There is another brand I've just found which says this:

A complete wet food with the bonus that it is hypo-allergenic. With selected protein source (turkey) and selected carbohydrate sources (potato and cassava) it is a dietetic food, excellent for the reduction of ingredient and nutrient intolerences.

Composition: turkey meats, pea protein, tomato pomace, cassava, potato flakes, sunflower oil, linseed oil, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, chicory extract, xylose, cranberry extract, yucca extract
Minimum levels: turkey (35%), tomato pomace (1%), cranberry extract (130mg/kg), yucca extract (50mg/kg)
Additives per kg: Vitamins: E671/Vitamin D3 (400iu) Trace elements: E1/iron (9.8mg), E2/iodine (0.2mg), E4/copper (1.28mg), E5/manganese (1.96mg), E6/zinc (15.7mg)
Analytical Constituents: moisture 81%, protein 10.0%, crude fibres 0.5%, fat content 4.5%, crude ash 1.8%

Which food, this one or the first one, sounds better? My instinct tells me the first one as it has less ingredients, but then the first one has more ash (I don't know if that's bad, but it sounds it) and this one seems to have a lot of added healthy sounding ingredients. What do you all think?

 

I'd pick the first one because I do not like how "pea protein" sounds. :-?

Ash is what remains after food is heated at high temperatures. When pet food is completely incinerated, protein, fat and carbohydrates burn away, leaving behind only the food's minerals, which include calcium, phosphorus, zinc, iron and many others. These minerals are the food's ash content, which is just a way of describing the mineral content of the pet food.

 

So... more ash is a good thing?

 

No the lower the ash the better, but that's not a major criteria for choosing a food unless your cat has urinary issues.

I don't like the sugars in the first food, unless they are prebiotics which are technically sugars...but I don't see any probiotics listed so I'm not sure what the sugar is there for. (Probiotics feed on prebiotics).

And I don't like the pea protein in the second food. I find it interesting that they tell you it's 35% turkey but not the % of pea protein.

If I have to choose between the two, I'd take the first one, even with the sugars, since it has so much more meat content.

 

Yes, the meat content was attractive to me. These are the two highest quality cat foods I know of, suggested to me by a breeder of Tonkinese. I wouldn't know where/how I could find anything better in the UK. The only other expensive and supposedly good quality cat food I know if is Royal Canin, but when looking at the ingredients, it certainly is not good as far as I can see "meat and animal derivatives, cereals, vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, minerals, various sugars, additives".. and no percentages for anything.

Could you possibly give me an example of a very high quality and reputable wet cat food available in the US and list it's nutritional information so that I can search for something similar here?

 

Wow, I've found a cat food called Natural Instinct which is completely raw and contains 99% meat. It looks amazing and would save me having to buy raw meat and preparing it myself. The only problem is that there are no retailers selling it within 300 miles of my house and although they do sell it on their website, shipping is £6.50 ($10.30) per order unless you order 37kgs of the stuff at once, which definitely wouldn't fit in our tiny freezer, there's barely enough room for our own food as it is

 

I have found this food online. It is wet, comes in a pouch and is advertised as being a complete food. This is from their website.

Hypoallergenic
Wheat free
Gluten free
Free from artificial colours & flavours
Free from artificial preservatives

Ingredients
Chicken min. 43%. Turkey min. 28%. Minerals. Various sugars.

Typical Analysis
Protein: 11.0%, Oil: 6.0%, Fibre: 0.2%, Ash: 2.5%, Moisture: 81.0%. Vit.A: 2000 I.U./Kg, Vit.D3: 200 I.U./Kg, e Vit.E (alfatocoferol): 16mg/Kg. Taurin: 300 mg/Kg. Vitamins level guaranteed until best before date.


Does this sound OK to all of you? Does it sound like a healthy food? Do you think it will aid her gas problem? If not, can you recommend a food which is available in the UK that might be better?

Thank you all very much.

Hey, does it have to be a wet meat?

Ash is kind of like the burnt parts of meat when its cooked that goes back into the food so it's not 'bad'.. more ash = more meat

For my work I have to go to these meetings where reps talk about their foods (I work in the pet industry) and the latest one I went to was for Barking Heads, Meowing Heads.. and I've got to say, I'm quite impressed with their dog and cat food. The cat food is only in dry kibble but it might be worth a look for you?

 

What impresses you about Meowing Heads kibble? Looks kind of average based on ingredients and analysis...

 

I'm no expert on foods, I just have to listen to people tell me about them. Compared to other 'super premiums' I think the ingredients are better quality. There chicken is from their own farms (apparently) and they don't use meal, just the meat. And it's actually chicken.. instead of it saying like poultry meal which could be anything classed as poultry. All of their ingredients seem to me to be easily digestible (no sugar beet pulp) and it's one out of many that don't add any salt. I look at a lot of composition lists and don't understand why half the stuff is in it and I didn't get that feeling with this food. The vegetable fibre has helped a few people I know with their cats hairballs too.

Which dried kibble available in the UK do you think is very good?

 

If you don't mind ordering your food online, zooplus have a good range of wet food available in the UK. Grau have a grain free range and one with rice, it's a bit more expensive but good quality and my cat loves it. She also eats Animonda Carny which is also grain free and a lot cheaper.

Animonda Carny chicken & duck:
Beef (50%, heart, meat, lung, kidney, udder), broth (31%), chicken liver (12%), duck hearts (6%), calcium carbonate.
Nutritional dietary additives:
Vitamin D3 (200 IU/kg), iodine (0.2 mg/kg), manganese (1.5 mg/kg), zinc (10 mg/kg).
ash 1.4 % fat 5.0 % fiber 0.5 % moisture 79.0 % protein 11.5 %

Edit: Someone was also asking for dry food, my cat sometimes gets Applaws dry food, it's a UK brand and seems quite good quality and she really likes it. It's also available on zooplus.