need help understanding food ingred.

smokiethecat · Aug 18, 2008

to sharky and whoever else can help me.

I am transitioning my cats to taste of the wild,but....

I asked sharky about trying chicken soup brand.....i also mentioned nutro natural choice food. this is dry food that I"m talking about. She recommended trying taste or going back to nutro(they did fine on it, but I switched to try to save money...dumb.)She thought chicken soup had too many grains.
My cat was having diarhhea,by the way.

What I want to know is......how can Chicken soup have too many grains and Nutro be okay,but to ME nutro seems to be more grainy than Chicken soup. I want to understand this...how you figure it out. I look at the nutro complete and the first three are chicken meal, ground rice, corn gluten meal and the first three of Chicken soup are all meat. I don't understand.

Please help this confused cat owner.

My cats don't seem to like Taste,so I may have to try something else....one of the reasons I"m curious.

auntie crazy · Aug 18, 2008

Hey, that's a good question, Smokiethecat. How do you weigh how grainy these two products are by looking a their ingredients list? I see the same thing you do; but how to tell?

Nutro Natural Choice
Ingredients (from Pet Food Direct):
Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavors, Rice Flour, Rice Protein Concentrate, Herring Meal, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Oat Fiber, Yeast Culture, Potassium Chloride, Menhaden Fish Oil, Choline Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Inositol, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Chicory Extract, Cranberry Powder, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Calcium Iodate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid.

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein (minimum) \t33
Crude Fat (minimum) \t19
Moisture (maximum) \t10
Ash (maximum) \t6.75
Crude Fiber (maximum) \t4
Linoleic Acid (minimum) \t4
Taurine (minimum) \t0.18

Chicken Soup
Ingredients (from Pet Food Direct)
Chicken, Salmon, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, whole grain white rice, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, turkey, duck, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, salt, choline chloride, chicory root extract, dl-methionine, potassium chloride, taurine, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, kelp, cranberry powder, rosemary, parsley flake. Vitamins and minerals.

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein (Min) \t30
Crude Fat (Min) \t20
Moisture (Max) \t10
Omega-6 Fatty Acids (Min) \t3.4
Crude Fiber (Max) \t3
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Min) \t0.6
Magnesium (Max) \t0.1
Taurine (Min) \t0.1

smokiethecat · Aug 18, 2008

Thanks for throwing the ingred lists up there. I should have thought to do that!!!

laureen227 · Aug 18, 2008

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

Hey, that's a good question, Smokiethecat. How do you weigh how grainy these two products are by looking a their ingredients list? I see the same thing you do; but how to tell?

Nutro Natural Choice
Ingredients (from Pet Food Direct):
Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavors, Rice Flour, Rice Protein Concentrate, Herring Meal, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Oat Fiber, Yeast Culture, Potassium Chloride, Menhaden Fish Oil, Choline Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Inositol, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Chicory Extract, Cranberry Powder, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Calcium Iodate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid.

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein (minimum) 33
Crude Fat (minimum) 19
Moisture (maximum) 10
Ash (maximum) 6.75
Crude Fiber (maximum) 4
Linoleic Acid (minimum) 4
Taurine (minimum) 0.18

Chicken Soup
Ingredients (from Pet Food Direct)
Chicken, Salmon, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, whole grain white rice, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, turkey, duck, flaxseed, natural chicken flavor, salt, choline chloride, chicory root extract, dl-methionine, potassium chloride, taurine, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, kelp, cranberry powder, rosemary, parsley flake. Vitamins and minerals.

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein (Min) 30
Crude Fat (Min) 20
Moisture (Max) 10
Omega-6 Fatty Acids (Min) 3.4
Crude Fiber (Max) 3
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Min) 0.6
Magnesium (Max) 0.1
Taurine (Min) 0.1

it's probably because of the purple ingredients.
those 1st 2 in chicken soup are not really the 1st 2 because after the liquid is removed they fall in the ranking.
chicken soup has multiple grains - rice, oatmeal, millet, barley. nutro has corn - also has rice, but further down the list.

smokiethecat · Aug 18, 2008

now i am even more confused. I thought a whole meat like chicken was better than chicken meal............

laureen227 · Aug 18, 2008

Originally Posted by smokiethecat

now i am even more confused. I thought a whole meat like chicken was better than chicken meal............

in a canned/wet food that's fine. for dry, a named meat meal is best - chicken meal, salmon meal, lamb meal... etc.

*pepper* · Aug 18, 2008

I would choose personally Chicken Soup over Nutro based on the ingredient list posted. You have 3 meats before any grains where as Nutro has grains in the second item, to me, that means more grains than meat.

sharky · Aug 18, 2008

Originally Posted by laureen227

it's probably because of the purple ingredients.
those 1st 2 in chicken soup are not really the 1st 2 because after the liquid is removed they fall in the ranking.
chicken soup has multiple grains - rice, oatmeal, millet, barley. nutro has corn - also has rice, but further down the list.

Corn gluten is a PROTEIN .. okay I weigh it as veggie protein non starch

Nutro 2 meat( both MEALs ie concentrated) 1.5 grain ( for the multiple sources of rice( one is a protein ) 2 accessory proteins corn gluten and egg and one legume ( alfalfa ) ...
Ratio of meat to grain 1 meat to .75 grains

Chicken soup 5 meats ( 4 fresh and 1 one concentrate ) , 5 grains , 1 starch ( Potato ) , 1 accessory starch ( flaxseed)
One to One but since the fresh meats are 5 positions... Ie the chicken and salmon behind the white rice in the wt of ingredients after cooking and the duck and turkey behind the dl-methionine

as a general rule ... chicken meal being the first on the label is about 25% of the bag wt .... but in the chicken soup it is likely about 10-15% of the bag wt ..

MY TOTALLY going of generals

nutro meat likely is 28% of the wt

chicken soup is likely 20% of the wt

need help understanding food ingred.

smokiethecat

TCS Member

Thread starter

auntie crazy

TCS Member

smokiethecat

TCS Member

Thread starter

laureen227

Darksome Duo!

smokiethecat

TCS Member

Thread starter

laureen227

Darksome Duo!

pepper

TCS Member

sharky

TCS Member

Latest Posts

Connect with us