so I'm thinking about purina ONE...

Well I love Zero so I want him to have some good food that's good for him. He eats regular purina now, but he'll eat freakin anything really. I don't think the regular stuff is really that good. Can the ONE be that much better? I don't want to spend a buttload on some really expensive stuff if I don't have to, like IAMS or Science Diet.

I'm thinking maybe getting the weight maintenance, because he likes to eat a lot and especially with him being alone a bit more, he might end up getting pretty chunky. Would that be an ok idea?

BTW, I tried to search for purina ONE but I couldn't search for both words together, am I doing something wrong?

Purina Cat Chow and Purina ONE are basically the same thing. I was feeding my feral's Purina ONE for the longest time. I now switched them over to Natural Balance. Below I put the ingredient's list's for Purina ONE and Purina Cat Chow. I put the "bad" ingredient's in bold text. If you want to know why these ingredient's are not good or beneficial to Zero, let me know.

Purina ONE Healthy Weight Management

Ingredients

Turkey, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, poultry by-product meal, soy flour, whole grain corn, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, wheat gluten, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice hulls, whole grain wheat, vitamins and minerals.

Purina Cat Chow

Ingredients

Poultry by-product meal, corn meal, ground whole wheat, corn gluten meal, soy flour, brewers rice, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), fish meal, brewers dried yeast, natural flavors, vitamins and minerals.

The only real difference in the two foods is that Purina ONE has turkey in it. Cat Chow has no meat except the very little amount that's in by products. If you want a super premium food that's not expensive, try Chicken Soup For The Cat Lover's Soul or Natural Balance. They are reasonably priced for their quality.

Here's the price's (in US dollars) of some super premium cat food's! (These price's are from Pet Food Direct.)

Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul Adult Cat Formula
Package: 6-lb bag
$8.99

Natural Balance Ultra Premium Cat Food
Package: 6.6-lb bag
$10.99

And the two food's you mentioned.

Purina ONE Chicken & Rice Formula for Cats
Package: 7-lb bag.
$11.99

Purina Cat Chow
Package: 7-lb bag.
$7.99

Good luck on finding a food for Zero. By the way, how old is he now?

I switched from Purina Cat Chow to Purina ONE Chicken and Rice around Thanksgiving time. This forumla lists chicken as the #1 ingredient compared to the other Purina ONE formulas which didn't seem much different than the Cat Chow. My cat used to eat at least 1 cup/day of Cat Chow (386 kcal). With Purina ONE, she only eats 1/2 cup/day (226 Kcal). She's actually eating fewer calories now too and is not gaining weight. Her hair is also softer and has has more shine. Some people don't consider Purina ONE a premium food (probably because you can buy it at a grocery store), but I definitely think it's an improvement over Cat Chow for the same money spent.

Chicken soup for the cat lovers soul is a lot better and just about the same price...around a dollar a pound. It has no filler, no by products or food coloring....

check out chickensoupforthepetssoul.com for a distributor near you...

I swtiched from Innova to chickensoup, and I can't believe the difference in my cats skin and coat...and the ingredients are WONDERFUL.

i high recommend it!

chicken soup for the cat lovers soul:
Fresh, Pure, Wholesome Ingredients

AAFCO Statement

Animal feeding tests using Association of American Feed Control Officials procedures substantiate that Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soulâ„¢ Adult Cat Formula provides complete and balanced nutrition for all life stages. (they have kitten formular too)

Chicken, Salmon, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, whole grain white rice, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, turkey, duck, flaxseed, egg product, natural chicken flavor, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, kelp, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, methionine, potassium chloride, taurine, zinc sulfate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

We have 9 cats so we can't pay a lot of money on food, I have found that every single one of them absolutely loves Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula (it is in the green bag). They also love Blue Buffalo but that stuff is super duper expensive!

I talked to a guy in a specialty pet store and he said that the best, meaning, healthiest with no by-products are Innova, California Natural and Wellness. A close second is Chicken Soup... and it's a better value.

ALL of my cats eat purina one hairball control. They all LOVE the food and have no hairballs. There coats look great and they are very healthy. I think it is a great food for the price.

Purina performs tests on animals and gives awards to those who perform animal tests. I am totally against companies that test on animals. Purina tests on animals the same way IAMS does. Did you know that Nutro tests on animals now?

I don't think Purina ONE is a bad food; you could certainly do a lot worse. We fed the Chicken and Rice a few years back and the cats did fine on it. Here's their website:

http://www.purinaone.com/default.asp?ICDB_Session=1

Although, I do think the Chicken Soup is cheaper. We paid $16 for 18# not including the $2 rebate they have on the website. We were paying $22 for 9.5# of Eukanuba, so to say we're happy is an understatement!

Originally posted by Crazy-Cat-Lover
Did you know that Nutro tests on animals now?

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I didn't know this! When did they start? Can you provide links for more info? I would like to verify this for myself.

I am a former user of Purina One and Purina ProPlan. Now I feed my cats Chicken soup. They love it and I have noticed a big difference in their coats.I know you don't want to spend a lot of money, and I don't either, but once you switch to a good premium food you actually spend about the same amount of money because they contain more protein and your cats actually eat less and you buy food less often.I have two cats and a 6lb. bag of Chicken soup lasts me about a month.That's only $10 a month to feed my babies a really good food. Its worth it to me.

I feed Dori Science Diet. When she was a kitten I fed her Iams kitten food and then at a year I switched her to the Science Diet Adult Chicken and Rice. She seems to like it alot and I don't think it is all that expensive. But then again, I am only feeding one kitty. I buy a 6 lb. bag for I think $7 at Petsmart. I did check into Chicken Soup for her, but it is really inconvienent to purchase since the local distrubuters of it are not very close to where I live. I almost got her a trial size bag of the dry food to try, but was worried about giving it to her since I have read it is not good to change their diet suddenly. Is the Chicken Soup better than Science Diet? If it is, I would gladly switch. I want her to have the best and her vet highly recommended the science diet so that's why I have been sticking with it.

Where do you go to find out up-to-date (and unbiased) info about who is doing animal testing and who is not?

Our outdoor kitty (now about 7 or 8 years old) eats Purina One and she has a beautiful, plush coat and is very healthy.

One thing to consider - a good way to compare prices of food is to calculate the cost per day instead of the cost per pound...if to maintain your cat's weight you have to feed a cup a day of food A, and only 1/2 cup a day of food B, then even if food B costs twice as much per pound, it's actually the same feeding cost per day.

I like and most important, my cats love Eukanuba. I think it is a very good food. I have tried other "high quality" foods and my cats did not like them. (My cats do not like apples and carrots ) Eukanuba has the same AAFCO statement as Chicken Soup does.

I feed my four Pro Plan, because Rocket is allergic to chicken and they are the only ones I found that have little or no chicken in the Beef and rice one. Isis will only eat dry food(she is very picky) so since she eats the Pro plan well, I don't want to change her from it, but if someone can tell me another food that has little or no chicken in it that's better for them I might try it.
But right now they are very healthy and their coats are looking great so I guess you can't mess with what works right???
I just feel sorry for them (Isis especially because there is no variety in their diet, only the same stuff day in and day out. how boring is that??

I feed PurinaOne at my vets recommendation. Before PurinaOne I fed whatever I got on sale. I didn't see a big difference in their coats, but I do see a big difference in what I am removing from their litter. Less garbage in = less garbage out.

Originally posted by Crazy-Cat-Lover
Good luck on finding a food for Zero. By the way, how old is he now?

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Thanks for all the info! He's going on 10 months! I can hardly believe it!

Maybe I will try something else like Chicken Soup. I've never seen it around here, but don't really mind driving. Does anyone know how I can find where I can buy it?

I've found that alot of vets don't know about the more premium foods like Innova, California Natural, Wellness and Chicken Soup Since they don't know, they recommend what they know which is Science Diet, Iams, Nutro etc.
Louse 76, on your computer put in Chicken Soup and go to their web site. I believe you can order from them or other pet food sellers on line.

Originally posted by Louse76
Maybe I will try something else like Chicken Soup. I've never seen it around here, but don't really mind driving. Does anyone know how I can find where I can buy it?

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Here is the direct link to the stores in Florida that carry Chicken Soup: http://www.chickensoupforthepetlover...1.asp?state=FL


Best of luck.