There is no "safe" cat food anymore!

This is the conclusion I have come to. Whenever I find a food that my cats like (and keep down) and that does not seem to have any "evil" ingredients in it, I find out (or have someone tell me) about ANOTHER dangerous ingredient. For example,
Pride by Instinct has no corn, wheat, soy, carrageenan, artificial colors or preservatives, etc., but it has spinach, which is apparently just as awful. I read on ibdkitties.net that "Spinach does not belong in cat food!" Halo Spot's Stew fits the above criteria but has too many vegetables, according to some, and deadly garlic. These are just two of many examples. Red Barn Tricky Chicky seems okay, but I wonder what horrible things are lurking in it? BPA in the cans maybe?

I think all of the pet food companies need to sit down together with a team of veterinarians and agree on a list of things that they will stop putting in cat food so that people like me and probably some of you can stop worrying.

Lots of things don't belong in cat food, but they make it there because it may help fill out the food or it may market it better (people who don't read up on their pet nutrition will, by default, apply human nutrition to them), or using a certain ingredient makes it cheaper for the producer.

In the same fashion, no human foods are safe anymore either. You can find all the organic labels you want, chances are you're consuming something you disagree with, whether because it's GMO or has BGH or was sourced from countries or means that are against your morals or ideals in some way. Companies for pet and human food alike realize the impracticality of everyone being self-sustainable with food so they know they can get away with what they do.

Pet food companies, despite their claims, are not all about feeding pets better. They may be in the beginning, but as they become more established, unfortunately I think that vision fades into the background. They are about making money at the end of the day. Veterinarians practice medicine, not specifically nutrition. Many of their education programs are sponsored by pet food companies that fill food with junk. Why? Because for everyone, at the end of the day, it's still all about money. I'm not saying vets don't care or vets aren't sufficiently trained, but whether it's an office or a company, it's a business. If all those companies ever sat down together, they'd probably try to buy each other out. If they have any money-saving tips on making a food more people will buy, they would never share any knowledge with each other. Not in this world.

No pet food is perfect, and not for every cat. You really just have to choose your battles. I have a list of non-negotiable no-go ingredients. Realistically, if I were to look at everything I don't want to see in cat food (or human food), there is no logical way I could afford it unless I did it myself on my own farm. I'm sure frustration from commercial foods is what leads some people to choose feeding raw, but even then there are issues of sourcing quality and safe meats and supplements.

Exactly. I make my own. It's easy. But I can't afford to feed 10 cats organic chicken and turkey, grass fed and finished pastured beef. No way can I afford the local rabbit at $18 a pound (we're too close to the NYC restaurant market). So I get to worry about what the factory farmed chickens or pigs were fed, antibiotics in beef, GMO corn-fed meats, factory farming conditions....

If it isn't what's in the pet food, it's what's in the food of the animals in the pet food. :dk:

Of course... those are all issues with commercial pet foods, raw, canned, or kibble. Don't forget, with homemade you can cook if you're worried about bacterial risk in sourcing. Homemade does not only mean raw.

I realize that you're discussing problems with pet foods. However, the discussion is starting to take a turn to raw and making your own cat food. If you're going to continue discussing raw/homemade foods, kindly begin a thread in the Raw and Home-Cooked Forum. Thank you.