Chicken meal as an ingredient

[lucky luke]

If it ain't broke don't fix it...I've been feeding my 18 year-old Sasha the Royal Canin Mature dry food for many years and incorporated Performatrin Ultra wet food to his diet in the past few weeks.

In Tiggy's case, the little rascal prefers the Performatrin Ultra to his regular wet kitten food...so I feed him that, and he polishes off his plate. As of late, he's been liking Sasha's kibble better than his own Science Diet kitten dry...so I'm gradually switching Tiggy over to Royal Canin kitten...

Now that I'm "educating myself" on proper cat nutrition and paying attention to ingredients; I'm concerned that the main protein source of the Royal Canin dry food is chicken meal; actual chicken being a thrid ingredient.

I looked it up on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_meal

according to this, chicken meal packs more protein than actual chicken...but is it actually healthy?

 

[sharky]

yes... Chicken meal is basically chicken meat and bone dehydrated... think jerky

... takes 5 lb of fresh cheicken to get one lb of meal...

Ingrediants on pet labels are decieving as chicken ( is 66% WATER) as the first ingrediant after cooking is 1/5 to 1/6 the wt /// thus the chicken is really the 5th or 6th ingrediant after cooking even though the label has it first.... Chicken meal already has the water removed thus stay s the first ingrediant

Chicken meal can and often is referred to as the GOLD standard for a ingrediant... Flip side is some Meal s are mostly bone... I alsways say call and ask MOST companies will give you the % protein or % bone

of their meal

 

[lucky luke]

Originally Posted by sharky

yes... Chicken meal is basically chicken meat and bone dehydrated... think jerky

... takes 5 lb of fresh cheicken to get one lb of meal...

Ingrediants on pet labels are decieving as chicken ( is 66% WATER) as the first ingrediant after cooking is 1/5 to 1/6 the wt /// thus the chicken is really the 5th or 6th ingrediant after cooking even though the label has it first.... Chicken meal already has the water removed thus stay s the first ingrediant

Chicken meal can and often is referred to as the GOLD standard for a ingrediant... Flip side is some Meal s are mostly bone... I alsways say call and ask MOST companies will give you the % protein or % bone

of their meal

Hm, I wonder if Royal Canin would have that info available if I google it?

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke

Hm, I wonder if Royal Canin would have that info available if I google it?

No at least I have never found it in print outside of calling then some companies will send you print... Each company has their "special formula"

 

[lucky luke]

Originally Posted by sharky

No at least I have never found it in print outside of calling then some companies will send you print... Each company has their "special formula"

I just emailed them, we'll see if they reply!

 

[lucky luke]

12-17% bone...is that good or bad?

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke

12-17% bone...is that good or bad?

I would say good because since it is chicken meat and bone.. that At least in my math skills = 100-15=85 % meat on ave... or to figure a lb would = 2.5 oz of bone with 13.5 oz of meat

 

[lucky luke]

Originally Posted by sharky

I would say good because since it is chicken meat and bone.. that At least in my math skills = 100-15=85 % meat on ave... or to figure a lb would = 2.5 oz of bone with 13.5 oz of meat

Okay, so I'm not so worried about the kitten food I feed Tiggy. Sasha's pretty much been ignoring the Hill's K/D kibble I got as a supplement to the wet food and it's mixed with the RC Mature dry I still have...if only to scrape his teeth clean!