Whiskas Meaty Selections

snuffles

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http://www.whiskas.com/meal_time/dry_food/df_meaty.aspx

I've been giving my kitty Snuffles this food for a few months, and I was wondering if anyone had any information on it's pros or cons. My cat has had an itching problem for about a month and a half. We're taking her to the vet soon, but we're trying to find out on our own right now if it's an allergic reaction to this food. I've read some poor reviews about it.
 

railntrailcwgrl

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Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Animal Fat (Preserved with BHA/BHT), Natural Poultry Flavor, Wheat Flour, Rice, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Turkey By-product Meal, Caramel Color, Calcium Carbonate, dl-Methionine, Taurine, Trace Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodide), White Fish Meal, Vitamins (dl-Alpha Tocopherol)

The ingredients in bold are common allergens, if you can I would try and find a grain free food. Taste of the Wild, Evo, and Wellness all make grain free foods, check out http://www.petfoodratings.net/cats.html and educate yourself about common pet food ingredients, what's good/bad in a pet food, ect...
 
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snuffles

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Thanks! That was very helpful
I don't know very much about ingredients in cat food. I'll study.
 

swoshum

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Yeah, and the chemical preservatives aren't going to help either. I would definitely recommend a much higher quality food!
 

otto

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You want a food that the first two ingredients, at least, are a named meat. Like "chicken, chicken meal" and such.

Chicken is obvious of course, chicken meal is more protein dense, the chicken with the water removed.

You'll notice that Whiskas stuff has NO MEAT at all. Cats are obligate carnivores. It means they need meat. (there are exceptions with cats on special diets with special health problems, but not discussing that here)

There are some good nutrition people here, you'll get lots of help, so ask away!
 

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Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-product Meal, Corn Gluten MealThis should be pink as a main protein source, Animal Fat (Preserved with BHA/BHT), Natural Poultry Flavor, Wheat Flour, Rice, Brewers Dried Yeast, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Turkey By-product Meal, Caramel Color, Calcium Carbonate, dl-Methionine, Taurine, Trace Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodide), White Fish Meal, Vitamins (dl-Alpha Tocopherol)

My color coding can be found in the stickies links


but easy read here
This means something I would avoid

This is acceptable for most yet may not be generally best

This is good and generally fine for most

NOTE NO navy or dark blue and lots of magenta s

I personally use a food with grain but only rice and once in a while oats .. These are more digestible to the cat than commercial by products ... I did the no grain and ended up with health issues being exacerbated which all but disappeared with some grain added ... Personally I avoid Ratings systems as they seem to favor veggie or grain heavy versus simple and solid


Wet is better if you can get your kitty to eat it

What do you have available to you ? what is your price range ? where are you able to shop?
 
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snuffles

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Well, as long as it's good for my kitty, I don't really have a price range. Petco.com offers lots of foods that I can order, so I also have a wide variety to choose from.

So whatever you guys think is good, tell me about it!

Yesterday I started giving Snuffles a new food, and her itching has decreased by 70%. I think I'm going in the right direction.
 

otto

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Isn't it bizarre how a food can call itself "Meaty Selections" when it has absolutely NO MEAT in it?

You've come to the right place for help snuffles, and you'll love the change in your cat on a better quality food.
 

mira's_mommy

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All of this is very surprising to me...I've been feeding Whiskas forever and have never (I repeat: NEVER) had an issue. As a matter of fact, it's the ONLY thing I've found that agrees with everyone's stomach. Anything else I buy makes at least half my kitties sick, vomiting and diarreah. That includes specialty brands recommended by my vet, some of which cost close to $50 a bag. I understand that something with less grain and more meat is supposed to be better for them but why would I spend more money on food that just makes them sick?

Am I going to run into problems later on down the road because I feed them this?
 
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snuffles

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I think it just depends on the kitty?
My cat is allergic to something in the food, I'm guessing... so maybe your kitties aren't!
 

swoshum

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well keep in mind that the "specialty" foods sold by vets are usually just the same garbage you can pick up in a grocery store, they just have a MUCH higher price tag. And a lot of the time, we think our pets are doing "just fine" on a food until we either 1) switch to a genuinely better food that agrees with them and we realize what we've been missing or 2) our cat develops some disorder/sign that the food is now harmful to your cat's body.

Having said that, there are some pets that manage to survive well into their 20's on this junk food. However, I would say those pets are the exception, not the rule!

On a separate note, what kind of new food did you pick out, snuffles?

I would recommend getting ones with no corn, wheat, or soy to start, since those are the most common allergens. Brands I recommend are Orijen, Evo, Wellness Core, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Taste of the Wild, Nature's Variety Instinct, Merrick B.G, Nature's Variety Prairie, Innova, Wellness, Blue Buffalo, ByNature, Solid Gold, California Natural, Felidae, and Natural Balance. In that order
 

taryn

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I can't even read the crap that are in the Friskies canned food that I have left from taking care of Mama while she was recovering from her rectal prolapse(I had to slowly wean her onto dry food to make sure she didn't prolapse again) before she decided she wanted to go back out and re-join the pack. I do give it to Attitude and Nuts on occasion, but they are fed dry Natural Balance as their main food. I would just give the canned to the outside cats(they eat plain old junk dry cat food, Meow Mix or Special Kitty, I can't afford to feed them all premium food as well. I've agonized over it but I have no choice) but it's so cold it would just freeze if it was out there. I just want to get rid of the Friskies, I'm sick of looking at it.

That crap makes for horrid litter box cleanings. Until I got Mama onto mostly the dry Natural Balance(I refuse to feed crap to any cat inside my house) I couldn't stand walking into the bathroom(where we had her segregated considering she was always outside and not part of my 3 inside.) I finally got to the point where I had to let her out of the bathroom because the smell was killing me and I had to let the bathroom air out before it became permanently scented like cat fed crap.

Taryn
 

otto

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Originally Posted by swoshum

well keep in mind that the "specialty" foods sold by vets are usually just the same garbage you can pick up in a grocery store, they just have a MUCH higher price tag. And a lot of the time, we think our pets are doing "just fine" on a food until we either 1) switch to a genuinely better food that agrees with them and we realize what we've been missing or 2) our cat develops some disorder/sign that the food is now harmful to your cat's body.

Having said that, there are some pets that manage to survive well into their 20's on this junk food. However, I would say those pets are the exception, not the rule!

On a separate note, what kind of new food did you pick out, snuffles?

I would recommend getting ones with no corn, wheat, or soy to start, since those are the most common allergens. Brands I recommend are Orijen, Evo, Wellness Core, Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Taste of the Wild, Nature's Variety Instinct, Merrick B.G, Nature's Variety Prairie, Innova, Wellness, Blue Buffalo, ByNature, Solid Gold, California Natural, Felidae, and Natural Balance. In that order
Prescription foods are made the way they are for a reason. Each prescription food targets a specific health problem, and the foods are not "crap". They are not meant to feed normal healthy cats, they are made specifically to help a cat that has a particular illness or disorder. And they work, in most cases.
 

catsknowme

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Originally Posted by mira's_mommy

All of this is very surprising to me...I've been feeding Whiskas forever and have never (I repeat: NEVER) had an issue. As a matter of fact, it's the ONLY thing I've found that agrees with everyone's stomach. Anything else I buy makes at least half my kitties sick, vomiting and diarreah. That includes specialty brands recommended by my vet, some of which cost close to $50 a bag. I understand that something with less grain and more meat is supposed to be better for them but why would I spend more money on food that just makes them sick?

Am I going to run into problems later on down the road because I feed them this?
IMO, not necessarily - my dad has an outside cat who lived to be 14 w/no health problems and that cat grew up on Meow Mix & Whiskas. My RB Joey was raised on Royal Canin Kitten & then Innova and lived to be only 5 yrs.
 

otto

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Nutrition is important of course, but longevity is based quite a lot on genetics.

I'm sorry you lost Joey so young, but it wasn't the food that killed him.
 

swoshum

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Originally Posted by otto

Prescription foods are made the way they are for a reason. Each prescription food targets a specific health problem, and the foods are not "crap". They are not meant to feed normal healthy cats, they are made specifically to help a cat that has a particular illness or disorder. And they work, in most cases.
Actually, if you look at the ingredients in most of these foods, they are very similar to each other and mostly just filled with corn, wheat, soy, gluten, and byproducts. I'm sure they work great for some people just like how some cats can live just fine on meow mix or Science Diet. However, I have seen firsthand many animals do terribly on it, lots of shedding, excessive excrement, random bouts of vomiting and diarrhea, etc. I'm sorry but I just can't see paying that much money for that when feeding a proper, natural diet to a cat will prevent most of these problems from ever occurring and/or cure some of these problems.

Though I will agree that longevity has a lot to do with genetics, I think nutrition definitely plays an important role. Not to say that RC made that poor kitty pass on earlier than they should've, but *ahem* I wouldn't say it's the best food on the market. I'm very sorry about your Joey, catsknowme.
 

otto

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I have indeed looked at the ingredients of prescription foods. I repeat, that they are made the way they are for a reason.

If Mazy was eating meow mix she would be a very sick kitty. Mazy was a sick kitty on super premium very costly foods. The only food that keeps her healthy is a prescription food. Her eyes are bright, her coat is thick and glossy, her teeth are white and clean, her breath is sweet and her stools are small, classically formed and low odor. She's 6 years old and runs around playing all day long.

The only thing keeping her this way is prescription food.

"proper natural diet" cannot reverse genetics. A cat prone to crystals is a cat prone to crystals. And "natural" doesn't mean a thing in cat food. It's a marketing phrase. Rocks are natural but you aren't going to be feeding them to your cat.
 

swoshum

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Originally Posted by otto

"proper natural diet" cannot reverse genetics. A cat prone to crystals is a cat prone to crystals. And "natural" doesn't mean a thing in cat food. It's a marketing phrase.
I'm not so dense as to fall for the marketing schemes of the pet food industry. I was talking more about a proper prey model raw diet (not even the pre-made veggie patties they pass as raw kibble which is still miles better than all other kibble brands on the market).

Originally Posted by otto

Rocks are natural but you aren't going to be feeding them to your cat.
You're darn right I'm not gonna feed rocks to my cats. Just like I'm not gonna feed a bunch of hard, processed, corn and wheat to my cats either.
 

jordan s.

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Originally Posted by snuffles

http://www.whiskas.com/meal_time/dry_food/df_meaty.aspx

I've been giving my kitty Snuffles this food for a few months, and I was wondering if anyone had any information on it's pros or cons. My cat has had an itching problem for about a month and a half. We're taking her to the vet soon, but we're trying to find out on our own right now if it's an allergic reaction to this food. I've read some poor reviews about it.
i see only cons with this food. Get a good canned food with no corn,wheat,or soy included.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by swoshum


I would recommend getting ones with no corn, wheat, or soy to start, since those are the most common allergens.
Corn IS NOT a high allergen in cats( it is in dogs)... Most educated in this area know the reason corn is one most avoid
 
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