I see where you are coming from with the whole by-products thing because technically cats would eat All of their prey and not just the meat, but the problem is that we don't know What is in the by-products. Is it animals that were already dead? It is pets? Is it zoo animals? How much of what? They really can get away with almost anything by using that term.Originally Posted by ScottP
My personal criteria for canned cat food selection is that it does NOT contain any BHA, BHT, ethoxyquin, carrageenan, or any type of fruit or vegetable whole, starch or gluten (corn, wheat, rice, soy, barley, etc.) and lists a muscle meat as the primary ingredient. By "muscle meat" I mean the first ingredient listed should be something like chicken, turkey, salmon, etc. and not "chicken by-products", or "chicken meal" or even "water necessary to..." which I see on a lot of canned food as the primary ingredient.
Now some people will say that you should avoid any type of "by-product" all together, but foods that do not have any by-products are generally much higher in fat content than foods that do contain by-products. For this reason I don't mind by-products as long as they are not the primary ingredient.
For instance the first 7 ingredients of Fancy Feast Cod, Sole & Shrimp Feast are: "Cod, liver, meat by-products, fish, fish broth, sole, shrimp", now compare that to first 7 ingredients of 9-Lives Seafood Platter: "Meat by-products, water sufficient for processing, poultry by-products, fish, chicken, calcium carbonate, guar gum". Notice that in the Fancy Feast by-products don't appear until the third ingredient, and good muscle and organ meat are 5 of the first 7 ingredients. Now looking at the 9-Lives you see that by-products are the very first ingredient and then water is the next ingredient, followed by more by-product. This means 9-Lives is a much lower quality food. Also every flavor of 9-Lives I have seen contains carrageenan which can cause inflammation in your cat.
One more thing just because one flavor of a particular brand is good, does NOT mean that all flavors are just as good. For instance some flavors of Fancy Feast do have by-products as a first ingredient OR contain corn, soy, or other plant based protein which is not very good for your cat. I do not buy these flavors. The bottom line is learn to read the ingredients and label information to make smart choices that you can afford.
Also Arlyn is right, there's nothing wrong with chicken meal, it just means it's been concentrated so if you see: Lamb, chicken meal, corn, etc; chicken is actually the main source of protein in that food.
What bothers me about the fancy feast is the lack of Named sources. It says liver is second (which is too much if I'm not mistaken), but not from what animal it came from. (Or animals.)
Meat by-products basically means anything under the sun.
Fish means any kind of fish. And fish broth.. well I'm sure I know what it means but I'm not sure I want to know.