Cat Food Advice Needed -> Rotation Diets, Grain-Free, Controversial Ingredients

How wonderful are you for doing this! We listened to our vet when we rescued our first cat, and vets are notoriously lacking in GOOD nutritional information, as I have since discovered. I didn't question it for too long, and fed my cats a completely species inappropriate diet.

Cats have no nutritional requirement for carbs, period. They are carnivores, unlike dogs, which are omnivores. They can't synthesize a number of amino acids and vitamins and MUST get them directly from meat (or proper supplements in the food - but this just speaks to how specialized their digestive system is to a carnivorous diet). Unfortunately, "grain free" is often just a marketing thing - and they substitute other starches and carbohydrates with other things like potatoes or peas. And any time you see "carrot" in the ingredient list, think "filler." Cats can't process beta carotene into Vitamin A.

There are a few really excellent threads on the site discussion nutritional requirement of cats and the diets.

Here is a good starting place: Best diet for cats? http://www.thecatsite.com/t/235022/best-diet-for-cats

Here is a thread with information about commercial canned and kibble foods - this identifies a number of canned products without questionable ingredients: Nutritionally complete assurances for our pet food? http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239691/nutritionally-complete-assurances-for-our-pet-food

In fact, even though you're probably not considering feeding raw (there are a LOT of commercial products available that make it quite easy), this thread has great resource lists that have information on other foods too: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240809/raw-feeding-resource-thread

But if you want a species-appropriate diet and don't want to feed raw, you'll focus on the brands that are primarily just meat. Like EVO or Instinct or Before Grain, and feed only canned food.

Welcome to TCS . I totally second everything Laurie just mentioned above. I would only recommend wet food as well and the best wet cat foods IMO are Instinct, EVO, Wellness Core, Before Grain, Weruva and Natural Balance. The links posted above will be of great assistance in your search as well. It can be a daunting task searching for the best diet for your cat. There really are more quality brands available today than ever before. It is worth the effort and you will feel good about feeding your kitty something you have researched and believe in. Much luck! Hope you enjoy your time here on site