Country Pet food?

crazy-cat-lover

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I have never heard of it, but wow, the ingredients are fantastic! There are four different types of meat, no fillers or by-products. The only thing that I don't like is the fact that they use whole eggs.

Country Pet Food

Ingredients

Chicken, Fish, Beef, Lamb, Water (sufficient for processing), Whole Eggs, a pinch or two of Vitamins and Minerals consisting of: Salt (Sodium Chloride), Choline Chloride Supplement, Magnesium Oxide, Zinc Sulphate, Ferrous Sulphate, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Sulphate Supplement, Manganese Sulphate, Nicotinic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate Supplement, Vitamin B2, Calcium Iodate, Selenium Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin B6 Hydrochloride, Vitamin B1 Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid.
 
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portdevoix

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Originally Posted by Crazy-Cat-Lover

The only thing that I don't like is the fact that they use whole eggs.
What is wrong with whole eggs?
 

crazy-cat-lover

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Egg whites have no where near as much nutritional value as yolks do. Deficiencies are generally seen only after long antibiotic therapies which deplete the intestinal fauna or following excessive consumption of raw eggs. A protein found in egg whites (avidin) prevents intestinal absorption of biotin. A deficiency of biotin results in impaired protein synthesis, resulting in scaly, dry dermatitis.

I am not sure if the same applies for cooked whole eggs, I will have to look into it.
 
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portdevoix

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Well, seeing as whole eggs are the fifth item on the list, after four kinds of meat, I wouldn't be worried about them causing protein depletion. It is not a raw diet. When I served it up, it looked rather like a pate style canned food, or like Spam. I LOVE the ingredient list... I was hoping to see if someone has had experience feeding it to their cats as a primary food source long-term.
 

crazy-cat-lover

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From their website:

"Country Pet frozen foods are made from hearts, lungs, livers, kidney and meat from lamb, beef, chicken and poultry. We have added to that raw egg, some raw garden vegetables in some cases and always a balanced mix of vitamins and minerals to make a complete food for your pet. Country Pet blanches its meats then adds the raw vegetables afterwards. It is packed and then snap frozen."

Apparently it is only blanched, so it is not fully cooked. According to the company, it is a great diet for cats and dogs. The food does contain by-products, which to me are not the best source of protein for cats. I do find it odd however, that they don't list by-products in the ingredients list. They just put "sufficient for processing". They also state that they DO use raw eggs. That is just MO though. Good luck!
 

zanniesmom

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Raw egg whites do contain avidin which inhibits the absorbtion of biotin, however there is probably a lot of biotin in the diet and not much eggs. Deficiencies are usually only seen when eggs make up a large part of the diet. This substance is in raw reptiles, too, and I had a cat get hooked on catching snakes and lizards and he had skin issues related to the biotin deficiency. My concerns with this diet are that there is no taurine added, which can be a problem, even on raw diets, and there is no AAFCO statement. I would not feed a food for more than a supplement that did not contain the AAFCO statement. Becky
 
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portdevoix

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Originally Posted by Crazy-Cat-Lover

From their website:

"Country Pet frozen foods are made from hearts, lungs, livers, kidney and meat from lamb, beef, chicken and poultry. We have added to that raw egg, some raw garden vegetables in some cases and always a balanced mix of vitamins and minerals to make a complete food for your pet. Country Pet blanches its meats then adds the raw vegetables afterwards. It is packed and then snap frozen."

Apparently it is only blanched, so it is not fully cooked. According to the company, it is a great diet for cats and dogs. The food does contain by-products, which to me are not the best source of protein for cats. I do find it odd however, that they don't list by-products in the ingredients list. They just put "sufficient for processing". They also state that they DO use raw eggs. That is just MO though. Good luck!
Aren't organ meats an integral part of a natural homemade diet? Are those what you are calling "by-products"? Every homemade raw food recipe I've seen calls for some sort of organ meat, and some even suggest just taking a whole chicken to the butcher and have him grind the whole thing, bones, gizzards, skin and all...

This is ALL very confusing.
 

zanniesmom

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Its just that you can't tell from the ingredients how much of what is in this food. Organ meats are fine but the diet should comprise of more skeletal muscle than organs. Picture a mouse. A little heart, tiny lungs and more skeletal muscle. Organ meats tend to be lower in protein, but higher in taurine. One study looking at raw diets fed whole ground rabbits to cats. You would think that would be a good diet, but the cats started to succumb to cardiomyopathy. When they examined the nutritional content of whole ground rabbits they discovered they are too low in taurine for cats. You need that AAFCO statement on there to be assured that the diet meets the known nutritional needs of cats. Becky
 

pat

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Originally Posted by Crazy-Cat-Lover

A protein found in egg whites (avidin) prevents intestinal absorption of biotin. A deficiency of biotin results in impaired protein synthesis, resulting in scaly, dry dermatitis.
That only applies to raw egg whites, cooked egg whites are fine and perfectly safe to feed your cat
 

pat

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Originally Posted by zanniesmom

My concerns with this diet are that there is no taurine added, which can be a problem, even on raw diets, and there is no AAFCO statement. I would not feed a food for more than a supplement that did not contain the AAFCO statement. Becky
Becky,
That is exactly what I was about to write...glad I read through the rest of the thread first! For a comparison, check out Steve's Real Foods...they do add Taurine, and I believe formulate to AAFCO Standards.
 

zanniesmom

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Yes, I saw Steve's at the pet store where I buy my cat food, and I was tempted. My problem is that I have a very small freezer and I am not sure I want to share it with the kitties. We are still waiting for our Active Life, I expect it will come tomorrow since today was a holiday. Becky
 

pat

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Originally Posted by zanniesmom

Yes, I saw Steve's at the pet store where I buy my cat food, and I was tempted. My problem is that I have a very small freezer and I am not sure I want to share it with the kitties. We are still waiting for our Active Life, I expect it will come tomorrow since today was a holiday. Becky
Just checked tracking, it says it was processed and left the "insert your town name " facility on the 17th...should be at your home today
 
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