I would :heart2: to hear everyones opinion on cat foods!

What food do you feed and what are the benifits?

Do you believe that Premium foods are better?

Tell me what you think about it!

Here's mine! I got most of this information from here! (www.api4animals.org)

What cats DON'T need in their diet!

By-Products

Cats need meat! When you go to the grocery store next time, read some of the ingredients labels on their cat foods. Most of the foods have by-products in them. By-products are bones, blood, intestines, lungs, ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans.

Wheat, Soy, Corn and Peanut Hulls!

Cereal and grain products replace a considerable proportion of the meat in cat food. Corn is a much cheaper energy source than meat. The availability of nutrients in these products is dependent upon the digestibility of the grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in cat food determines the amount of nutrient value the animal actually gets. Cats can almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white rice. Almost all of the nutritional value of other grains can escape digestion. Some ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used for filler or fiber, and have no significant nutritional value.

Animal and Poultry fat

Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, may be kept outside for weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies then pick up this used grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food companies and other end users.

Additives and Preservatives

Many chemicals are added to commercial cat foods to improve the taste, stability, characteristics, or appearance of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from separating, antioxidants to prevent fat from turning rancid, and artificial colors and flavors to make the product more attractive to consumers and more palatable to their companion animals. Synthetic preservatives include butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin. For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic use in pet foods that may be eaten every day for the life of the animal.

Additives in Processed Cat Foods

Anticaking agents
Lubricants
Antimicrobial agents
Nonnutritive sweeteners
Antioxidants
Nutritive sweeteners
Coloring agents
Oxidizing and reducing agents
Curing agents
pH control agents
Drying agents
Processing aids
Emulsifiers
Sequestrants
Firming agents
Solvents, vehicles
Flavor enhancers
Stabilizers, thickeners
Flavoring agents
Surface active agents
Flour treating agents
Surface finishing agents
Formulation aids
Synergists
Humectants
Texturizers
Leavening agents

Animal protein

It can include diseased meat, road kill, contaminated material from slaughterhouses, fecal matter, rendered cats and dogs and poultry feathers. The major source of animal protein comes from dead-stock removal operations that supply so-called "4-D" animals-dead, diseased, dying or disabled-to "receiving plants" for hide, fat and meat removal. The meat (after being doused with charcoal and marked "unfit for human consumption") may then be sold for pet food.

Rendering plants process decomposing animal carcasses, large road kill and euthanized dogs and cats into a dry protein product that is sold to the pet food industry. One small plant in Quebec, Ontario, renders 10 tons (22,000 pounds) of dogs and cats per week. The Quebec Ministry of Agriculture states that "the fur is not removed from dogs and cats" and that "dead animals are cooked together with viscera, bones and fat at 115° C (235° F) for 20 minutes".

There are so much more things in cat foods that should'nt be there! I feed my cats the world's best cat food. Solid Gold has none of the above things in it. It is all natural and my cats :heart2: it!

Here are the benifits my cats get from Solid Gold

- Less shedding

- Fewer hairballs

- Feces don't stink

- More energy

- Shinier coat

- Cleaner teeth

- Grown muscle mass

- They eat less

- The food lasts me a month with 10 cats

- And most of all, they :heart2: the taste!

I believe that if you truly :heart2: your cats, which I know all of you do, they deserve a healthier diet. It costs less in the long run. If I were to buy a 15 pound bag of Friskies, it would last me 2 weeks. I buy a 15 pound bag of Solid Gold and it lasts me a month. Your roughly spending the same amount of money when you switch to a premium cat food.

I know we have had many topics discussing cat food and most have gone way out of hand.

Come on guys! What's your opinion?

I have fed Iams for all my cats lives. Only recently I have considered changing because of all this talk.

I talked to my husband about it and of course he says "well all companies do some sort of unnecessary killing" As if that makes it ok. But I think he was trying to downplay my concern at the same time trying to justify supporting a company like Iams for so long. Now that I know the name of the "good" cat food company, I hope to convince him to get that stuff instead. The price shouldn't be so much different...

This is from my previous posting:

My babies eat :

1. Fancy Feast wet food - tuna flaked feast, fish and shrimp flaked feast (favorite), grilled chicken feast (favorite), chuncky chicken feast (they don't like this), ocean whitefish feast in aspic seafood filets, ocean whitefish and tuna feast, sardine, shrimp & crab feast in aspic, ocean fish flaked feast, and chicken and tuna flaked feast.
the flaked fish/seafood varieties (Price: $0.39 per can from Target/$0.60 from Petco.)

:tongue2: Btw, for Fancy Feast, the kitties like the flake stuff.

2. Wellness dried foods -

a. Kitten Super5Mix - consist of deboned chicken, chicken liver, real cranberries/blueberries, flax seeds, and they don't have any rendered fats and no by-products (Price: $14.50 for a 5Lb 14Oz bag and $8.50 for a 2 LB 14 Oz bag)

b. Lite Super5Mix - consist of deboned chicken, chicken liver, real cranberries/blueberries, flax seeds, and also no rendered fats and no by-products (Same price as a.)

c. Salmon, Turkey & Herring Oil Formula (their favorite - smells good!) - consist of salmon, deboned turkey, herring oil, flax seed, cranberries/blueberries, and no meat by-products (same price as a.)

:heart3: Wellness smells really good! :heart3:

3. Solid Gold


Cheers! :beerpals:


:flash: :heart2: :flash: :heart2: :flash: :heart2: :flash: :heart2: :flash: :heart2:

Mine eat Science Diet Light and love it. They occasionally get a treat of Tuna or Pounce.

I think many owners are overwhelmed when they start reading about what you should feed compared with what you should not feed your cat. With all the chemical and preservative additives, terminology, and nutritional info concerning pet food labels leaves many pet owners just shaking their head!

I still believe that *every* pet food has some dark side. Unless you are in the manufacturing plant seeing the food being made, the company can make many claims until they are caught. I have many members of my family who have worked as auditors in manufacturing facilities and you would be shocked to hear some of their findings. Also, many certificates of specific standards (ie: ISO) are *bought* under the table, meanwhile the companies have have not fulfilled their requirements.

Having said this, I don't believe everything I read to be accurate by 100% on what is printed on the side of a pet food label or any other manufactured product. So where does that leave the average consumer? You can educate yourself to start with, but you have to make compromises such as the amount of money you want to spend on the cat food and if you have time to give your pet a natural homemade diet.

Personally, I have read up on the obvious things to avoid in cat foods and I go from there. Nakita has always been on a mix of food since birth. Her breeder had her on a mix of Wellness, Iams, and Royal Canin so that she wouldn't favour only one food. I currently have her on a mix of 2 dry foods and wet food. I think it's important to give her a balance of both.

Ok, I think I have rambled long enough to qualify me for the *boring* category!


:rolleyes: :D

I think people should feed what they can afford. I feed my boys purina one and fancy feast, the feral get speical kitty, and snowwhite is getting maxuim nutrution kitten.
My theory is it is better for the cat to have food and a home. If someone can only afford to feed meow mix....fine, at least they are loving there pet and there pet has a full tummy. Better then it being outside on its own with nothing or in a shelter. Grocery stores around her don't sell the more expenisive foods, and neither does walmart. So the best I can find easly and afford for my pets in purina one, someone else might live where it is even hard to find that! I don't think cat owners should be judged by what they feed.

btw, this question is how i found this board from another board :lol:

I very much agree with Princess Purr. I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - very rural. You buy the best of what you can get. Max is fussy. I've tried everything. He will only eat Purina Cat Chow and his tarter control treats. He will not eat real food. Tried to feed him chicken last night - he will not eat it. I've tried numerous soft foods - he will not eat it cold, heated, room temperature, etc. My vet has told me that it is a good thing that he does not like soft food, too much salt. Max's coat is incredibly soft and shinny and the vet says he's healthy. It's not that I don't love Max, I spend more on him than I do on myself.

Val, you are right in most ways. If you can't afford it, then what are you supposed to do. I fed my cats Whiskas for a long time. Peppurr got really chubby because he ate so much. There is a major change in your cats health when they eat premium foods, and lot's of people will tell you the same thing.

You can afford the better foods, almost anybody can. If your spending $10.00 every 2 weeks for Friskies, your spending $20.00 a month. You can buy Solid Gold in America for less then $30.00 for the 15 pound bag. With 1 cat it would last you four months.

Just my opinion! :D

Our cat got Hill's, Iams or Eukanuba until I found a source for Solid Gold, Felidae and Nutro, which have less grain. He gets European canned premium foods which are almost 100% meat or fish (Almo, GreenFish and Miamor). We're DINKs, so he gets the best we can find (90% is ordered on the internet), but I totally agree with Princess Purr.Having said that, I have to add that the premium foods are not more expensive than the supermarket stuff, because the cats eat smaller quantities and use less litter.

good things about Wellness, although I haven't been able to find it here. I feed Royal Canin. As a breeder I get coupons and save the upc's for free food. (15lb bag) I can also get jackets, mugs, hats, ect with the upcs. I have had good results with the Royal Canin and the kitties like it.

Royal Canin, Natural Balance, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Innova and California Natural are all great foods. I know people that feed Royal Canin and they have noticed a remarkable change in their cats health. Their coats are shinier and they use the litter box less often! I have never tried Wellness on my cats, but almost all of the other kinds I listed above.

My cats like Solid Gold and Natural Balance. I feed them Solid Gold for a while and then I feed them Natural Balance. They like getting different foods once in a while. I will go to the pet stores and take a sample of every food. Each week I mix the sample in with their Solid Gold. They want variety!

I look at my friends kittens, and you can tell the mother does'nt get good nutrition. The kittens coats are'nt very shiny, they stink, they all have the sniffles and most of all, the heaviest one is only 6 ounces. She eats Sophisticat dry and wet food. What's in the mothers food is in the mothers milk. Mimi's kittens are big, plump soft and shiny. They are in perfect health. They are all 3/4 of a pound, which is 12 ounces. Chaos tips the scale at 13 ounces.

Val, you are a very good mom for feeding SnowWhite a healthier food. Her kittens are so clean and fluffy! If she had've been eating something like Friskies, her kittens probably would'nt grow to be big cats! Are you going to stick with Maxximum Nutrition? Is that what your going to be feeding the babies?

The first 6 ingredients in Maxximum Nutrition Kitten Food are pretty good!

Chicken

Chicken Meal

Brewer's Rice

Fish Meal

Corn Gluten Meal

Beef Tallow

The first 6 ingredients in Purina ONE are'nt that bad either!

Chicken

Brewer's Rice

Corn Gluten Meal

Poultry By-Product Meal

Wheat Flour

Beef Tallow

Now look at the first six ingredients in Meow Mix! See the difference?

Ground Yellow Corn

Corn Gluten Meal

Chicken By-Product Meal

Soybean Meal

Beef Tallow

Turkey By-Product Meal

Now take a look at the first 6 ingredients in Solid Gold!

Lamb Meal

Menhaden Fish Meal

Ground Millet

Ground Brown Rice

Ground Barley

Rice Bran Oil

You really have to study cat nutrition to understand why certain ingredients should'nt be in cat food! In the wild do cats eat corn? Do they eat the muscle out of their prey or go straight for the intestines?

There is an incredible amount of advertising for supermarket brands such as Whiskas, Sheba and Friskies. Advertising for better brands like Iams, Eukanuba and Hill's seems to be restricted to cat magazines. I have never seen advertisements for Solid Gold, California Natural or Felidae anywhere but on the Internet, and only became aware of such brands through cat forums. That is really a shame, because for the most part they offer healthier food at acceptable prices.

My cats eat Nutro Max Cat dry food. I have recently tried introducing them to other Premium brands, without much luck. They did like the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. But they literally would not touch the Felidae or Solid Gold. There were 6 bowls set out and not a one was significantly touched. I am going to bring the rest of the unused food to the local SPCA so it won't go to waste.

I just checked the ingredients in Nutro vs. the Chicken Soup kibble, and Chicken Soup wins. The only problem is that I can't get it anywhere locally, only via Pet Food Direct, and they're not always the fastest when it comes to shipping.

I'm going to keep the kittens on that until they get big, and then they will switch over to purina one when they get to adult level. Actually moemoe always tries to eat corn :lol: When ever i make corn he tries to lick it. Then again he is a weird cat.
I won't feed meow mix just because it has red die in it and it seems like every animal I have ever feed can't eat things with red dye.
Originally posted by Crazy-Cat-Lover

Val, you are a very good mom for feeding SnowWhite a healthier food. Her kittens are so clean and fluffy! If she had've been eating something like Friskies, her kittens probably would'nt grow to be big cats! Are you going to stick with Maxximum Nutrition? Is that what your going to be feeding the babies?

The first 6 ingredients in Maxximum Nutrition Kitten Food are pretty good!

Chicken

Chicken Meal

Brewer's Rice

Fish Meal

Corn Gluten Meal

Beef Tallow

The first 6 ingredients in Purina ONE are'nt that bad either!

Chicken

Brewer's Rice

Corn Gluten Meal

Poultry By-Product Meal

Wheat Flour

Beef Tallow

Now look at the first six ingredients in Meow Mix! See the difference?

Ground Yellow Corn

Corn Gluten Meal

Chicken By-Product Meal

Soybean Meal

Beef Tallow

Turkey By-Product Meal

Now take a look at the first 6 ingredients in Solid Gold!

Lamb Meal

Menhaden Fish Meal

Ground Millet

Ground Brown Rice

Ground Barley

Rice Bran Oil

You really have to study cat nutrition to understand why certain ingredients should'nt be in cat food! In the wild do cats eat corn? Do they eat the muscle out of their prey or go straight for the intestines?

Val, Blondie loves corn, too! Whenever I am eating corn on the cob, he begs so pathetically for it, it's funny. I let him lick and bite it when I'm done with it, making sure I hold onto it so it doesn't get dragged under the bed or something else godawful like that! ;)

BTW, he also begs for salads and has been known to eat lettuce. Silly cat!:D

neo LOVES lettuce!! when ever i have a sub he just sits and waits for a piece. My cats are so odd!

As a treat, my cats get raw, deboned chicken. I take out the chicken neck and cut it into smaller pieces. I let my cats chew on it to clean their teeth, then I throw it away. They love chicken breast topped with plain yogurt and catnip! Rascal loves tomato's! Everything with tomato's in it has to be eaten by him! Mimi loves broccoli and peas! Most of my cats won't touch tuna, they turn up their little noses! Weird huh?

Sue, I wish I could buy Chicken Soup Cat Food! I don't have a credit card, so I can't buy it off the internet! I can't wait until the day they sell it at my local pet stores. What does the kibble look like?

You should all know what foods I like by now and why, if not I'm going to slap you silly because I grow tired of repeating myself. :D

You got it half way right... princess purr said to feed whatever you could afford. What I always say is to feed the BEST FOOD you can afford.
Even if that best food happens to be meox mix, feed that, if it happens to be Wellness, feed that. I too feed by my budget. I have money, but I'm not just going to feed my cats frisky's and keep the rest of the money for myself just because "well they should be lucky they have a roof over their head, and any food at all".

There are ups and downs to EVERY kind of diet not just kibble...

My fav is the RAW/BARF diet.

Kibbles:
Solid Gold
Felidae
Wellness
Natura Balance
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul

Sorry, but I always laugh when I see "BARF" diet - couldn't they have come up with a better name?

I dunno, I didn't invent it! lol

Tasha, it looks like the Felidae kibble. A little x shape.

where is solid gold sold anyway because I looked at Pet smart and PetCo and I have not seen it there unless I have just overlooked.... :confused:

I had to order Solid Gold from Pet Food Direct. They're the only place at all where I could find Solid Gold, Felidae, or Chicken Soup cat food.

What burns me about Pet Food Direct is that I live about 5 miles away from their warehouse, and since you cannot go there to pick up your order, I must pay $9 for stuff to be delivered to my house. For that price, the kitties can stick with Nutro; while it may not be as good as the other, it's still good for them and better than a lot of brands, and they do love it. And I can get it at Petco down the street.

My Cats Eat Lean Red Meat , Iams Cat Chicken , Royal Canin .fit & Baby cat & indoor , Hills , Whiskas , Eukanuba & Nutro and Chef Jellymeat ON occasion :)

Mom of 10: Felidae has that capital i shape! :)

Rock&Fluffs: Yes, you can't buy it at petco or petsmart they don't carry it, look for an indipendant petstore chain. or go to solid golds official website, they have a listing of stores in your area that carry the food :)

My cat's eat Deli Cat dry food and 9-lives canned food. How are they for nitritional content?

Ginger

Deli-Cat Dry Food

Ingredients

Brewers rice, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), fish meal, turkey by-product meal, calcium carbonate, phosphoric acid, salt, brewers dried yeast, dried liver digest, added color (Red 40, Blue 2, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and other color), potassium chloride, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, taurine, choline chloride, DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), L-Alanine, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, riboflavin supplement, biotin, folic acid, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, citric acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.

There really is NO meat in this food. It is mostly grains! I like the fact that it is preserved naturally, but the food isn't that great. Meat should be #1 on the ingredients list, ALWAYS! In this food, they use by-products, parts of animals we would'nt eat. It has added color, to make the food "colorful" and beef tallow is an artificial flavoring.

Have you ever tried any other foods? If so, which ones?

My favorite cat foods are:

Solid Gold

Natural Balance

Wellness

Innova

They are more expensive, but your cats eat less of it. He will get better nutrition and you will see a big change in your cats overall health. Shiny and smooth coat, less shedding, less hairballs (in the hairball formula), less stinky stools and so much more!

9 Lives Super Supper

Ingredients

Meat by-products, fish, water sufficient for processing, poultry by-products, chicken, fish broth, salt, potassium chloride, sodium tripolyphostate, guar gum, titanium dioxide, natural flavor, choline chloride, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, D-calcium panthothenate, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfate complex, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), carageenan, minerals (magnesium oxide, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), sodium nitrite (to promote color retention)

This wet food isn't that great! I feed my kitties Nutro, Felidae, Eagle Pack, Wellness and Innova wet foods, They are better for your kitty! Try a couple cans of Nutro and see what they think! :D

My cats get Nutro Max, because reading the lable there are no by-products, and because it's the best I can afford. Once upon a time I fed my cats 9 lives because that was the best I could afford -- and I had two cats live health lives into old age (17 and 16 years) on that.
So I agree -- feed them the best you can afford. 9 lives is better than nothing and Nutro is better than 9 lives.

Judecat

Thanks so much Tasha and Judecat. I will try to afford better food from now on. I really didn't pay much attention to food ingredients before. I just assumed that 9 Lives was good since it is so popular.
Thanks again,
Ginger

Coco: It's ok, that's basically how everyone thinks until we know better.

Heck I used to feed Iam's at one point in time, and now everyone knows I boycott the stuff!

I finally found a premium food that my cats will eat! They have been eating Nutro Max, which is a good food. But there are occasional kitty barfs afterwards, and I have been concerned that they might not be tolerating the Nutro too well. They didn't like Felidae or Solid Gold at all. They did like the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul brand, but that is very hard to find around here.

I picked up a bag of Royal Canin Special 33 (Sensitive Stomach formula) and...they love it! And no kitty barfs thus far! Yay!!!!

Angel -- why are you boycotting IAMS. I know there is a boycott, but I don't know the reason. I don't buy it because of the ingredients list -- a lot of bipoducts near the top of the list.

Judecat

jude: I'm about to send you a PM with some information. For legal reasons I can not discuss the IAM'S matter on the public board.
That is another reason, the food cost way to much for what you are actually getting.

Now that my furbabies are 1 year, I'm moving them off Nutro Maxx kitten and bought a bag of Authority food for them to try. I'm also going to suppliment their diet with Nutro Maxx wet food 1x a day

Thanks for the info and links Angel. I will be talking to my MIL who breeds hunting dogs -- cos she feeds Eucanuba. I'm sure she will see the light.
Samwise and the Wright brothers were actually rescued twice -- once by my best friend, and then by me because her husband threw her and the cats out of the condo and She had no place she could go with the cats, and I have to tell you I don't know if it was the food or the environment cos that guy is a total nut, but the boys used to barf every day. Now they rairly do.

Judecat

Jude, BARF is a wonderful diet!
About the Eukanuba, it's a shame, cause the food really isn't all that bad, it's got a lot of meat! But rest assured that there ARE other good dog foods out there, so it's not like your friend or anyone else who feeds this food will be left with no options. :)

My Loki had food allergies (Bloody mush stool) and I had tried everything from Nutro to Science Diet to Solid Gold. He now eats Life's Abundance.

...AND NO MORE PROBLEMS!!

It contains:

.No corn or wheat
.No dairy
.No by-products
.No artificial colors or flavors
.No chemical preservatives added
.High quality chicken meal, egg, chicken liver meal, Herring meal and turkey meal, all derived from human-grade processing plants
.Nutrient dense with vitamins, minerals, fats,
essential fatty acid and taurine
.Powerful antioxidants from patented grape seed
extract process
.Probiotics for a healthy digestive tract
.Highly digestible

It runs about $34 for a 16 pound bag and is reduced to $29 if you use auto delivery. So price wise it is very competitive.

He also get's wet food from Science Diet - his system can somehow handle that!

I feed my cat Felidae (and just put our dog on Canidae), and our new kitten (9 weeks) gets Eukanuba. Just wondering...I know you can feed Felidae to kittens, but what about the other brands you have all been talking about...Solid Gold, Chicken Soup, Natural Balance, etc.? Are kittens able to chew it, or is it too hard for their teeth? TIA. :)

Val,
Purina One is a good food. Definitely feed what you can afford, just watch out for the really cheap foods, some of those can cause urinary blockage. There are also some websites like Petsmart where you can calculate the daily cost of feeding; sometimes the brands that seem more expensive really aren't because you don't need to feed as much.

Mine eat a mix of dry Science Diet senior hairball control & Science Diet Nature's best, and I give them each a tablespoon of canned Pro Plan fish-based food every day. For some reason, this seems to keep the hairballs :nausea: at bay better than anything else I've tried.