Which dry food is best?

What dry food do you think is best?


Product one:
Ingredients:
Chicken, Poultry Fat, Ground Wheat, Ground Corn, Ground Brown Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Extruded Whole Soybeans, Oat Groats, Wheat Gluten, DL-Methionine, Salt, Taurine, Yeast Culture, Lecithin, Natural Extractives of Cloves, Sage, and Rosemary, Dried Kelp, Garlic, Black Pepper, Artichoke, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus oryzae Fermentation Product, Dried Entercococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus lactis Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus niger Fermentation Product, Ascorbic Acid, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement.



Product 2:
Ingredients:
Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Natural Flavors, Rice Flour, Rice Protein Concentrate, Albacore Tuna Meal, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Oat Fiber, Yeast Culture, Potassium Chloride, Menhaden Fish Oil, Choline Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Inositol, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Dried Chicory Root, Cranberry Powder, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Calcium Iodate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid.

Product 3:
Ingredients:
Brown Rice, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Oat Fiber, Lamb Meal, Oatmeal, Potatoes, Duck Natural Flavor, Fish Meal, Carrots, Canola Oil, Brewers Yeast, Skim Milk, Dried Eggs, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, Vitamin E) Whole Ground Flaxseed, DL Methionine, Rosemary Extract, Kelp, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Cranberry Powder, Grapeseed Oil, Lecithin, Parsley Flakes, Tomato Pomace, Taurine, Zinc Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin C Supplement, Yucca Schidigera, Folic Acid, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (a source of Vitamin K activity), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Ethylene Diamine Dihydriodide, Sodium Selenite


AAHHH!!

I'd say #3 if it did'nt have brown rice as the first ingredient. Do you realize that this is the "reduced calorie" formula?

Opps, no. I think I meant to put down the Innova adult cat formula...

The Third one !!!

Mine are on Innova dry right now. They seem to really like it. However the fact that they put garlic and milk in it concerns me. I thought those ingredients were bad for cats

Originally posted by Sicycat
Mine are on Innova dry right now. They seem to really like it. However the fact that they put garlic and milk in it concerns me. I thought those ingredients were bad for cats

Click to expand...

My cats have been on Innova for a majority of the past 2yrs. and have done excellent on it.

The amount of garlic in Innova is minuscule. I emailed them a while back with my concerns about garlic and they were happy to address the issue. I can forward their response to you via email if you're interested.
Milk is a concern because many cats have a problem with lactose, however, the milk used in Innova is "lactose-free" according to their website.

I see that most people are choosing #3. Is that because of the overall ingredients? I don't always look closely at the ingredients in my cat food. But I've always been under the impression that a better product usually had the protein as the first ingredient (since felines and canines are on the carnivorous side) compared to rice or corn.

Have I been misinformed? Are there several schools of thought out there?

Well, even products, like product #1 that list chicken as their first ingredient can be misleading. If you were comparing two products that had the following:

Product #1- Chicken, Rice

Product #2- Chicken Meal, Rice

You might think both of them were the same, however, Product #2 actually has more Meat. Product #1 most likely has Rice as the first ingredient when the final kibble is produced. See, Chicken is pre-processed chicken and contains a lot of water whereas rice doesn't have as much so when the products are processed and water is removed, chicken drops from the main ingredient. Chicken meal however, is chicken that is already processed, so, in the water-free state it is still the first ingredient. I've seen a lot of grocery store brands list chicken first, and I think it's very misleading to people who don't know about the "meal" thing.

Thanks! The one with chicken meal is Nutro natural care. I knew that was an good food...that is what I have them on now but I am wondering if I should switch to a more premium brand like Innova, Wellness, natural balance...etc. Check out Blue Buffalo's ingredients...I thought this looked good:

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Rye, Chicken Fat, (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Citric Acid and Rosemary Extract), Menhaden Fish Meal, Whole Cranberries, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Whole Carrots, Alfalfa, Ground Flax Seed, Herring Oil, Sunflower Oil (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Sea Salt, Barley Grass, Whole Eggs, Dried Whey, Calcium Phosphate, Taurine, Dried Kelp, Lecithin, Parsley, Spirulina, Glucosamine, Yucca Schidigera, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bacillus Subtilis, Bifidobacterium Thermophilum, Bifidobacterium Longum, Enterococcus Faecium, Choline Chloride, Turmeric, Zinc Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Zinc), Iron Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Iron), Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Manganese), Copper Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Copper), Beta Carotene, Potassium Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Potassium), Natural Color, Niacin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (source of Vitamin C), Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Cobalt Proteinate (source of Chelated Cobalt), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide, Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite (source of Vitamin K activity), Sodium Selenite.


Crude Protein 34.0% min
Crude Fat 18.0% min
Crude Fiber 3.5% max
Moisture 10.0% max
Ash 6.0% max
Magnesium 0.10% max
Taurine 0.15% min


What do you think? Thanks in advance!

I've never tried Blue Buffalo but it looks like a good food IMO.

Those ingredients sound like good human food.... but cats are carnivores... I don't really think that rice, barley, oatmeal, rye, cranberries, potatoes, carrots, alfalfa and other things benefit them any more than having just the vitamins added. I think a lot of companies add ingredients that humans associate with health food but that do nothing for cats except take up room as filler material. Maybe someone can come up with a good reason why we should be feeding our cats grains and vegetables instead of meat...

My thoughts on the buffalo are also that it lists 4 grain sources very high up. If you combine them all, would they then be the #1 ingredient instead of meat?

The ingredient lists is worthless, if the company doesn't use a consistant quality controlled supplier for it's ingredients.

Remember that reading the ingredient list is only one thing you should look at when choosing a cat food. You should also investigate how long the brand has been manufactured, what their quality policy is, do they use the same suppliers for their ingredients, how often have they changed their forumula, have they ever had a recall of their food and what changes were implemented to avoid another recall etc.

I try to stay away from new foods on the market, only because there is no manufacturing history behind the food. With a new food, you don't really have an idea about quality policies, supplier issues etc. If there is no history of quality standards to go by, how can you trust a new pet food?

Just some things to consider.

Originally posted by nern
My cats have been on Innova for a majority of the past 2yrs. and have done excellent on it.

The amount of garlic in Innova is minuscule. I emailed them a while back with my concerns about garlic and they were happy to address the issue. I can forward their response to you via email if you're interested.
Milk is a concern because many cats have a problem with lactose, however, the milk used in Innova is "lactose-free" according to their website.

Click to expand...

Thank you I'd love if you could email their response to me.

[email protected]

I agree with Russian Blue, the ingredient list shouldn't be the only thing you judge foods by. By ingrdients I'd also pick #3 (which is the NB reduced cal, right?) but another thing you need to consider is how well the cats do on the food, and you can only figure this out by doing your own feeding trails.

I really like the Natural Balance and Innova, but it was just too rich for my older cat and gave her icky poos and a few extra pounds she really didn't need. So, she (and the others) are on Iams again and doing well. I have to admitt, one food I've always been very impressed with performance-wise is Eukanuba. The ingredients aren't perfect, but my cats (and dogs) have always done *wonderfully* on it.

I have an overweight cat so right now I'm looking at the carb % (DMB), then ingredient list.  As far as these ingredients, from what I've read elsewhere the 2nd & 3rd both have 'bad stuff' - fish meal, ground flaxseed, and synthetic Vitamin K (though it's very low on the list).  The 1st one looks high carb. but I'd want to see numbers to verify.  Most dry foods are high carb unless they're grain-free, but even then you can have things like potato (carb) and tapioca (high cal).  I know - and moreso the more I learn - that there is no perfect food, at least in dry.

Has anyone tried the Science Diet line? I've been feeding this to my kittens since I got them but have been thinking about switching because they eat A LOT and it's so expensive. They're 6 months and 8 months old. They weigh 10.5 and 11 lbs. They're not fat just big. Both Maine Coons. I want the best for my loves but if there's a less expensive brand that's just as good I'm in.

Science Diet dry is pretty crap, sorry. The Ideal Balance (?) is one of their better ones out there but it'd be better if you feed them canned, or at least incorporate canned food into their diet. It makes them feel more full, and the water content keeps them hydrated. Kitties fed solely on dry food are pretty perpetually dehydrated. Some cheaper but good canned foods include Friskies (Poultry Platter, Mixed Grill, and Country Style Dinner). Ultimately, you want to feed your kitties a high protein, minimum carbohydrate diet. Unfortunately, I'd say 99% of dry foods do not fit in that category. And the ones that do are very VERY expensive. 

http://catinfo.org has very good information regarding diet for kitties.

I agree with everything pinkman said and add Fancy Feast classic line and Sheba to the budget wet food list.

Awesome thanks!