Not to beat a dead horse, but this food thing again!

[carrie640]

So many opinions on food that my head is spinning!! I ditched the Iams/Science Diet stuff (although Ashley eats ANYTHING) for Nutro. She is on the one that is for a weight management thing (HUGE chunks!!). She also gets a treat once in a while of the canned foods (Hunter's Stew with Venison? What a GREAT NAME!!!)......BUT


Is this stuff really ok to give her? I mean, what do you guys think specifically about this brand?

 

[kaiukats]

I feed Nutro exclusively. The only time I dont feed it is when I am weaning b/c the bites are too big, and I feed Royal Canin BabyCat.

Dry food has not been known to help cats lose weight. Some cats have luck, but not many. Canned food is better. It has less carbs and you can really limit the amount they get.

Depending on your cats weight I would feed 1/4-1/2 can twice daily. No treats, no dry food until she is down to what she should be or at least drops a few pounds. At that time you can try the weight management food and see how she does on it.

Good luck. Getting cats to lose weight is a project!

 

[hissy]

I wouldn't do diets without a vet's supervision. I also wouldn't switch foods so much as it can cause a lot of stomach upset. If your vet feels your cat is overweight, so much so that diabetes, certain cancers and kidney problems are a concern, then let your vet guide you as to the proper food and amounts to give your cat, otherwise, you could be asking for a lot of heartache down the road.

 

[carrie640]

She isn't on a diet..when I mentioned HUGE CHUNKS..I meant the food itself...the kibbles are big! lol I just do the weight management to help her maintain what she is at now.

 

[chelle]

Originally posted by hissy
I wouldn't do diets without a vet's supervisio

me neither

 

[tuxedokitties]

It can be really confusing...next thing you know you'll be out running around in the woods and catching mice, birds, and grasshoppers for your cats to cook at home for them.

The Nutro food chunks are pretty big - that's why I don't feed them to my cats, b/c one of my girls is toothless and they're more than she can manage. But I've heard it's a good food, though. One of our local top-notch boarding kennels recommends it.

My vet has told me that pretty much any well-known reputable premium brand of food is fine for cats without health conditions. If you want to switch foods please do it gradually, mixing small amounts of the new food in with the old, increasing it a little each day until you've switched to the new food. This can help to avoid stomach upset caused by switching foods too rapidly.

Personally, I think that Science Diet is a good food - that's what I've fed my cats all their lives, along with a tablespoon or so of canned food every day (Science Diet, Nutro, Wellness, Pro Plan, or other good pet store brand). I've also known of cats that lived to be 20 on Purina Cat Chow.

The best thing to do if you're confused is to ask your vet - he can recommend a good weight-maintenance food for her.

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

I used to feed Nutro. It's not a premium food, but it's better than Friskies! I feed Chicken Soup For The Cat Lovers Soul Light Formula. My local pet store got the food in yesterday. I bought a 6 pound bag and a 1.5 pound bag and it cost me under $17.00! What a deal for an awesome food!

My oldest male, Peppurr, is 20 pounds. He is 5-10 pounds overweight, so I feed him the light formula. I don't really like to give my cats to much wet food. It's pricier and gives them really strinky stools. Yuck!

 

[newtocats]

Nutro is a premium brand...

 

[woodsygirl]

Well, was your cat not doing well on Science Diet or Iams? If your cat was doing well, and your switched her to something she won't eat (mine refuses Nutro personally..) then I think that could cause more harm than good. If she likes the Nutro and has no problems eating it then stay with it if you think its better, but if she is having problems with it i'd go back to one of the others.

 

[jcat]

Recently a lot of cat magazines have had articles by nutritionists recommending that 2 or 3 different brands be fed, provided that your cat doesn't have a sensitive stomach or food allergies. Our cat demands variety, so I've always fed about 3 different brands at once. I find the Nutro kibble rather large, but think that might be an advantage - it has to be chewed, rather than just wolfed down, which theoretically should help to "clean" the teeth to some extent. JC tends not to chew the Felidae or Solid Gold kibble thoroughly, and he "inhales" Hill's.

 

[jenng]

From all that I've read, Nutro is a premium brand of cat food, and the fact that Spike seems to like it, and is doing well on it, keeps me feeding it to him. I guess the kibble is a bit large, but I think I'm with jcat... I would think that would be an advantage so the cat actually chews the food. (Which Spike mostly does.) There are 'better' foods out there for cats though, Felidae and Solid Gold come to mind. Unfortunately, Spike refuses to eat them.

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

What I should have said, is that Nutro isn't a Super Premium cat food. You see chicken in their ingredients one time, and it's just chicken meal. Corn is no good for cats, poultry fat is no good, it should say chicken fat. Then you see lamb meal is number 7, it should be number 1 or 2. I loved Nutro, it does what is says it will do for your cats, I just wanted something better.

Nutro Max Cat Adult

Ingredients

Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Ground Rice, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Ground Whole Wheat, Lamb Meal, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavors, Brewers Dried Yeast, Monosodium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Salt, Taurine, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Cobalt Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Folic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin B12 Supplement.

Now you see something like Chicken Soup For The Cat Lovers Soul...

Fresh, Pure, Wholesome Ingredients

Chicken, Salmon, chicken meal, whole grain brown rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), oatmeal, whole grain white rice, potatoes, cracked pearled barley, millet, turkey, duck, flaxseed, egg product, natural chicken flavor, carrots, peas, apples, dried skim milk, kelp, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, methionine, potassium chloride, taurine, zinc sulfate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

Nutro is a great food, and I would feed it again, my cats love the taste of it. But, I can pay $12.00 for a 6 pound bag of Nutro or $12.00 for a 6 pound bag of Chicken Soup. It's just as affordable as Nutro, and is much much more premium. It will last longer too!

 

[jenng]

I'm in no way disputing that there aren't 'better' foods than Nutro out there, and I say it as 'better' because some cats do better on certain foods than others. And I think that Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers' Soul is definitely a good food as well - I just haven't been able to try it with Spike as it's not sold around here yet.

I did want to post this about meat vs. meat meal though.

Chicken Meal: The dry rendered product from a combination of flesh and skin, with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of chicken, or a combination there of, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails.

If you had the same amount of meat meal and meat, the meat meal would have more flesh, protein, etc. in it because all of the water has been removed. Meat itself has a high percentage of water, which means that there's not as much actual flesh as you would believe there to be. It's very deceiving how cat food labels can be written.

Corn Gluten Meal: The dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ and the separation of the bran by a process employed in wet milling manufacturer of corn starch and syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm. Comment: "Crud Protein" listed in the guaranteed analysis is only and indicator of the amount of nitrogen in the food, not the quality of the protein, Because of this, pet food companies can utilize lower quality vegetable protein sources (protein fillers) like corn gluten. Meat is always the best source of quality protein. Meat has a higher biologic value (percentage of protein absorbed and retained) and is higher in important essential amino acids like methione, arginine and taurine. Corn gluten meal is low in these critical amino acids, and has a lower biologic value, less than 50% of chicken meal.

And I should mention... corn gluten meal in general bothers me. Mostly because I don't quite understand it, but from what I do get, it's not corn exactly, it's corn's protein source. So it's not as if it's ground yellow corn (ick!) that's in the food... the starch has been removed, etc. (My knowledge in the corn gluten meal is lacking though, so if anyone has more information on it, I'd love to hear it.)

I didn't post this to start an argument or anything, and I don't work for Nutro, so I have little interest in sticking up for them. I just wanted to post the meat vs. meal thing because I know it's confusing, and I had a hard time with it when I first started looking up foods to feed Spike. And I think people that are concerned about what they're feeding their cats are sometimes alarmed by seeing meat meal in the listing, especially first, and it's really a good thing, not a bad one.

 

[carrie640]

Is this Chicken Soup stuff new??? And, is that the exact name of it?

Really...I am wondering if you can really win with anything 100%. It is kind of like us. You do one thing, but then someone else comes along and says, "Ohh..but doing that can cause this" or something.

 

[crazy-cat-lover]

Yes, the food is called Chicken Soup For The Cat Lovers Soul. It is a very new pet food. You can get it for dogs, puppies, cats and kittens.

Below is a list of what your cat doesn't need, or has little nutritional value.

Found at Pet Chef Express

Animal By-product Meal (protein)

Rendered product form animal tissues, exclusive of any added hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. It shall not contain added extraneous materials not provided for by this definition. This ingredient definition is intended to cover those individual rendered animal tissue products that cannot meet the criteria as set forth elsewhere in this section. This ingredient is not intended to be used to label a mixture of animal tissue products.

- “As may occur unavoidably in good processing practicesâ€.

- “Intended to cover those individual rendered animal tissue products that cannot meet the criteria as set forth elsewhereâ€.

Animal Digest (flavouring)

Material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must correspond thereto.

- “Might occur unavoidably in good factory practiceâ€.

- This is basically an inexpensive cooked broth made from unspecified animal parts and will vary from bag to bag.

- Almost certainly contains rendered pets.

Beet Pulp (sweetener)

Dried residue from sugar beets which has been cleaned and freed from crowns, leaves, and sand, and which has been extracted in the process of manufacturing sugar. Promoted as fiber, but in reality is sugar residue. Little nutritional value.

Brewers Rice (carbohydrate)

Small fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice. Also less commonly called Chipped Rice or Broken Rice. Rice sections that have been discarded from human food manufacturing of beer, and contain little if any nutritional value.

BHA (preservative)
Butylated hydroxytoluene – chemical preservative. Total content of preservatives not more than 0.02% of fat or oil content including essential (volatile) oil content of food.

- Artificial preservative linked to disease.

BHT (preservative)

Butylated hydroxytoluene – chemical preservative. Total content of preservatives not more than 0.02% of fat or oil content including essential (volatile) oil content of food.

- Artificial preservative linked to disease.

Corn Gluten Meal (binder carbohydrate)

Dried residue from corn after the removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm. It may contain fermented corn extractives and/or corn germ meal.

- There is little, if any, nutritional value in this glue-like substance. Dangerous when toxic ingredients like BHA/BHT are included, as these substances will stay in your petâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s system longer.

Corn Grits (carbohydrate)

Medium sized hard flinty portions of ground corn containing little or none of the bran or germ. May also appear in the ingredient list of mixed feed as Hominy Grits.

- “Little or none of the bran or germ†means little or no nutritional value.

Ground Yellow Corn (carbohydrate)

Entire corn kernel ground or chopped. It must contain not more than 4% foreign material. May also appear in the ingredient list of a mixed feed as Corn Meal or Corn Chop.

- Yellow corn is one of the lowest nutritional varieties of corn.

- Further, corn is a high allergen for dogs and cats.

Ethoxyquin (preservative)

Chemical preservative. 0.015% in or on feed. Artificial preservative linked to disease. Not as common as it was a few years ago in pet foods, but still used. Originally developed to keep the rubber in tires from oxidizing.

Fish Meal (protein)

The clean, dried, ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish or fish cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil. It must contain not more than 10% moisture. If it contains more than 3% salt (NaCl), the amount of salt must constitute a part of the brand name, provided that in no case must he salt content of this product exceed 7%.

- Does not indicate what type of fish, and therefore can vary from bag to bag.

- If not the whole fish may not contain many of the fat-soluble vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids required by your pet.

Fish Oil (fat)

Oil from rendering whole fish or cannery waste. Non-specific. Why not state the type of fish used? Can vary from bag to bag. Be careful of the “cannery waste†. . .

Meat (protein)

The clean flesh derived from slaughtered mammals and is limited to that part of the striate muscle which is skeletal or that which is found in the tongue, in the diaphragm, in the heart, or in the esophagus; with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of skin, sinew, nerves and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.

- This is animal meat. But, does the label say what kind of meat or just “meat� Without a descriptor, can vary from bag to bag.

- You could also just be getting sinew, nerves and blood vessels.

Meat And Bone Meal (protein)

Rendered product from mammal tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in small amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

- “May occur unavoidably in good processing practicesâ€

- From what origin? Almost for certain this contains rendered dogs and cats as well as 4D sources.

- This is basically the definition of “meat meal†with bone included.

Meat By-products (protein)

Non-rendered clean parts other than meat derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.

- From what origin? Almost for certain this contains rendered dogs and cats. Can vary from bag to bag.

- You are feeding your pet brain, blood, and intestines.

- Any guesses as to why the kidneys and livers are not being used for human consumption?

Meat Meal (protein)

Rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

- “May occur unavoidably in good processing practices†– this is a very suspect statement repeated throughout. Unavoidable due to what conditions? What is considered good processing practices?

- From what origin? Almost for certain this contains rendered dogs and cats. Can vary from bag to bag.

Natural Flavours (flavouring)

Natural is defined as “feed or ingredient derived solely from plant, animal or mined sources, either in its unprocessed state or having been subject to physical processing, heat processing, rendering, purification, extraction, hydrolysis, enzymolysis or fermentation, but not having been produced by or subject to a chemically synthetic process and not containing any additives or processing aids that are chemically synthetic except in amounts as might occur unavoidably in good manufacturing practices.â€

Natural flavours of what? Why not be specific? Will vary from bag to bag.

- A common industry trick of re-naming “Animal Digestâ€.

Peanut Hulls (carbohydrate)

- Consists of the outer hull of the peanut shell.
- Cheap filler; very low nutritional value.

Dried Potato Products (carbohydrate)

Dried residue of potato pieces, peeling, culls, etc., obtained from the manufacture of processed potato products for human consumption.

- Left-overs from processing potatoes for human consumption.

Powdered Cellulose (binder)

Purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared by processing alpha cellulose obtained as a pulp from fibrous plant materials.

- A fancy name for sawdust, used to help bind the food together. Very cheap filler.

Poultry (protein)

The clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of poultry or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.

- Nonspecific. To be of good quality, it should be descriptive: Chicken or Turkey. Otherwise, contents will vary from bag to bag.

Poultry By-products (protein)

Must consist of non-rendered clean parts of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice. If the product bears a name descriptive of its kind, the name must correspond thereto.

- Except in such trace amounts

- Heads and feet are allowed.

Poultry By-product Meal (protein)

Ground rendered clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feather, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

- Except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably

- Necks, feet and intestines are allowed.

Poultry Meal (protein)

Dry rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of poultry or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails. It shall be suitable for use in animal food t it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.

- To be of good quality, it should be descriptive: Chicken Meal or Turkey Meal.

Rice Gluten Meal (binder carbohydrate)

Exactly the same process for corn gluten meal, but with rice. Used by some upscale pet foods, as rice is higher quality than corn. However, the gluten meal is acting primarily as a binder, not a carbohydrate.

Sodium Nitrate (preservative colorant)

Preservative & color fixative in canned pet food containing fish; meat; and fish and meat by-products.

- Artificial preservative and colour.

Ground Soybeans (protein)

Obtained by grinding whole soybeans without cooking or removing any of the oil.

- High allergen for dogs, not easily processed.

- Soy is cheap to produce, and therefore a cheap way for lesser pet foods to boost their crude protein numbers.

Wheat Flour (carbohydrate)

Consists principally of wheat flour together with fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ, and the offal from the “tail of the mill.†This product must be obtained in the usual process of commercial milling and must contain not more than 1.5% crude fiber.

- “Tail of the mill†is a fancy term for the sweepings of leftovers after the process run.

- Wheat is another high allergen for dogs and cats.

Wheat Germ Meal (protein)

Consists chiefly of wheat germ together with some bran and middlings or shorts. It must contain not less than 25% crude protein and 7% crude fat.

- Wheat germ + middlings or shorts.

- Wheat is another high allergen for dogs and cats.

Wheat Middlings (carbohydrate)

Consists of fine particles of wheat bran, wheat shorts, wheat germ, wheat flour, and some of the offal from the “tail of the millâ€. This product must be obtained in the usual process of commercial milling and must contain not more than 9.5% crude fiber.

- Wheat is another high allergen for dogs and cats.

- “Tail of the mill†is a fancy term for the sweepings of leftovers after the process run.

Wheat Shorts (carbohydrate)

Consists of fine particles of wheat bran, wheat germ, wheat flour, and the offal from the “tail of the millâ€. This product must be obtained in the usual process of commercial milling and must contain not more than 7% crude fiber.

- Wheat is another high allergen for dogs and cats.

- “Tail of the mill†is a fancy term for the sweepings of leftovers after the process run.

END

 

[candy]

In the end, each cat owner needs to make an informed decision on their own. There is no way that everyone will agree on one brand of food...some cats do well on Friskies, some do well on Innova, some do well on BARF. There is no right answer unfortunately.

I fed Nutro Complete Care Weight Management before switching to Innova Lite. Both diets were used under the supervision of my veterinarian for weight loss in my male cat. We made a goal of no more than 1 pound per month...this is healthy weight loss. Anything more and you may be compromising your cat's health (especially the liver). Before starting on the diet, Max had full blood work done to check his liver and kidneys, and to test for diabetes and thyroid conditions. A side note...we were concerned with my dog's weight when he was younger and took the same steps before putting him on a lite food. He was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and had we not gotten the blood work done, we would have never known anything was wrong. So, the $75-$100 you pay for blood work, is definitely well worth the money.

 

[melissa]

Hmmm....Nutro doesn't appear to be much better than most grocery store brands, like Meow Mix or Friskies, based on the ingredients list.

My boys eat Iams, and the first ingredient on the list is Chicken. they're happy and healthy :rainbow: However, if I can get the pet store here to get in Chicken Soup food, they'll make the switch to that. Onyx simply LOVES salmon- his salmon flavored treats make him drool as soon as I open the can

 

[candy]

Most grocery store brands are filled with by-products and ambiguous protein sources (ie. meat by-products), as well as low quality grains/fillers. Nutro specifies the protein source, and does not use by-products (at least in the formula I was feeding). In addition, most formulas use one source of corn, compared to the numerous sources that other diets use (ie. corn gluten meal, ground corn, corn meal, corn grits). There are differences if you know what you are looking for.

About "chicken" as the first ingredient...you are probably getting less chicken (mostly water) in the food compared to a food using chicken meal (chicken with water removed). See the meal vs. meat above.

 

[newtocats]

Yeah, Iams isn't what it's cracked up to be. They reformulated their recipes so they can sell their products in WalMart and grocery stores.
It's a little over 20% filler too. Won't let my cats near that crap!

 

[melissa]

Well, it may not be 'the best' , but my boys love it and are very healthy. Compared to all the other grocery stores brands,I wouldn't label it 'crap'.

I tried a lot of 'premuim brands', even getting my Vet to order in things for me, and Onyx hated all of it.