Who has this food thing figured out?

OMG, I have been reading ingredients and comparing brands, and there is alot to take in. I have a fat cat and a skinny cat. I bought Royal Canin Slim 38 for the tubby one and it looks like good ingredients with no by products. And I bought the skinny one some Science Diet Natures Best, but am not decided on it being one of the best. Anyone done the homework? Next I am going to check out Flint River something...anyway I know where to find it on the net. Linda

Are you going to be able to feed them seperatly? I would just up the play time for both of them the exersize will stimulate the appitite in one and burn off calories in the other.

I dont think Science Diet is the best personally. I feed Zoey Nutro wet and dry, she loves it and its a lot better than Iams and some of the "top" grocery store foods.

I would not feed this food(JMO)
Ingredients are listed in decending order by weight....where's the meat?? Since turkey meal, dried egg product and chicken are listed 4th, 5th and 6th I think its safe to assume that a majority of the protein in this food is provided by corn gluten meal. I prefer foods with animal proteins for a carnivore.

SD Nature's Best with chicken: (partial ingredients list)
Brewers rice, corn gluten meal, animal fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), turkey meal, dried egg product, chicken, ground wheat, peas, carrots, dried beet pulp, chicken liver flavor, l-lysine, dl-methionine, oat fiber, taurine

Here are some links that you may find helpful:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
http://www.api4animals.org/doc.asp?ID=689
http://www.speedyvet.com/Learningcentre/index1.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~jacm2/_wsn/page2.html

Thanks for the responses. I have been doing the calculations to get what the carbs are, too. Anyway I had already decided the SD is not going to be fed to them. The Royal Canin seems decent and also they were on Nutro before, that may be worth me checking out again. At Pets Direct they list ingredients so I will study further. I just fed them some nutro wet last night, from the packets, and I took the weight management one and mixed it w/ the regular and fed them that, and it is also good ingredients and well worth the extra money that I paid. Thanks again. Linda

How about Life's Abundance - GREAT STUFF and my Loki loves it!!
================

Nutrient dense with vitamins, minerals, fats and fatty acids essential for the optimal health of your cat. Five sources of high quality protein including chicken meal, eggs, herring meal, chicken liver meal and turkey meal derived from human-grade processing plants. Rich in powerful antioxidants. The patented grapeseed extract process ensures your cat receives greater amounts and a
wide range of NATURAL antioxidant properties.

And does NOT contain corn, wheat, dairy, by-products, artificial colors or flavors found in other leading brands.

If you are interested here is the website:

http://www.healthypetnet.com/product....asp?realname=

I had to find a holistic / natural food since my Loki has food sebsitivities and all store bougth stuff gives him bloody stools.
With this he has nothing but the most wonderful tootsy rolls and price wise it's about equal to the store bought premium.

I swear by it.

Helen

I agree with the post above. I have been feeding all natural foods to my 3 cats for about 8 months now. I have done hours of research to learn the advantages. Here is what I feed my cats daily. I only feed my cats dry. I mix Solid Gold (lamb is the 1st ingredient) with Wellness Salmon Turkey and Herring 50-50 in a container. I put this in one bowl in the kitchen. The bowl in the bedroom I put either Fosters and Smith's Chicken and Brown Rice Formula or my newest food Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul. All three cats love the variety and I rarely ever get a loose stool, or puke on the rug. The cats don't eat a whole lot like they used to or poop much like they did a couple of months ago because their bodys are "nutrient saturated" with what they need to live. Everyone is "spoiled and happy"

I just received my sample packs of Lifes Abundance, I have one with a sensitive tummy and I'm hoping it works. It looks like from the ingredient list its a great choice, and they included some supplements too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works! If so I will probably switch the whole gang over to it. I have to order a bigger bag though, to see if it may work on the one with the problem, the samples were very small.

I heard this from a lady who breeds and trains dogs and is in her 60's. Her rule is "If the pet food is sold at a grocery store, do not buy it"
Clara

malynn
I was wondering how you got your samples? I might want to check that out for my cats as well.

http://mypethaven.com/free.htm

It says free but theres a $2.00 charge for each sample and you get free samples of their vitamins too.
It looks like a really good food for them. I got 2 samples and they are very small. I'm gonna go ahead and order a bigger bag.

I thought fish meal was bad? 

Also, "whole ground" flaxseed.  Huh? lol