[Lilly]

I have been reading alot about the nutritional value of cat food. Until I got a computer I thought I could feed my cats Meow Mix, or Purina with no problems. I knew the really cheap stuff was bad for them, however I always thought the other stuff was ok.
Then I read up on some of the information and links about food. So I switched to Nutro. This apperantly is not very good either, Even though it is better than Meow mix. So I have been trying to figure out what too buy next time.
In the mean time, I read the link on Iams, and Procter Gamble. So now my moms cat is not eating her regular brand of food. Her cat is 13 and has pretty much always ate Iams. So now my mom is trying to find a new food to.
then I read the post on what is really in cat food, and agian called my mom last night. I asked her if she had switched cat food. She assured me that yes she had switched to science diet. Well Science diet is not good either, it has cancerous meat in it. So does nutro.
So we went over Angel Zoo's list of high quality foods. We have really never heard of most of these foods, until it gets down into the low quality foods. We do not want low quality foods. So we are trying to find someone in our area that carries some of thease foods.
My poor mom (who is on disability) told me last night that she wishes I never would have gotten a computer, we were better off ignorant of the whole situation! Now I know she was just was just being sarcastic because of all the stuff I am throwing at her. As well as feeling sorry for her poor old cat, who doesnt know what is goin on.
Now I read the post this morning about wet food verses dry food!! Oh no...This is to much information. I do not know where to begin or who to belive. I have a hard enough time in this tiny little town I live in trying to find first rate food. Now I am supposed to be feeding my cats raw meat, wet food and dry food. All at the same time. While being careful that everything I am buying if first rate.!!
When is it to much information?

 

[Veda]

I'd say slow down and take a breath. Keep reading everything you can and absorb it. As always don't believe everything you read too. Look for articles with lots of research backing them up and look for common themes in everything. For example almost every article I've read says the less corn the better, and meat as a first ingredient so I'll believe that and watch for those things in picking a food. It's not really going to harm your cat to keep eatting whatever they're currently eatting for another month or until the bag runs out while you process the information and make your own decisions about what's best for your furry friends.

You've already done them a wonderful service by getting them off of Meow Mix and Purina.

 

[AngelZoo]

Lilly: It's alright. Studying cat nutrition is very overwhelming, no one said it was going to be easy.
Your on the right path, and just remember that.
So what if it takes you another month or two until you feel you have a semi good understanding of what type of cat food you are looking for, it's not definent that being on the other food a little will longer will kill your cat or anything.
Learning all this, should be an enjoyment for you, and if you can find no happiness in reading/hearing all this information then maybe it's not for you. Companion Animal Nutrition highly intrests me, but I know it doesn't everyone else.

Go to your favorite search engine.
Type in the name of the food like "Felidae Cat Food" and run a search.
When you come across the official site for these cat food brands, MOST of them will have a store locator, you put in your zip code or city, and it will pop out a list of the stores which carry said product closest to you.
Most people have not heard of most of the foods I have on my list, and that's ok, most of them are not commercialized companies with lots of backing from their animal testing labritories.
I basically sat down with a phone book, when I moved to this new town, trying to call all localized pet stores with in a 50 mile radius, just to find even one that carried a good food, but I was determind!

 

[opokki]

Lilly: I understand your frustration, I've been there too.
I think the WDJ has some nice guidelines for choosing a quality food (this is for dog food but the same guide can be used for choosing a cat food too). There is a list of what a high quality food should and should not contain:
http://www.simplyschnauzer.net/wdjtopten.html

Here is another great site on choosing a quality food (again, it was created for choosing a dog food but can be used for choosing a cat food as well). Check out the section on "Identifying a better food" and "the Yuck factor":
http://home.comcast.net/~Mordanna/dog/


"Well Science diet is not good either, it has cancerous meat in it. So does nutro."

SD and Nutro have cancerous meat in them?

 

[opokki]

As Angelzoo mentioned many of the manufacturers have websites with store locators on them so its easier to find out if a certain brand is available in your area.

Here are some direct links to the store locators of a few brands:
Innova, California Natural, Healthwise -
http://naturapet.com/display.php?d=stores-tab

Solid Gold -
http://solidgoldhealth.com/stores/

Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul -
http://chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.c ... utors.html

Wellness-
http://oldmotherhubbard.com/locator/locator_form.asp

 

[Lilly]

Good news! thanks to the links you gave me I found a store very near to me that carries Solid Gold. I am so relived about that.
I really was feeling frustrated earlier because I keep hearing conflicting info. I just want to feed what is healthy for my cats.
If I feed all dry food, is that really that bad? Should I be feeding some wet food? I can not really afford to feed all the animals wet food all the time. I have always only fed them dry food.
Thank you for the info! I really do apreciate all the links and stuff.

 

[AngelZoo]

Opokki: Perhaps she ment the BHT & BHA preservatives, which can be cancerous, amoung other things. Not the meat directly, though... with those old studies, who knows if once upon a time, the meats in SD and Nutro and several others were cancerous, and who really knows if they still are...

But that's another story!

Lilly: I think it's good to feed wet food about 2-3 times a week, for something different for the cat, and the moisture/ingredient content. Some people even feed it once a day as a treat, which is just fine as well during the middle of the day.

For supplimental feeding, the best wet foods in order are...

Wysong - Rabbit, Duck, Venison, Beef, Chicken
Felidae - Chicken & Lamb
Pinnacle - Chicken & Tuna
Wellness - Turkey & Salmon, Chicken & Herring
Pinnacle - Ocean Fish, Chicken & Ocean Fish
Natural Balance - Ultra, Ocean Fish
Evolve - Chicken, Turkey
Felidae - Chicken & Rice

 

[Lilly]

I am sorry, I meant to post this link before. I read about the cancerous meat, and other things terrible at this site.
http://www.api4animals.org/doc.asp?ID=79

 

[kitkat]

I used to be pretty confused about this too not too long ago. I know its a lot of info and you are definitely trying to get your cats the best. Just read up on the high quality foods like Felidae, Solid Gold, etc and find a store near you or order a super large bag and feed to your cats.

Wet foods can be fed everyday once or just once in awhile for a treat. Its good to get canned b/c it has so much water in it and its good for them too but hey if you feed canned only once in awhile, thats great. I split one 3 oz. can between my 2 cats every morning and its perfect. Then I free feed dry food all day for them to nibble.

I am now transitioning them from Science diet id/ Proplan to Chicken soup for cat lovers which is also a top notch brand. I wish you and your kitties the best of luck and dont get too confused. I'm sure your decision will be a good decision considering you want the best for them and that you want to get them a higher quality brand then Nutro. :lol:

 

[AngelZoo]

Lilly: I have read that page before, but could you perhaps quote exactly what portion of that page you are referring to?

 

[Lilly]

sure AngelZoo, it is in the 4th paragraph down of the page. I will quote it for you as well
"What most consumers dont know is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food and agriculteral industry.Pet food provides a market for slaughter house offal,grain considered unfit for human consumption,and simalar wast products to be turned into profit.This waste includes intestines,udders,esophagi,and possibly diseased and cancerous animal parts."


I read in a simmalr post a couple days ago that all dry food is not good for cats, all wet food is not good for cats, a combination of wet and dry is only good for cats if mixed with fresh meat and necks of chickens!
The thing is I tried to feed my cats wet food ocasionaly about a year ago. They are so spoiled they quit eating dry food completely and would meow and beg all the time for wet food. Even if they were not hungry they wanted wet food. Jerry would eat until he puked if I let him. It was hard to get them to go back to all dry food.
When they eat all dry food, I free feed, they do not over eat or beg for food. So I am just wondering is it ok for them to eat all dry food,considering.
Also I have to buy fresh meat for my kids and can barely afford it some times! :lol: :roll: . I can not imagine anytime in the near future being able to afford to buy it for my cats as well! Also if I bought it for them the dog would expect it to! Am I doing them an injustice by not buying them fresh meat? Is this unhealthy for them to not eat it?
I have a water fountain for the cats, and they really like it. So I belive they are getting enough water.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

[queen of the nile]

Honestly Lilly, just go for what works for you. I think since feeding wet food causes so many problems for you, maybe you shouldn't. You don't want to make feeding so difficult that you start feeling some regrets about your cats :wink: . I think it would be fine just to feed them the higher quality dry food (like Solid Gold that is in your area). The water fountain probably makes up for what you would get in the wet food. Besides it is probably better to have them on the dry food since they overeat the wet. You could probably skip the meat, I know most people do. But ask a butcher when you get time how much the chicken necks cost, because it may be easily affordable (I don't know, never done it!). This is just my opinion of course. I think the whole food issue comes down to what you CAN do and what you have time for. If you have the time, money and energy to feed an all raw, balanced diet, then do so, but I don't know anyone who actually can do that! I know you care a lot about your cats but you can only do what you are capable of (I'm sure you know that from the perspective of a mom too ).

 

[RoboCat]

In my past experiences I've stayed away from Friskies and the likes and stuck with Iams & Nutro. When I've used Friskies and other brands like those from the supermarkets my male cats have ended up with UTI.

IMHO, I wouldn't worry so much about the diseased & cancerous matter used in the dry food. I'm sure its baked and nuked beyond the point of where it would be of little matter.

Like Queen said above, "just go for what works for you".

 

[Jeanie]

I want to remind our members that this site does NOT recommend or endorse any lists of cat food that might be posted. People change their minds from time to time-one month recommending the BARF diet, the next month, all wet food, the next time a site that recommends NO purchased cat food at all, only home made by the owner. Yet, many of these sites admit to having no veterinarians or animal nutritionists on staff. There are trace elements necessary to all living things. Have we studied the need for trace elements? Do we know what effect too much protein might have on cats with certain medical disorders? Or the damage certaiin elements can have on elderly or diabetic cats? Not without a doctorate in animal nutrition. Not long ago, we were unaware of the adverse effects of ash.

Are we forgetting the most knowledgable source available to us, the men and women who have studied veterinary medicine for many years to earn a doctorate in the care of animals? If you're confused now, and continue to accept as truth one opinion after another from sources with no qualifications, you will be even more confused in the future. Of course we should be informed. There are organizations which study animal food. If they give a food their seal of approval, you can be sure your animal is getting at least the daily minimum of the nutrients it requires. Begin with that and continue to read, at leisure. Avoid those foods using ground up chicken beaks, and other questionable parts. However, you do not need to roast a chicken as you would for your family, or feed it raw. I agree with Veda who said:
________________________________
I'd say slow down and take a breath. Keep reading everything you can and absorb it. As always don't believe everything you read too. Look for articles with lots of research backing them up and look for common themes in everything. For example almost every article I've read says the less corn the better, and meat as a first ingredient so I'll believe that and watch for those things in picking a food. It's not really going to harm your cat to keep eatting whatever they're currently eatting for another month or until the bag runs out while you process the information and make your own decisions about what's best for your furry friends
____________________________________

If and when administration finds an unbiased and knowledgable source of expertise who will list the best cat foods, a source as dependable as Consumer Reports, with an impeccable reputation, you can be sure we will see it. Until that time, everything you are reading is a matter of opinion, sometimes educated opinion, sometimes the choice of this month, sometimes, I assume, an employee of a manufacturer with an axe to grind. Obviously, administration cannot do a background check on each member!

We do not have a vet on staff, but each of us has access to a vet who will advise us, and each has the ability to slowly separate the wheat from the chaff in the myriad of articles available. You can be sure this topic is top priority to the administration. Don't panic. Ask your vet to recommend several brands. Buy a sample of each to see which your cat enjoys, and browse to your heart's content, ignoring all literature without documentation by an organization with the services of at least one animal nutritionist (with a doctorate behind the name.) That's a title that has to be earned, not just claimed., and as any of our members pursuing post-graduate degress can tell you, a result of many hours and eventually many years of study and experience. As Veda said, "slow down and take a breath."

 

[AngelZoo]

That is a good point, and hopefully all of us hear know that.

I do have to say one thing though, there are well educated individuals out there whom do know their stuff, nutrition wise! But just because someone has the title of being a vet, does not mean they know all about nutrition. Your average vet takes a very minimal course in companion animal nutrition.

If you want real and sound nutritional advise, find a nutrtionist you can trust, well learned and eshtablished. I've come across Nutritionist who are a complete joke when it comes to their knowledge and recommendations, and other nutritionist whom have completely blown me away with their studies.

Science/Nutrition is ever changing, all you can do is arm yourself with knowledge, and in the end, go with your gut on what educated source you believe to be true.

In a simple comparison, if you need brain surgery, you don't go to your family doctor, while knowledgable, we all know that you'd need an actual Brain Surgen.