The advice present below is what we have found works for our Cat's. Any changes to your cat's diet should be discussed with a Veterinarian.
We have found that during different stages of their lives our cats need and or prefer different types of food. For example during his teenage stage Deuces had a sensitivity to chicken, resulting in loose stool. After many, many tests it was determined that this was in fact a sensitivity and not a disease or parasite. After changing his diet, to predominently fish based, he was back to his usual self. After about a year old we tried chicken based diet again and found no issues.
What may work at one point in time, may or may-not always work. And subsequently what works for one cat may, or may not, work for another. Observe and listen to determine what is best for you cat.
We feed a variety of food based on the specific cat & stage in their life.
For kittens we feed Hill's Kitten Food. This is a great all around kitten food which provides well rounded mix of ingredients for a large breed kitten.
As the cats grow past 6 months they are transitioned into an adult food. There are two important rules we follow when selecting a food: (1) use high quality food, & (2) use a food the cat will eat.
Point (1) has a lot of contention amongst breeders. I define a good quality food as one which fullfills the dietairy requirements of a large breed cats. This includes a good source of animal based protein (chicken, fish, rabbit, etc) and limits grains and carbohydrates.
This type of food may be dry or wet; however, we recommend a mix of both dry and wet for a blanced diet, and specifically wet food for hydration.
Point (2) is probably the most important. Our active kittens and cats need to eat. An overweight cat is very bad, but so is a malnurished cat. We have found that each cat has particular preferences. For example, Roewe loves her fish, while Garnet prefers chicken. To accomodate this we feed a mix of Chicken and Fish dry food, and then feed them their preferred protein varietal with wet food.
A list of recommended cat foods:
In addition to a balanced dry food and form of wet food is often beneficial. This can be in the form of canned food, or in our case, homemade food.
Our homemade food is simple and what we have found works best for our cats. For example, our cats do not like carrots, if carrots are in the food, they will simply refuse to eat. However, carrots are a great source of vitamins critical for development. In our case we substitute with pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling).
To make we put everything into a slow cooker until cooked through. There are several recipes available online for raw and raw/cooked methods, but we have found thouroughly cooked is the safest option when using grocery store meat.
Our goal with the ingredients used below is to maximize the natural good quality proteins while adding vitamins which promote health, growth, and coat
Ingredients
An excellent resource for food sensitivity can be found on the Point Grey Veterinary Hospital.