How to Analyze Canned Foods?!

Hello. Can someone help me figure out what to look for in canned foods? I plan on rotating. I'd love to stick with Feline Natural, but its too expensive to buy ALL THE TIME. So in between, I plan on getting other brands.

Here's an example of one I am not too familiar with and looked at the other day. What should I be looking for? What should I avoid? What is the right amount of protein, fibre, ash, etc? Some will comment "too high in carbs." How do you know that? Please TELL ME so I can stop asking lol.

Thanks in advance.

http://wildcalling.com/products/rabbit-burrow/

http://wildcalling.com/products/cabin-fever/

I've also noticed most canned foods have salt. Not all, but most. Is this a concern and something I should absolutely always avoid? Why do they add it??? I note that I always add some water to my little guy's canned and mush it up for extra H2O. He likes it.

Dr. Pierson's website has some really good information on how to analyze and compare commercial cat foods: http://catinfo.org/commercial-cat-foods/

dorimon said:

 
Dr. Pierson's website has some really good information on how to analyze and compare commercial cat foods: http://catinfo.org/commercial-cat-foods/

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That wasn't so bad. Except when she adds up the percentages using the GA, she comes up with 3%....uhh, I was never the strongest at math...but I came up with 2.7%.....is she just rounding up or am I supposed to get 3%???

yogakitty said:

 
That wasn't so bad. Except when she adds up the percentages using the GA, she comes up with 3%....uhh, I was never the strongest at math...but I came up with 2.7%.....is she just rounding up or am I supposed to get 3%???

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If you're referencing the part where she adds up the values from the Guaranteed Analysis and subtracts the total from 100%, then yes, she rounded 2.7% to 3%. 

Let me know if there is anything you can't figure out.  I teach middle school math. 

Middle school math. Probably way above my head...lol.

yogakitty said:

 
Middle school math. Probably way above my head...lol.

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I know! Calculating dry matter anything is just trouble! (I'm a word person...)

As for your original question, yogakitty,

Here's an example of one I am not too familiar with and looked at the other day. What should I be looking for? What should I avoid? What is the right amount of protein, fibre, ash, etc? Some will comment "too high in carbs." How do you know that? Please TELL ME so I can stop asking lol.
Thanks in advance.

http://wildcalling.com/products/rabbit-burrow/

http://wildcalling.com/products/cabin-fever/

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The big things -- what to look for and what to avoid -- are largely things you'll need to decide for yourself since there's not a lot of research that shows, definitively, what keeps cats healthiest so they can live the longest. (Imagine a clinical trial for that!!) In the absence of that, I use advice from our cat specialist vet and vets with Web sites, vets like Dr. Lisa Pierson, whose site @dorimon linked to, and Dr. Jean Hofve's, which is here. I figure that cat specialists like these vets are the next best thing to a clinical trial: these are vets who've spent their careers observing cats and see patterns. (Our vet is just fantastic about things like that... I really trust her.) On the basis of all that plus our cats' tender Siamese mix stomachs, I avoid a lot of things and have a ton of strictures:

-low carb: Dr. Pierson recommends under 10% dry matter but most of our foods are 5% or under. Our vet's big on low-carb and apparently has a standard "The Talk" about why people should feed low-carb wet diets.

-grain-free, with no potato, peas, chickpeas, lentils, etc., etc.: this is a good way to keep the carbs low. Beyond that, vegetable matter like these items are hard for cats to digest so I want to totally avoid them for our cats (one can't eat potato as it is).

-no carrageenan or agar-agar, and limited gums: nobody's really sure about the dangers/safety of these but I avoid carrageenan and agar-agar and limit gums because some cats do seem to develop stomach problems from them.

-no menadione: it's a somewhat controversial vitamin K ingredient

Those are all the big ones, I think. That knocks a lot of foods out of the realm of possibility.

What I look for is lots of meat. (Our vet likes to say things like, "meat, they need meat!") I wouldn't mind feeding byproducts if I found a food that didn't have any of the stuff I listed above: I don't think byproducts are evil, in fact many of the things that are byproducts -- like bone, blood, and other stuff, listed here -- are ingredients in some of the rather expensive raw foods we feed. I also look for variety of protein, brand, and type of food. We feed four brands of raw food; homemade food made with turkey, pork, and chicken and a supplement; and seven or eight or ten kinds/flavors of canned food. That way I feel comfortable that the cats won't get too much of ingredients like salt (which I just don't know what to think about) from the occasional foods where it's higher in the ingredient list. I also look for relatively short ingredient lists! 

As for Wild Calling, I think it's very decent food. Our cats hated it but some cats seem to love it. I think the only downside to Wild Calling would be the gums.

Good luck!

I've been going to the Cat Food Database to look over cat foods and to find carbohydrate content. They give a lot of info and list what foods are higher or lower in protein, fat or carbs-- though, this seems to be compared to other cat foods. Overall they do a good and thorough job, but I did find a couple entries that seemed to be incomplete or gave a food a lower score than I expected. They will give high marks to some foods with a lot of fish and I don't normally feed my cats fish. Nor do I feed all my cats much dry kibble. But I found one dry food with fish that I liked. The company stated what kind of fish they use-- low in mercury-- and that they use whole fresh fish. It was high in protein and lower in carbs compared to other dry foods, definitely above average. But the site gave it a lower score and "fish" wasn't listed as a potential allergen, so the page is apparently incomplete.
This blog is also a decent resource when looking for foods without fish. It also lists several brands of raw food.

I guess others have basically covered your questions, but I'll add that I want to buy from companies that use human-grade ingredients and don't include by-products or a lot of fillers or carbs in their foods. I want to feed quality, safe ingredients and by-products can essentially be waste, so I would choose food from a company that states it uses quality meats and organs, not leftover low-nutrient scraps or condemned carcasses. I would also want to know where a company sources its ingredients from. I don't buy foods with carrageenan, since it could potentially cause digestive problems. I also buy only BPA-free cans. When it comes to fish, ensure that it is ethoxyquin free. And generally avoid feeding foods that contain large fish, like tuna or tile fish, as they have higher levels of mercury contamination.

Feeding a cat a homemade diet with meats that you know are human grade and supplementing the diet with essential vitamins and minerals would be ideal and, in the long run, cheaper than purchasing pet food. I hope to eventually feed my cats such a diet, but I haven't gotten there, yet.... Do you feed the Feline Natural dehydrated foods? My cats liked the lamb. Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are a good addition to a cat's diet if they will eat it. Then they are at least getting some "fresher," less-processed food.

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I am not sure about the actual analysis info, but based on ingredients these are the healthiest canned food brands I've become familiar with- Tiki Cat, Weruva, Wild Calling, Hound & Gatos, and Evo 95%.  None of them have grains, carrageenan, Menadione, fruit or veggie fillers (except a few Weruva flavors that have pumpkin, but that is supposed to be good for cats).  Some have gums but that's what I'm least concerned about (people that have cats with sensitive stomachs may feel differently though).   Naturally, my own cat won't touch any of the above brands except Weruva....and she won't even eat leftovers from that one     

destinyz12 said:

 
I am not sure about the actual analysis info, but based on ingredients these are the healthiest canned food brands I've become familiar with- Tiki Cat, Weruva, Wild Calling, Hound & Gatos, and Evo 95%.  None of them have grains, carrageenan, Menadione, fruit or veggie fillers (except a few Weruva flavors that have pumpkin, but that is supposed to be good for cats).  Some have gums but that's what I'm least concerned about (people that have cats with sensitive stomachs may feel differently though).   Naturally, my own cat won't touch any of the above brands except Weruva....and she won't even eat leftovers from that one 

   

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Yes, Hound & Gatos is another very good one; the downside is that lots of cats don't like it. (I think H&G was supposed to get rid of the gums... but I don't think that happened. I should check into that because our cats like the lamb. But nothing else!)

Your mention of Weruva and pumpkin reminded me that tapioca is another ingredient I try to avoid: it's a carby thickener and, unfortunately it's in a shredded chicken with pumpkin food from Weruva and Soulistic. Our cats love it but I do drain most of the sauce/gravy because it's so goopy from tapioca! Weruva's Cats in the Kitchen (canned) foods are my big exception for gums: the cats eat those foods consistently.

DeepSearch said:

Feeding a cat a homemade diet with meats that you know are human grade and supplementing the diet with essential vitamins and minerals would be ideal and, in the long run, cheaper than purchasing pet food. I hope to eventually feed my cats such a diet, but I haven't gotten there, yet.... Do you feed the Feline Natural dehydrated foods? My cats liked the lamb. Freeze-dried and dehydrated foods are a good addition to a cat's diet if they will eat it. Then they are at least getting some "fresher," less-processed food.

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Our cats love freeze-dried raw food, including Feline Natural chicken/lamb, which is great food. Our cats' raw meals are the only meals our picky cat doesn't get picky about.