Chicken by products in dry food?

I thought I had better keep my kittens who turn one beginning of April on the same brand of dry food they have been on since kittens. Vets happen to have a big bag that should last a long time and convinced hubby it was the way to go as to not stress them out. Last night looking at the ingredient on the bag the first ingredient is chicken by products. My stomach sank! Why had I not paid attention earlier as from what I have read no one has any idea what part of the chicken that is! The other ingredients are not great either! Only thing is we have two cats to feed and this big bag seemed the way to go when switching to cat food. They have also been on the kitten version of this and they are healthy and happy.
If I tell my hubby I want to go looking for something else he will not be happy as he hates I stress about feeding them. So how bad is chicken by products anyway?
On a side note, how does one store a big bag of dry food when there is no zip seal like the little bags. I read to keep in original packaging to keep nurturant a from depleting and keep it fresh. But how to you keep it closed?

newkittyowner said:

I thought I had better keep my kittens who turn one beginning of April on the same brand of dry food they have been on since kittens. Vets happen to have a big bag that should last a long time and convinced hubby it was the way to go as to not stress them out. Last night looking at the ingredient on the bag the first ingredient is chicken by products. My stomach sank! Why had I not paid attention earlier as from what I have read no one has any idea what part of the chicken that is! The other ingredients are not great either! Only thing is we have two cats to feed and this big bag seemed the way to go when switching to cat food. They have also been on the kitten version of this and they are healthy and happy.
If I tell my hubby I want to go looking for something else he will not be happy as he hates I stress about feeding them. So how bad is chicken by products anyway?
On a side note, how does one store a big bag of dry food when there is no zip seal like the little bags. I read to keep in original packaging to keep nurturant a from depleting and keep it fresh. But how to you keep it closed?

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While by-products are not great, especially in dry food, I would be more concerned with other ingredients such as corn, wheat and soy. I think we've all made this kind of decision, only to regret it later so don't beat yourself up about it. There are things you can do to compensate, like feeding a good quality wet food to ensure that your kitties are getting enough moisture, and a good amount of protein. The dry food can be used supplementary until you can transition to something else. The other option is that some food is guaranteed by the manufacturer and so you might want to look into this where you purchased the bag, or see if there is something written on the bag that suggests that it can be returned for exchange or refund.

As for keeping your kibble fresh, if you have a cupboard somewhere that you know stays cool, this would be a good place to keep the kibble. You want to avoid heat. I currently use a bit of Nature's Variety Rabbit dry as a supplement in the afternoon (my crew gets mostly wet canned). The seal on the NV bag is not working well however, so I just tie a string and place the works into a plastic garbage bag. You could also use a bungy cord to tie the bag which might be more convenient.

Thanks for your reply. I just bought the dry food last night and it's a big bag by the way that won't fit in a cupboard, bungy cord may be the way to go or rope. Yes I think it has corn in it. I have not opened the bag yet as I have a little of the dry kitten left and the lady at the vets gave me a small ziplock bag of kitten to make sure I had enough to do transition. So I am pretty sure if I found something else tomorrow before opening the big bag from the vets that I could return it. They are pretty good there. The bag is 15 pounds / 6.8kg.  It cost 75.33 Canadian that was with tax. I say Canadian cause a lot are in States on here and prices are cheaper there I think. Anyways I want to find something better for them but no more or better yet less money and about the same amount of food, I got my hubby to agree to the vet stuff price so I need similar in price and amount.  Suggestions welcome! Thanks!

newkittyowner said:

 
Thanks for your reply. I just bought the dry food last night and it's a big bag by the way that won't fit in a cupboard, bungy cord may be the way to go or rope. Yes I think it has corn in it. I have not opened the bag yet as I have a little of the dry kitten left and the lady at the vets gave me a small ziplock bag of kitten to make sure I had enough to do transition. So I am pretty sure if I found something else tomorrow before opening the big bag from the vets that I could return it. They are pretty good there. The bag is 15 pounds / 6.8kg.  It cost 75.33 Canadian that was with tax. I say Canadian cause a lot are in States on here and prices are cheaper there I think. Anyways I want to find something better for them but no more or better yet less money and about the same amount of food, I got my hubby to agree to the vet stuff price so I need similar in price and amount.  Suggestions welcome! Thanks!

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Oh good! Problem solved then if you haven't opened the bag

I would suggest, if you are looking for a good quality grain-free food, to see if you can find Orijen Cat and Kitten. This is a dry kibble that is made here in Canada, and is one of the better dry foods. It will be similarly priced with what you paid for the other kibble, but much better ingredients. Look for this in small pet food boutiques and some groomers and you will probably do a bit better for the price. You will likely not find this at PetSmart or PetValu. They don't sell Orijen there to my knowledge, and I think it has something to do with Orijen and their policy on where their food is sold. Below is a link to what you will be looking for.

http://www.orijen.ca/blog/products/cat-kitten/

I would still suggest going forward, that you not make dry food the main component of your cat's diet. Given that they are young, this is a good time to start now in getting them onto the right food from the get-go. Cats need high protein, low carb and moderate fat in their diet. So you could do 75% wet canned and the rest dry as a supplement. Some suggestions for canned food that is grain-free and moderately priced are :

Authority - no by-products or carageenan

Wellness - grain-free - has a few carbs in it - not carageenan-free

Wellness Core - grain-free but has a few carbs in it - carageenan-free

Fancy Feast - Pates only - grain-free/carageenan-free

oneandahalfcats said:

 I would still suggest going forward, that you not make dry food the main component of your cat's diet. Given that they are young, this is a good time to start now in getting them onto the right food from the get-go. Cats need high protein, low carb and moderate fat in their diet. So you could do 75% wet canned and the rest dry as a supplement. Some suggestions for canned food that is grain-free and moderately priced are :
Authority - no by-products or carageenan

Wellness - grain-free - has a few carbs in it - not carageenan-free

Wellness Core - grain-free but has a few carbs in it - carageenan-free

Fancy Feast - Pates only - grain-free/carageenan-free

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I would also advise to use kibble as just a fill-in until they are grown and then not at all.  You are much better off with cheap wet than a dry kibble.  Check out the website www.catinfo.org.  Even though it is written by an American vet, the nutrition information would still be valuable in helping you find a good inexpensive wet food.

Thanks everyone! So is it possible to do just two meals of wet which I currently do? The reason really that we can't do wet food during the day. We cut the wet food into four equal parts and then one of the quarters we then cut in half and share that between the two. Once in the morning and once in the evening. So how much wet food should I give them if I want to make it more of their diet? Also although I figured out one likes it warm and another doesn't the one that likes it warm sometimes still can turn her nose up at it and not eat so I need some dry down for her. Plus for convenience I need to feed dry. Even if we go away and have a friend look after them they can't come more than twice a day, morning and night.  How much less of the dry would I feed then, now much more of the wet? I find they just nibble on it and it's not all gone by the end of the day. I put half a cup in their bowl in the morning and half in the evening depending if they still have some left then less..  Sorry if I am a pain with all these questions but I want to do the best I can and afford. 

If I switch dry foods I need something I can find in a known store. So don't think that one you mentioned would work but I am going to check around.

Thanks

How old are these kittens?  1/8th of a can of food doesn't sound like much.  But yes, you can feed 2 meals/day wet and use the dry as fill in.

peaches08 said:

 
How old are these kittens?  1/8th of a can of food doesn't sound like much.  But yes, you can feed 2 meals/day wet and use the dry as fill in.

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1 years old beginning of April. So we are switching to cat food. We went with that amount because that is what the vet recommended. I was adamant I wanted to feed them wet food in their diet but he was saying all dry was fine. My husband agreed and I went with it but my husband was okay with the amount of wet. So how much wet then morning and night and I won't be able to afford high quality canned food although heck I was blind and we were paying over 2 bucks per can for wet food from the vets. They are not over weight and are healthy and happy and love to play and sleep!

newkittyowner said:

 
1 years old beginning of April. So we are switching to cat food. We went with that amount because that is what the vet recommended. I was adamant I wanted to feed them wet food in their diet but he was saying all dry was fine. My husband agreed and I went with it but my husband was okay with the amount of wet. So how much wet then morning and night and I won't be able to afford high quality canned food although heck I was blind and we were paying over 2 bucks per can for wet food from the vets. They are not over weight and are healthy and happy and love to play and sleep!

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I am glad you didn't take the advice of your vet in feeding an all dry diet! ...

Do you know the weight of your kitties? Are they large-framed or average in size. Are your cats active and go outside or indoor only? This information will help to determine how much they should be getting each day. For example, an average 8-10 pound cat needs roughly 200-240 calories per day. Average cans of canned wet food run anywhere from 140 calories to 220 per can, depending on the variety.

Regarding the Orijen, if you go to the following page at the Orijen website and plug in your postal code or zip code, you will be able to find out where you can buy this food in your area : http://www.orijen.ca/where-to-buy/

EDIT: If you can't locate the Orijen, my next suggestion would be Nature's Variety Instinct Dry. This is another good quality kibble that comes in novel proteins like rabbit, duck, venison and lamb. They also have very good wet canned diets that are high protein/low carb: http://www.naturesvariety.com/products/cat. This food is considered premium and so may be a little more or the same as what you are paying now.

Thanks looked into both you suggested and I can't find them. Also they are just on a chicken flavored hard food and wet. Would it upset them to go to a different flavour in hard as I notice a lot out there has fish and I hear fish is bad for them

newkittyowner said:

Thanks looked into both you suggested and I can't find them. Also they are just on a chicken flavored hard food and wet. Would it upset them to go to a different flavour in hard as I notice a lot out there has fish and I hear fish is bad for them

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It shouldn't be a problem to switch between brands and flavors of wet food, its just the dry food that you have to be careful with in transitioning slowly. Too much too fast can cause stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhea. There are usually instructions on the bag of dry food for transitioning from one dry food to another. You would do the transition over a couple of weeks starting with 75% old / 25 new, then 50 old / 50 new, 25 old / 75 new, etc.

If you can give me a few names of what you can get locally, I can take a look and give you some suggestions. Obviously you want to avoid things like corn, wheat, soy, rice, barley. Look for meat protein as first ingredients. Try and avoid foods with sweet potato or potatoes high up in the ingredients list.

Just noticed online a store called tsc carries a brand called cat max, anyone used this and recommend? I would have to check they regularly carry it. I think blue buffalo is one I could get too but not sure the price. I will get back to you on brands tomorrow as I am going to scowler the stores tomorrow. Cat max might be good from what I read and it's cheaper! On line I saw it was roasted chicken flavour and grain free

I don't know anything about Cat Max but if you are going to TSC, look for Taste of the Wild. This would be another decent grain-free dry kibble but is a bit carb-heavy. I have read here that one member found this at her local TSC. There are only two varieties of TOTW however. Rocky Feline and Canyon River. TOTW also does a canned wet food.

EDIT: There is a Nutro Max Cat Dry food at TSC. Is this what you are talking about : http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...t-adult-roasted-chicken-flavor-cat-food-16-lb

In looking at the ingredients, this one has Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Ground Rice at the top of the list. For this reason I wouldn't recommend it.

EDIT: There is a Nutro Max Cat Dry food at TSC. Is this what you are talking about : http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/sto...t-adult-roasted-chicken-flavor-cat-food-16-lb

In looking at the ingredients, this one has Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Ground Rice at the top of the list. For this reason I wouldn't recommend it.
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Yes that is the one and it doesn't sound good does it! Too bad as its a little more food and cheaper than what I have now although what we feed now isn't any better by the sounds of the ingredients. I will take a look at the petsmart Canada site and see what they have. We have a pet smart in the next city near us about 20 minutes away. My concern is the food being in stock as I did switch till something healthy for then way back when and then the pet store here couldn't get it in. It was rather stressful. I will look at pet smart but after that if I don't find anything I will have to feed the stuff we got sadly I am tired of looking. Thanks and I will post any brands if I feel I might try them and get opinions.

Okay, good that you can get to a PetSmart. This should give you a few more choices.

A couple of foods to look for (in order of preference from better to okay) :

Wellness Core Grain-free Adult Cat

Innova PRIME Adult Cat Food

Wellness Complete Health

These are all grain-free foods but the last two will contain more carbs. Ultimately, if you can get your cats eating a majority of wet canned throughout the day, then the dry food becomes less important. .. Don't give up! You are doing the right thing. In feeding a good diet right from the start, your kitties will encounter fewer problems with health issues down the road.

Good luck tomorrow, and let us know how things go.

What is your take on Authority brand at pet smart? as I read some good reviews.

Thanks I just wrote something not having seen your message above. Thanks for the suggestions. I think I have looked at those when they were kittens and they were pricey but I will take another gander.

Authority wet canned would be quite fine. I would avoid the Authority dry food - not good!

While you are at PetSmart, you should familiarize yourself with their selection of canned wet food. Authority is reasonably priced grain-free canned food which does not contain by-products. Here is a link to the flavors : http://www.authoritypetnutrition.com/cat-products/adult/canned-food.shtml

Another reasonably priced canned cat food is Fancy Feast Pates which are grain-free and do not contain carageenan. The shredded or Chunky varieties of Fancy Feast will contain carageenan however, if this is an issue for you.

EDIT: Forgot to mention.. Some of the larger pet stores will have small sample packs of different dry foods. You might want to ask about this tomorrow. They may be free or $2 a bag at most? Great way to try new things. Also, don't feel that you have to buy a big bag right now. In going with a 2kg for instance, you avoid making a big investment in case your kitties don't like a particular dry food.

Thanks! I will ask about the samples. Hubby and I were thinking big bags of something as more is usually cheaper that buying a lot of smaller bags as we were finding with current food. The current kitten food is 21 plus tax for one small bag and the big bag of the adult works out to less. Will do some shopping around tomorrow, thanks!

newkittyowner said:

Thanks! I will ask about the samples. Hubby and I were thinking big bags of something as more is usually cheaper that buying a lot of smaller bags as we were finding with current food. The current kitten food is 21 plus tax for one small bag and the big bag of the adult works out to less. Will do some shopping around tomorrow, thanks!

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Something else I should have mentioned is that big bags go stale quicker.  You also increase bacterial/fungal risks with big bags due to them being opened over longer periods of time.

When I fed canned I looked for sales and compared labels of the store brand vs the name brands.  My Grey (RIP) preferred one store brand over the name brand.