whats the best cat food

what brand cat food do you feed your cats? is the high cost really better. my cats are now eating purina kit n kaboodle. i was wondering if the high cost cat food is really better and would fill them up better so it would last longer. the science diet is $25 a 18 pound bag. i spend about $10 for the brand i use and buy a big bag about every 2 weeks. i would like to switch but can't really afford it unless it might last longer.

I give my cat Petreet-wet and ProPlan-solid. I am not sure if both brands are really better....all I know is that my cat loves it.

When she is happy, I am happy.

The best thing to do is to look at the ingredients list on the back of the bag. You're best bet are the foods that have a meat listed as the first ingredient, like chicken (not by product or meal). A lot of grocery store brands have corn or something similar as the first listed ingredient which means the food is mostly filler.

There is no hard and fast rule as to which food is the absolute best, its up to the individual-everyone has their own preference. My kitties eat Iams and are doing very well on it. It doesn't cost an exorbitant amount but is top of the line as far as grocery store foods go.

On the flip side, my grandmothers cat is 18 years old and still going strong and she has been eating cheap food her whole life.

Good luck in your kitty food quest :rainbow:

note... should we move this post to "health & nutrition"???

Before having to put my kitties on special Prescription Diet food, I was big fan of Nutro Max products, especially because it has no by-products. You can buy it at PetSmart, SuperPetz, etc... Here's the web site for more info...
Nutro Max Web Site Link

i asked someone to move it for me. right after i seen where it was. i am going to switch to the science diet after talking to my vet. thanks

just remember to switch gradually so as to not upset your baby's tummy.

I give my cats Friskies wet and Chefs Blend dry. They love
it. Although I do have to put my female on a diet. I think I
will be using Science Diet because that seems to be the top vet
choice. I am just afraid my male cat will get an upset stomach. I
know to feed them the new food gradually but I am still afraid. They
could both stand to lose 2 pounds each.

I don't know if there's a food that's better out there. The best thing would be to make your cats food but unfortunatly a lot of time goes into it and if you don't know what you're doing you can hurt your cat by not giving him all the vitamins he needs.

I feed 3 of my cats Purina ONE and Mitzi I feed Purina Pro Plan senior formula. At one time Fallon was on Eukanuba low residue because of a stool leaking problem she had. She lost a ton of weight on the food and her coat became dull and flaky.

I say whatever seems to be agreeing with your cat is fine as long as you don't switch brands just because it's on sale.

My 23-year-old cat was fed Chef's Blend for the last 17-20 years of his life (Friskies before that) and was healthy as could be.

I've tried Iams, Science Diet, gourmet stuff, all-natural stuff, etc, but they all smell really bad. Now, if your cat has sinus problems, the strong scent is good, but if not, I'd rather my place not smell like cat. Some of my neighbors' homes...YUCK!!!! Smelly!!!

Hi Everyone

Right now feeding my kitten who is 5 months, Fancy Feast wet and Purina for Kittens dry. Loves both. He is really growing.

Have a meow day.

Hello. My mom has been giving her cat a bodega brand for about a year. I believe it was alley cat and meow mix. My mom tells me how she doesn't like it but since she had it since she was little thats her food. Well I felt bad and everytime I come over to my moms I bring her new bag of pro-plan. I think they'll get tired of it.

Well, i decided not to go with the science diet. i wanted to. but we live paycheck to paycheck. it would be horrible if i could not afford it one week and then had to switch again. i've went with the purina one. special formula for adult cats. zazu who was having problems vomiting is no longer vomiting. he went to vet, there was a cold, got meds, he was still vomiting, now he's doing fine. vet said to get science diet but....this seems to be working. but if he was to start vomiting again, he'll have to go for bloodwork he seems extremly healthy. anyway, i'll hope for the best. this food promised in 2 months i'd see clearer eyes, shiny coat and some other good stuff like that. not that they don't now. i'm just blabbing now. later!

I've heard that cats don't need to eat as much of the more expensive brands because they contain more real quality ingredients and less filler. So an eighteen pound bag might last three weeks instead of two. If you look at it that way, it's not quite as expensive as it first seems.

Many of the high quality foods are nutrient dense.They contain more calories per cup than many of the cheaper brands so you have to feed less. If you buy a high calorie food and still feed the same amounts as you were feeding the cheaper brands you are likely to end up with a very fat cat. An 18lb bag of cat chow used to last me about a month and cost about $12.00 when I switched to Innova, a 16.6lb bag lasted me about 2months and cost $24.99.

We give Casper and Kitty Whiskas wet and dry food, and Friskies dry food, and they love them. We can't afford those big brand names, they are very, very expencive

I give Rascal a mixture of Iams and Eukanuba as dry food and Iams and Whiskas canned. I also give him Whiskas in a pouch and he loves them all!

kathyzim is right about the fillers and the better brands lasting longer. I work at a pet store and I remember that was in one of our pamphlets on pet food. I've used Iams kitten on all my babies and once they're old enough I've switched them to Iams Lamb and Rice. This was reccomended to us by a couple of different breeders (my mom has persians) and it's worked really well. Other good brands are Science Diet and Eukanuba. As far as the by products go not all of them are bad. Some are chicken organs and some of the skin. I guess the FDA requires anything that isn't muscle to be called a by product. Though some brands use ground up non-nutritional parts like the beak. At least that's what I've heard. Overall I think dry food is best though, since it helps keep their teeth clean. Good luck with your food search!

Egads, ok. you will hear me say this many many times here.
I will not feed Iams, because they support and do animal testing.

Science Diet is not good food... I wish more of you had posted at amce, we have a few ppl who are really smart food wize there.

Science Diet is in most vet offices because most vets don't know better, they are not nutritionist. The short course vets get in their schooling is sponsored by Science Diet, so what food are the vets going to be contracted to sell?... SD thats right.

Nutro, Nutro Max, Avo-derm, Pinnacal, Wellness, Authority, Bil-Jack, California Natural, Evolve. I could list many many many that are better than any of the names (that i have seen) thrown around on this thread.

I believe that RAW diet is best for most cases, but im not saying everyone here switched to a holistic diet, but, I do think ppl should stay away from purina, frisky's etc. Unless you have an old dieing cat and their last wish is to eat that junk food, lol, then I understand.

I agree wholeheartedly AngelzOO! I gave my kitties Nutro for years before one was prescribed Hill's Prescription Diet Food CD, which keeps urine crystals at bay (he had blood in his urine, which was a result of the crystals). At the time he developed the crystals, he was eating Hill's Prescription Diet LD, due to my other kitty being diagnosed with Liver Disease, who has since passed away (I know, this is getting confusing).

I've seen that Nutro says their food is also great for urinary tract health, but I've been a little gun shy about taking him off of the CD, for fear the crystals will return. As it seems you know LOTS about food, any thoughts on whether I could put him back on the Nutro? I do love that it has no by-products and I suppose if the crystals came back, I could simply go back to the CD food.

**chuckles** We could argue all day about which food is better or what is worse or what company you should avoid.

I don't believe there is a "better" food. Even the RAW diets have their faults. Each company wants you to believe their food is superior to the next and there will be a million good and bad stories to every brand. The pet food industry is a big buisness and there's a lot of money to be made and fads will come and go in food.

I have met people who throughout the animals life bought him Science diet and the dog, a boxer of all breeds lived to be 14. The average life span for a Boxer is maybe 10 or 11 at the most. Then there's the woman who's cat was diagnosed with kidney failure almost 4 years ago and since it was diagnosed the cat has been on Science diet's K/D.

Then you come across the cats who have eaten whiskas and purina their whole life and lived to be 22. You find dogs that eat Wellness and have to be taken off it because they keep getting stomach upsets and have to go back to Alpo, the "lesser" brand they were on before.

Then you get the conflicting company advice. Science diet recomends for kidney failure give the animal less protein. Then Waltham recomends giving the animal a higher quality of protein. So what are you do do when you walk into a pet shop and are face with 25 different brands with 5 different formulas a piece? Educate yourself. Get to know the list of long words on the back of the bag and what they mean.

Looking at the ingredient list you'll see a bunch of ingredients and they must be listed in a decending order. This means the first thing on the list is the most prevalent part of the diet.

If you're cat is doing fine on the food it is on then leave it alone. Don't try to fix something that isn't broken. Xavier was on Exell when he was a kitten and I was lead to believe this was a better food(more expensive) and he had diarreha all the time. Once I switched him to Purina he was fine and same with Fallon who was put on Eukanuba by her doctor. Nice expensive food but ruined her coat and made her loose weight no matter how much I fed her.

I stand firm in saying that I feel a cooked homemade diet that includes all the important vitamins is the best but this can be time consuming and goes bad quickly. It also can be VERY dangerous if you do not know what you are doing since you can leave out many important vitamins that are vital to your pet's health.