Cat food debate?

kittycurledup

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I was trying to reply to a thread in IMO but was informed that I cannot access that part of the site (??). Anyway, the thread was about cat food -- premium vs store brand.

Can anyone help give me a handle on this debate? The only advice I've ever gotten from my vet was not to buy say, the Walmart generic, pseudo-fancy feast brand, when you can buy the name brand. Because the generic brand may not actually conform to AAFCO guidelines even if they say they do.

Ok...so I feed one cat Fancy Feast, plus a veterinary hypo-allergenic dry food. My newbie, I have been feeding Friskies and Purina kitten chow. He seems to like it and has not shown any adverse reactions thus far.

Other thoughts?

Thanks!


Kitty.
 
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kittycurledup

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I see that several cat specific questions have been moved to a more appropriate forum. Mods, feel free to move this thread if necessary.
 

cocoalily

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I feed mine friskies and they've been doing well on it. They don't get canned wet food on a normal basis, but since they're mostly outdoors they do eat it a lot...they only difference is that their wet food comes live.


Friskies isn't as high-quality as you can get, I'm sure of that. However, it suits my kits needs fine.
 

rapunzel47

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I've moved your thread to Health and Nutrition, as this is the place for discussions/advice about food. You'll find many threads in this forum that will give more information and advice than the one in IMO. It is more about how we address each other on this issue -- and others that can get a little emotional -- than about the issue itself.

As to posting in IMO, you need to have Adult Cat status, i.e. 100 posts and 30 days membership, as well as be over 18. The time goes fast
-- see you there soon.
 

mrblanche

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I have been in that "flat broke" mode before. In fact, when we picked up our first cat, I was in college and my wife was teaching, our car was in the shop, and we hadn't gotten a paycheck yet (this was just as the fall semester was starting). We went through the couch, even, to find enough money to get a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs.

We walked the few blocks to the store, and along the way (this was sort of a country road), we saw a black and white kitten, about 3 months old. Dottie said, "Don't pet that cat, it will want to go home with you."

I petted it.

We went to the store, and on the way home, the cat was still there.

"Don't pet that cat! It will want to come home with us!" Dottie said again.

I petted it again.

Needless to say, the cat followed us home and became our companion for the next 15 years. However, we had absolutely NO money for cat food right then. He ate scrambled eggs and drank milk. I don't think he ever touched eggs again.
 

sharky

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FOr the typical vet around here Premium is anything with a brand name ... IMHO I actually compared and FOUND little to no difference in ingrediants say wal brand vs big name ... they likely come from the same plant and the big name makes the private / generic label ...

There is a BIG difference in premium to grocery... i will happily attempt to explain that ... Individual ingrediants and overall quality is different ( YES even thou the recall covered all types of wet foods , that was a manufacturer NOT using a approved source
 

goldenkitty45

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While cats can survive (and some do fairly well) on cheaper foods, IMO its better to get a little higher quality. In the long run you have less medical problems, less stool and a healthier cat if you feed better or premium foods rather then the cheaper kinds.

Many cheaper kinds have more filler then good nutrition.
 

going nova

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Originally Posted by yiplong

isn't egg & milk more expensive than cat food?
That might be true... but if they had to choose between buying cat food and human food... they probably chose to let the cat eat human food rather than them eat cat food.


(The point of that post was to say that people feed what they can afford to buy... and that someone who can't afford certain cat foods should not feel bad for it.)
 

kitten_smitten

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That might be true... but if they had to choose between buying cat food and human food... they probably chose to let the cat eat human food rather than them eat cat food


I needed the laugh - you just don't know how much.



When we first got Mr Mischief we gave him kitten chow - as we move up in the number of cats my DH decides to buy the Wal-Mart cheep stuff - my mother owned many cats and I KNEW to NOT buy indoor cats Wal-Mart special kitty but each must learn on their own . . . I have always given my Cat Chow.

Three days later - Honey is that the cat box I am smelling from the drive way . . .


Yep that would be the cat box but in about 20 minutes you'll get use to the smell. . . .then he switched to the Meow Mix - which they ate for a couple of months Until I read that meat was supposed to be the first ingredient in the list and Meow mix dry it is corn meal - I bought Purina cat chow this last time - I live in BFE although the nearest petsmart is 40 miles we do have feed stores so I was going to see if I could find some thing in the feed stores that had meat stuff as a first ingredient - I only bought enough of the Purina cat chow to last them a few days until I could read what should be in the food and then go to the feed stores see if they have any thing if not I was going to get that RC -33 with the lysine in it for cats who have herpes - I f I have to drive 40 miles one way so be it I will just buy a big bag and put it in my big plastic cat food container - I have an air tight container to keep the cat food smell in the cat food and the ant out side in the ant bed. . .


soo it would be an excellent time for

There is a BIG difference in premium to grocery... i will happily attempt to explain that ... Individual ingredients and overall quality is different
I have enough to last me about three more days - so I can get by until Friday before I need to buy more food and I would like to buy some thing that is good for them, I can afford to buy human food too , and doesn't make my eyes water every time my kitties go poop. . We have a cat box for each indoor cat - Ferocious will NOT share her box with any one . . .. so we have cat boxes in almost every room but the one we eat our meals in and hubby draws the line there . . . . cats can be every where but no cat boxes under the dinning room table. . . .

OKay so he loves me , and has learned to love my cats . . . . just doesn't want to eat over a cat box . . . a good wife would compromise this. . . . so I do.


My cats get mostly dry food but we do feed them some wet food in the morning and kitty snacks in the evening . . . . Ferocious doesn't eat much when her nose stops up so she gets kitten supplement milk when her appetite is poor because I can get her to take that in a eye dropper.
 

sharky

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walmarts got a VERY decent to good cat food in maxxium for dry .. not to $$ about like purina one
 

wendyr

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I think about this food issue a lot. My husband is just starting his career and I am currently freelance, so we don't have a whole lot of money, but I still want to give my kittens the best quality food I can afford. So, what we have ended up doing is giving them high-quality dry food (which they free-feed on, so it makes up the main bulk of their diet) and then they also get wet food at dinner time - which is the best quality I can buy from our pet store, but not the best quality out there. I feel good about this decision - their main food is really good for them and their treat is pretty good, but not the best.

I noticed a huge difference when I switched dry foods. When we first took the little rascals in, we bought a grocery store brand dry food (my husband's family cats were always fed on this and the last one just died at 19...). I bought the biggest bag they had and the kittens ate the entire thing in three days. So, I did research, found a brand I wanted to use and bought their biggest bag. This bag lasts about two weeks. It is only slightly bigger than the grocery store bag I had bought.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by wendyr

I think about this food issue a lot. My husband is just starting his career and I am currently freelance, so we don't have a whole lot of money, but I still want to give my kittens the best quality food I can afford. So, what we have ended up doing is giving them high-quality dry food (which they free-feed on, so it makes up the main bulk of their diet) and then they also get wet food at dinner time - which is the best quality I can buy from our pet store, but not the best quality out there. I feel good about this decision - their main food is really good for them and their treat is pretty good, but not the best.

I noticed a huge difference when I switched dry foods. When we first took the little rascals in, we bought a grocery store brand dry food (my husband's family cats were always fed on this and the last one just died at 19...). I bought the biggest bag they had and the kittens ate the entire thing in three days. So, I did research, found a brand I wanted to use and bought their biggest bag. This bag lasts about two weeks. It is only slightly bigger than the grocery store bag I had bought.
What you have done is excellent. If you went back and saw other threads you would see that this is the advice usually given.

Cats will eat less of a quality food and also there will be less in the litter box so one is saving on both ends so to speak.


I switched our kitties over to Orijen and I cannot believe how much less there is in the litter box and there is no odour except of course when they first go.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by KittyCurledUp

I was trying to reply to a thread in IMO but was informed that I cannot access that part of the site (??). Anyway, the thread was about cat food -- premium vs store brand.

Can anyone help give me a handle on this debate? The only advice I've ever gotten from my vet was not to buy say, the Walmart generic, pseudo-fancy feast brand, when you can buy the name brand. Because the generic brand may not actually conform to AAFCO guidelines even if they say they do.

Ok...so I feed one cat Fancy Feast, plus a veterinary hypo-allergenic dry food. My newbie, I have been feeding Friskies and Purina kitten chow. He seems to like it and has not shown any adverse reactions thus far.

Other thoughts?

Thanks!


Kitty.
The thread about food in IMO is basically more about how some folks take offense at how we give nutrition advice and not so much about food itself.

If your cats will only eat FF for wet food, as we have often said, that is better than no wet food. As we have also said, if your cats only will eat a lower quality wet food, then try to feed a good quality dry food to counteract the lower end wet.

There are better quality foods out there that are no more costly than the lesser quality foods. Read labels, look for foods with no by-products for a start. I feed high quality wet and dry but do understand that not everybody can afford to feed their cats the way I do. I was young, single and poor once myself and fed my cat what I could afford and gave her lots of love - she lived to about 14 years old. I still miss her.
 
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kittycurledup

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Thank you!


Originally Posted by rapunzel47

I've moved your thread to Health and Nutrition, as this is the place for discussions/advice about food. You'll find many threads in this forum that will give more information and advice than the one in IMO. It is more about how we address each other on this issue -- and others that can get a little emotional -- than about the issue itself.

As to posting in IMO, you need to have Adult Cat status, i.e. 100 posts and 30 days membership, as well as be over 18. The time goes fast
-- see you there soon.
 
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kittycurledup

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Wow, scrambled eggs and milk!
That's amazing!
What a lovely anecdote!

Originally Posted by mrblanche

I have been in that "flat broke" mode before. In fact, when we picked up our first cat, I was in college and my wife was teaching, our car was in the shop, and we hadn't gotten a paycheck yet (this was just as the fall semester was starting). We went through the couch, even, to find enough money to get a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs.

We walked the few blocks to the store, and along the way (this was sort of a country road), we saw a black and white kitten, about 3 months old. Dottie said, "Don't pet that cat, it will want to go home with you."

I petted it.

We went to the store, and on the way home, the cat was still there.

"Don't pet that cat! It will want to come home with us!" Dottie said again.

I petted it again.

Needless to say, the cat followed us home and became our companion for the next 15 years. However, we had absolutely NO money for cat food right then. He ate scrambled eggs and drank milk. I don't think he ever touched eggs again.
 
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kittycurledup

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Funnily enough, the premium veterinary diet food that I am feeding my older cat makes the litterbox reek!!! :p But she does need it. She gets a little fancy feast because she's on medication and that's the only way she'll eat it. :p

Yes, love me love my cats, I am that way too, but then so is my husband.


Originally Posted by Kitten_Smitten



I needed the laugh - you just don't know how much.



When we first got Mr Mischief we gave him kitten chow - as we move up in the number of cats my DH decides to buy the Wal-Mart cheep stuff - my mother owned many cats and I KNEW to NOT buy indoor cats Wal-Mart special kitty but each must learn on their own . . . I have always given my Cat Chow.

Three days later - Honey is that the cat box I am smelling from the drive way . . .


Yep that would be the cat box but in about 20 minutes you'll get use to the smell. . . .then he switched to the Meow Mix - which they ate for a couple of months Until I read that meat was supposed to be the first ingredient in the list and Meow mix dry it is corn meal - I bought Purina cat chow this last time - I live in BFE although the nearest petsmart is 40 miles we do have feed stores so I was going to see if I could find some thing in the feed stores that had meat stuff as a first ingredient - I only bought enough of the Purina cat chow to last them a few days until I could read what should be in the food and then go to the feed stores see if they have any thing if not I was going to get that RC -33 with the lysine in it for cats who have herpes - I f I have to drive 40 miles one way so be it I will just buy a big bag and put it in my big plastic cat food container - I have an air tight container to keep the cat food smell in the cat food and the ant out side in the ant bed. . .


soo it would be an excellent time for



I have enough to last me about three more days - so I can get by until Friday before I need to buy more food and I would like to buy some thing that is good for them, I can afford to buy human food too , and doesn't make my eyes water every time my kitties go poop. . We have a cat box for each indoor cat - Ferocious will NOT share her box with any one . . .. so we have cat boxes in almost every room but the one we eat our meals in and hubby draws the line there . . . . cats can be every where but no cat boxes under the dinning room table. . . .

OKay so he loves me , and has learned to love my cats . . . . just doesn't want to eat over a cat box . . . a good wife would compromise this. . . . so I do.


My cats get mostly dry food but we do feed them some wet food in the morning and kitty snacks in the evening . . . . Ferocious doesn't eat much when her nose stops up so she gets kitten supplement milk when her appetite is poor because I can get her to take that in a eye dropper.
 
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kittycurledup

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Ok, so the general rule is: compare labels and see what contains pure meat as opposed to fillers or meat by-products, yes? When the label refers to "crude" meat, is that by-product? Where is a good place to get premium foods? From what I have been reading Nutro (which my older cat was on before her allergies) is kind of in the middle? What are some examples of what people consider high end premium?
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by Kitten_Smitten

After reading this Cat Food - Safe List84 and I have come to the conclusion I am having bologna for dinner I think I shall share with my cats - because by the time I figure out what won't kill us we will all starve to death. . . .
I feed Merrick's wet food and it's not even on that list. Merrick's is a high end food too. Interesting. I often wonder who publishes the lists and what's in it for them. Something to think about.
 
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