I & Love & You - Chicken & Duck dry food?

narelle

narelle

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I was looking at high quality dry foods and I'm really liking the looks of I & Love & You's Chicken and Duck variety.

Has anyone tried it? Were your cats fans of it? I really like the looks of it, but my cat is very picky.

Would anyone be able to tell me the volume of a bag?

I can't find that anywhere, they just list the weight, which doesn't help me much. I'm trying to calculate the cost difference of feeding all wet food vs. a can of wet with enough dry on the side to make up a full amount of food.

(i.e. When my cat eats Tiki Cat, based on her weight and the feeding instructions she should eat about 1 1/3 cans a day. This food gives her 1/2 cup per day. So I want to know the cost difference between feeding 1 1/3 cans and feeding 1 can and 1/8 cup of this dry. I'll calculate it myself, but I need a volume to do that.)

EDIT:
Figured out the volume stuff. Each 3.4 lb bag contains about 14.7 cups.
 
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missmimz

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I'm not sure i would label it "high quality" dry food when it has chickpeas as the fourth ingredient and almost everything after that is a filler veggie. 

IMO high quality is something like Orijen, I'd label this something in the mediocre range. 
 
catpack

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On a whole, supplementing with dry food is going to bring your monthly cost down. The exception to this would be if you feed a canned food like Special Kitty/Friskies and feed a high quality dry like Orijen, Acana, or Nature's Variety Instinct.
 
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narelle

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I guess I wouldn't disagree that its not quite "high quality", but I've also found very few dry foods that I am happy with at all. I don't want a daily staple that contains fish, so Orijen and many other better varieties are out. I also don't like feeding meat sources derived from animals that are nothing like what they would feed on in the wild (so I don't feed hooved animals or any of the really out there novel proteins - they may not eat chicken or turkey naturally either, but there is a big difference in the nutrient content and lipid structure of different meats).

Other foods I'm considering are Merrick Before Grain Chicken (3rd ingredient "potato dehydrated", and contains some fruits and veggies), Wellness CORE Grain Free Turkey, Turkey Meal, and Duck Formula (3rd ingredient is peas, then potato protein and potatoes), Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Rabbit (2nd is peas, 3rd tapioca), Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey (2nd is peas, 3rd tapioca), and Nature's Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein Chicken (2nd and 3rd are tapioca and flax seed, with fruits and veggies further down).

I and Love and You doesn't start non meat ingredients until the 4th, and has a comparable number of them. So I would call it pretty comparable in quality of ingredients.

Is there a better dry food that doesn't contain fish? I've yet to find one that I'm happy with. I'd ideally like to feed wet only, but my living situation will be changing in the next year or two so I'm trying to compromise and make sure I can still feed my cat generally well.

(Also of note is that any dry I feed will generally make up about 1/4 of her caloric intake. I'd still rather not be feeding junk, but by settling for dry in the mix I know I'm settling for lower quality.)
 
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missmimz

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Narelle said:
I guess I wouldn't disagree that its not quite "high quality", but I've also found very few dry foods that I am happy with at all. I don't want a daily staple that contains fish, so Orijen and many other better varieties are out. I also don't like feeding meat sources derived from animals that are nothing like what they would feed on in the wild (so I don't feed hooved animals or any of the really out there novel proteins - they may not eat chicken or turkey naturally either, but there is a big difference in the nutrient content and lipid structure of different meats).

Other foods I'm considering are Merrick Before Grain Chicken (3rd ingredient "potato dehydrated", and contains some fruits and veggies), Wellness CORE Grain Free Turkey, Turkey Meal, and Duck Formula (3rd ingredient is peas, then potato protein and potatoes), Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Rabbit (2nd is peas, 3rd tapioca), Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey (2nd is peas, 3rd tapioca), and Nature's Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein Chicken (2nd and 3rd are tapioca and flax seed, with fruits and veggies further down).

I and Love and You doesn't start non meat ingredients until the 4th, and has a comparable number of them. So I would call it pretty comparable in quality of ingredients.

Is there a better dry food that doesn't contain fish? I've yet to find one that I'm happy with. I'd ideally like to feed wet only, but my living situation will be changing in the next year or two so I'm trying to compromise and make sure I can still feed my cat generally well.
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I get what you're saying, but there's something to be said about novel proteins that they wouldn't necessarily catch the wild, like venison for example. Venison is very similar in protein structure to meats they would catch in the wild, like rabbit. From Feline Nutrition "Surprisingly, even though cats would never hunt deer, wild venison is very close nutritionally to a cats' natural prey."  http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/just-what-is-raw-feeding-anyway 

Personally, I'd rather feed meat that's not necessarily something they'd eat in the wild over veggies or other fillers any day. Since cats are obligate carnivores, feeding anything that's not meat is basically giving them empty calories. 

I don't have an issue with the fish in Orijen because of the same reasons listed above, i want meat over veggie fillers. Orijen also has a good reputation for sourcing so the fish is a non-issue for me. I look for kibble that's high in protein from meat, but i use kibble as a supplement only. I only feed Orijen and Ziwipeak.

Why exactly can't you keep feeding wet food? Wet food can sit out for several hours without issue and you could look into auto feeders if you have the funds. I actually just got this one and it's amazing, but it's pricey. 
 
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Kat0121

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Narelle said:
I guess I wouldn't disagree that its not quite "high quality", but I've also found very few dry foods that I am happy with at all. I don't want a daily staple that contains fish, so Orijen and many other better varieties are out. I also don't like feeding meat sources derived from animals that are nothing like what they would feed on in the wild (so I don't feed hooved animals or any of the really out there novel proteins - they may not eat chicken or turkey naturally either, but there is a big difference in the nutrient content and lipid structure of different meats).

Other foods I'm considering are Merrick Before Grain Chicken (3rd ingredient "potato dehydrated", and contains some fruits and veggies), Wellness CORE Grain Free Turkey, Turkey Meal, and Duck Formula (3rd ingredient is peas, then potato protein and potatoes), Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Rabbit (2nd is peas, 3rd tapioca), Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Turkey (2nd is peas, 3rd tapioca), and Nature's Variety Instinct Ultimate Protein Chicken (2nd and 3rd are tapioca and flax seed, with fruits and veggies further down).

I and Love and You doesn't start non meat ingredients until the 4th, and has a comparable number of them. So I would call it pretty comparable in quality of ingredients.

Is there a better dry food that doesn't contain fish? I've yet to find one that I'm happy with. I'd ideally like to feed wet only, but my living situation will be changing in the next year or two so I'm trying to compromise and make sure I can still feed my cat generally well.

(Also of note is that any dry I feed will generally make up about 1/4 of her caloric intake. I'd still rather not be feeding junk, but by settling for dry in the mix I know I'm settling for lower quality.)
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Mine don't eat a lot of dry- mostly as a topper or when I have to go out of town for a couple of days. Right now the dry is NVI LID turkey. They like it. I'm not thrilled about the peas and the tapioca  in it so I'm in the process of switching the dry to Orijen. It was between that and the NVI Ultimate Protein. The Orijen won because of the high ranking  filler ingredients in the NVI UP and the higher price tag than the Orijen. Yes- Orijen contains some fish but they use very high quality ingredients. I'm not big on feeding fish either but it didn't deter me from the Orijen.  I don't think the 'perfect" dry food exists but this is a very good one. 

At the end of the day, the right food for your cat will be the one they will eat that you can afford. 

The Orijen comes in 5 pound and 15 pound bags. I bought a 5 pound bag from Amazon last week for $23.62 shipped. 
 
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narelle

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My fish keeping experience has me very skeptical of odd proteins. (I am an aquarist at an aquarium, I work with a variety of animals and have particularly been focusing on biologically appropriate, nutritionally complete diets as of late.) There are big dietary differences amongst carnivores and nutritional differences in meats. (i.e. Fish will have early deaths from organ failure if fed things like beef, despite beefheart being a popular food item amongst hobbyists, because there is such a big difference in the lipids.) A cat is not a fish, but knowing how big of a difference a proper diet can make, I question how well built a cat is to process those kinds of fats. Plant matter is probably way worse than meats, I agree, but I'm not convinced that the inappropriate meats don't have negative impacts that we're not seeing. I really don't want any of either thing (why I like tiki cat and would one day like to transition to raw, with only actual biologically appropriate meats), but I need to find an affordable option that I'm comfortable with. I suppose I can give orijen another look, but I really dislike the inclusion of fish and/or hooved animals in all of their foods. I wish they had a poultry/rodent only variety. I need to calculate the cost difference as well.

I'll look into the venison, though I'd still rather feed as close to nature as possible. If only I could switch to raw!
 
Kat0121

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Narelle said:
My fish keeping experience has me very skeptical of odd proteins. (I am an aquarist at an aquarium, I work with a variety of animals and have particularly been focusing on biologically appropriate, nutritionally complete diets as of late.) There are big dietary differences amongst carnivores and nutritional differences in meats. (i.e. Fish will have early deaths from organ failure if fed things like beef, despite beefheart being a popular food item amongst hobbyists, because there is such a big difference in the lipids.) A cat is not a fish, but knowing how big of a difference a proper diet can make, I question how well built a cat is to process those kinds of fats. Plant matter is probably way worse than meats, I agree, but I'm not convinced that the inappropriate meats don't have negative impacts that we're not seeing. I really don't want any of either thing (why I like tiki cat and would one day like to transition to raw, with only actual biologically appropriate meats), but I need to find an affordable option that I'm comfortable with. I suppose I can give orijen another look, but I really dislike the inclusion of fish and/or hooved animals in all of their foods. I wish they had a poultry/rodent only variety. I need to calculate the cost difference as well.

I'll look into the venison, though I'd still rather feed as close to nature as possible. If only I could switch to raw!
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I know what you mean. If I could switch mine to an all Rad Cat diet I would. They all love it. 
 
ftmba

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Although not exact, I tend to consider 1 lb as 4 cups for dry food. Think it's actually 4.3 for the brand I use. Looks like you already got that though!

We got a sample of the chicken and duck via Facebook. It was well received as a snack. We were already feeding some other brands that our cats were doing well on (NV ultimate protein, orijen, ziwipeak) so it didn't quite make the cut.

I believe that it's ok for the price, but there are probably better alternatives (at the price point). Three things that bothered me:

Veggie/Filler content - no real idea what the meat vs not meat content is (as opposed to orijen at 80%, ziwipeak at 90+% etc)

Manufacturer/company - limited information, short history

Deceptive Marketing - this is marketed as chicken and duck, but 'duck' comes after chickpeas, lentils, dried sweet potatoes, pea starch, chicken fat, and dried beet pulp in the ingredient list.
 
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