Best dry food?

scoomoo

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I have been feeding my two kitties Science Diet Light food for many years. I had thought that I was giving them the best food on the market. They are happy, healthy, and have nice coats and stools.

Recently, I have read more on the "super premium foods". I have read labels and without question agree that the ingredients in these "super premium foods" sound better.

My kitty went in for a checkup yesterday and the vet said that since my cat is doing well, to leave him on the current food. I know vets do not get significant education on this subject in vet school. He did say that there are no studies that prove any of these "super premium foods" and/or foods that are organic and without preservatives lead to prolonged health and survival.

Since my cats are pigs and will eat anything, rancid or not, would I be better with preservatives to know that my food is fresh? If the "super premium food" is not well preserved, will that do more damage to my cat?

I don't want to change my cats' food over and over again as I think it will be difficult to figure out what food is best. I obviously want what is best for my cats, but how do I figure out what that is? Since they are doing well, do I leave them be? They need a "Light" food. Is there one that is definitely better? Thanks for any input.

(Wet food is not an option for me)
 

gizmocat

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If your cat can have chicken, California Natural is great value for money. It contains only five ingredients, none of which are corn, wheat, or byproducts. The cat's fur got soft and shiny, but she started putting on weight. This turned out to be due to an allergy, and it was no fault of the food.

I feed my cat Nature's Logic Rabbit Dinner since she cannot have chicken, and she's thriving on it.
There are some other brands that are considered good but I've tried all of the premium brands on Gizmo (and I do mean ALL) and these two were her favorites.
 

arlyn

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All comercial foods have preservatives, the choice is between natural and chemical.

The chemical preservative have been studied, in fact one of the most popular chemical preservatives was actually first used as a pesticide and it is carcinogenic.

Instead of a light food, you might go with an Indoor formula instead (it's more of a weight maintenance instead of weight loss line).

Since you obviously have a good grasp of how to read labels, go with one you like and your cats like.
The things to truly avoid (other ingredients and their quality is another story altogether) are BHA/BHT, Ethoxyquin and artificial colors/flavors.
 

gizmocat

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I like the Nature's Logic since it not only does not contain chemical preservatives, it also contains no chemical vitamins.

Many foods (human and cat) have the vitamin content chemically recreated. This brand uses probiotics and natural sources. There are some others (I think Innova Evo and one or two others) that do the same thing; be sure to read the labels!
 

hell603

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Lifes' Abundance, Natural Balance, California Natural are all wonderful holistics brands with high quality ingredience !!

My Loki eats Life's Abundance !!!!
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Arlyn

All comercial foods have preservatives, the choice is between natural and chemical.

The chemical preservative have been studied, in fact one of the most popular chemical preservatives was actually first used as a pesticide and it is carcinogenic.

Instead of a light food, you might go with an Indoor formula instead (it's more of a weight maintenance instead of weight loss line).

Since you obviously have a good grasp of how to read labels, go with one you like and your cats like.
The things to truly avoid (other ingredients and their quality is another story altogether) are BHA/BHT, Ethoxyquin and artificial colors/flavors.
Well Put
I am not against Holistic foods but the majority have too much grain and veggies and some added stuff I WONT feed ... Look at the labels , which you are
... Are you shopping at a Big Box store ?? or a mom and pop store ?? or a feed type???
I ask cause the food in these stores varies and dont like to suggest food s not available .....
 

catsallover

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I feed my cats Felidae Chicken and Rice dry (one has a fish allergy- I haven't tried the original
) (I changed from SD original), and they actually lost their extra weight while still free feeding- I'm starting to think the fillers were what was making them pudgy-and having to eat more to get all the nutrients they needed- and they seem to like the taste- but mine aren't exactly picky, either
. Their coats are softer and shinier too- considerably! I get mine at Pet Suppiles Plus, and any store that carries Canidae dog food should be able to order it for you. Good luck with your food search.
 
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scoomoo

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Thanks all for your inputs.

I usually shop at Petsmart but I live in a large urban area with numerous other options including Pet Supplies Plus. I can probably get almost any food in the area that I live in.

Which Holistic foods have too much grains and veggies? How much is too much?
 

sharky

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I usually shop at Petsmart but I live in a large urban area with numerous other options including Pet Supplies Plus. I can probably get almost any food in the area that I live in.

Others will chime in on what is at pet supplies plus

Petsmart most have
Nutro
Royal canin
Authority
Blue spa ( read this and compare the grain and veggie amount to the other three)

Some carry( never seen out west ) Innova Cal natural and some others





Which Holistic foods have too much grains and veggies?
Read
... I can be PMed


How much is too much? This is up to you .... I like no more than one meat to one and half grains ... example of imaginary food .. Chicken meal ,brown rice Salmon meal , oatmeal , wheat

two meat s ... three grains .... ratio of 2/3 or one meat to one and half grains...

Preferabley you find one to one ratios but that is quite hard
 

jen

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Originally Posted by scoomoo

Thanks all for your inputs.

I usually shop at Petsmart but I live in a large urban area with numerous other options including Pet Supplies Plus. I can probably get almost any food in the area that I live in.

Which Holistic foods have too much grains and veggies? How much is too much?
If you live near a Pet Supplies Plus, they carry Solid Gold (I think it is too expensive), Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul and Premium Edge (very good prices). The last two I mentioned both come in a light formula and P.E. comes in a finiky cat formula too. I buy both, switch off or mix them. I also buy Authority from PetSmart.
 

thehouseofgods

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What a perfect topic, i was reading along and there are a LOT of brands i havent heard of. I tend to try and inspect the back of the bag before i bring it home but in a big sence i dont always know what im looking for. Right now the girls and buddah are on 'medical' and ocasionaly i get 'proffessional' and the last one was 'science diet'.

BTW (by the way) how do i know if my cat has an allegery to somthing, would diarrhea be a sympton, my poor luci had a bit of a problem and it seems it hasnt been a one time occasion, any suggestions?
 

mskitty666

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I fed my cats Iams and Science Diet for years. They are good foods, but once I started learning about pet foods and how to read labels, I wanted better. Two of my cats are large and so the vet had prescribed a special diet. Immediately there were problems with hairballs as I had been feeding them a hairball control lite food. I was very displeased at paying more for a food that did not take cats basic needs into account and did not cause the drastic weight loss desired. I stopped feeding them the prescription food. Weights went up. After a few months I discovered Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care and have been feeding it now for almost two years.

When I made the switch, I noticed an improvement in their coats that even my vet commented about. They were on the lite formula which yeilded the same results in weight loss I had gotten with the prescription food. I just ordered a bag of Innova Reduced Fat cat food from an online supplier. Two of my five cats have struvite crystals and another had them about two years ago. The vet has reccomended Science Diet cd/s. After reviewing the ingredients of all the major prescreption diets for this problem, I was sick. I just don't want to feed them that crud, but I want to dissolve the crystals.

After much research, I discovered that the only difference in most of the foods was DL-Methionine which is used as a urinary acidifier. I also had discovered that over the past ten to twenty years cat foods have been reformulated by many manufacturers to address the problem with struvite crystals, thereby decreasing it's prevalance. I also found that stress can bee a trigger. In February we lost our kitty Karina to acute renal failure. Lots of stress and adjusting has been going on since. I also learned that in studies about fifty-two percent of cats with struvites crystals have no discernable cause.

Armed with this knowledge, I began searching the ingredient lists of several high quality foods for DL-Methionine and found it. I had planned on switching to or mixing in Innova with the Nutro. Because my kitties urine need acidification, I am switching to Innova and will be using foods that will assist with this problem. What is funny is that six months ago this new formula was not available when I tried Innova. They claim on their web site that this formula incorporates the latestest advances in cat nutrition.

With pet food it really is a situation where you get what you pay for. Every time I have used a food superior in ingredients from their current diet, there was a noticeable difference in their skin, coat, teeth and an obvious preference for the better food. If you would like to find more foods you may want to review the following web sites. They sell pet food and often carry brands that aren't available to some of us in our local area.

http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/store/default.asp?
http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/
 

friskie

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Originally Posted by scoomoo

I have been feeding my two kitties Science Diet Light food for many years. I had thought that I was giving them the best food on the market. They are happy, healthy, and have nice coats and stools.

Recently, I have read more on the "super premium foods". I have read labels and without question agree that the ingredients in these "super premium foods" sound better.

My kitty went in for a checkup yesterday and the vet said that since my cat is doing well, to leave him on the current food. I know vets do not get significant education on this subject in vet school. He did say that there are no studies that prove any of these "super premium foods" and/or foods that are organic and without preservatives lead to prolonged health and survival.

Since my cats are pigs and will eat anything, rancid or not, would I be better with preservatives to know that my food is fresh? If the "super premium food" is not well preserved, will that do more damage to my cat?

I don't want to change my cats' food over and over again as I think it will be difficult to figure out what food is best. I obviously want what is best for my cats, but how do I figure out what that is? Since they are doing well, do I leave them be? They need a "Light" food. Is there one that is definitely better? Thanks for any input.

(Wet food is not an option for me)
I would recommend Innova Cat Food or Innova EVO Cat Food. They're natural, organic, and make their coats healthy. I feed it to my dog. (the dog version) There are a few different flavors, some with more veggies, etc.
 
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scoomoo

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Thanks again for all of your advice.

Part of my reason for confusion is that it seems like everyone has a different favorite. I checked out the websites and there are 15 different brands of these "super premium" pet foods.

I do prefer ones with "lite" formulations and have seen Chicken Soup, Innova, Felidae, etc locally that are easily available. Of course I have also seen Nutro and Purina Pro Plan at Petsmart which seem to have better ingredient lists than Science Diet.

I had one kitty with a UTI 3 years ago, but my kitties have never had crystals. I saw that several brands listed DL-Methionine, but did not see that on Innova's ingredient list (I looked at that through the website link).

I am also still confused on determining actual content ratios of grains and meats. My understanding is that the ingredient lists list the ingredients in order of content. If chicken is 80% at ingredient one and barley is 15% at ingredient two there is a big difference compared to chicken being 41% and barley is 40%. However, they would appear identical on the label, or is that incorrect?
 

naturestee

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Yeah, they list the ingredients in order but do not give percentages. Which is rather unfortunate because I'd rather be buying food on the percentage of meat in it. One thing to look at in dry food is that chicken meal has less water in it than plain chicken, so chicken meal actually counts for more meat after processing than chicken does. A lot of us look at the number of types of meat listed versus the number of grains and where they are on the list. Or just look for the least amount of grains and other fillers like veggies.

IMO Chicken Soup is great for the price. That's what I'm feeding for dry right now. Also, if you're going to be feeding some canned (which is a good idea), I've found that buying the 13 oz cans of Felidae and Innova is much less expensive per ounce than the 3 oz cans, and often the 6 oz cans, of just about anything.

And I think someone else posted that Innova Lite is no longer going to be made, so it might not be worth switching to it as it'll disappear.
 

catpurr

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If your cats had or have a tendency to get struvite crystals try to stay away from foods that have vegetables as that can make the urine more alkaline. I would also feed canned and add bottled water to it to make a gravy. JMHO
 
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