What's so bad about by-products?

Money is tight right now, and my husband and I have to buy cheaper cat food (it really adds up with six cats plus six kittens in one house).

I don't want to get them pure garbage, but I might have to get a "grocery store brand" for the forseeable future.

So have at it, nutrition experts... I'm willing to listen to whatever advice you have to give! Isn't by-products things like bone marrow, bone, organs, basically bologna? What's the diff between that and chicken meal? I agree that either is not the best, but it seems okay to me, especially if I supplement with raw beef once a week like a usually do.

I do have one concern, and I think this would apply to any cat food brand.
I was feeding Eagle Pack to my cats (except Sneakers and kittens) and they loved it, but I finally did a looksee online and saw that the "chicken" is actually chicken meal. The label on the can was not complete!

How can I be sure what my cat food contains?
Which grains are bad?
How far down on the list should grains be, and how can I find information on exact amounts of the filler ingredients?

The problem is, you don't know what by-products are used, it could be anything from entrails (which really aren't that bad) to meat scraps and non-edible garbage swept from the floor.

As for the chicken meal, this is actually more desirable as it is whole chicken with the water removed, so more chicken by volume.

I can certainly understand cost being and issue as we have one (very low income) and many pets.
I can recommend Nutro as being very cost effective, decent food for a many cat household.

I cannot answer about the grains, but I know Sharky can
In my home, I avoid corn as I have a cat who's allergic and my dog is as well, although corn gluten gives them no issue, only whole, ground or meal.

Thanks. After Eagle Pack, we were feeding Nutro, but Pro Plan is cheaper, so we have been feeding that off and on lately too... but now the situation is bad enough where we might even have to go cheaper. If there is one that is as good as or only slightly less good than Pro Plan AND cheaper, we will go for that.

Another thing that concerns me is all the fish the cheaper foods. Does anyone know of cheap foods that don't have it?

Originally Posted by Godiva

Thanks. After Eagle Pack, we were feeding Nutro, but Pro Plan is cheaper, so we have been feeding that off and on lately too... but now the situation is bad enough where we might even have to go cheaper. If there is one that is as good as or only slightly less good than Pro Plan AND cheaper, we will go for that.

Another thing that concerns me is all the fish the cheaper foods. Does anyone know of cheap foods that don't have it?

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Nutro has many flavors to choose from, and many without fish.
Another thing to keep in mind.... feeding a lower quality food isn't always cheaper in the long run. It doesn't fill them up as well as the better quality foods so they eat more of it.

What is "animal digest?"

I am aware that it may not be cheaper, but try convincing my husband of that.

Originally Posted by squirtle

Nutro has many flavors to choose from, and many without fish.
Another thing to keep in mind.... feeding a lower quality food isn't always cheaper in the long run. It doesn't fill them up as well as the better quality foods so they eat more of it.

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I loved Nutro, until that whole spots-in-the-pouches ordeal. Although they still eat dry Nutro, I don't give them wet anymore, except for the kittens when it's on sale.

Chicken soup cat food is cheaper than both Nutro and Pro plan, at least where I am

No store that I am aware of sells it around here.

Try looking here http://www.chickensoupforthepetlover...s.php?state=IN

Originally Posted by Godiva

Thanks. After Eagle Pack, we were feeding Nutro, but Pro Plan is cheaper, so we have been feeding that off and on lately too... but now the situation is bad enough where we might even have to go cheaper. If there is one that is as good as or only slightly less good than Pro Plan AND cheaper, we will go for that.

==CHicken soup is a good food that at a feed store can be gotten very reasonable

Another thing that concerns me is all the fish the cheaper foods. Does anyone know of cheap foods that don't have it?

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Fish is a varing issue ... One cat ate it daily for nearly 17 years and no issues one day she got a uti and since then I have been keeping all fish days to three a week ... Another one is allergic to some types of fish...

My vet and sereral others say some fish is fine and dont overdue it ... Ie my dog gets fish twice a week

I use special kitty, my girls love it!

As for grains ... Cats dont need them .. think nature ... the mouse ate some grain and if the cat eats the stomach or the intestines they would get parts of the mouses last meal ...

Rice supposedly is the most digestable grain , though I have read conflicting reports

Corn whole or grd is not very digestable

Wheat is semi digestable but in many cats is allergic

barley and rye I imagine are like wheat since the gluten complex is the same

I can tell you what my vet says if you want ...

Originally Posted by Godiva

What is "animal digest?"

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Animal Digest - A powder or liquid made by taking clean under-composed animal tissue and breaking it down using chemical and or emblematic hydrolysis. It does not contain horn, teeth, hair, hooves, or feathers except in trace amounts which are unavoidable, Digest names must be descriptive of their contents....that is, chicken digest must be made from chicken and beef digest made from beef.

Now the definition of the two types of hydrolysis is a bit of a question. Hydrolysis is the breaking down of a substance and I can understand how it could be done chemically, hence chemical hydrolysis. But emblematic means "Of, relating to, or serving as an emblem; symbolic" which for the life of me I can't reconcile to hydrolysis.
A symbolic breaking down of a substance?
What in blazes does that mean?

I'll see if I can dig up someone who knows.... as if I haven't bored the pants off you already

Walmarts food wouldnt work for you?? I have been using that new Maxiumum"sp?" from walmart, and though Im sure not the best, and people will tell you that, I think its maybe better then the others in grocery stores, and pretty affordable,..

The problem with by-products is just that you don't really know what's gone into them. It potentially *may* not be all that bad, but it could also be very VERY bad and icky stuff. It's very poor in terms of nutritional value. Any meat that's been turned into a by-product must be rendered, and must also be denatured to prevent it from coming back into the human food chain. Denaturing is often done with carbolic acid or charcoal Also, any meat from the "four D's" can end up in by-products (dead, dying, down or diseased animals). Basically, steer clear!

As for grains, Sharky is correct that rice is the easiest digested, specifically whole grain brown rice. Oatmeal is also easier. Corn, wheat and soy are very poor quality grains often found in pet foods.

Jazmynn, you should really look into a better food for your girls, Special Kitty is a very very poor quality food

Given some of the guidelines I've found online, there are apparently no foods that some people feel comfortable giving their pets. I totally get it, and when I'm rich I'll feed them raw homemade all the time, but sometimes finances cause some of us to just want to know the basics.

Animal digest sounds disgusting... as do many of the other products. Will a company answer a question about the source and detailed content of their cat food if I call? Obviously, if all food out there is crap at the less-than-$0.50-a-can level, well... then I just feel hopeless and horribly guilty for feeding it to them. As cat owners get more educated, surely in the next several years we will see OTC grocery stores brands improve greatly. Right?

I'm sure that emblematic hydrolysis is just some outdated or obscure name for a more common chemical reaction... I'm not worried about it.

To those of you who asked, I refuse to shop at Walmart unless I have a REALLY good reason to.

Another thought....

Do you have any feed stores relatively close to you?
If so, you can get feed through them, cheaper than most places.

If you do have a feed store, look into Diamond canned foods, their dry formulas, are complete garbage.
While these obviously aren't high quality, they are decent (I would feed them in a pinch) and they are very inexpensive, especially when bought at a feedstore.
I don't give Walmart my money either

Their website does have a dealer locator.
Diamond

I have to drive out of the city to get to a feed store, but if I find a good deal, I'll go! Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Have you thought about ordering food online? I know one place is www.petfooddirect.com

Their 18lb bag of chicken soup is 20.99, and their pro plan 20lb is 32.99.. that's a lot cheaper for ya.. if you order a couple bags it should last you a good long while and be worth the shipping.. I think

edit - apparently they'll ground ship for free, so there ya go!

Godiva, I don't know if you have Pets Supplies Plus in your area but they sell the Chicken Soup food, I haven't been able to find it anywhere else either, but for the price, Chicken Soup is pretty good, first ingredient is meat, and i like that is has cranberries in it, anti-oxidants for my special babies and shadowbaby's idea to order online is good since free shippping!! I might have to look into that....