Help on a cat "SUPER" food. Is it too good to be true??

Hello!!

Could some of you that are more versed on cat nutrition please weigh in on this food??

I saw it first on the TV Show "Shark Tank", where the formulator, a Vet of over 40 years was attempting to secure money from these investors with deep pockets in order to take the marketing of his pet "Super Food" to new heights. The investors didn't go for it, but the food the Dr. had formulated seemed very interesting to me. Whole, organic and nutritionally sound, once I looked into it.

But I don't know a WHOLE LOT about cat nutrition.

It's very well priced, I am currently feeding an expensive food anyway.

I am interested in the food, AND the supplement.

I have included the product page (to the cat products, they have dog as well) of their website. I found "ingredient" lists, but not any nutrition information as to what kinds of minerals and the levels that are in them. But I could be looking in the wrong place too.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for any help you can give me!!

http://www.cornucopiapetfoods.com/pr...cts/6-cat-food

If nothing else, I'd be calling doctor and asking if this food has been through AAFCO certification. If not, why not? Then I'd be asking my own vet (sure, vets may not be certified feline nutritionists, but any good vet has seen the results of both good and bad nutrition).

My first thought really is that anything too good to be true probably isn't true. Other thought is that everything started small at some time, so maybe not rule out immediately, but I'd be very cautious with any product that's only available on the web or via infomercial, and that's not giving me exact ingredient list (heck, the much reviled on the internet Science Diet provides more info on the cans than this food does). I can't find much on Dr. Broderick on the net through a quick google.

Maybe I'm just cranky, but if a company can't spell I'm immediately suspicious about the quality of their products. Of course a typo or 2 will always pop up, but "thikining" (for thickening)? That's pretty bad.

I agree that you should find out if the foods are AAFCO certified. If not, maybe you could give them as treats, but definitely not as the sole diet.

Agreeing with the above speakers.

The list as such looks good, even avesome. At least with a quick look.

Myself am wondering, what "cat vitamines", and "cat minerales" is?? Why dont write it out, if he already does write up the content list?

Write out in clear the "pocents" would be nice, Ie how many procent proteins, colhydrates [carbohydrates], ash, etc. And ratio animal - vegetabilic. Although I presume the animalic ratio is high, and so protein too rather high.

If you could find out the mineral contents of this food, then find out how much the AACFO levels are, and supplement to that level, then sure, this would work.
You technically 'can' formulate a food that works for cats and dogs in theory, but in practice its usually a bad idea and I never feed foods that say they are alright for everybody.

Also contains carrageenan which is one of those suspicious ingredients that may have negative side effects. And that they tell you it contains binders but not what kind is fishy also.

I think his heart is in the right place, but he needs to give better label information before I would ever buy that food.

Knowing how tightly AAFCO is associated with the industry it's intended to oversee, from a feline nutritional perspective, I put no value on AAFCO certifications (pet food industry big wigs are either on AAFCO's board or are part of AAFCO's advisory board).

From that same perspective, I wouldn't feed these products for a couple of reasons. First, there is no guaranteed analysis (percentage protein, fat, fiber, water), which is pretty important information to have and the lack of which is a deal breaker for me. Second, that ingredients list includes stuff I would never feed my cat - salt, for instance!

AC

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

ingredients list includes stuff I would never feed my cat - salt, for instance!
AC

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They stress the salt amounts are minimal. Apparently they mean it is common with salt in cat food. They do hint others have more.
I dont remember if others do write about it. But I wouldnt be surprised if there WAS some salt in normal cat products. Perhaps disguised as "minerals."

Besides There must be some salt naturally, both here and in all good products, as there is meat and fish, and this carragenan or kelp, both a sorts of sea weeds.

With salt I presume we are talking about NaCl, "kitchen salt",
as the other ions like Ca and Mg are of course also in their salt form.
These latter are necessary, as long they arent too much.

It is too much which is dangerous.

From what I have read, if an ingredient ever so much as crosses one centimeter into a processing plant that isn't solely for human food production, it can no longer legally be called "human grade". Considering that on one of the pages he's hyping that its the only pet food to include anti-oxidants (clearly not true, many manufacturers have thrown some into their recipes for years), I'd question other unsubstantiated claims made.

Especially considering that the manufacturer apparently can't even spell the ingredients properly nor is there any guaranteed analysis of the actual contents of the can, I would wager that it is not regulated.

I would not be willing to assume that level of risk, as "more vitamins" is absolutely not a good thing in particular when it comes to fat soluble vitamins which over time can build up to toxic levels.

I would stick to safety regulated foods by the FDA/AAFCO, and if you were going to feed it, I'd consider it a supplement and not assume its complete and balanced.

Originally Posted by Ducman69

From what I have read, if an ingredient ever so much as crosses one centimeter into a processing plant that isn't solely for human food production, it can no longer legally be called "human grade".

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Do you have any links you can PM to me?

I don't recall the original articles I read as that was a while back, but a quick google search pulls this up: http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/art...-pet-food.html

AAFCO does not permit "grading" of food on the ingredients list as is done with this manufacturer, since its not defined, and the court case demonstrated that a particular company was only allowed to put "human grade" on the label portion of the can since the food was unusual in that it actually was processed entirely in a human food plant.

Wellness for example used to advertise that it used human grade meat, but subsequently had to remove such labels since final processing was a pet food plant.

Originally Posted by Minka

If you could find out the mineral contents of this food, then find out how much the AACFO levels are, and supplement to that level, then sure, this would work.
You technically 'can' formulate a food that works for cats and dogs in theory, but in practice its usually a bad idea and I never feed foods that say they are alright for everybody.

Also contains carrageenan which is one of those suspicious ingredients that may have negative side effects. And that they tell you it contains binders but not what kind is fishy also.

I think his heart is in the right place, but he needs to give better label information before I would ever buy that food.

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If you're looking for a canned food you can feed both, innova evo's 95% formulas are the same. You can confirm with the company but that's great in terms of buying one product for cats and dogs.