Interesting test results using dry kitten food

I am a maniac. I overbuy everything. I can want one, and ALWAYS buy two. why? I'm stupid. Anyway I've been testing kitten food to see which they like better. I bought 4 double dish bowls (refer to the stupid thing), so I decided to keep 3 full bowls (3 double dish bowls, so 6 really) with 3 different foods each filled with one of the 3. The bags are all about 3 pnds, (eg: the nurto max is 3, SD is 4 etc) Here's what I have:

Meow mix (bottom of the barrel right?) kitten
Nutro Max Cat Roasted Chicken Flavor for Kittens
Science Diet Kitten


I tested this until one bag ran out (I think 3 weeks).

In first place, BY FAR, was the Nutro Max. They ate approximately twice as much. Beating both others combined.
Second place was MEOW MIX!!! Call me crazy but they like it.
Last place was Science Diet.

I was really surprised. IN all honestly I figured they'd like Science diet, then nutro then meow mix. But meow mix handily beat the SD.

Could it be because the SD is a hard pellet and harder to crunch? I don't know, but I know I just bought a 16 pound bag of the Nutro Max for 24 bucks on Amazon.

Suprising to me.

the first one has IMHO better meat quality and likely they can taste that ... the second has flavor enhansers

I would NEVER feed Meow Mix to my cats or even stray cats. It contains dyes in it and a lot of cats will throw up the food cause of the dyes. I don't like SD either.

Stick to the Max

We have 4 foods for 3 cats at my house! At first all the cats were separate and they were all on different foods-- Sneakers was the cat who was here first and she eats Innova. Then I rescued my kitten Church and was feeding him Wellness Kitten but I got a free bag on Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit so I've been mixing that in. Then came the Maine Coon kitten and she was kept upstairs when she first came home and was on Royal Canin Babycat when she came home but we switched to Orijen. Now they all have the run of the house except at night... I've found the kittens both like the Instinct mixed with the Wellness best, and both kittens will eat each others food if they have access, but neither one likes Sneakers food (Innova) much.

When we first rescued Sneakers she came with a bag of Purina Deli-cat which was apparently what she has been eating forever in her old home. That stuff is just horrid! It looks like a kid's breakfast cereal and probably has similar ingredients too. When we brought her home she was 16 pounds, had horrible coat quality and even mats on her back (this is a shorthair!)

"Horrid" is a little too strong a word, I think. Certainly not the highest quality on the market, but many cats have eaten for a long time and been healthy and happy.

Thanks for all the responses. I didn't know the probs with meow mix, but in reality it doesn't surprise me since it's soo cheap.

I kept going and the cats have really stopped eating both the SD and the MM so nutro it is. I bought a 3 pnd bag today to tide them over till my big one I ordered from Amazon comes in.

I would never feed any cat Meow mix, it is NASTY food full of gross ingredients. Plus cats cannot digest the red dye! I don't know why they even put those dyes in the food! Sadly so many people think their cats are doing just fine on it and feed it because it is cheap. Sad. Even SD and Nutro isn't all that great, but not as horrible as Meow Mix! Even the shelters I have worked at throw away the donations of Meow Mix, Friskies, Whiskas and all those bottom of the barrel grocery store foods particularly the ones with the red dyes in them.

Anyways, glad your cats like Nutro!