what type of food should i feed my lil kitty? - Page 2

Beef snipped for space only:

Who is blaming you for not "having the balls to try it again"? I'm not. And yes, you have every right to your opinion. Everyone has one. My border collie was on Nutro from the first day I got her. She was 4 months old when we found her roaming the streets starving. She started on Nutro Max and went to Nutro Natural Choice as and adult and then to Nutro Ultra as a senior dog. She was in perfect health her entire life and never had to have a dental done. She died at the age of 19. She died 2 years ago. So, you do what you feel comfortable doing and I will continue to do what I do. I also have the right to my opinion and I also have the right to correct misinformation.

A little research might go a long way on this for you Minka. I am not being critical mind you. Just suggesting you look a little further into the 2007 recall. At that time Nutro made all of their own food with the exception of the pouched foods. Nutro voluntarily recalled all pouches and then several weeks later voluntarily recalled their tins of wet. All were voluntary. No one knew what was happening so they were taken off the shelves because Nutro was not positive about them.

There are 600 tests done on the food before it hits the shelves.

You are really getting personal here so I'm going to let this slide. This time. FYI, I did not move into the business as a career. My career field was IT Administration.

I made no such claim they will not make it. They are small companies. Third parties make their food. Anything can happen to the brand. A major recall would really hurt them all. As a brand, they do not have the resources to manufacture their own food. They are basically the middle man to the consumer. Will they make it? Maybe. Will they fail? Who knows. One thing is certain, some of them will be purchased by a bigger company and then be forever changed. It's a money thing.

Okay, let's give the benefit of the doubt that they were voluntary. Why did Nutro not know what was going on? If they have such reliable proceses, why were they in doubt of their products? Why were companies like Natura Pet not involved in the recall?
You've already said that. I wanted to know what that involves. 600 meals served? 600 tests done on 600 different batches?
I.. never said it was your career. I said that because you fed it from childhood because your parents fed it, I think you are biased.
"I'm guessing many of them will not be around a couple of years from now." What does this mean then?

Evo is made by Natura Pet, which does have its own manufacturing facility in Fremont, Nebraska.

Me too! I'm glad there are a few of us, who "know the truth", so to speak. I wouldn't use Nutro if I were paid to The shelter I work at also will never make the mistake of getting Nutro again just cause it was on sale, after the disaster that food caused, on almost every single cat that ate some.

People who praise Nutro and act like I'm wrong for saying bad things about it? Maybe not you specifically but there was someone else who made a comment about my choice of feelings towards the food.

And I think it's great your Border lived 19 years, my boss' BC did on Iams/Eukanuba (Who also oddly enough, died like 2 years ago) which I also don't feed. I really hope my two dogs (13yo PekaPom & 4yo Kelpie/German Shepherd) live at least that long and that's one reason I am so particular about making sure I'm feeding a good food. But Nutro was also a MUCH better product then, as was Iams/Eukanuba compared to the product produced now. Take us back 10 years and I'd probably feed Nutro, but their quality and consistency has fallen. It's happened with MANY brands. I used and swore by EVO/California Natural for years but being sold out to P&G has really put me off. I don't buy it anymore since legally, the company has 6 months before they have to announce any changes or redo their bags if they decide to make any switches to it. Plus they don't have to say if they've changed the suppliers of their ingredients so while they could still be using "chicken meal" it could be a cheaper/lower quality chicken so that they boost their profit to the max. Though one good thing that I WILL give credit for is that it's still being made at the Natura plant and the previous owner does still have involvement in the production still.

Facts would be your friend here. Do you have the veterinary reports on this "disaster"?

Here is a video you might be interested in. This is Part 2. I don't have Part 1 handy but I'm sure if you search the site you'll find it. Very interesting and well worth watching. We'll just have to agree to disagree which is okay by me. But still, you might like this video. You might have already seen it.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites...ts-part-2.aspx

I have no idea that Natura was, or was not involved in the recall. What company knew what was going on? The announcement from Menu Foods was distributed at 5pm on a FRIDAY! Not even my vet knew what was going on.

I don't know each and every one of the 600 tests that are done. It would not be meals because where I come from those are called food trials.

I am as biased for Nutro as your are biased against it. The difference between the two of us is I don't waste time knocking other brands. For some people around here is seems to be their "job". There are a lot of fine foods out there. Nutro is one of the best in my opinion. Obviously you disagree, which is okay.

I did not mention Evo. You did. Many of the small pet food companies will not be around or will be very difficult to find because they are trying to jump into the pet food industry to claim a share of the business. They will not be able to compete and will either be sold to another company or disappear altogether.

My computer wont play videos very well but I'll comment on what I read from that page.

First, the thing about the chicken being first. If it's listed "chicken" (or beef, venison, turkey, duck, ect ect) then that is indeed a true statement that the ingredients will fall once they're cooked and therefore dehydrated. If it's a "meal" (ie. chicken meal, duck meal, lamb meal, ect) then it's dehydrated BEFORE being cooked therefore NO weight is lost. Of course, that doesn't mean the next 3 ingredients total doesn't add up to a much higher percentage of the ingredients. For example we will make up a pet food label.

Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Beet Pulp, Peas. That could be 40% chicken meal but if the brown rice is 30%, beet pulp is 20% and peas are 10%, you've got 60% food that ISN'T MEAT which outweighs the chicken meal in the food. So I certainly wouldn't feed a food that was listed like that and only contained "chicken". Bad enough it's hard to judge the meat meals in it.

About the carbs/grains/organic thing. Let me start by pointing out "organic" is a marketing scam. "Organic" isn't regulated in pet food, you're paying more for nothing really. And a cat shouldn't be eating grains regardless. They're OBLIGATED CARNIVORES which means that they HAVE to have meat to survive and honestly, that's all they need to survive and THRIVE. (Big difference in the two!) No fruits, veggies, grains, ect. They get no benefit from those foods. Just muscle meat, organs and bones. Dogs on the other hand while technically carnivores, would fall into a more omnivorous category. If fruits/veggies are pureed, they can actually get some benefits from it. (Though they do NOT have the stomach to break down the outside of them alone which is why they need to be pureed) Grains are pointless to a dogs diet as well. So before this gets long, my point is that anyone who thinks barley, oatmeal, soy, corn, ect are "healthy" for their dog/cat needs to rethink what kind of pet they have.

Celebrities. Oh how I want to scream and hit owners when I see people "tsst"ing their dogs while they poke them in the neck or alpha rolling them because they saw Cesar Millan (who ftr, HAS A WARNING ON HIS SHOW NOT TO DO WHAT HE DOES FOR A REASON!) do it. If you're training your dog or feeding a food because someone famous did it/made it.......Please don't have animals and I'd go as far as saying you probably shouldn't have kids either.

Pet foods being around forever....Hmm...Already covered that when I said food changes and you can't feed what once worked if it's no longer working. My parents fed Kibbles N' Bits, Ol' Roy, ect growing up. I wouldn't feed it to my pets if you PAID me. You also can't follow trends. For example, people who buy Orijen for their dogs and refuse to see that their dog ISN'T doing well on it but keep them on it because people praise it as "the best". No one food is best for all animals. It simply doesn't happen. I read the label EVERY time I buy a new bag or can of food to see if anything has changed. Every.Single.Time. I also keep old labels so if I think somethings changed, I have something to look back to and see if it really did.

While I don't agree with feeding a dog (and especially not a cat!!) corn, it's actually a myth that corn is a top allergen. Chicken actually is more often an allergy problem than corn is! Wheat, sorghum and soy are also huge problems. And I wont rant any more about how DOGS AND CATS DON'T NEED GRAINS!!!!! I also don't feed things like "meat meal" or "meat and bone meal" but I -will- feed named by-products like "chicken by-products" because dogs/cats do benefit from those. I feed fresh organs and bones (including feet and things) IRL....it doesn't make much difference being in the kibble as long as it's not "meat by-products" where I don't know what is going into each batch. Same for "animal fat", I'll feed pork fat, ect but nothing that isn't specifically identified. BHA/BHT/Ethoxyquin.....Again...I don't feed it. I'd feed grains before I fed my pets chemicals. Same for ingredients like menadione (synthetic vitamin K), propylene glycol and I also count "sugar" being an added ingredient as a damaging ingredient since we all know sugar isn't good for you, it's worse for your pets.

Pretty bags of pet food....Again. Please reconsider having a pet or child if you think pretty packaging makes a good food. Fruit Loops have a cool box AND a talking bird to advertise it....Doesn't mean it's healthy.

Already went over chemical ingredients...

TREATS!!!! I make them most the time so I know what's in them but when I do buy them from the store, I try to find healthy ones just as if I was looking for dog/cat food. But I'll admit I'm guilty of getting my dogs Canine Carryouts or Pupperonis for Christmas or their birthdays each year, it's like crack to them. And if I can have the occasional alcoholic drink they can have the occasional "bad" treat too. But I don't make a habit of it.

Though I also don't feed my pets kibble day after day with no variety. I switch up brands, feed canned foods and offer raw meals several days a week for "fresh" nutrition and because raw bones are great for their teeth.

It's late and I'm exhausted but I'm pretty sure I covered all the points I wanted to make.

That's kind of a bummer. The video is pretty funny since you can see the actual brands she is covering. She hauls out a bag and goes over it's ingredients.

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See, I thought you'd like the page

Okay Minka; Here is what I can tell you about the 600 tests. The food trials are overseen by Waltham. The tests are done at our plants. I can not list the individual tests by themselves. Nutro accepts no compromises on food quality and safety. This thread has drifted way too far. If you want to continue this via PM I would be more than happy to take it there.

No one invests more in pet quality and pet safety than we do. We invest millions of dollars to ensure the quality of our foods, and we rigorously check every product we produce. We know when it comes to your pet, you wouldn’t want it any other way.
Manufacturing
NUTRO®-Pet-Food-Manufacturing

• We produce our dry natural pet foods fortified with vitamins and minerals in our own facilities located in Lebanon, TN and Victorville, CA.
• We have dedicated quality experts in each of our facilities to ensure the quality and safety of our pet foods.
• We have dedicated sanitation experts in each of our facilities.
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• We adhere to GMP, GHP, and HACCP — all regulated by the FDA.
Testing
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• We’ve more than doubled ingredient tests just in the last 12 months and plan to keep up the effort.
• We test every grain shipment for mycotoxins before we even unload them.
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• We carefully test every finished product batch to confirm microbiological safety, nutritional compliance and shelf stability through oxidation testing before we ship them.
Freshness and Stability
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• We can trace all our ingredients back to the supplier it came from.
• We directly work with our suppliers to constantly monitor and improve the freshness, quality and stability of our ingredients.
• We adhere to highly sophisticated daily cleaning and sanitation plans supported by at least one complete shutdown for an in-depth cleaning and sanitation program per week.