Science Diet vs. Eukanuba

I am interested in knowing if anyone knows if there is a real difference between Hill's Prescription Diet r/d and Hill's Science Diet Light?

Also, are there any real differences beteween Hill's Science Diet Senior and Eukanuba Mature Cat Formula (dry formulas) as well as Hill's Science Diet Kitten/Hill's Nature's Best Kitten/Eukanuba Kitten?

SD Nature's Best Kitten
First 6 Ingredients: Corn gluten meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), turkey meal, ground wheat, brewers rice, soybean meal.

Crude protein (min.) 35%
crude fat (min.) 22%
moisture (max.) 10%
crude fiber (max.) 2%

SD Growth Formula :
First 6 Ingredients:
Chicken by-product meal, corn meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), corn gluten meal, brewers rice, chicken liver digest.

Crude Protein (minimum) 33%
Crude Fat (minimum) 23%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 3%

Eukanuba Kitten:
First 6 Ingredients:
Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Corn Grits.

Crude Protein (minimum) 36%
Crude Fat (minimum) 22%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Ash (maximum) 7%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 2.5%
Taurine (minimum) 0.17%

In my opinion, with these 3 foods, Eukanuba wins hands down, but I refuse to feed Euk or Iam's food for reasons I will private message you about, as I am "legally" not allowed to say in here. Lets just say they've got some pretty nasty truthful accusations against them.
Otherwise go with SD Growth Formula. Cats need meat, the more REAL meat products you see in the first 5 ingredients the better, and a food should START with a meat ingrident. I don't like to feed food with corn substances in them, or with anything titled by-product. I also will not feed foods that have BHA or BHT in them which SD uses in some of their products, they are known cancer causing agents, among other things.
Things like "chicken meal, or chicken" are much better, specially if they are labled human grade, but I don't believe SD or Eukanuba uses that.

Personally, I would not feed either Science Diet or Eukanuba to any of my animals, but I have before and never will again.
This is just the short and skinny of the explination for these foods.

SD Light:
First 6 Ingredients:
Brewers rice, chicken by-product meal (including white meat, dark meat, liver and other internal organs), corn gluten meal, powdered cellulose.
Crude Protein (minimum) 31%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Crude Fat (minimum) 8%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 7.7%

Once again the problem with the lack of meat appears, which you often have to sacrfice when you put an animal on a "light" diet. And the high fiber doesn't look too good, that's often the most important thing to take away is a fiber or carbohydrates in the diet to slim an animal down.

SD Perscription r/d:
First 6 Ingredients:
Chicken by-product meal, corn meal, powdered cellulose 18.5% (a source of fiber), corn gluten meal, chicken liver flavor, vegetable oil.

I suppose I would pick the r/d over the light formula, but I have never done a full review on that food, as I have not fed it nor known many people who have in real life.
Before you change your cats diet to a light diet, please consult your vet.

There are MANY other great food names we could throw out to you, that I and most others consider to be great foods if you are intersted, just ask.

AngelzOO, I definitely welcome your other cat food suggestions.

Also, any thoughts on Science Diet Nature's Best formula for kittens?

AngelzOO, in your previous posting, you noted that you want to take away fiber from the food in order for the animal to lose weight. Isn't more fiber better which results in less consumption of the food?

Tabitha: Well cats are different from us, MOST of their diet, (which should be the part that fills them up the most) should be the meat. Their best source of protien is and should be meat.
I don't know if you've ever been heavily envoved in sports or weight lifting/weight gain. But a lot of people who are trying to do that will eat a lot of carbs (fiber) to help put on weight.
So generally in the "light" diets for cats we like to see a lower fiber percentage. About eating less... Lets take my age old example... Meow Mix, which is loaded with corn and such, vrs Felidea which has a lot of meat. Cats who are on Meow Mix will eat more of the meow mix, it will take more to fill them up, then say Felidea. Because a cat can utilize/digest more of the meat, and they can't that of some grains/fiber, etc, they will also use the litter box A LOT more on a "low grade" diet such as meow mix. A lot of the corn ingredients you see are what are refered to as "filler foods."


Does your cat need to be on a light diet? Is it a kitten? How old is this animal? If he is a little fat, have you thought about just decreasing the regular food he/she is on now, perhaps you a feeding a little too much, and/or the cat isn't getting enough exercise.

Not all these foods will be proper for a cat that needs to be on a light diet, so I'm just going to give you some good brand names that I approve of, some more then others, and this is not a complete list, there are many brands out there.

Felidea
Solid Gold (my cats and ferret are on this now)
Natural Balance
Innova
Wellness
Evolve
Chicken Soup for the cat lovers soul
Timberwolf Organic


Some other ones you can probably more easily find, that I don't think are quiet as good, but are highly acceptable.
Wysong
Authority
Royal Canin
Pro Plan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural
Natures Recipie
Eagle Pack
Bil-Jac
Pet Gold
Sensible Choice

AngelzOO:
I picked up a bag of Wellness yesterday. I went with the new Salmon version. I noticed they had a "Lite" version too, but will try to adhere closely to the portions. I am concerned with the "Lite" that she might not get "filled up" and will constantly be hungry.

Tabitha,

Hi there!

i can't helped but to share with you that my kitties love Wellness. i got them the salmon, turkey & herring oil formula and the super 5 mix (lite formula) with chicken other other ingredients. i also bought Venus the ones for kittens.

This is an excellent brand. Wellness is my personal favorite. However, this is just solely bases on personal opinion, research, and of course, what my kitties like.

i guess which to buy depends on the age of you kitty. Glad you bought Wellness, Tabitha, and it contains a lot of nutrients for your kitty!

Cheers!

Sorry about the typo and grammar.. i did not check before i post.. i often do that.. hehe!

I can recommend Felidae and Solid Gold, but watch buying large quantities - they don't "keep" terribly long because of the high meat content. Wellness isn't available here, so I can't express any opinion about it.

Good on you for picking that food. I've checked it out many times over. I've never fed a cat it, only a dog and I must say it made him VERY gasy! Apparently it was a fairly common thing as well, at least for the dogs.

We feed Solid Gold here right now, GREAT good, it normally last about a month, until we have to pick up another bag and I keep it in a supposide air tight container, haven't had any problems with it going bad yet.
Felidae is also a great food one of my favs, along with Solid Gold, my fiance just picked up a bag of that today for my cats and ferret to try out. If they like it and they do good on it, I'll probably keep them on it for about 5-6 months and then switch back to Solid Gold for a while.

Our cat is an "only child" and won't eat any food more than twice a week, hence the problems with food not keeping. I also put everything into airtight containers, but really can't buy large quantities because of his pickiness. If you have several cats, that shouldn't be a problem. Jamie doesn't like Felidae canned food, but he practically inhales the dry food. He loves Solid Gold, which doesn't surprise me, because his tastes run to fish and/or lamb. Maybe it's for the best - I'm suspicious of beef because of all the problems with "mad cow disease" here in Europe - he only gets beef from North or South America -, and I find the way poultry is held very objectionable.