Evidence that "premium" food = healthier cat?

misskalamata

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I know someone who feeds her cats only Fancy Feast (dry and wet). Her one cat lived to age 21, and she currently has a playful 18 year old kitty. I suspect most people at TCS feed their cats "premium" foods, and yet the Health section is full of threads on cats' health troubles.

I'm wondering, is there any real evidence (research studies, etc) that links higher-end cat foods (not raw food) to greater health and longevity?
 

snake_lady

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Originally Posted by MissKalamata

I know someone who feeds her cats only Fancy Feast (dry and wet). Her one cat lived to age 21, and she currently has a playful 18 year old kitty. I suspect most people at TCS feed their cats "premium" foods, and yet the Health section is full of threads on cats' health troubles.

I'm wondering, is there any real evidence (research studies, etc) that links higher-end cat foods (not raw food) to greater health and longevity?
very good question.... I too am would like to see the answer to that one.

(I do feed a 'premium' food, mixed with a non-premium food, and he eats FF wet)

prior to all this education, my kitties (when I was a child) lived on the cheapest store brand.... you know the type where the meat is probally the rd or below, ingred. They lived into their late teens with no vet visits except rabies shots.
 

ut0pia

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IMO there is absolutely no proof that premium foods means your cat will live long. My cousin's cat is 18, well he's more like a stray kitten that kind of got adopted into the family but they always feed him human food! Of course they try to feed him meat only but if he begs for it they give him milk or whatever he asks for. He's an inside/outside cat but never leaves their yard. So ...there are cats who just have good genes and as long as they get the basic needs met, they make it and have full lives. The thing is, you never know if your cat has good genes or not and what kind of problems might be underway, so to be safe and to be sure that you are doing everything you can to give your cat a little extra help, that's why I feed premium foods. When the cat is eating premium foods, there wouldn't be any nutritional deficiencies that might make a difference in the cat's immune system in case a disease comes up. There are many reasons to feed cats premium foods, but whether your cat is healthy and lives a long life depends only on the cat's genes, of course provided there aren't any accidents.
 

threecatowner

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Thanks for asking the question I've wondered about for a very long time. Growing up, our cats ate Jobo brand dog food (we never had a dog, but we never had cash, either).

My cats now live on Friskies Buffet - anything that is gravy with bits or chunks. I do avoid seafood, because I heard that's not great for UTI (which we've had). They also get some dry, and usually Purina or Meow Mix or something else slightly affordable.

I must say I feel guilty when I read what others feed their kitties - but it is simply not in my budget. Three kids, one going to college in a year, bills, bills, bills, and my job as a child caregiver all add up to: I can't afford that good stuff.

I agree with utOpia that some cats just are blessed with good genes. Three of ours have lived to 19 and older.
 

arlyn

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I don't feed premium for the health benefit but for the savings in the long run.

Common sense tells me that fewer fillers mean I can feed less, feeding less means I buy less and means less waste in the litterbox, which means less litter to be bought.

Case in point: Years ago, with two cats and cheaper food I was buying twice as much litter and catfood as I do now with 3 cats.
My cats now (and dog) consume about 1/4 of the amount of food and only have a single bowel movement a day.

So even if you are skeptical of the health benefits, just the savings alone are worth it.
By the way, growing up, our family cat was fed Purina and lived to be 19.
However, this was when Purina was still owned by Ralston Purina and not P&G.

The reason I started though was corn allergies, and corn is something you're going to find in pretty much every cheaper cat food.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Arlyn

I don't feed premium for the health benefit but for the savings in the long run.

Common sense tells me that fewer fillers mean I can feed less, feeding less means I buy less and means less waste in the litterbox, which means less litter to be bought.

Case in point: Years ago, with two cats and cheaper food I was buying twice as much litter and catfood as I do now with 3 cats.
My cats now (and dog) consume about 1/4 of the amount of food and only have a single bowel movement a day.

So even if you are skeptical of the health benefits, just the savings alone are worth it.
By the way, growing up, our family cat was fed Purina and lived to be 19.
However, this was when Purina was still owned by Ralston Purina and not P&G.

The reason I started though was corn allergies, and corn is something you're going to find in pretty much every cheaper cat food.


Though I still have vet needed issues , better food = healthier less prone cats ..

I used to spend on one what I spend on five ... I am lucky to have found a low $$$ mid grade premium that works for all five , plus high grade premium wet

My dog was on premium for a couple yrs before the cat ... In both cases these animals lived healthier ends even with chronic illnesses ( yorkie saw 13.5 yr s and the cat saw a week shy of 19 .... dog got premium 7 of the 8 yrs I had her the cat the last six
 

kittylover77

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I think an argument can be made for both premium and non-premium food.

Cats natural diet, that consists of meat and very little grains cannot be compared to Meow Mix ingredients that have no meat in the ingredients. So in that sense, diet consisting of plenty of meat is best. Premium food offers that.

However, diets like EVO, TOTW and others have not been around long enough to prove that they actually are good for the cat. On the other hand, Iams and Purina have been around long enough to do the studies and possibly find what works and what doesn't. In this case, non-premium foods might be better.
 

darlili

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But, don't forget - as I understand it, even the 'cheap' food in the US, if it meets AAFCO standards, is designed to provide all necesary nutrients that a cat needs....I'm a firm believer in whatever food is working for your cat and you, and if your vet check-ups are showing a healthy kitty, is a good food.

Don't ever let anyone make you feel badly if your cat is healthy. That's all that counts!
 

mschauer

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A cat can absolutely live to a healthy old age eating just any old food. Just as some humans can eat a poor diet and yet remain healthy over a life time. And, just as with humans, there are diseases and disorders that some cats may fall prey to as a result of eating a poor diet. The fallacy that I hear stated over and over again is "I know of x number of cats that have never eaten anything but <fill in the name of some poor quality food> and have never been sick so that proves diet doesn't matter in preventing illness."

That's like saying because there are people who have smoked their entire lives and yet have never gotten cancer proves that smoking doesn't cause cancer.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by mschauer

A cat can absolutely live to a healthy old age eating just any old food. Just as some humans can eat a poor diet and yet remain healthy over a life time. And, just as with humans, there are diseases and disorders that some cats may fall prey to as a result of eating a poor diet. The fallacy that I hear stated over and over again is "I know of x number of cats that have never eaten anything but <fill in the name of some poor quality food> and have never been sick so that proves diet doesn't matter in preventing illness."

That's like saying because there are people who have smoked their entire lives and yet have never gotten cancer proves that smoking doesn't cause cancer.
Now this post is spot on! My paternal grandfather lived into his 90's smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. My maternal family are prone to lung disease and my brother just had a lung transplant this past Saturday due to smoking.

Also keep in mind that "premium" can mean many things. Some people actually believe that FF is premium because it costs more. There are other brands that claim to be "premium" but all they are is more expensive and not better than some lower priced foods. So saying you feed "premium" food many not necessarily be true.
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by mschauer

A cat can absolutely live to a healthy old age eating just any old food. Just as some humans can eat a poor diet and yet remain healthy over a life time. And, just as with humans, there are diseases and disorders that some cats may fall prey to as a result of eating a poor diet. The fallacy that I hear stated over and over again is "I know of x number of cats that have never eaten anything but <fill in the name of some poor quality food> and have never been sick so that proves diet doesn't matter in preventing illness."

That's like saying because there are people who have smoked their entire lives and yet have never gotten cancer proves that smoking doesn't cause cancer.
That's exactly where my head went with this question also. My cats eat a lot less food when its a premium brand, which means less food to buy and less litter to scoop. With 10 cats, that is very huge consideration for me.
 

sweetpea24

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It would be interesting to see an official study - it would have to be a long term study comparing a litter of cats - feed half non-premium food and the other half premium food. The cats would have to be tested regularly - bloodwork, urinalysis, activity level etc. I feed premium food because they seem to have better ingredients. My kitten is healthy so far (knock on wood) and my adult cat, well he's a lot better than he was a year ago after his owner abandoned him but he has a sensitive stomach. The cheaper brands don't seem to have a lot of meat. I know companies like Purina, Hill's and Medi-cal do studies but on what? What percentage of corn gluten meal a cat can survive on without including actual meat?

But I also know that many animals are fed the cheaper brands and live long healthy lives. So in some ways, it's a crapshoot. Genetics play a huge role in determining the health of your cat. My dad was the healthiest, most fit 62 year old. He beat guys half his age and younger at tennis. He ate healthily, made sure he ate a variety of veggies, fruits etc. Yet he died of lung cancer - the cancer was quite aggressive and metasasized to his adrenal glands and 6 months after diagnosis, he was gone. He never smoked. His two brothers died of cancer - colon cancer I think. (the rest of his family were killled in the Vietnam war) - so who knows?

However, I know that when I eat healthy, I feel better. I just wish I ate healthy most of the time! But it is expensive to eat better. So I guess my point is that I feel better feeding premium food because my cats seem to feel good on them. But I am not saying that my cats are healthier than the cats being fed cheaper food. Someone said that their cat was fed human food - this is probably the best way to feed a cat! haha
 

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I am a firm believer that you are what you eat, and you get what you paid for. There is a reason why cheap food is cheap: Because they use cheap ingredients. I don't want the vast majority of my cat's diet to be corn, corn gluten, feathers, beaks, chemicals, artificial flavors, etc. Read the label of a cheap store brand of food, and that's what you get.
There is no denying that a cat is an obligate carnivore... So why should we feed a diet where the majority of the ingredients is corn? Try getting a non-premium brand without corn.
Do you like to know what is in your plate when you are eating? So why should we feed our cats a food where the only meat in it is a meat by-product, and we have no idea of what that comprises of?
Sure, a cat can live a long time on a cheap store brand... Every cat is healthy until it gets sick... Diabetes is a major one... Do a quick research on the net for feline diabetes, and you will get the answer for your question - the main culprit is carbs filled cheap dry cat food.
Now... all this I am saying about true premium food, and not marketed premium foods. I feed my cats VERY premium foods; foods that are good for a human to eat, good and fresh ingredients, clean formula without any of the junk they don't need. I know it costs more short term, as I pay $57 for a 15lb bag of food, but I also know I am likely going to save vet $$ in the long run, and will have cats who enjoy a healthier longer lives than if they were on junk food.
Everything you put in your body, makes it react in a certain way - for anything you eat, there is a consequence... Could you live to a ripe old age eating only mac donalds and other junk foods? Probably not - you would die young with a heart attack, probably liver failure, diabetes, etc.
What makes one think it is any different with a cat?
 

samhainborn

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It all depends on the food!

I have fed everything from expensive foods to human food to the cheapest stuff I could find. I've seen some pretty interesting results. Not only do I feed for weight maintenance and nutrition, but also for litter box maintenance! "Premium" foods have had issues with my kitties gaining too much weight. If I try the "weight Maintenance" formulas in premium foods, they lose too much.

And with premium foods and human food, I've had an issue with litter box odor. Some premium foods are just too rich! Switching to a generic version of the same food solved the room-clearing odor problem, but didn't have much meat or greens in it.

The best solution I've found is to mix a mid-premium kitten food (nutrition, meat, and extra calories for energetic playful kitties) with a more affordable indoor generic (for greens, affordability, less noisome waste, and to cut the calories a little) I also occasionally give food, like scrambled eggs, sometimes some rice, things like that, but not too often. They also have "catgrass" available, which I got from Petsmart, and I reward with chewable vitamins broken into quarters. They get no more than one full vitamin a day, which is what the bottle says.

You might have to mix and match to get the right combination for you, but as long as there's good food, clean water and plenty of love, your kitties are going to be pretty happy.

And I do caution against feeding a All Human Food diet. Look around the United States, and you see a huge epidemic of obesity (myself slipping into that category). So maybe feeding strictly human food isn't the greatest thing to do for your kitty. You are what you eat, after all.
 

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I wouldn't think all human food would work well over a longer term -no taurine, probably, for example. That's probably the biggest advance that large scale distribution of AAFCO-standardized commercial food has brought to US cats, IMO - foods at all price points that contain all essential feline nutrients. May be coincidental that cats have routinely started living long enough to develop the diseases of old age since commercial food became widely available and used....but, I suspect not.

And, like humans - too many calories in (of any type), not enough calories used - fat person, cat, dog, whatever......

I believe feline nutrition is in its infancy - and it'll be so useful as more rigorous research is done as the years go by.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by darlili

I believe feline nutrition is in its infancy - and it'll be so useful as more rigorous research is done as the years go by.



though I suspect well never get the true double blind studies we want
 

followedbydolls

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And their is the million dollar question


I am one of those who had cats live to older years... 17 and 19yrs on nothing but cat chow and FF...

now i do realize the point of the person who smokes like crazy but never got cancer however right now their is nothing to back up feeding higher end foods get you anything more... until that happens as stated in this thread it's a crap shoot... nobody really knows, you have to watch your pet and see if that food appears to be working for them.

of coarse even then, it's a struggle.. i'm sorry but it is, food costs are rising, recalls are rampant and their are so many schools of thought out there it is hard to know what is 'right'

for me and my purrbabies i have concluded a diet with all ranges of foods is best...whether this will work out? trouble is i won't know for quite awhile, so i plod along knowing i did the best i could.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by followedbydolls

And their is the million dollar question


I am one of those who had cats live to older years... 17 and 19yrs on nothing but cat chow and FF...

now i do realize the point of the person who smokes like crazy but never got cancer however right now their is nothing to back up feeding higher end foods get you anything more... until that happens as stated in this thread it's a crap shoot... nobody really knows, you have to watch your pet and see if that food appears to be working for them.

of coarse even then, it's a struggle.. i'm sorry but it is, food costs are rising, recalls are rampant and their are so many schools of thought out there it is hard to know what is 'right'

for me and my purrbabies i have concluded a diet with all ranges of foods is best...whether this will work out? trouble is i won't know for quite awhile, so i plod along knowing i did the best i could.
Many raised animals on grocery foods and they lived ave to way longer than ave lives... Food ingredients say 20 yrs ago in grocery foods were better as I had basic knowledge ( like by products and chemical preservatives)and found many grocery foods to be decent ...
example is dog as I remember it

15-20 yrs ago one used
chicken , rice , corn
now uses
corn , meat and bone meal and corn gluten meal

Of course many of the "mid grade " premiums and high ends change their ingredients too
 
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misskalamata

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Originally Posted by Arlyn

I don't feed premium for the health benefit but for the savings in the long run.

Common sense tells me that fewer fillers mean I can feed less, feeding less means I buy less and means less waste in the litterbox, which means less litter to be bought.
Honestly, I find it hard to believe that feeding less could possibly cancel out the extra cost of the premium food (let's say dry food; I won't even go into the cost of canned). It costs $15 to feed four cats on Purina for a month. How many premium-feeders pay that little?


Originally Posted by kittylover77

However, diets like EVO, TOTW and others have not been around long enough to prove that they actually are good for the cat.
Good point...

Originally Posted by mschauer

And, just as with humans, there are diseases and disorders that some cats may fall prey to as a result of eating a poor diet.
Can you list some of these illnesses and precisely which foods tend to cause them?

Originally Posted by SweatPea24

It would be interesting to see an official study - it would have to be a long term study comparing a litter of cats - feed half non-premium food and the other half premium food. The cats would have to be tested regularly - bloodwork, urinalysis, activity level etc.
This is the kind of thing I was looking for...it's a great idea...why hasn't anyone done so already?

Originally Posted by carolinalima

I am a firm believer that you are what you eat, and you get what you paid for. There is a reason why cheap food is cheap: Because they use cheap ingredients. I don't want the vast majority of my cat's diet to be corn, corn gluten, feathers, beaks, chemicals, artificial flavors, etc. Read the label of a cheap store brand of food, and that's what you get.
I do understand this, as it's one of the reasons I'm thinking of switching my cats to "better" foods. But then again, I myself eat quite a few processed foods...probably full of who knows how many artificial flavors and chemical preservatives...and I'm no worse for the wear.

Originally Posted by darlili

May be coincidental that cats have routinely started living long enough to develop the diseases of old age since commercial food became widely available and used....but, I suspect not.
Are you implying that the commercial foods cause illnesses like kidney failure?

Originally Posted by followedbydolls

now i do realize the point of the person who smokes like crazy but never got cancer however right now their is nothing to back up feeding higher end foods get you anything more...
Exactly...I'm reminded of all the popular diet fads (low-carb, etc) that were supposed to work wonders for people's health...but in reality, they didn't work any miracles.

Someone should start a poll on how long your RB cats lived, and whether they ate grocery brand/"inferior" foods or "premium" foods. Perhaps we would find some interesting correlations.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by MissKalamata

Honestly, I find it hard to believe that feeding less could possibly cancel out the extra cost of the premium food (let's say dry food; I won't even go into the cost of canned). It costs $15 to feed four cats on Purina for a month. How many premium-feeders pay that little?
I pay roughly 8-10$ for the mid grade premium I feed to 5 cats ... The total food bill is higher as they also get HIGH end wet and freeze dried raw ... if feeding only dry it would be 12-15$ a month

Good point...

Can you list some of these illnesses and precisely which foods tend to cause them?
Dry food is loosely linked in some cats to UTI, crystals , diabetes , kidney and liver issues ... very few studies do only wet so not able to compare that out ... I personally think like an old country vet I talked to many times... OLD age in humans and cats brings on failing organs...

This is the kind of thing I was looking for...it's a great idea...why hasn't anyone done so already?

I do understand this, as it's one of the reasons I'm thinking of switching my cats to "better" foods. But then again, I myself eat quite a few processed foods...probably full of who knows how many artificial flavors and chemical preservatives...and I'm no worse for the wear.

Are you implying that the commercial foods cause illnesses like kidney failure?

Exactly...I'm reminded of all the popular diet fads (low-carb, etc) that were supposed to work wonders for people's health...but in reality, they didn't work any miracles.

Someone should start a poll on how long your RB cats lived, and whether they ate grocery brand/"inferior" foods or "premium" foods. Perhaps we would find some interesting correlations.
My two cats the are RB that lived from 8-12 weeks till death with me ate

Nikko birth 1967 death 1986 ... he ate whatever was on sale for dry and wet with fresh raw and cooked meats and organs

Kandie birth 1988 death 2007.. she ate friskies dry and wet with raw and cooked meats and organs for the first 12 ish years ... then premium dry 5 ish yrs and premium wet for 3 ish yrs and premium canned with raw for 2-3 yrs

Both died of CRF ... Nikko went very quick , Kandie through diet made it years with NO traditional CRF meds

side note both were indoor / outdoor cats
 
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