Corn Gluten Meal is a Key Protein for Cats!

 I was searching for some moderately priced cat food and thought why not check Costco! And I came across this

http://www.costco.com/Pet’s-Banquet...6-gallon-Sealed-Bucket.product.100014428.html

It lists corn as a benefit for healthy cats, "Corn Gluten Meal is a Key Protein for Cats". I thought corn was bad for them? O__o And then I read the review that said to give the food to your cat with some eggs and milk! O____O Am I correct in thinking that's a horrible idea?

Corn is not beneficial for cats in any way not even considering the GMO isuue. Cats are obligate carnivores who need their nutrition from animal based sources. Eggs are good. Cow's milk generally isn't because most cats are lactose intolerant to some degree.

You can definitely do better than this for a moderate price.  No corn isn't good for cats.  This even adds rice and soybeans to the corn and corn gluten.  I was looking for where you found the thing about milk and I saw it in the customer review.  Most cats, at least adult cats are lactose intolerant.  Giving an egg every so often is fine, I know a lot of people who do that.

I was told to avoid milk at all cost, unless it has been made specifically for cat consumption. And I was correct on my corn assumption, why would a cat food brand list that as one of its benefits? None the less the first benefit and most important one X_X it also has rice and other bad kitty stuff in it and it claims to be well balanced :/

Denice said:

 
You can definitely do better than this for a moderate price.  No corn isn't good for cats.  This even adds rice and soybeans to the corn and corn gluten.  I was looking for where you found the thing about milk and I saw it in the customer review.  Most cats, at least adult cats are lactose intolerant.  Giving an egg every so often is fine, I know a lot of people who do that.

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What cat food would you recommend? I'm a full time student with little funding X_X

Can you afford $15 a month? Friskies pates are the best of the least expensive options. It has a bit of grains, rice I think, but it has higher animal protein than all the other grocery store brands. If you have a Petsmart near you, Authority has a similar product at similar price.

Feed as much wet food as you can afford and as little dry as possible.

WOW - a 15 year shelf life? That in and of itself is scary!

Are you already familiar with the site written by vet Dr. Lisa Pierson? It has a basic overview of feline nutritional needs, and quite a bit of helpful information on how to choose foods. http://www.catinfo.org

You can save on the Friskies pate style canned food by buying the Poultry Platter in 13 ounce cans. :nod: You can open the can, freeze it in meal-sized portions, and thaw in lukewarm water as needed for feeding.


...and just for anyone interested, because of the title of the thread, here is research from 2002 indicating quite clearly that meat meal is a superior source of protein for cats over corn gluten meal.

The title is "Comparison of corn gluten meal and meat meal as a protein source in dry foods formulated for cats" and was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/ab...ield%3A%28bones+and+cats%29&searchHistoryKey=

Of course, Dr. Pierson's site explains why it's best not to feed kibble at all, if you can afford to avoid it. :rub:

Well, that IS a emergency food source. . .it would do OK in an emergency, I think. I know I'm not going to be eating those emergency food packs for funsies . They could have offered a more meat-based emergency food pack but i suppose it would be too expensive.

Pretty sure Costco has Friskies at a reasonable price. And I think I heard they have a Kirkland Signature canned food? But I haven't looked it up to be sure.

Right, good point about it being an emergency food. :lol3:

My kitties still get the odd can of Friskies, they all love it.  lt does have rice though, and most flavours have fish as 5th or 6th ingredient. Fancy Feast classic pate is also a good choice to add to a rotation.

Oh man, I missed that entirely. Head in bag smiley here. But, but, but it's a 6 gallon bucket. How long do they expect this emergency to last?

I guess they expect you have a lot of cats. Or it's meant for shelters? :dk: But I'm pretty sure the shelf life is that long if unopened... not once it's opened, surely. Right? :lol3:

I've been feeding my kitten Friskies Pates, I've had her for 3weeks now, she's almost 9weeks old O: so soon >.< I occasionally give her 9 lives and Wellness. I'm a newbie when it comes to being a cat owner, is that a good d for her? I worry I'm doing something wrong XD she's on a wet diet for the most part, one dry meal a week for when I'm gone for a couple of hours.

Andrya said:

 
My kitties still get the odd can of Friskies, they all love it.  lt does have rice though, and most flavours have fish as 5th or 6th ingredient. Fancy Feast classic pate is also a good choice to add to a rotation.

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I've been told too much fish is a bad thing, so I worry with Friskies, doesn't almost all of it have fish in it somewhere?

LDG said:

I guess they expect you have a lot of cats. Or it's meant for shelters?

But I'm pretty sure the shelf life is that long if unopened... not once it's opened, surely. Right?

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LDG said:

WOW - a 15 year shelf life? That in and of itself is scary!

Are you already familiar with the site written by vet Dr. Lisa Pierson? It has a basic overview of feline nutritional needs, and quite a bit of helpful information on how to choose foods. http://www.catinfo.org

You can save on the Friskies pate style canned food by buying the Poultry Platter in 13 ounce cans.

You can open the can, freeze it in meal-sized portions, and thaw in lukewarm water as needed for feeding.


...and just for anyone interested, because of the title of the thread, here is research from 2002 indicating quite clearly that meat meal is a superior source of protein for cats over corn gluten meal.

The title is "Comparison of corn gluten meal and meat meal as a protein source in dry foods formulated for cats" and was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.

http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/ab...ield%3A%28bones+and+cats%29&searchHistoryKey=

Of course, Dr. Pierson's site explains why it's best not to feed kibble at all, if you can afford to avoid it.

Click to expand...

Willowy said:

Well, that IS a emergency food source. . .it would do OK in an emergency, I think. I know I'm not going to be eating those emergency food packs for funsies

. They could have offered a more meat-based emergency food pack but i suppose it would be too expensive.

Pretty sure Costco has Friskies at a reasonable price. And I think I heard they have a Kirkland Signature canned food? But I haven't looked it up to be sure.

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I couldn't find any other kitty food online for Costco :/ Just that one.

LDG said:

I guess they expect you have a lot of cats. Or it's meant for shelters?

But I'm pretty sure the shelf life is that long if unopened... not once it's opened, surely. Right?

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You can only hope so right! lol

Yes, l think only 2 of their flavours don't contain fish. l'm willing to give mine fish one or two meals a week max, but you're right, it shouldn't be a staple for every meal. Wellness is a great choice 

Yes, but I think it's no more of a risk than many ingredients in lower cost foods. :dk:

Andrya said:

 
Yes, l think only 2 of their flavours don't contain fish. l'm willing to give mine fish one or two meals a week max, but you're right, it shouldn't be a staple for every meal. Wellness is a great choice 

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Do you know which two those are?

LDG said:

Yes, but I think it's no more of a risk than many ingredients in lower cost foods.

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Which lower cost food would you recommend? Which ingredients should I DEFFINATLY avoid at all costs?

I buy the Friskies pate non-fish based foods for the feral kitties, and I buy Fancy Feast classic cans (non-fish based as the main ingredient) when on sale.

I make my indoor pet kitties' food myself. It's cheaper, actually, than the canned food I was feeding them. I buy meat when it's on sale, and stock up. With basic supplements and some expensive meats in there (lamb, rabbit, venison, and unenhanced turkey breast & thigh), it costs less than $1 a day per cat. Cut out the expensive meats, and the cost come down further.

OK, just plugged it into the spreadsheet. If I take out all of those more expensive meats, and split the meals between chicken breast, thigh, and pork, the cost comes down to $0.64 per cat per day. But I'm able to take advantage of sale prices, so don't pay more than $1.99 a pound for the chicken breast (boneless), boneless chicken thigh, or pork loin.