Is my catfood OK?

simmyandnunny · May 31, 2005

I can't find the original thread, but someone was talking about how the ingredients should contain real meat versus meat by product. I've never heard this before, and am now concerned.

I feed my boys Purina Cat Chow "complete forumula" and the first ingredient is Poultry by-product meal.

Is this not good? Can someone tell me why? I want to give them the best food I can according to my budget. If I had the money, I'd buy them Iams.

Can anyone recommend a good catfood? They're 3 and 4 years old male indoor cats.

Thanks!

coaster · May 31, 2005

By-product could be anything ranging from the scraps left after butchering to meat condemned by inspectors as unfit for human consumption. You don't really know without calling the company, and depending on them to tell you the truth. In any case, it's processed so thoroughly that it's not going to cause any harm, it's just not a real good source of nutrients. Poultry by-product meal is better than poultry by-product with is better than animal by-product. Confusing? You betcha!! They want us to stay confused so they can sell it to us based on their marketing!!

sharky · May 31, 2005

you want either chn or chn meal... chn is up to 66% water so when it cooks there is less than the label says ingrediant s are weighed uncooked...
by product meal is by products with the water and most of the fat removed.. I wouldnt use either.. by products are head fett internal organs per aafco
meat can be anything ....

simmyandnunny · May 31, 2005

Originally Posted by coaster

By-product could be anything ranging from the scraps left after butchering to meat condemned by inspectors as unfit for human consumption. You don't really know without calling the company, and depending on them to tell you the truth. In any case, it's processed so thoroughly that it's not going to cause any harm, it's just not a real good source of nutrients. Poultry by-product meal is better than poultry by-product with is better than animal by-product. Confusing? You betcha!! They want us to stay confused so they can sell it to us based on their marketing!!

So, what you're saying is I'm feeding my cats the best of the worst?

What do you feed your cats? I didn't understand anything sharky said. What were they saying? I am not up on the lingo.

LOL, and YES it IS confusing, lol.

coaster · May 31, 2005

Well, it's not the best, but if it's "the best of the worst"....hard to say, because with by-products it encompass so much that you don't really know. I feed my cats Felidae dry and rotate Natural Balance, Chicken Soup, Eagle Pack, California Natural and Innova wet. Kind of my mission to keep them all in business, you might say.

sharky · May 31, 2005

okay sorry I can babble in no understandable speak...

I will use chicken as an example
chicken is the meat of the chicken with some bone and tendon possible , it is up to 66% water
chicken meal is chicken without the water and most of the fat =dehydrated chicken

chicken by porducts are head s feet internal organs sometimes undeveloped eggs per aafco the amercian feed controllers

chicken by product meal is chicken by products without the fat and water = consitrated by products

i look for chicken meal first since it takes five lbs of chicken to = one lb of chicken meal
I would take a food with chicken as long as it had no corn soy by products or chemical prervatives

I use Feline caviar for my Zoey , am trying Evo but so far not liking the amoun in the potty box ...

Brands I think are good : Natural choice , Natural balence, Innova, chicken soup, california Natural, eagle pack( this one was loved by my older cat till my vet told me no no to pork) these are a bit spendy
good but not quite as good : Max cat by nutro , authority this is petsmarts brand

elizwithcat · May 31, 2005

Originally Posted by SimmyandNunny

So, what you're saying is I'm feeding my cats the best of the worst?

What do you feed your cats? I didn't understand anything sharky said. What were they saying? I am not up on the lingo.

LOL, and YES it IS confusing, lol.

If food has by-products, it's not a good food. You want your first ingredient to be meat-chicken, fish, or lamb, not by-products. My cats eat Nutro Natural Choice-it's on the cheaper side and doesn't have by-products.

marie-p · May 31, 2005

Originally Posted by sharky

okay sorry I can babble in no understandable speak...

I will use chicken as an example
chicken is the meat of the chicken with some bone and tendon possible , it is up to 66% water
chicken meal is chicken without the water and most of the fat =dehydrated chicken

chicken by porducts are head s feet internal organs sometimes undeveloped eggs per aafco the amercian feed controllers

chicken by product meal is chicken by products without the fat and water = consitrated by products

i look for chicken meal first since it takes five lbs of chicken to = one lb of chicken meal
I would take a food with chicken as long as it had no corn soy by products or chemical prervatives

I use Feline caviar for my Zoey , am trying Evo but so far not liking the amoun in the potty box ...

Brands I think are good : Natural choice , Natural balence, Innova, chicken soup, california Natural, eagle pack( this one was loved by my older cat till my vet told me no no to pork) these are a bit spendy
good but not quite as good : Max cat by nutro , authority this is petsmarts brand

Excellent!! Thank you for the information.
I didn't know that Chicken meal was just dehydrated chicken. I feel much better about feeding Nutro all the sudden.

nano · May 31, 2005

How much money do you have to spend on food per cat each month? How old are your cats and do they have any existing health problems? With this information, we'll tell you the best you can do with that money.

sharky · May 31, 2005

Originally Posted by Nano

Everyone coming along willy-nilly listing their favorite brands helps nothing -- so let's cut through the waffling!

How much money do you have to spend on food per cat each month? How old are your cats and do they have any existing health problems? With this information, we'll tell you the best you can do with that money.

thank you..lol.. but most of the "higher "end food s are all life stage ... I thought i did incluse two less expansive yet good for most foods

Remember the $$ may be more but higher quality makes up for it in less ptty box stuff to clean and with all but mine eating less

scamperfarms · May 31, 2005

You could move to Purina One, it is slightly more expensive than the regular Purina Cat Chow..you can get it at walmart.....petsmart carries it and petco.. here is the ingridents.

I myself feed Purina Pro plan. but Purina one is similar..

Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), wheat gluten, whole grain corn, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, potassium chloride, malted barley flour, animal digest, calcium carbonate, salt, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, taurine, phosphoric acid, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.
C-4153

Manufactured by: NestlÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] Purina PetCare Company, St. Louis, MO 63164

Animal feeding tests using Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) procedures substantiate that Purina ONE Total Nutrition Chicken & Rice Formula provides complete and balanced nutrition for maintenance of adult cats.

cjandbilly · Jun 1, 2005

I fed my cats Purina, and it's a good food, but I talked to my vet and he said that he would reccommend either Iams or Eukanuba... so we switched to Iams.

christine chand · Jun 1, 2005

Originally Posted by sharky

okay sorry I can babble in no understandable speak...

I will use chicken as an example
chicken is the meat of the chicken with some bone and tendon possible , it is up to 66% water
chicken meal is chicken without the water and most of the fat =dehydrated chicken

chicken by porducts are head s feet internal organs sometimes undeveloped eggs per aafco the amercian feed controllers

chicken by product meal is chicken by products without the fat and water = consitrated by products

i look for chicken meal first since it takes five lbs of chicken to = one lb of chicken meal
I would take a food with chicken as long as it had no corn soy by products or chemical prervatives

I use Feline caviar for my Zoey , am trying Evo but so far not liking the amoun in the potty box ...

Brands I think are good : Natural choice , Natural balence, Innova, chicken soup, california Natural, eagle pack( this one was loved by my older cat till my vet told me no no to pork) these are a bit spendy
good but not quite as good : Max cat by nutro , authority this is petsmarts brand

Wy did your vet say "no no to pork". I'm feeding Hills SD which contains pork fat as the fat source.

sharky · Jun 1, 2005

Originally Posted by christine chand

Wy did your vet say "no no to pork". I'm feeding Hills SD which contains pork fat as the fat source.

He said pork fat is not at all digestable..I verified it with another vet .. but the is only two ... Okay so except for the not giving my kidney girl fluids he is a great vet.. He tries to find alternatives to rxs

nano · Jun 2, 2005

Originally Posted by sharky

thank you..lol.. but most of the "higher "end food s are all life stage ... I thought i did incluse two less expansive yet good for most foods

Remember the $$ may be more but higher quality makes up for it in less ptty box stuff to clean and with all but mine eating less

Well, the original poster was replying in other people's threads but didn't come back to this one. Oh well, time for another random free-for-all where people list dozens of brands...

simmyandnunny · Jun 2, 2005

Thanks so much for posting all of that! Very helpful, and I understand much better now. Thank you!

Originally Posted by sharky

okay sorry I can babble in no understandable speak...

I will use chicken as an example
chicken is the meat of the chicken with some bone and tendon possible , it is up to 66% water
chicken meal is chicken without the water and most of the fat =dehydrated chicken

chicken by porducts are head s feet internal organs sometimes undeveloped eggs per aafco the amercian feed controllers

chicken by product meal is chicken by products without the fat and water = consitrated by products

i look for chicken meal first since it takes five lbs of chicken to = one lb of chicken meal
I would take a food with chicken as long as it had no corn soy by products or chemical prervatives

I use Feline caviar for my Zoey , am trying Evo but so far not liking the amoun in the potty box ...

Brands I think are good : Natural choice , Natural balence, Innova, chicken soup, california Natural, eagle pack( this one was loved by my older cat till my vet told me no no to pork) these are a bit spendy
good but not quite as good : Max cat by nutro , authority this is petsmarts brand

simmyandnunny · Jun 2, 2005

Originally Posted by Nano

How much money do you have to spend on food per cat each month? How old are your cats and do they have any existing health problems? With this information, we'll tell you the best you can do with that money.

I'm only spending about 10 dollars a month. They're 3 and 4 and they're both healthy. Much appreciated!

simmyandnunny · Jun 2, 2005

Purina one, huh? I don't remember seeing that brand. I've seen the indoor formula, I'll have to look for that. Thanks so much! Very thoughtful of you to take the time to post that, I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by ScamperFarms

You could move to Purina One, it is slightly more expensive than the regular Purina Cat Chow..you can get it at walmart.....petsmart carries it and petco.. here is the ingridents.

I myself feed Purina Pro plan. but Purina one is similar..

Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), wheat gluten, whole grain corn, fish meal, brewers dried yeast, potassium chloride, malted barley flour, animal digest, calcium carbonate, salt, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, taurine, phosphoric acid, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.
C-4153

Manufactured by: NestlÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] Purina PetCare Company, St. Louis, MO 63164

Animal feeding tests using Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) procedures substantiate that Purina ONE Total Nutrition Chicken & Rice Formula provides complete and balanced nutrition for maintenance of adult cats.

slitty_kittay · Jun 2, 2005

Originally Posted by SimmyandNunny

Purina one, huh? I don't remember seeing that brand. I've seen the indoor formula, I'll have to look for that. Thanks so much! Very thoughtful of you to take the time to post that, I appreciate it.

Dax eats Purina One - she really likes the kibble. Its the best one I could find in grocery stores here, there are a few more brands available in pet stores and the vets but they are really expensive(here in sweden anyway). We are just students - its the best one we can afford on our budget right now and Dax seems to do well with it.

sadisticookie · Jun 2, 2005

Originally Posted by CJandBilly

I fed my cats Purina, and it's a good food, but I talked to my vet and he said that he would reccommend either Iams or Eukanuba... so we switched to Iams.

Thank goodness someone mentioned Iams! After hearing the names of all those cat foods that are not in my stores I was beginning to wonder if feeding Iams was such a good idea.

My cats don't particularly like the taste of Purina for some reason. One of my cats is 13 years old, the other is 1 1/2 years old. I didn't much worry about the quality of food til Sammy became a senior, now I'm paranoid as to whether I'm giving her the right food. Baby Kitty is too young to care..he'd settle for a bowl of bugs to *hunt* if he had any say in it.

Now all I need is a few dozen more *Iams is great!* endorsements then I'll rest a lot easier..

Is my catfood OK?

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