Tearing hair out over which food

Hi kitty lovers!

Like so many others I'm in search of the perfect canned food. So my real question is: Does it even exist?

Mine do love love love dry food. Not sure why - they get it sparingly. I hate giving it at all but if they won't touch their wet food then I'm out of luck. Solid Gold Hollistic Moon and Nature's Variety Raw Boost dry is all they have now but they're total addicts since the canned isn't cutting it for them. (Thanks EVO)

Just when I think I have the perfect canned brand (Taste of the Wild, Wellness, Blue Buffalo (eh), Halo (ew garlic & tomatoes!), EVO, By Nature) I notice some questionable ingredient that ruins the whole love affair with that food:

(http://www.naturalnews.com/Report_pet_food_ingredients_3.html)

Dicalcium Phosphate (can become toxic)

Sodium Phosphate (Non-digestible source of phosphorous)

Salt (why so high on label?!)

Pea Flour/Rice Flour

Carrageenan, Guar Gum, Soy Bean Oil, Locust Bean Gum (seriously, why?)

Potatoes & other carby veggies

Meat processed in/from China

So I now give supplemental (it's about 10%-20% of their mostly-canned diet)

Chicken liver (lightly cooked)

Deli Chicken sliced (very rarely)

Occasional whole egg or yolk.

Bravo Balance Raw (the chicken burgers) and of course chicken meat if we're cooking any.

Freeze-dried Liver (Grandma Lucy's)

+ Nordic Natural's Omega 3 for small pets (only a couple drops a day, if I remember to use it)

My little'ns have been going off their food left right and centre. They hate EVO, sadly.   Both are now 9 months old (non-related) and I've been trying really hard to do all the right things with their food but it's crazy how many brands and ingredients there are to sieve through!  Having gone from Petco.com to Wag.com only to find that my cats won't eat anything I buy from Wag.com (not sure why?) I'm at a loss.

So has anyone come up with the perfect canned food?  Or will I have to bite the bullet and start making it myself since the pet food companies clearly don't know (read: care) the first thing about what's good for our sweet but oblivious babies?

I'm very tempted with the raw diet recipes but I'm scared to try it really and I'm not well off right now.

I do hope pet owners are becoming more aware about these problems as it's turned me into a label-freak in all aspects of my life (for which I'm glad as who wants to be a blind consumer!?)  So I'd love to hear from people who are just as worried about this whole thing.

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Thanks so much in advance, sorry it's a long post!  

I just want my little guys to look and feel fantastic, grow big and strong (and grow old!), but I'm just scared I'm slowly poisoning them while lining the wallets of some sick companies like Halo or Blue Buffalo.

I don't think there is a perfect canned food.  My kitties also love kibble unfortunately.  Their favorite wet food is anything with fish in it, they would eat it every day if I let them but that causes issues as well.  My kitties will only keep eating wet food if they get a variety.  They will quit eating a food, unless it's fish if I try to feed them the same food to many days in a row.  I personally think that Hounds and Gatos http://houndgatos.com/  comes the closest for a canned food but it contains guar gum as a thickener.  It also has a very limited store distribution which means ordering online. 

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf   I don't know if you have seen this chart.  It shows the protein, fat and carb percentages for most commercial foods sold in the U.S.  You may just have to get several kinds that are high protein and low carb and give them a different kind several times a week to keep them eating the wet food.

I feel ya about what they put in foods. It's hard to feed humans sometimes!

As far as raw or home-cooked, we have a subforum that can help you. Due to buying chicken thighs on sale for $0.99/lb and stocking up, I can feed 3 cats twice a day for less than $1/day. Yes, I bought a grinder and a deep freezer which enables this. I'd start searching Craigslist for a deep freezer anyway to help save costs period.

Also, be aware that you don't have to feed 100% raw. Lots of raw feeders feed canned and I think one here reported feeding a small amount of kibble when away for long hours. I feed mine strictly raw due to costs but also because my cats had such awful diarrhea on canned and raw cleared that up.

I feel your pain. I think this is one of the reasons many advocate for feeding a variety. I'm not sure which is better... a lot of one or two things from feeding one brand, or a little of a whole bunch by feeding several brands.

I just switched to all raw. I bought a small, inexpensive grinder, and I did 30 pounds of meat, which easily fit into my tiny freezer with lots of room to spare. I may just do 10 pounds or so next time. I can do that a couple of times a month, rotating meats. Doing 30 pounds is sort of brutal, especially when it comes to breaking all those supplements open. 

I hear you too!  It's very painful trying the find the perfect food, and then, even when you find something that sounds really good, your cat might not like it. .

If I were you, I would seriously consider making their food.  You don't have to go with raw, if that scares you, but you can still COOK their food.  We have a subforum to this Nutrition Forum that is Raw and Homecooked Cat Food. Within that is this sticky:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264153/home-cooked-cat-food-resources  which should give you all kinds of good information.  I currently feed raw to one of mine, and canned to the others because they are on a raw strike.  I've also cooked some meals for my strikers, and one of them loved the cooked chicken thigh food, but the one I was really cooking for didn't care for it, so I didn't make another batch (long story).  I'm seriously thinking about starting it up again as it's SO MUCH cheaper than buying even the cheapest canned food...seriously! And I know exactly what's in it.   And it's extremely easy.  All you have to do is pop whatever meat you are using in the over, then once it's cooked, add in your supplements (which you can buy to include the calcium), shred it, or grind it, or puree it, or chop it, or fix it however your cats prefer to have it and feed it.  Then freeze the remainder in little ziploc bags for future meals.  How easy is that!