Overwhelmed! How to choose "good" food??!!

trisha422 · Mar 10, 2017

I've literally been researching every food this entire week, day to night!

I've only been looking at ingredients and learning that I need to look at other things like protein, carbs, calories, phosphorus, etc....
My brain is fried!!!

Can someone please help me or point me to a website to determine what is the best balance/numbers to look for in food?

ashekitty · Mar 10, 2017

http://catinfo.org

Dr. Lisa A. Pierson is VERY helpful for what you are looking for. I would thoroughly read her website.

LTS3 · Mar 10, 2017

The best food is the one your cat will eat and you can afford

These may help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat-part-2

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/grain-free-cat-food-what-does-it-mean

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/what-makes-the-best-canned-cat-food

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-compare-cat-foods-calculate-carbs-dry-matter-basis

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-dry-cat-food

Also, http:www.catinfo.org is a great place to read more about proper nutrition.

Most people will recommend grain-free food since cats have no use for grains in the diet. Seafood should be limited to once in awhile meals as too much can cause issues in some cats (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/can-i-feed-my-cat-a-fish-based-or-fish-flavored-diet). Some dry foods contain some seafood even if it's labeled as "chicken formula".

Carbs should ideally be limited to no more than 15% of the diet for most cats. A carb heavy diet can put a burden on the pancrease which can result in diabetes. Many dry foods are carb heavy because of the starches needed to hold all the ingredients in that kibble shape. Gravy and sauce based foods are ok once awhile as a treat but also use starches to thicken the gravy / sauce. Some people limit carbs to as low as possible but the choices of food available that meets that criteria is very very limited. Diabetic cats should be limited to no more than 10% carbs.

Here is a great chart for nutritonal info:

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

It's a few years old but still has great info.

I don't think anyone really sets a criteria for protein, phopshprus, etc for their cat unless it's needed for a health condition (low phosphorus for kidney cats, for example). All commerical cat foods are formulated to meet a cat's need so I personally wouldn't worry about nutritional analysis. Pet food labels don't really have any useful info, just maximum and miniumum requirements. The Catinfo chart lists the exact nutritonal content.

Honeslty, just head to the pet store and buy a few different brands for your cat to try

Chain pet stores sell good quality brands. The really high end brands like Weruva and Tiki Cat and Orijen are found at independent pet stores. If your cat prefer big name brands sold at supermarkets and big box stores such as Friskies, that's ok

If you need suggestions on brands to try, there are several threads here on TCS on affordable foods that are well liked by cats.

trisha422 · Mar 10, 2017

Ashekitty said:
http://catinfo.org

Dr. Lisa A. Pierson is VERY helpful for what you are looking for. I would thoroughly read her website.

Thank you. The more research I do the less I feel like I know.
Good to have one or two reliable resources.

thegreystalker · Mar 10, 2017

LTS3 is absolutely right. There's no need to make yourself batty over your cat's menu. We have experimented with the basic flavors from several brands. Fortunately my gal will devour almost anything, but by experimentation I did discover a couple of flavors/brands which she doesn't care for. Finally, don't break the bank, unless you are blessed in that way.

trisha422 · Mar 10, 2017

LTS3
Yes, I think that chart is exactly what I need!
I'll be reading through all that info.thanks for pointing me to resources instead of me just randomly wandering through the web.
I'm so overwhelmed that I can't even speak complete sentences to my co-workers today.
My indoor cats get top of the line food.
However, I'm taking care of my brother's cat indefinitely and he wants food that's accessible without having to go online or specialty stores.
Do you know the best wet can food Petco has to offer? So many websites have contradicting info.
My outdoor cats only likes dry food, so
I think I will try Applaws.

trisha422 · Mar 10, 2017

TheGreyStalker said:
LTS3 is absolutely right. There's no need to make yourself batty over your cat's menu. We have experimented with the basic flavors from several brands. Fortunately my gal will devour almost anything, but by experimentation I did discover a couple of flavors/brands which she doesn't care for. Finally, don't break the bank, unless you are blessed in that way. :nod:

I've opened Pandora's box..Soooooo stressed over this! [emoji]128514[/emoji]
I don't mind spending. I have no children and won't be having any,so my fur babies are my kids.
I want to provide them with the best.
I wish I could give them all the same food, but all have special situations. So I'm having to find different diets for 6 cats!

PushPurrCatPaws · Mar 10, 2017

Lots of people have various opinions over the "pandora's box" of the topic of cat food! It's information overload! I tend to agree with so many of LTS3's posts, and that includes the one in this thread.

I remember some time ago here at TheCatSite, the site owner started this thread to get a good discussion going on cat food,

"Best Cat Food? When criteria get too strict... "
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/312066/best-cat-food-when-criteria-get-too-strict

... and I think it's just a very informative thread, even including the listing of foods in the controversial review which Anne pointed out.

In the end, we cat owners decide on our own what criteria we want to address when choosing a cat food for our cat(s), and even many of us rotate foods a lot, just to have the sense that we aren't depending too much on a particular brand or food or flavor type.

I know it can seem overwhelming, but you will get to a point when your decisions will be made and for your own reasoning, and then you will reach your own comfort level.

Your kitties will have a lot to say about the food, too. :rub:
lol!

ashekitty · Mar 10, 2017

LTS3 said:
The best food is the one your cat will eat and you can afford

These may help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat-part-2
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/grain-free-cat-food-what-does-it-mean
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/what-makes-the-best-canned-cat-food
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-compare-cat-foods-calculate-carbs-dry-matter-basis
http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-dry-cat-food

Also, http:www.catinfo.org is a great place to read more about proper nutrition.

Most people will recommend grain-free food since cats have no use for grains in the diet. Seafood should be limited to once in awhile meals as too much can cause issues in some cats (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/can-i-feed-my-cat-a-fish-based-or-fish-flavored-diet). Some dry foods contain some seafood even if it's labeled as "chicken formula".

Carbs should ideally be limited to no more than 15% of the diet for most cats. A carb heavy diet can put a burden on the pancrease which can result in diabetes. Many dry foods are carb heavy because of the starches needed to hold all the ingredients in that kibble shape. Gravy and sauce based foods are ok once awhile as a treat but also use starches to thicken the gravy / sauce. Some people limit carbs to as low as possible but the choices of food available that meets that criteria is very very limited. Diabetic cats should be limited to no more than 10% carbs.

Here is a great chart for nutritonal info:

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

It's a few years old but still has great info.

I don't think anyone really sets a criteria for protein, phopshprus, etc for their cat unless it's needed for a health condition (low phosphorus for kidney cats, for example). All commerical cat foods are formulated to meet a cat's need so I personally wouldn't worry about nutritional analysis. Pet food labels don't really have any useful info, just maximum and miniumum requirements. The Catinfo chart lists the exact nutritonal content.

Honeslty, just head to the pet store and buy a few different brands for your cat to try Chain pet stores sell good quality brands. The really high end brands like Weruva and Tiki Cat and Orijen are found at independent pet stores. If your cat prefer big name brands sold at supermarkets and big box stores such as Friskies, that's ok :nod: If you need suggestions on brands to try, there are several threads here on TCS on affordable foods that are well liked by cats.

I also completely agree with this. It's not worth stressing too much over. Your cats are probably affected more by your stress than what you are feeding them! I would like to give a disclaimer: I DO feed the best canned food I can afford, which happens to be one of the best "grocery store brands". (Sheba if you are wondering) I also know I would feed a better quality food if I could afford it. I know there are better foods out there, but my cats are happy and healthy on Sheba. I try not to stress too much about it, and I try to remember that my cats have a loving home and that's what matters most. Once in awhile I give my cats the "better" canned food as a treat.

Anyway, it's great you love your kitties so much. I hope you find a food that makes you feel comfortable and that your cats like!

trisha422 · Mar 10, 2017

PushPurrCatPaws
Thanks for tagging that post. I think that review site is one of the ones that got me paranoid about every single food I'm feeding my cats (besides freeze dried raw). I flipped out and wanted to replace them all immediately!
I still feel I can do better on the dry food and my brother doesn't feed his cat any wet can food. So still on the frustrating hunt

trisha422 · Mar 10, 2017

ashekitty you know, you're right. My poor baby girl was trying to play with me last night and I only gave her half my attention cause I was wrapped up in researching. all this research and conflicting info has made me gone mad! [emoji]128517[/emoji]

LTS3 · Mar 10, 2017

trisha422 said:
@LTS3
Yes, I think that chart is exactly what I need!
I'll be reading through all that info.thanks for pointing me to resources instead of me just randomly wandering through the web.
I'm so overwhelmed that I can't even speak complete sentences to my co-workers today.
My indoor cats get top of the line food.
However, I'm taking care of my brother's cat indefinitely and he wants food that's accessible without having to go online or specialty stores.
Do you know the best wet can food Petco has to offer? So many websites have contradicting info.
My outdoor cats only likes dry food, so
I think I will try Applaws.

Applaws dry food is fine to feed. But the Applaws canned / wet foods are not complete diets, only a treat type food.

Petco has so many good brands: Soulistic (the lesser expensive but simiar version of Weruva), Nature's Variety Instinct (the selection is pretty limited at many Petco stores), Wellness, Blue Buffalo, just among many others.

There really is no one "best" food to feed. Whatever your cat eats that is of decent quality and you can afford is the best one.

rawlins02 · Mar 12, 2017

LTS3 said:
Applaws dry food is fine to feed. But the Applaws canned / wet foods are not complete diets, only a treat type food.

Petco has so many good brands: Soulistic (the lesser expensive but simiar version of Weruva), Nature's Variety Instinct (the selection is pretty limited at many Petco stores), Wellness, Blue Buffalo, just among many others.

There really is no one "best" food to feed. Whatever your cat eats that is of decent quality and you can afford is the best one.

My Lexi has eaten Soulistic, Nature's Variety, & Wellness. Merrick (pate varieties) too. To my knowledge, these are all good quality products. Lucky me that she's not a picky eater :-)

laura mae · Mar 12, 2017

I would highly recommend trying various canned foods and see what the cats like. Rotating among several brands helps make sure that your cat gets a good balance of nutrients. Some cats get pretty rigid about what they will eat and so you probably want to avoid just feeding one brand anyway to prevent that. This is also good, just in case a brand becomes unavailable for some reason.

I also shop at our independent pet store too and you can get these from Chewy.com too. Weruva, First Mate, Merrick are popular. Unpopular: Vita Pure, Lotus (which is a bummer because it looks great)

My cats like Wellness pate okay, particularly the chicken and the turkey. They do not like the ones mixed with lobster, or herring. They will eat the turkey with salmon. They are not fond of the Core by Wellness, but some cats might.

They like Nature's Variety sometimes (definitely not their fav). I will get them chicken, lamb, duck and rabbit.

Blue Buffalo is hit or miss. Blue Buffalo Basic doesn't have grain, but it does have potato. It's anyone's guess if they will like the same flavor in the next can of Blue Buffalo, however. So I do not buy it often.

My cat that I had to pull off the freeze dried raw because of constipation, loves Weruva. The others will have nothing to do with it.

I split my cats' meals over three feedings. AM, PM and bed snack. I will admit to offering them the higher end food for AM and PM and splitting a can of Friskies pate for the evening bed snack, or rotating it with a couple of cans of Fancy Feast pate. Just a note the chicken Fancy Feast has fish in it.

lalagimp · Mar 13, 2017

When my cat started getting urethral blockages, he was moved to Nature's Variety Instinct canned Duck from Nature's Variety Healthy Weight with Raw Boost kibble while I spent time reading catinfo.org
I had to read that site about a dozen times. I spent hours over it. While I was soaking that in, I moved the boys to Nature's Variety Instinct raw chicken medallions.
By the end of the month I was ready to go.
I ordered my ground rabbit from Hare-Today (east coast) and my turkey thighs from Whole Foods as well as the supplements she mentioned at iHerb
I bought a 30 quart stainless mixing bowl and 24 ice cube trays
I make 21-22 lbs of raw for my boys. It's the best thing I've found for obligate carnivores as there are no grains to mess with, no binders, no fruits and veggies...just meat and supplement slurry.

Well...my bubba still blocked after that. It was supposed to be highly unlikely but he did. Then less than 48 hrs, another. Before the week was out he ended up having surgery.
We started adding cranberry extract to his food for the first two weeks twice a day. Now he gets it twice a week, once each day.
He's been wearing the cone for over 3 weeks now and can't drink from the water fountain so I've been putting bone broth in his meat from Caru and then Honest Kitchen. He also gets most of the blood from the raw nuggets thawing. The boys eat 5 meals a day from their Feed and Go feeders because they used to be chunky little boys.

The girls, on the other hand, use a SureFlap feeder so the boys can't eat their food. They are on dry Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken with Raw Boost. I've never had to worry about their weight and while I might be able to get one of the girls to eat canned, she definitely won't eat the raw and my other girl refuses to each anything but dry.

Overwhelmed! How to choose "good" food??!!

trisha422

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ashekitty

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LTS3

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trisha422

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thegreystalker

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trisha422

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PushPurrCatPaws

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ashekitty

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