Food Advice Wanted

[kc27]

Here's a chart of the nutrient analysis of Innova cat foods.

http://polar.icestorm.com/sfl/misc/i...cat_2_1_05.pdf

This article is titled "Facts and Fallacies Concerning Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease", and offers another point of view about ash and magnesium. However, it looks as though the article is authored by Purina, for whatever that is worth.

http://pets.yahoo.com/pets/cats/hn/f..._tract_disease

Our two-and-a-half year old female cat refuses to eat wet food, only wants dry. I'm giving her Evo now, and would probably keep giving it to her except for the fact that the Evo ash content seems high, and I rarely see her drink water.

Does anyone more knowledgeable about cat nutrition have any comments about the ash level in Evo. Should it be a concern, or is it negated by Evo's high protein content?

[roseeden]

Originally Posted by Mitts & Tess

I havent made the change to wet food yet. Ive been trying to buy good dry food. I just bought a giant bag of Evo today. Crap..

I guess I should of been reading more of the Health & Nutrition. I didnt realize it has so much ash. But I did also buy a giant bag of California Natural too.

Both EVO and California Natural are decend foods.

I accidentially discovered that I can have a complete 10-gallon set-up with the pump, and I can just take the lid off so my cats can drink out of it. My cats love that. They had been drinking three times as much water since I did that.

[kc27]

I accidentially discovered that I can have a complete 10-gallon set-up with the pump, and I can just take the lid off so my cats can drink out of it. My cats love that. They had been drinking three times as much water since I did that.

Are you saying they drink from your aquarium? One of our cats was fond of doing that. I probably should have let him, but I was afraid the aquarium water would aggravate his urinary tract problems.

Maybe a cat water fountain help our cat drink more often.

I wrote to the folks who make Evo, and they wrote back to say that ash consists of all the noncombustible materials in a diet. Ash content is dependent on both the quality and quantity of meat in a food. The higher the protein level, the higher the ash content. They recommend that in cases that relate to disease, it is always the best policy to follow the advice of the veterinarian involved with the case.

Seems as though if you go for a high protein diet as Evo is designed to provide, higher ash levels are going to be part of the equation. Somewhat of a gamble, I suppose.

[TAsunder]

California chicken & rice is made by the same company that makes evo. Wellness dry has a bit less ash. I generally mix 1/2 wellness and 1/2 evo.

Ash is a result of cooking the meat. Evo has roughly 50% protein according to the labels, which is 15-20% more than most other foods, or about 50% more. The ash is a bit high but it is not unusually high for the amount of protein. Wellness has about 6.5% for 35% protein, which is a slightly smaller percentage, but nothing major.

[Mitts & Tess]

Originally Posted by TAsunder

California chicken & rice is made by the same company that makes evo. Wellness dry has a bit less ash. I generally mix 1/2 wellness and 1/2 evo.

Ash is a result of cooking the meat. Evo has roughly 50% protein according to the labels, which is 15-20% more than most other foods, or about 50% more. The ash is a bit high but it is not unusually high for the amount of protein. Wellness has about 6.5% for 35% protein, which is a slightly smaller percentage, but nothing major.

I think Im slowly starting to understand! Thanks TAsunder!!

[kc27]

I second the thanks for the explanation, Mitts & Tess. I'll probably let our 2-1/2 year old cat have the Evo, then decide if I still want to feed that or switch to a different dry food. I tried to get her to eat wet food, but she has no interest.

The high protein level in Evo seems as though it might not be appropriate for the 13 year old cat, might be hard on his kidneys. And I'm gun-shy about the ash level, in general, but I from what I've read, the ultimate determining factor for urinary problems is the PH of the urine.

Probably will go with Innova Lite dry and wet for the older guy, and or Innova Regular dry for the youngster.

Thanks again for helping clear some of the confusion.