How many dog foods are safe for cats?

sarah ann

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I know this has been discussed before. Right now my cat is on Natural Balance Pork dog food as based on the nutritional analysis, most of his requirements are met with the exception of taurine.

Many of the requirements for dogs, are the same as for cats, as long as you pick a food for all life stages (not just for adults).  With the exception of the following:

Protein (arginine, histidine, isoleucene, leucine, lysine etc)

Fat

Magnesium

Copper

manganese

vitamin A

vitamin D

thiamin

riboflavin

niacin

pyridoxine

folic aicd

and choline

So if anyone is interested feeding dog food to their, they can ask the company for the above list of nutrients. Most dog food companies will supplement more than the necessary amount of the above listed nutrients, making their foods suitable for cats.

This means, at least for some dog foods, they can be safely fed to cats with the addition of a taurine supplement.

That said, before choosing to feed a dog food to your cat, make sure you have done your homework and checked nutrient levels!  Dogs do not have the same protein requirements as cats, so be sure to look for a high quality protein first. Then contact the company to see if the food can be safely fed with the addition of a taurine supplement.

Natures Variety instinct dog food (only instinct and not others) can be safely fed to cats as well.

I've heard but not confirmed that wild calling canned dog food can be fed to cats with a taurine supplement.

If anyone is interested in contacting other companies and sharing the results here? It would be interesting to see what other dog foods would be okay for cats. 

Considering cat food is so much more expensive than dog food (especially when feeding canned), this could save some users money.

  For me, this was a last ditch effort to try and cure my cat's terrible food allergies to just about everything. Apparently pork is an okay protein for him. It was either pork or start feeding him dead mice, and I just was not ready to try mice yet!  Although I'm sure my cat would eat them, I just don't like the thought of it!
 

Willowy

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Evo 95% canned food is exactly the same for cats and dogs. But they cost about the same on chewy so it doesn't really matter. Although they once had the dog Evo 95% on sale so I bought that instead of the cat food.

I think a lot of the higher-end canned dog foods would be OK for cats, taurine added if necessary. Not a lot of dry foods though.
 

sivyaleah

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Instinct brand is ok for cats also.  It has taurine added in. In fact, if you buy a larger can of the one marketed for dogs, you'll get a lot more  bang for your buck.  It's substantially less price than the one they have in the cat section.  If you have multiple cats, it can be a really good deal.  I had tried doing this but there was too much left over for 2 cats, and both of mine dislike leftovers.  
 

lisamarie12

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Natures Variety instinct dog food (only instinct and not others) can be safely fed to cats as well.
NV Instinct can be safely fed to cats and dogs b/c it is the exact same formula (the canned food), same ingredients in the exact same order for dogs and cats, approved by AAFCO for both.  The only difference is that one has a photo of a dog, another of a cat.

As you mentioned, there is enough taurine for cats; dogs need taurine as well for cardiovascular health.
 
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