Quality Food

I know this is discussed on a regular basis, but I am trying to get my babies on good quality food. They came to me on special kitty, then I moved them to Whiska's kitten, on to Purina kitten chow, and then to Iams. Now today I purchases Eukanuba and am having trouble finding discussions about this particular food. I shop at PetsMart and am not finding much variety. A whole row is devoted to Science diet, but I have heard it is not that great either.

HELP!!!!

TOTALLY CONFUSED!!!!

Mickee

We feed our cats Eukanuba dry food. They like it and their fur is exceptionally soft!

So I take it, you think it is a good quality food? But why? Is it because the first ingredient is chicken, not by products? What do I look for?

Hello! First of all, calm down. Okay, the things you want to look for in a cat food are meat and lots of it! No by-products at all. Stay away from corn, wheat and unknown meats (ie "meat meal", "poultry".) Meat should be the FIRST ingredient. Preferably the second one as well. Try and stay away from grain heavy foods. In my honest opinion, I do NOT think Eukanuba is a high quality food. It consider it hmm, a step up from Cat Chow or Whiskas. But no where near high quality. Is PETsMART the only store you can purchase cat food at? If so, I recommend Blue Spa Select. It's a decent food, not the best, but certainly better than Eukanuba. The canned formulas are exceptional as well. These are the ingredients to Eukanuba Kitten (which I assume you are feeding):

Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Corn Grits, Chicken By-Products, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Dried Egg Product, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Brewers Dried Yeast, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Rosemary Extract

All the undesirable ingredients are bolded.

Chicken by-products can be anything, really. As long as it's connected to a chicken. Feet, beaks, feathers, whatever.

Fish meal-what fish? Salmon? Menhaden? Herring? Who knows.

Corn Grits- Corn is a filler, as far as I'm concerned. It's a major allergy trigger and cats can't digest it very well.

Now, compare those ingredients to Blue Spa Select Kitten:

Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Whole Ground Brown Rice, Whole Ground Barley, Oatmeal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Rice Protein Concentrate, Rye, Whole Cranberries, Whole Sweet Potatoes, Whole Carrots, Herring Oil, Menhaden Fish Meal, Alfalfa, Ground Flax Seed, Sunflower Oil (preserved with Natural Mixed Tocopherols), Sea Salt, Barley Grass, Whole Eggs, Natural Flavors, Calcium Phosphate, Taurine, Dried Kelp, Lecithin, Parsley, Spirulina*, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bacillus Subtilis, Bifidobacterium Thermophilum, Bifidobacterium Longum, Enterococcus Faecium, Choline Chloride, Turmeric, Zinc Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Zinc), Iron Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Iron), Vitamin E Supplement, Argenine, Lysine, Manganese Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Manganese), Copper Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Copper), Beta Carotene, Potassium Amino Acid Complex (source of Chelated Potassium), Niacin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Ascorbate (sources of Vitamin C), Calcium Pentothenate, Rosemary Extract, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Cobalt Proteinate (source of Chelated Cobalt), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Potassium Iodide, Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite (source of Vitamin K Activity), Sodium Selenite

I admit Blue is grain heavy, but it's the best you'll find at PETsMART. Notice though how is contains no by-products, unknown meat sources or corn.

Do you have a Petco near you? They sell some good quality foods such as Natural Balance and Solid Gold. Good luck!

Does your Petsmart carry Nutro Natural Choice? Or Royal Canin? Those are both good foods without byproducts or mystery ingredients like "meat" and "fish". I have fed both brands to my cats and liked the result.

Eukanuba isn't bad either. IMO it's a lot better than the grocery store brands, both because it's fairly high in protein and because the first ingredient is meat, as opposed to byproducts or grain.

Meal is actually good as long as it doesn't come from a mystery source.

For instance, chicken meal is chicken, with the water removed prior to processing.
Going by weight, if a product lists chicken meal first, then chicken, it actually has more chicken than a product that lists simply chicken first.
Does that make sense?

i feed my kittens "Innova Evo Cat and Kitten" dry:

Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Herring Meal, Potatoes (whole with skins), Chicken Fat, Egg, Turkey Meal, Natural Flavors, Apples, Carrots, Tomatoes, Cottage Cheese, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Herring Oil, Rosemary Extract, Vitamins/Minerals, Viable Naturally Occurring Microorganisms

Moisture 10.0 %
Protein 50.0 %
Fat 22.0 %
Carbs 7.0 % (lowest in the industry)
Fiber 2.0 %

Calories 2046 Kcal/lb
Calories 4500 Kcal/Kg
Calories 612 KCals/Cup

Metabolized energy is excellent as well and there will be less poop and litter changing because more of the food will be utilized and less is needed to satisify.

has NO GRAINS, and there is added probiotics and preboitics for intestinal health. All of the ingrediants are HUMAN GRADE, and free of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, as well as chemical preservatives such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin.

thats what i feed my babies anyways

What about Pet Smart's Authority brand? What do all you guys think of that? I used to feed that but switched for no particular reason (i switch foods all the time) to Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul.

Petmart look at these ..
Nutro( I use this and my vet okays it ( she knows alot of nutrtion stuff)
Blue spa ( new and grainy but good)
Royal canin) read some are very good )
Authority( budget brand )
All have good pts and all have not so good but they are solid foods .. Two are very well researched and tested ...

Others will disagree but IMHO Eukanuba is not really a premium food it just has a premium price...

I really don't think Eukanuba dry is as bad as everybody is making it out to be. I'm not scared of chicken by-products. As long as they're not the first ingredient or two I think it's okay. My only issue with chicken by-products is that they don't provide as much digestible nutrition as chicken meat. But since it contains organs and such that wouldn't otherwise be included, it has different vitamins and minerals that might be needed. Yes, it can include a certain amount of feathers and feet (I think the feather amount is regulated) but it's also the organs and such that aren't normally eaten by humans but are normally eaten by cats that eat prey. Now what does scare me is unidentified meat by-products because that can come from any of a number of animal sources. I try to avoid that stuff.

My kittens eat Eukanuba dry and look great. I would not recommend Eukanuba canned or pouch foods though because meat by-products are usually first on the list.