Help choosing a cat food please!

Hey all,

I'm a vet student, and I get free samples of Natura food every month. I would like to get something for my cats to try, but I'm not sure what would be the best choice. EVO is out of the question, I tried that last year and both my cats got explosive diarrhea from it, even after being carefully transitioned over a month.

Innova, Healthwise, Mother Nature, California Natural... are any of these brands better for cats?? I'm widely versed in canine nutrition, but feline nutrition is something I don't have much experience with.

Canine and feline are very similiar but most really dont know beyond surface for canine( otherwise Taurine added and Grain frees would be much more common and longer avail)..

I like Cal natural as it is simple and one meat one grain one accesory protein and one grain like ... Innova IMHO is too complex and grainy... Healthwise is great for the price ...

EVO if tolerated is the best I call it the 50/50 food ... seems 50 % of cats who try do awesome 50% who try run to another food

I'm not personally familiar with any of the brands you've listed, though a friend swears by Innova and EVO. I feed mostly Nutro Max Cat, Complete, and Natural Choice, along with Natural Balance, PetGold, Triumph, Trader Joe's, and Solid Gold Katz-n-Flocken.

I'm not a vet, but one of my Goldens developed food allergies and for months I researched dog food, read labels, and talked to my vet and dog food companies a lot. Then Tink became chronically constipated and I did it all over again with cat food. Most studies agree that cats are supreme carnivores and don't really need grain at all. Canned food is better for cats, as they tend to not drink enough water to keep their urinary tract clear. There are several grain-free (and almost grain-free) brands out there--Wellness, Natural Balance, Timberwolf Organics, Wysong, EVO, and Merrick are the ones I can think of right now. Some brands have a little rice in them for texture, not for any nutritional value. Cats are choosier than dogs (like that's a surprise to anyone that is owned by one ) and texture is important to most cats.

Tink, my siamese, had a couple UTI's and then became chronically constipated. I bought him a water fountain, took him off kibble and he now eats only grain free canned (usually wellness). He's been beautiful and healthy ever since

I feed Junior (9 months old) Innova EVO dry food and Wellness pouches. He eats the EVO though isn't super crazy about it but he absolutely loves all 4 flavors of the Wellness pouches. I wish I could feed him canned food instead of the pouches due to the cost but Junior will barely touch any brand of canned food I've tried to give him.

Mez

All of mine (cats and dog) got sick on evo. Throwing up and constant diarhea. The innova they just didn't really like although they will eat the canned if they are actually hungry. My pickier ones continued to be somewhat skinny on it. The california natural they always eat with no problems. If I put down the canned even the pickiest one finishes it off and they eat the dry whenever they are hungry. They are all in better weight and with better coats than on anything else so far.

I'm actually pretty lucky in that my cats will eat ANYthing I put in front of them, canned or dry. Angel actually scrounges the house for leftover dog food, will lick my dishes if they don't get washed immediately, and Satin chews open bags of dog biscuits.

I've decided to try the California Chicken formula as it seems to be the simplest and highest protein.

I tried the EVO last year, and it gave my cats horrible explosive diarrhea, and Satins anal glands started having trouble again (he will scoot his butt like a dog with tapeworms). I know lots of people swear by it, but I'm just not a fan of it.