Best quality commercially available cat food?

Hi,
I am getting so much conflicting information about what is good, what isn't good, why you should make your own cat food, why you shouldn't make your own cat food... etc etc.
Although I'm trying to find time to make some cat food, but most of the time, I only have time to chuck a pouch of food into the bowl, or scatter the crunchies everywhere.
So, because of the pet recall thing, I've stopped buying Iams. I've also been told they're cruel to the animals, so should I stop buying that food completely?

Sooo, what cat food, that is commercially available, is best for adult cats?
I know I will get several anwers, because different food is best on different cats, but I just want to find a few that I can be confident are actually good for her.

Thank you all,
Kathryn

I am not sure what is available where you are - there will be other members popping up to advise soon. Sharky is a great resource

Just want to let you know that many here share your frustration. It is all completely grazy

I know exactly how you feel! You'll find that lots of the food talked about on this site is not available in the UK, and we have different foods not available elsewhere, which makes it harder still.

Although there is much advice on this site about how an all wet food diet is best, for convenience I am feeding both wet and dry - we have kittens, so 'little and often' can only be achieved this way at the moment.

It seems easier to pick a premium dry food. We feed from the Royal Canin range. I may be wrong but I think Iams is pretty good but not quite as good as RC, Hills etc. I order the dry food online from ZooPlus - if you order in bulk you don't pay any postage.

I don't yet have a good solution for the wet food (bearing in mind that there are even fewer options for kittens). At the moment I am feeding both Applaws and Felix Kitten. I am happy with Applaws as it is pure human grade meat or fish (at least 70%) with water and 1% rice, but it is not a 'complete' food. I am less happy about Felix Kitten, but it is readily available and they like it. I don't know of a premium wet kitten food readily available in the UK - any suggestions anyone?

Not sure I've been much help - hopefully someone will come along and tell us which are the best wet and dry foods the UK has to offer!

Hi

Good wet foods available in the UK are hi life and natures menu (available from pets at home and most supermarkets) so I feed those. Most of the hi life pouches are complementary so need to be fed alongside some complete food, although some of the cans are complete. I also buy applaws or almo nature which quite a few small pet stores sell. I supplement those with some stuff I buy from zooplus (especially bozita) as they do a good selection of good quality wet food.

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/c...t_food_pouches

For dry - I think James Wellbeloved is one of the best (available from most pet stores) as it has a good meat content and lowish grain content. The grain used is rice which is the most digestible grain. The dry foods you find at pets at home (eg royal canin, hills) are, generally, better quality than those you buy at the supermarket but it's worth reading the ingredients to see how much meat and grain they contain. Zooplus sell orijen which is a grain free dry food. I'm going to buy a small bag of that with my next zooplus order to try it out, although I only feed a very small amount of dry.

edited to add - Bruce & Sheila - natures menu do a kitten version. Hi Life have also recently brought out a kitten/junior version too and I think, though I can't remember for sure, it is complete. almo nature also do a kitten variety. There are one or 2 wet foods on zooplus that do a kitten variety as well - animonda for one if iirc.

Thanks, Urbantigers. I will definitely try to get hold of some Hi Life and Natures Menu kitten food - it looks as though Pets at Home stock them (although in my experience sometimes the kitten versions are not available).

I will also order some Animonda next time I order my dry food from Zooplus, and after reading about Bozita on TCS, I am already planning to try them on it once they're a year old.

I hope you don't mind me hicjacking this thread a bit, TortieLover, and I hope the advice has been useful to you too.

Don't believe PETA's allegations about Iams company - take what they say with a grain of salt!

Anyway, Iams is not as good as it used to be. My rexes were on it their entire life with no problems. However, Charlie's breeder switched her cats from Iams to Royal Canian foods cause they were higher quality. So that is what we are feeding - RC Special 33 and RC Beauty & Fit.

Hi everyone.
Thank you very much for all the great suggestions. It was just last week I tried Natures Menu, and she seemed to love it, so I'll definitely buy that again!
She also likes Hi-Life, so I'll keep that in mind too.
I think I've bought James Wellbeloved before, but I can't honestly remember if she liked it, but she's not too fussy, so she probably will.

Oh, and thanks for the warning about PETA. I was shocked when I saw the death statistics for Iams, and I thought there's no way so many can die with nothing being done about it.

Thanks again people!

I bought some Natures Menu Kitten, and Bruce and Sheila love it! They didn't even sniff at it - just stuck their heads down and ate it! No tummy problems either.

I also bought some Hi Life Kitten but haven't tried them on it - wanted to check that Natures Menu caused no problems before trying another new food.

If they tolerate this as well, I will have four varieties to alternate between - which has to be a good thing, as it seems so common for people's cats to get fussy as they grow older!

Thanks again, Urbantigers!

I know how you feel! Researching cat food has become my only "hobby," and it never ends. Just when I thought I finally had things figured out between what my cats would eat, what was good for them, and what I could obtain locally -- the recall happened and I was back to square one. The only commercially available food I've found that they will eat that I feel fairly confident feeding them is California Natural Chicken and Rice dry. Everything else, I have to order online.

I see some of the UK experts came to help you

Me too Misty. I've been studying it for a year. Its complicated enough without all the recalls. Cannot get enough info & still need to know more

Originally Posted by empire

Me too Misty. I've been studying it for a year. Its complicated enough without all the recalls. Cannot get enough info & still need to know more

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I have studied this stuff for yrs and it only gets more complicated ...

Recalls made easier

ONLY drys with recalls

Natural balence

RX hills SD MD

Sensible choice ( dog only)

one other dog I am missing





the wets with recalls were ALL cuts and gravy


go to the FDA website ... THESE items are still NOT avail for sale

Originally Posted by sharky

Ithe wets with recalls were ALL cuts and gravy

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That's not totally true. Spa Select (Chicken?) and Natural Balance (Ocean Fish) were recalled and they're pate style. They were recalled in the American Nutrition recall. Both companies claim they haven't found any that tested positive, and the recall was a precaution.

Originally Posted by empire

Me too Misty. I've been studying it for a year. Its complicated enough without all the recalls. Cannot get enough info & still need to know more

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I have too Empire. Actually since I joined this board and saw some of the great posts by Sharkey and others. It's almost become an obsession (DH says it IS an obsession). I don't even pay that much attention to what's in my own food

Originally Posted by Misty8723

That's not totally true. Spa Select (Chicken?) and Natural Balance (Ocean Fish) were recalled and they're pate style. They were recalled in the American Nutrition recall. Both companies claim they haven't found any that tested positive, and the recall was a precaution.

Click to expand...

AHH yes forgot