Dog and cat food the SAME???

[MinkaMuffin]

It was brought up elsewhere on the internet that Nature's Variety Instinct, 95% Chicken, Before Grain Chicken, and EVO 95% Chicken have exactly the same ingredients for dogs and cats.

I am completely baffled..

[raecarrow]

They probably have the exact same ingredients but contain them in different proportions. Look at the crude protien, carbs, etc. Cats and dogs have different requirements. While they may contain all the same things, I doubt they have time in the same amounts.

[Goldtanker]

Midnight, the wild cat, snacks on the very expensive (NOT!) dry dog food I put out for the foxes.

[MinkaMuffin]

They both have the same percentages, same vitamins and minerals, same everything.

Nature's Variety Cat
Crude Protein (min)9.00%
Crude Fat (min)7.00%
Crude Fiber (max)3.00%
Moisture (max)75.00%

Nature's Variety Dog
Moisture (max.) 75.00%
Crude Protein (min.) 9.00%
Crude Fat (min.) 7.00%
Crude Fiber (max.) 3.00%

EVO Cat & Kitten
Moisture78.00%
Protein12.00%
Fat8.00%
Fiber0.50%

EVO Adult Dog
Moisture78.00%
Protein12.00%
Fiber0.50%
Fat8.00%

Before Grain Chicken Cat
Crude Protein (min) 9%
Crude Fat (min) 6%
Crude Fiber (max) 1.4%
Moisture (max) 78%

Before Grain Chicken Dog
Crude Protein (min) 9%
Crude Fat (min) 6%
Crude Fiber (max) 1.4%
Moisture (max) 78%

Believe me, I could not believe my eyes either. I can post the whole label of ingredients etc as proof, but I thought it would be a giant waste of space.

[aWhiteCat]

Crazy. So what does that mean in terms of feeding does that make it not a good food? For give the question I'm getting my first cat on Thursday and have been looking in to foods, this was one of them.

[Ocimom]

They may have the same ingredients, but doesn't mean its ok to feed it to both without problems. Cats need higher protein and taurine and so the formula would be different between cat/dog food.

Please feed your cat cat food and the dog dog food and you will have a lot less medical problems.

[swimkris]

Maybe they are trying to feed better quality to dogs now and not just cats? If I am paying higher prices for canned food I expect it to have large amounts of protein and fat whether I am buying it for my cat or my dog. I wouldn't interchange the foods though; 9% protein in each doesn't necessarily specify the amounts of each protein ingredient (for example cats could have more protein derived from bone and dogs more protein derived from meat or vice-versa).

[doodlebug]

In general, cats need higher protein and taurine levels than dogs. When you're looking at a 9X% meat food, there isn't much room for the formula to be different between the two foods. If you get the full vitamin/mineral breakdown you may find some differences (e.g. they may add more taurine to the cat version). But basically the foods are going to be very, very similar.

You'll see bigger differences between kibbles than in wet foods. On average dog kibble is about 10% less protein...they range from 20-40% where cat foods are 30-50%.

[MinkaMuffin]

Originally Posted by Ocimom

They may have the same ingredients, but doesn't mean its ok to feed it to both without problems. Cats need higher protein and taurine and so the formula would be different between cat/dog food.

Please feed your cat cat food and the dog dog food and you will have a lot less medical problems.

I.. never said I was switching them?

Originally Posted by doodlebug

In general, cats need higher protein and taurine levels than dogs. When you're looking at a 9X% meat food, there isn't much room for the formula to be different between the two foods. If you get the full vitamin/mineral breakdown you may find some differences (e.g. they may add more taurine to the cat version). But basically the foods are going to be very, very similar.

You'll see bigger differences between kibbles than in wet foods. On average dog kibble is about 10% less protein...they range from 20-40% where cat foods are 30-50%.

Ah, yes I suppose that makes sense that there can't be too much lee-way.
However, the person who brought this up actually posted the list of vit/min and they look identical as well. (I'm on my phone so I can't tell for sure.)

Actually.. I'm going to wait till I get home because my phone puts a space in-between each vitamin and makes the post horrendously long.

[Emelda]

Well, in nature, if a cat caught a rabbit and ate it and a dog caught a rabbit and ate it, they'd get the same "rabbit nutrition" although their bodies would process them in a different way I'm just saying!