anybody hear of PAULS cat food?

[myfamilia]

They have a home delivery service but only make one kind of food for cats. they cater to dogs with more to offer. here's what's in the cat food ingredients:
Chicken & Rice Cat Formula
chicken meal, ground rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols a source of vitamin e and citric acid) oatmeal, fish mael, beet pulp, flaxseed, dried egg product, brewers dried yeast, chicken liver meal, yeast culture, potassium chloride, salt, lecithin, garlic, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D supplement, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, maganese oxide, zinc amino acid chelate, cobalt amino acid chelate, potassium iodate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine monoitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), sodium selenite, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K), calcium iodate, taurine, folic acid, cobalt carbonate, yucca schidigera extract.

crude protien 30% crude fiber 3%

crude fat 15% moisture 10%

ash 6% magnesium 0.10%

Would this be an ok dry food to feed a senior cat?

[octoberdana]

The ingredients look pretty good. The only thing I might be concerned about is the protein percentage may be a little high for senior cats.

[AddFran]

The ingredients look decent. I'm not sure I'd do a special delivery for this food though. You could do A LOT better. You'd like to see more meat protein sources in first few ingredients rather than just chicken meal and then rice.

Other than that, it's pretty good. NO CORN fillers, that's a huge plus, no by-products, etc., but more meat protein in the first few ingredients would be better.

If you are feeding your cats anything you can buy in the grocery store, this food would be a big improvement.

Edit: Just to clarify, you should pay attention to the protein percentages for a senior cat, but what I'm specifically talking about is that the protein should come from more meat sources before you seen rice, etc. on the list.

[myfamilia]

I've also been looking at Wellness and Felidae, both in dry form. Natural Balance is pretty steep in price for me. Also Wellness, Felidae and Eagle in canned food. I spent almost all night reading up on nutrition, ingredients, prices etc; and am a bit overwhelmed and can't decide. A few sugestions would help me alot...I think
Also, it would be my first time ordering online. Suggestions??

Bugs is so bad about eating wet food, I'm leary when it comes to buing such exspensive food. If I knew he would eat it then the money spent would not be a problem but well spent.

I feel it my responsibility to change his diet asap, now that I am aware of what cats really need. He has never had a 'properly balanced' diet. Will it be a shock to his system? Probably his system has always already been in shock!

Thanks so much
susan

[octoberdana]

I believe Felidae has a senior formula. My cats loved it and the price was great! I wish I could get it locally, I would definitely feed it.

[AddFran]

Keep an eye on Senior formulas as well they tend to remove the valuable protein sources and replace them with carbs as well. A lot of these "specific" formulas are marketing ploys and are not necessarily helpful at all in what they claim to be geared toward.

Natural Balance is a great food. I just tried it in the last few months and my cats love it. Even the picky ones. Wellness and Felidae are also great. If you are deciding based on costs as well Felidae may be a good option for you. In my area a 5lbs some odd ounce bag runs about $8 or $9. Wellness on the other hand is about $15.00 for a 15 lb 14oz bag I believe. Natural Balance at our Petco is about $12.00 per 5 lb bag so it still comes out to be cheaper than Wellness.

Any of these 3 are fine choices and in my opinion better than the Pauls brand ingredients listed above.

I hope this helps you.

Oh, and Wellness and Eagle Pack are both great canned foods. Eagle pack tends to run about 15-20 cents cheaper per can in my area and is of good quality. Wellness canned foods are a little higher in price and most of the wellness flavors contain fish. You don't want to give your cat too much fish, it's not healthy for them and can be potentially toxic due to mercury levels, etc. in the fish.

[AddFran]

Here are some coupon codes for Petfooddirect:

$5 off a purchase of $40 or more at PetFoodDirect.com Use discount code PER32. Valid through: Dec. 31, 2004

$10 off a purchase of $75 or more at PetFoodDirect.com Use discount code PER33. Valid through: Dec. 31, 2004

12% off your order at PetFoodDirect.com Use discount code PER27. Valid through: unknown

[octoberdana]

Also here's a 20% one:

PFD3618C

[myfamilia]

Thanks for the help and codes. I'm so excited about getting some healthy good food for Bugs that I'll probably sit down and join him for a gourmet meal
I decided to get a variety and both Felidae and Wellness had small enough bags to buy that I was able to get Natural Balance, too.
For the canned food, Wellness had a variety pack to offer so I chose it. None of my other choices offered a small variety for Bugs to finickasize over except one that is way out of my price range to buy in bulk. That one is Merrick. They have a small variety pack at 8/3.2oz for 6.99 so I went ahead and got it. Hmmm...maybe I will join Bugs for a Merrick meal!

[AddFran]

Wow. You did great. Good idea getting those variety packs of canned food.

By the way, Merrick is a fantastic food. I finally tried it when we suspected our cat Addison of having some allergy issues (Dr. Jean has recommended the "Thanksgiving Dinner" - just Turkey and Veggies) and I must say it was the juiciest canned food I've come across yet.

Keep us posted on what Bugs decides on!