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What do you feed your cats? The vet told us that Science Diet or Iams were the best. What do the rest of you think...
Cat Food
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Actually, when it comes to ingredients, Science Diet and Iams are below average foods, and not anywhere close to being good foods. They use tons of grains, by products, and fillers that are not used in true premium foods. Hills, the maker of Science Diet, even uses BHA in their foods, which is a known carcinogen. Vets recommend Science Diet because Science Diet reps teach their nutrition classes in vet school, and Science Diet is thought to offer money incentive (or so the rumur goes) to vets who promote Science Diet in their offices. Many vets will admit that they know very little when it comes to nutrition. Any vet that recommends Science Diet falls into that category,
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I agree with micp879.
Our cats are fed mostly raw meat and some wet food, such as Wellness, Felidae, Nutro pouches, Eagle Pack,..... They have lot of variety.
Our cats are fed mostly raw meat and some wet food, such as Wellness, Felidae, Nutro pouches, Eagle Pack,..... They have lot of variety.
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I feed my girl Iams Kitten Chow. She's healthy and happy. My vet told me it was a good food and its reasonably priced.
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Micp879 said
I have tried everything under the sun, from the top holistic food to the bottom and the ones my girls do best on is:
Purina Pro Plan
Science Diet
Nutro Max Kitten
I also give one Nutro pouch or small Nutro can in the evenings.
This is only true of the dry prescription foods. Their canned food and the dry foods in the pet stores do NOT contain BHA or BHT.
I have tried everything under the sun, from the top holistic food to the bottom and the ones my girls do best on is:
Purina Pro Plan
Science Diet
Nutro Max Kitten
I also give one Nutro pouch or small Nutro can in the evenings.
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I used to feed my cats Iams, but that got kind of boring...plus i read about the testing stuff and wasn't too happy about it.
My cats now eat Friskies -- I started buying the wet food because they have great selections, and then I switched to the dry food because it's got a whole bunch of different flavors. My cats went crazy and dug in when I presented it to them.
Check out www.friskies.com for a breakdown of their selection, I'm very happy with them.
My cats now eat Friskies -- I started buying the wet food because they have great selections, and then I switched to the dry food because it's got a whole bunch of different flavors. My cats went crazy and dug in when I presented it to them.
Check out www.friskies.com for a breakdown of their selection, I'm very happy with them.
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My cats eat Chicken Soup and Felidae dry and Wellness canned.
It is also my opinion that Science Diet and Iams are not great quality foods, for the same reasons micp879 mentioned. They both use poor quality ingredients including corn and by-products. The only thing I'll give SD credit for is that although the ingredient list is subpar, the food seems to be generally nutritionally balanced.
For the same price as what you pay for a bag of SD or Iams, you could be spending your money on a much better premium food.
Friskies is not a good food at all. It ranks far below SD, Iam and even below any Purina food. Corn is the main ingredient, and its only significant source of animal protein is from poultry by-products. It contains artificial preservatives and dyes, and also the ingredient "meat and bone meal" which is one that you want to avoid at all costs. This is the kind of food that is usually imbalanced when it comes to required nutrients, and will cause deficiencies, digestive problems, obesity, and diseases such as FLUTD. Their canned food is a bit better than the dry, but not by much.
Cats love it, but thats because the kibble is coated with animal digest. Essentially, its junk food for cats. :?
It is also my opinion that Science Diet and Iams are not great quality foods, for the same reasons micp879 mentioned. They both use poor quality ingredients including corn and by-products. The only thing I'll give SD credit for is that although the ingredient list is subpar, the food seems to be generally nutritionally balanced.
For the same price as what you pay for a bag of SD or Iams, you could be spending your money on a much better premium food.
Friskies is not a good food at all. It ranks far below SD, Iam and even below any Purina food. Corn is the main ingredient, and its only significant source of animal protein is from poultry by-products. It contains artificial preservatives and dyes, and also the ingredient "meat and bone meal" which is one that you want to avoid at all costs. This is the kind of food that is usually imbalanced when it comes to required nutrients, and will cause deficiencies, digestive problems, obesity, and diseases such as FLUTD. Their canned food is a bit better than the dry, but not by much.
Cats love it, but thats because the kibble is coated with animal digest. Essentially, its junk food for cats. :?
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Nell said:
Thanks for the info!
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What about Meow Mix?
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Meow Mix ranks about the same as Friskies... Corn, lots of grains, by-products...
In general, just about any food that you can find in the grocery store is not very good quality, especially the kinds that come in fancy colored shapes...
This might be a long post, so bare with me... 8)
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Here's an example of the first 10 ingredients in a bag of Friskies:
Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, meat and bone meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), soybean meal, corn germ meal, salmon meal, tuna meal, brewers dried yeast.
Notice how corn is the first 2 ingredients (ingredients are always listed in order with the ingredients with the highest percentage first). Corn is basicly just a cheap filler and cheap protien source, and it is also a common cause of food allergies.
Chicken By-products is an animal protien source, but is generally undesirable in a good pet food. In the wild, cats naturally eat some by-products, but not a very large percentage. The AAFCO defines chicken by-products as: "clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice"
The problem that many people see with by-products is that its hard to say exactly whats included.
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A better food will list a named meat (i.e. chicken, turkey, lamb...) as the first ingredient. The importance of having a named meat (as opposed to "poultry" or "meat") is that we know what animal it actually came from.
Here is an example of the first 10 ingredients in a bag of Purina One:
Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), wheat gluten, whole grain corn, non-fat yogurt, fish meal, brewers dried yeast
The first ingredient is chicken, which is a good start, but you'll notice that it still contains several grains in the top ingredients, specifically corn. It also contains poultry by-products (and "poultry" is an obscure term).
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And here's an example from a bag of Wellness Cat food, which is one of the top premium brands:
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Liver, Turkey, Chicken Broth, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Vegetable Gums, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Alfalfa, Cranberries, Blueberries....
The first several ingredients are named meat sources. Wellness is also a grain free food (although not all premium brands are), so you won't find any corn, rice, soybeans, etc on the list. The vegetables and fruits are used as natural sources of some vitamins and minerals...
There's still a lot more to it than that, but I hope that gives you a start on knowing what to look for when choosing a cat food...
If you're on a budget, I'd suggest trying Nutro or the Chicken Soup (for the Pet Lovers Soul) brand. Its not as good as the top premium brands, but it is significantly better than the grocery store brands.
Here's a link that will also be helpful in making decisions about what your cats should eat:
FEEDING YOUR CAT: KNOW THE BASICS OF FELINE NUTRITION
In general, just about any food that you can find in the grocery store is not very good quality, especially the kinds that come in fancy colored shapes...
This might be a long post, so bare with me... 8)
----
Here's an example of the first 10 ingredients in a bag of Friskies:
Ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, meat and bone meal, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), soybean meal, corn germ meal, salmon meal, tuna meal, brewers dried yeast.
Notice how corn is the first 2 ingredients (ingredients are always listed in order with the ingredients with the highest percentage first). Corn is basicly just a cheap filler and cheap protien source, and it is also a common cause of food allergies.
Chicken By-products is an animal protien source, but is generally undesirable in a good pet food. In the wild, cats naturally eat some by-products, but not a very large percentage. The AAFCO defines chicken by-products as: "clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice"
The problem that many people see with by-products is that its hard to say exactly whats included.
---------
A better food will list a named meat (i.e. chicken, turkey, lamb...) as the first ingredient. The importance of having a named meat (as opposed to "poultry" or "meat") is that we know what animal it actually came from.
Here is an example of the first 10 ingredients in a bag of Purina One:
Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), wheat gluten, whole grain corn, non-fat yogurt, fish meal, brewers dried yeast
The first ingredient is chicken, which is a good start, but you'll notice that it still contains several grains in the top ingredients, specifically corn. It also contains poultry by-products (and "poultry" is an obscure term).
----
And here's an example from a bag of Wellness Cat food, which is one of the top premium brands:
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Liver, Turkey, Chicken Broth, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Vegetable Gums, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Alfalfa, Cranberries, Blueberries....
The first several ingredients are named meat sources. Wellness is also a grain free food (although not all premium brands are), so you won't find any corn, rice, soybeans, etc on the list. The vegetables and fruits are used as natural sources of some vitamins and minerals...
There's still a lot more to it than that, but I hope that gives you a start on knowing what to look for when choosing a cat food...
If you're on a budget, I'd suggest trying Nutro or the Chicken Soup (for the Pet Lovers Soul) brand. Its not as good as the top premium brands, but it is significantly better than the grocery store brands.
Here's a link that will also be helpful in making decisions about what your cats should eat:
FEEDING YOUR CAT: KNOW THE BASICS OF FELINE NUTRITION
The only thing that is worthwhile from the Friskies brand is their Special Care food (both wet and dry). Anything else is junk.
The only thing that is worthwhile from the Meow Mix brand is their Little Nibbles and their pouches (I make frozen popsicles out of them all summer long). Anything else is junk.
Wellness is reasonably cheap if you buy large bags of them. They also have large 12~13 ounce cans for only $1.50 per can. There are much more expensive foods out there. I am still thinking about buying Drs. Foster and Smith.
The only thing that is worthwhile from the Meow Mix brand is their Little Nibbles and their pouches (I make frozen popsicles out of them all summer long). Anything else is junk.
Wellness is reasonably cheap if you buy large bags of them. They also have large 12~13 ounce cans for only $1.50 per can. There are much more expensive foods out there. I am still thinking about buying Drs. Foster and Smith.
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we feed our cat purina cat chow complete formula, My Kitty doesn't like wet food so he every once in a while gets Real Tuna in Water. And when ever we make tuna for ourselves i give him the tuna juice(lol). He refuses wet food he'll only lap the liquids and thats it, he won't eat the food and in my opinion thats a waste of money. But he is a very happy and healthy cat with just the purina cat chow. He weighs around 14 lbs. but he's a big kitty too, big frame/bone stucture.
When we had about 3 cats they were getting friskies or whiskas but they weren't really gaining very good weight on it so i switched them to the purina and then the other 2 cats came into a home where they were fed that. They also had a few months where they were fed Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul dry food, i had a gift card and figured i would use that to help with buying food and litter while i had it......
But my cats have done best with Purina cat chow....spaz loves it and 5 lbs lasts him a little over 2 wks......
When we had about 3 cats they were getting friskies or whiskas but they weren't really gaining very good weight on it so i switched them to the purina and then the other 2 cats came into a home where they were fed that. They also had a few months where they were fed Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul dry food, i had a gift card and figured i would use that to help with buying food and litter while i had it......
But my cats have done best with Purina cat chow....spaz loves it and 5 lbs lasts him a little over 2 wks......
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Thanks for all the info -- I'll be looking into all of this.
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Ha ha ha!!!
I wish my cats would eat the better brand foods!!! I am laughing because i just had to go out to three different stores today to get Meow Mix "deep sea delight" pouches!!! LOL- My female Mum is very picky.. For cheap stuff!! <- I swear this is the only kind she will eat lately.. And i have tried i think every cat food everyone has named!!
She used to eat nothing put 9 Lives Tuna and egg... EWWW.... I do try to stay away from 9 lives though..
I picked up ( And i don't know if this is good or not) Old Mother Hubbard cat food tonight too? Is this bad. I thought i would give Daisy ( my sort of temp.. to maybe perm. feral) something good for a change...
Does anyone buy this?
I wish my cats would eat the better brand foods!!! I am laughing because i just had to go out to three different stores today to get Meow Mix "deep sea delight" pouches!!! LOL- My female Mum is very picky.. For cheap stuff!! <- I swear this is the only kind she will eat lately.. And i have tried i think every cat food everyone has named!!
She used to eat nothing put 9 Lives Tuna and egg... EWWW.... I do try to stay away from 9 lives though..I picked up ( And i don't know if this is good or not) Old Mother Hubbard cat food tonight too? Is this bad. I thought i would give Daisy ( my sort of temp.. to maybe perm. feral) something good for a change...
Does anyone buy this?
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