(Sorry... I just can't help myself with those punny titles...!!)
I'm looking into grain-free dry for the kittens when my current bag of Blue Buffalo kitten formula gets low. I was looking at Blue Buffalo Wilderness kitten formula, and found that chicken meal and turkey meal are both high on the ingredient list (although deboned chicken is first).
I've read contradictory things about what "meal" means - that it can be any part of the animal just ground up, etc.
and is not desirable, or that it's drier/tougher cuts of meat ground up and is fine.
Here's what Blue's website states:
Definition of chicken meal:
Chicken meal is a highly digestible protein source produced by cooking chicken at high temperatures, extracting the fat and drying the meat residue. It is a meat protein, providing essential amino acids and fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals for muscle development and energy. It is naturally stabilized with mixed tocopherols and rosemary to preserve freshness.
Definition of turkey meal:
Dry, rendered or cooked ground clean whole turkey that is a high-quality protein source.
And then there's the "True Blue Promise" which states:
All BLUE healthy cat foods contain NO chicken or poultry by-product meals, artificial preservatives, corn, wheat or soy.
So, how do you feel about meal? (
sorry!) And do you think Blue Wilderness kitten formula is a good quality dry food for my fuzzballs?
I'm looking into grain-free dry for the kittens when my current bag of Blue Buffalo kitten formula gets low. I was looking at Blue Buffalo Wilderness kitten formula, and found that chicken meal and turkey meal are both high on the ingredient list (although deboned chicken is first).
I've read contradictory things about what "meal" means - that it can be any part of the animal just ground up, etc.
and is not desirable, or that it's drier/tougher cuts of meat ground up and is fine.Here's what Blue's website states:
Definition of chicken meal:
Chicken meal is a highly digestible protein source produced by cooking chicken at high temperatures, extracting the fat and drying the meat residue. It is a meat protein, providing essential amino acids and fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals for muscle development and energy. It is naturally stabilized with mixed tocopherols and rosemary to preserve freshness.
Definition of turkey meal:
Dry, rendered or cooked ground clean whole turkey that is a high-quality protein source.
And then there's the "True Blue Promise" which states:
All BLUE healthy cat foods contain NO chicken or poultry by-product meals, artificial preservatives, corn, wheat or soy.
So, how do you feel about meal? (
sorry!) And do you think Blue Wilderness kitten formula is a good quality dry food for my fuzzballs?
) Feet on the other hand I'd consider more of a dental treatment or a treat rather than "nutritious" but if it's mixed with plenty of MM there is no real harm in feeding it. Of course, those are in raw/whole form. But I wouldn't mind them being in a by-product mix if it involves other things as well. Hearts are considered a by-product but also a MM for instance, therefore if you have hearts, livers and necks in a by-product mix, it's actually not a big deal. Depending on the percentage of each it could actually be a full meal on it's own. That doesn't even include what other muscle meats (ie. "chicken meal") are added to the rest of the kibble/canned mix. As long as you balance out the calc-phos levels, a little extra bone is no problem. On the other hand, large amounts of liver can cause diarrhea and is high in vitamin A so I prefer not to feed foods where just "liver" is listed in the first 5 ingredients. 
When I feed it raw, even my 50lb GSD/Kelpie gets just a tiny bite.
