Hi. I think it's great that you are here asking about the foods, that means you really do want to give your kitty the best you can!

Meow mix in my opinion, absolutely IS one of the worst foods available.
I snagged the first few ingredients off of their pouch food since you referenced it. This is from the "Hook, Line & Sinker" variety":

Tuna, Fish Broth, Sardine, Tuna Liver, Red Snapper, Ocean Fish, Guar Gum

Fish in general is not good for cats, to feed a food that has a main ingredient of Tuna followed by several other fish ingredients can cause detrimental vitamin deficiencies in your kitty. There are many reasons why fish is unhealthy for cats as a main staple, so for that reason alone I would steer clear of these foods by Meow Mix. Another reason is that Meow Mix is made by Del Monte foods which as I am sure you know is a human food manufacturer. Many times these companies also have subsidiary pet food companies so that they can take all their leftover garbage and food items that are labeled as unfit for human consumption and use it in our pets food. This could be from sick and diseased animals, dying animals, carcasses, heads, eyes, etc...

My point here is that not only are the ingredients themselves bad, but the quality of the ingredients is equally as bad, making this overall a very, unsuitable meal for your kitties.

The dry food is equally as horrible. I honestly think that Meow Mix is one of the worst foods out there. I can't think of one off the top of my head that is significantly worse. There are a few that are on par with it, but I really don't think it's better than any foods out there.

I'm sure you will learn a ton about foods after you stick around here for a while. :wink:

 

could hardly have said it better myself!

Meow Mix is one of the worst. The only foods that I think maybe rank below it are things like Alley Cat, Special Kitty, and the generic "cat dinner" that is nothing but meat flavor and cheap grains that are not fit for human consumption.

None of these are good for your cat. In fact, they could actually be detrimental to your pet's health.

 

Ick, Alley cat! For some reason though, I wanna say Alley Cat is also made by the same company that does Meow Mix. Do you know, Nell?

 

I wasn't sure, but I looked it up, and sure enough, Meow Mix manufactures Alley Cat too. That stuff is nasty. Its incredibly greasy and smells gross too.

I feel horrible knowing that poor Trixie had to eat this kind of stuff for years... Alley Cat, Tender Vittles, Friskies... ick! She only started eating a somewhat better food after she developed a nasty UTI and her vet said we shouldn't be feeding her the cheap foods.
We just didn't know any better then, and the big pet food companies do great job of making you feel like you're giving your cat a gourmet dinner, enticing people with images of beautiful cats, savory cuts of meat, the claim that they use high quality ingredients, and cute little colors and shapes. Its all marketed to be appealing to the people who feed them and has nothing to do with good nutrition. I find it really upsetting that they make it so easy for people to buy into it. Its important to be an informed consumer, but heck, the big companies spend FORTUNES trying to trick you into believing that their food is good for your pet (or that their sugar-loaded cereal is good for your kid).

 

I feel horrible knowing that poor Trixie had to eat this kind of stuff for years...

I know how you feel!! Cooper has been on dry only for YEARS and back when we were first starting out (in other words, BROKE) we actually fed him Special Kitty! I've learned so much after coming to this board. I now feel guilty when I run out of food, can't get to the good store until the weekend and have to buy Iams at Target to get by. And, to be honest.... I hope you guys don't hate me for this... but at first, I thought this board was just a bunch of food snobs. But after doing some research, I realized you guys were right! So now I'm feeding them Wellness.

 

My cat Asher has an incredibly sensitive stomach. So, the vet recommended tender vittles for him for a while. He didn't like them. Then we had the cats on Flint River Ranch, but at 45 dollars a bag..we couldn't afford it once a month. So, now they're on GoodLife Recipe, Asher stomach can handle it, and, the others seem to like it.

 

I feel horrible knowing that poor Trixie had to eat this kind of stuff for years...

I know how you feel!! Cooper has been on dry only for YEARS and back when we were first starting out (in other words, BROKE) we actually fed him Special Kitty! I've learned so much after coming to this board. I now feel guilty when I run out of food, can't get to the good store until the weekend and have to buy Iams at Target to get by. And, to be honest.... I hope you guys don't hate me for this... but at first, I thought this board was just a bunch of food snobs. But after doing some research, I realized you guys were right! So now I'm feeding them Wellness.

Ditto, my poor Franny ate the cheap dry food for the first few years of her life. I used to feel horrible about it, but now I'm proud that I have done the research and have the know how to select healthy foods for all my cats and I've even helped educate my vets on it too! You can't change the past...