Whats really in pet food?

"Since I have been feeding those foods the litter box is not the chore that it used to be. Both cats poop twice a day and it's almost a pleasure cleaning that box! "

Hey, since you enjoy it so much, would you come clean my boxes out too?????

wow! I'm new to this site. I never knew there was such a debate about cat food!!! someone pointed out that there are many good cat foods that use human grade ingredients and she mentioned a few. there are many more--Wysong, Petguard, Natural Life, Steves, Sojuourner Farms to name a few more. The place that I learn about these things is the Whole Cat Journal which is an excellent publication that does not accept advertising and tests products on their own cats (kind of like consumer reports) I'm sure they have a website so if you don't know anything about it I would highly recommend going to their website.

Could you post the link so that people can go see?

The website address for Whole Cat Journal is www.whole-cat-journal.com. Unfortunately I have not been able to access this website recently. Maybe it is temporarily down. I will post the phone # or if someone else has it please post. Thanks.

I believe the most high quality cat food you can buy is Solid Gold. It smells like beef jerky! Royal Canin, Felidae, Innova, California Natural, Natural Balance and Wellness all have preservatives. Why add animal fat or poultry fat to food that is meat based? It's just another filler. I feed my 10 cats in a 5 cup bowl and by the end of the day, only 3/4 of the bowl is empty. My cats and I love Solid Gold. It's not very expensive and it is the best food other than raw that they could possibly be eating!

Solid Gold Katz-N-Flocken Dry Cat Food

Ingredients
Lamb Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Ground Millet, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Barley, Rice Bran Oil, Canola Oil, Flax Seed Oil, Amaranth, Rice Bran, Garlic, Blueberries, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Taurine, Carotene, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Proteinate, Vitami A Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Folic Acid, Thiamine, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Natural Flavors Added.* * Usually Apples or Carrots.

No Wheat

No Soybeans

No Corn

No Animal Fat Added

No Poultry Fat

No By-Products

No Sugar Added

No Preservatives

No Sugar Added

Yucca Schidigera Extract reduces the cats stool smell by 64%! My cats litter boxes NEVER stink!

Oh my, a food topic that I actually haven't replied to!

I just wanted to say that, yes, I KNOW! *sigh* And I can't bother to read every post, but I'm sure I agree with what mostly has been said in here, as I always do lol.

It's sad, what some pet food manufactours think they can get away with, which is why we have to arm ourselves with knowledge and feed our pets to the best of our ability!

Crazy Cat Lover: Beef Jerky eh? Hmmm, to me it smells like blueberries! It's great! I've been really tempted to try a peice before, lol. The thing that sends me for a flip, is that when I buy the BIG bag, the 15 pounder... and I open it pour it all into their food bin.. there is never any ground up, powdery, mashed peices in the bottom! (Much like you will find at the bottom of a cereal box.) It's the only pet food I've seen do this, specially in the larger quantities. I'm impressed

And for those of you who are worried about the no preservatives, I can tell you in the 3 months of me feeding it, and talking with other pet owners, I have never known this food to get spoiled or go bad.
But I have heard of many & had a few foods with all the chemical, toxic, preservatives you want, and it STILL goes bad, sometimes it's even been bad as soon as you open a brand new bag! =O

Angel, That's so true about Solid Gold. I have never found powder at the bottom of the bag. I'm like you, I pour the cat food into a container. Everytime I open the container the food always smells fresh. Food with preservatives doesn't last as long. Solid Gold has no added animal/poultry fat, so there is no need for chemical preservatives! I will never switch again!

My cats all have shiny, soft and smooth coats. They don't shed, unless they're stressed, and their litter boxes don't stink. I scoop their litter boxes everyday, and there is hardly anything in them!

Solid Gold Rules!

I hope I have never made anyone feel uncomfortable regarding their choices as a pet parent (unless it's an informed choice to declaw then I hope you're more uncomfortable than your cat).

All I hope for is that all pet owners take some time to be informed and think for themselves, rather than believe what the pet food companies tell you. When a Maybelline commercial for the best new mascara comes on, you think about it. But for some reason many pet owners just believe the pet food companies, and they are mostly in it for the money. There are some smaller companies that I think really do have the pets in mind as much as the profit, but not all.

Take for instance the latest Purina Benefuls (dog food but still illustrates my point) ads. These are a big pet peeve for me. They say and this is from the website -

"Moist, chewy chunks made with real beef are rich in protein to help build strong muscles. Contains vegetables with Vitamin A and other important vitamins, minerals, and nutrients."

Now then, look at the ingredients list, remembering that everything after the first fat is in small small amounts.

"Ingredients
Ground yellow corn, chicken-by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), rice flour, beef, soy flour, sugar, sorbitol, tricalcium phosphate, water, animal digest, salt, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), L-Lysine monohydrochloride, dried peas, dried carrots, calcium carbonate, calcium propionate (a preservative), choline chloride, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2), DL-Methionine, zinc sulfate, glyceryl monostearate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, manganese sulfate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, garlic oil, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite"

I put the fat in bold - the ingredients before it are the main ingredients - as you can see, no beef, no vegetables. Is this food what you would expect from the claims made in the ads?

All I hope is that pet owners will think for themselves and force the pet food industry to take greater responsibility for what they say and maybe even match their claims to their ingredients. As you can see, there is little beef or vegetables in the food, despite the fact that it is called a beef and vegetable food! It also contains animal digest which is, 4-D animals including euthanized pets. Sorry, I know no one wants to hear it, but ignoring it doesn't make it go away.

Here are some links on pet food labels for those of you who want to learn how to pick a food based on your own decisions:

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wolfepack/foodcht1.html
Understanding dog food labels etc. but principles apply to cat food as well. Lots of info here, a little hard to navigate but worth it.

http://www.reigningcats.net/catfood.htm
On cat food, takes a minute to load

http://claw.org/member/cc/cc5/cc527_1.shtml
cat foods

http://claw.org/member/cc/cc5/cc527_1.shtml
Info from the USFDA on pet food labels

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00173.htm
World Small Animal Veterinary Association on pet food labels

http://www.fuzzyfaces.com/lfood2.html
Pet foods - labels, 4-D "meats", chemicals etc

http://www.fuzzyfaces.com/lfood1.html
Fuzzy Faces' related links

http://www.cyberark.com/animal/Comme...d_Cat_Food.htm
What's really in Pet Food - the infamous API article

Thank you for putting all the links on there. Although I am really comfortable with what we feed, I enjoy reading all the info and getting more facts

Alicat: Very good links. I wish more people would CARE about what's in their food. I even have some friends who feed their cats horrible food DISPITE what I have informed them of, and what links I have sent them. I loose a bit of respect for people like that, and consider them to be irresponcible pet owners.

Sandie: What is it that you feed?

Although there's some dispute about commercial food, I feed all of them Science Diet. With all the info I have gathered over the years, and trying several foods, it's the best compromise for us. It's the only food that all of them tolerate well

Chicken fat is not a filler. It is a highly digestible source of energy, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid and is often included in cat foods which use "lean" meats such as chicken, turkey as the amount of fat already in these meats may not be enough to ensure a proper supply of essential fatty acids.

AngelzOO, do you think maybe they didn't really believe you? I think as Americans it is difficult to understand how this could be. I grew up thinking ads, food labels etc were regulated so as not to be deceptive to customers. Not only does the government allow deceptive claims and terms, but it allows 4-D ingredients and aids in keeping that knowledge 'under the rug'. Not to be melodramatic but I don't think that's the type of nation our forefathers envisioned.

Glad you like the links both of you! It's pretty interesting and once you learn to read labels it's so much easier to pick a food. It's just crazy that reading a 'food' label is so complex!

I'm sure that some of them didn't. But I think it's that most of them didn't care.

I've noticed that people who aren't really 'in' to animals, and don't see me as some big animal activist kinda just shrug off the things that I say. But the people who DO love their pets and know that aspect of me, always say responces like "Oh really! I never knew that, I feel so horrible now, I'll never do that again." lol

Learning to read food labels really isn't that hard. Specially when you sit at home looking at ingredients online, or going to the store and reading bag after bag, you start to familurise yourself quickly!
I must say that I have learned what just about every darn ingredient in cat/dog/ferret food possible is! Can I rememeber all of those off the top of my head? No, lol.

When I read ingredients I sit here saying in my head "that's good, that's bad, that's really bad, that's impressive, and that's not good, but it's not going to get any better." lol

I just see when good's out weight the bads, and I never go for the REALLY bads.

I'm sure I have totally lost you now but that's alright.

Before I chose to keep my cats on Solid Gold, I read every single brand of cat food, to compare ingredients! I understand what cats need and what they don't need. In the wild would a cat eat corn?

My oldest cat Twinkles was on 9 Lives for 9 years, she is now 10. She was skinny with a very dry coat. Now that I've switched to Solid Gold she has a beautiful coat and she actually has meat on her bones!

I believe that as long as a cat gets food, it doesn't matter what brand you feed. If you can afford it, a high quality food lasts so much longer.

I am very happy, my cats are happy and healthy, what else matters?!

I've recently tried to switch my kitties dry food to something healthier for them. I have bought Nutro products so far. For now I am mixing the new brand with some of their old brand til they get used to it. I would like to try Solid Gold. Where do you all find it? I do not have access to any ordering on-line due to no credit card so I would need to go to a store. Also, what wet canned food is considered good for them? I presently use Fancy Feast but I would like to give them something that is better for them.

Lisa

I feed my cats Nutro wet food. They only get it as a treat!

To find out where they sell Solid Gold in your area:

Go to www.solidgoldhealth.com and go to "Store Locator". Choose your city, or closest city, and click "Locate". That's how I find all the pet stores that carry Solid Gold in my area !

Crazy: LOL. Oh I know! My whole cat nutrition kick started over 3 years ago now. And what I feed them soley depends on how much money I have to spend on it!

With Tage, the whole time I've had him, no matter what food he was on, his coat was always wirey and greasy, but now that he's been on Solid Gold for 3 months (and it took a good 2 months to show) his coat is finally softer and SHINEY instead of greasy. I thought nothing was going to ever change his coat.

With Isha... for 3 years, she has been underweight, I have tried almost EVERYTHING to get her at a healthy weight, I have fed all kinds of food, top of the line and bottom of the line. I've crammed so much food down her, any other cat would have exploded, lol! etc etc. But now that she's been on Solid Gold (again at about 2 months) I've noticed a huge change, she doesn't look positively skinny my danty gal has some meat on her and it's wonderful!

Lisa: If you can find a store close enough to you, and even if they don't carry Solid Gold at that time, a lot of smaller stores will offer to have it special ordered for you (at no additional cost). Then when it comes in, you can just pick it up from that store.
About fancy feast, for coming from a low grade company such as Purina, I really don't think it's all 'THAT' bad. It's booming with all sorts of meat/fish products, it has the real meat in it, I open a can and say "oh hey look it's a big peice of shrimp!" lol.

Besides, for most cats I feel their main diet should be a high quiality dry food, and wet food only as an occasional TREAT. I only feed it every 2 or 3 days.
But if you feed A LOT of wet food, it would probably be better to get the best diet you can afford, and that they will eat.

You can go to this thread for a long list of canned food!
Canned Cat Food

Well, my cats and I eat only free range chicken or organic lamb and beef. I don't eat the beef because of the high amount of trans fatty acids which are bad for humans. I add organic bran, balance the Ph with Ca and add a complete multi-vitamin,mineral and amino acid supplement. I use only organic vegetables, many of which I grow myself and only free range eggs, (yolks only once a week for my cats.) They also get a free range chicken neck each three or four times a week. My Supplier guarantees his chicken and eggs free of hormones and antibiotics.

I worm regularly - my Vet is most impressed with my kittens. There is so much junk in canned food; dry food is implicated in causing diabetes in cats.
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