Chicken Soup...vs...Maxxim....vs....Natural Balance

yarra

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HI!

I have had Polly and Roxie on Maaxxim (kitten) for the last few months while Roxie got a bit older. (because I was told that walmarts Maxxim KITTEN formula was pretty decent as far as cheap foods go.)

They seemed to do pretty well on it, and Polly, who was getting fat before Maxxim, actually LOST weight and looks really good now. (we bought a large house to, and she has been a lot more active in the last couple months as well though)

here is a break-down of what they have had and then my question..

Polly who is a 1 and a half has been on Science Diet for her first year, until we got Roxie

When we got Roxie, I put them both on Science diet Natural Kitten, vet said it would be ok, just watch polly's weight.

Polly toped out at 13lbs (shes a BIG Polydactyl) then I moved them both to Natural Balance Venison and Pea, Roxie was about 3 months old. They both LOOOOVED it.

It got too expencive though at the time, and we were trying to buy a house, so the last 5 months or so, I have been feeding Maaxim Kitten, it seemed to be the BEST CHEAP food I could find. The other brands made me want to throw up when I read the ingredients.

SO, I finally got a bag of Maaxim I wasn't happy with and vowed to get the kitties back on something decent.

I went to the feed store and they had Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul.

It was the adult formula, but Roxie is 8 months old now and should be fine with adult food.

My question....

I reaaally liked the Natural Balance dry and wet. How does CSFTCLS compare to NB dry??? It is SOOO much more dooable, budget wise. AND i can get it localy. I have to drive an hour to get NB.

Is it a good food?? or should I just switch back to NB???

Thanks for reading!
 

naturestee

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Chicken Soup is an excellent food, especially for the cost. It's ingrediants are similar to Felidae. Lots of meat of several kinds, some grain but not a whole lot, and veggies. I used to feed it to my kittens and their coats became very soft and shiny. Eve did fantastic on it, but Lily has a lot of gas issues so I switched foods to find something that was easier on her stomach. I'm still looking...

I think you should give Chicken Soup a try.
 

semiferal

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Chicken Soup is excellent, comparable to the priciest foods. My cats in general love the dry but the wet wasn't a big hit. You may want to stick with the NB wet if the cats refuse Chicken Soup.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by semiferal

Chicken Soup is excellent, comparable to the priciest foods. My cats in general love the dry but the wet wasn't a big hit. You may want to stick with the NB wet if the cats refuse Chicken Soup.
Same thought here//// I havent had great results but many have ....
 

white cat lover

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I like the Chicken Soup($$ wise & ingredient wise). But, not one single cat here will willingly eat it unless it is mixed with something else. It's just one of those foods nobody loves.
 
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yarra

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I am starting to think I have the most compliant cats...they eat ANY cat food I put in front of them...AND

They have had no issues with any food, no throwing up, and wonderful, not horribly smelly stools...AND

(this is horrible)

I have NEVER weened them off of one and onto another. I feel horrible about this now, but I just learned this is how it should be done.

I think I was blessed with some iron clad kitties, real troopers! Yesterday was bath day, and they both just stood in the shower and complained hardly at all, only half-heartedly trying to escape when it was time to clean their faces. I even used the hand held massager on them. LOUD and SPITS water!

Then later on it was ear-mite treatment time. Still, no protesting. What did I do to earn such troopers!!?

(I did get a lot of dirty looks yesterday afternoon though) lol
 

semiferal

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Originally Posted by Yarra

I am starting to think I have the most compliant cats...they eat ANY cat food I put in front of them...AND

They have had no issues with any food, no throwing up, and wonderful, not horribly smelly stools...AND

(this is horrible)

I have NEVER weened them off of one and onto another. I feel horrible about this now, but I just learned this is how it should be done.

I think I was blessed with some iron clad kitties, real troopers! Yesterday was bath day, and they both just stood in the shower and complained hardly at all, only half-heartedly trying to escape when it was time to clean their faces. I even used the hand held massager on them. LOUD and SPITS water!

Then later on it was ear-mite treatment time. Still, no protesting. What did I do to earn such troopers!!?

(I did get a lot of dirty looks yesterday afternoon though) lol
I personally don't think it's ever necessary to wean from one commercial food to another unless you have one with a super-sensitive tummy. It's certainly not something we humans do and I don't think wild cats find it necessary to gradually decrease the amount of rat in their diet and increase the amount of mouse, for example! I really believe the whole thing about gradually transitioning comes from the food companies who want brand loyalty so they can make more $.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Naturestee

Chicken Soup is an excellent food, especially for the cost. It's ingrediants are similar to Felidae. Lots of meat of several kinds, some grain but not a whole lot, and veggies. I used to feed it to my kittens and their coats became very soft and shiny. Eve did fantastic on it, but Lily has a lot of gas issues so I switched foods to find something that was easier on her stomach. I'm still looking...

I think you should give Chicken Soup a try.
i agree - Chip was on SD when i adopted him, & his coat became so much softer within just a few weeks after eating the CS i was feeding. i also supplement with meow mix wet tubs for my wet eaters. but 2 of mine only eat dry, & they all like the CS dry. i also found that poop size/amount went down after Chip switched to the CS...
 

catsallover

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If one of my cats wasn't allergic to fish, I would be feeding the CS. I tried their kitten food, and really liked it, but, like you, switched to Maxximum Kitten because it was a 30 min one way trip (on a really good traffic day
) to get the CS. Just as a side note- my cats did not want the Felidae chicken and rice I switched them to (from SD original- no fish, but was making them fat), but once they figured out that that was all they were getting, they decided to eat it
. Now they are all soft, shiney and back to a healthy weight
. Sometimes it just takes some time to adjust to a new food
.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by catsallover

If one of my cats wasn't allergic to fish, I would be feeding the CS. I tried their kitten food, and really liked it, but, like you, switched to Maxximum Kitten because it was a 30 min one way trip (on a really good traffic day
) to get the CS. Just as a side note- my cats did not want the Felidae chicken and rice I switched them to (from SD original- no fish, but was making them fat), but once they figured out that that was all they were getting, they decided to eat it
. Now they are all soft, shiney and back to a healthy weight
. Sometimes it just takes some time to adjust to a new food
.
BTW - CS can be order online here, if you would prefer paying shipping to traveling...
 

katiemae1277

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I feed chicken soup also and absolutely love it! you cannot get a better food for that price, in fact a lot of worse foods cost more!
I have never had cats with such shiny healthy coats as these on CS have had
as far as the NB, I have heard it is a bit rich, not to mention much more expensive, I just plain couldn't afford it although I was very impressed with the ingredients. as far as feeding your 8 month old the adult formula, I have cats ranging in age from 6 months to almost 5 years, and they all get the adult formula, if you look at the fat content of adult CS versus some other brands, it actually has a higher fat content then most other adult brands, almost comparable to other brands' kitten formulas. so you should be fine feeding it to your 8 month old


on another note, I am soooooo happy to see so many folks feeding CS, I personally have tried to spread the word far and wide about this food, I love it that much!! ok, well I've never actually eaten it
but my cats like it
 

white cat lover

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I've reccomended Chicken Soup to a friend. They were feeding their 6 cats Purina Indoor. Switched to Chicken Soup & were so impressed, they switched their 3 dogs to it as well!

My cats must be finicky.....the ones outside won't even eat it & here all of Katie's kits & so many of you can get yours to eat it.
 

katiemae1277

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

I've reccomended Chicken Soup to a friend. They were feeding their 6 cats Purina Indoor. Switched to Chicken Soup & were so impressed, they switched their 3 dogs to it as well!

My cats must be finicky.....the ones outside won't even eat it & here all of Katie's kits & so many of you can get yours to eat it.
My dogs get it too


That is so weird that none of your kitties wil leat it, mine seriously love it! even my 2 that supposedly did not eat anything but wet scarf it down
 

maddensmom

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I've just recently switched my dogs to CS. My German Shepard/Lab mix has all sorts of allergies to additives, preservatives and dyes that I switched to CS because of the lack of these three things. I absolutely love it and the dogs do too!! Their coats are so much healthier and they seem to be more active. I am planning to switch Madden to it as well, but right now the only feed store around that carries CS (its not very popular here for some reason) only carries the dog foods. He's working on getting the cat foods for me too, but it may be a while. I would reccomend this food to anyone, especially if their animals have allergies like mine do.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by maddensmom

I am planning to switch Madden to it as well, but right now the only feed store around that carries CS (its not very popular here for some reason) only carries the dog foods. He's working on getting the cat foods for me too, but it may be a while. I would reccomend this food to anyone, especially if their animals have allergies like mine do.
you can order it online here.
 

maddensmom

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I was just checking out the site, and I think it is so cool that you can choose an animal orginazation to donate 10 percent of your purchase too!! Thats really awesome and I just thought that I would let everyone else know!
 
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