foods are suitable for cats in Australia, Both my girls can really smell out the litter box, at the moment they eat, whiskas, kitty-kat, purr, dine, and fancy feast (we have to buy a variety cause they get sick of the same brand) Nemo is 7.9kg when the average cat is suppose to be around 4-5kg, we feed our cats morning and night and our vet told us we have to feed her 1/2 cup of dry food a day and thats it, so basicly we have to starve her. which i think is way to nasty.

does anyone have any ideas?