Quality Dry Food

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Sakura

I didn't want to start a new thread about this but I also need help picking a good dry food for my cat. Right now I am trying to decide between Nutro Natural and Natural Balance. I also have access to Authority, Solid Gold, and Royal Canin. (If it matters, right now she is eating Iams Kitten). The rest of the brands on that list that Sharky posted are not at my local pet stores.

I am confused by a few things. First, is my cat still a "kitten" for dry food purposes? I think she is approximately 7 months old and I've noticed that most kitten formulas are for up to 1 year. Second, my cat is indoor-only and is very sedentary. She is young but I'm worried about her eating too much because she seems to sleep about 20 hours a day and is not playful. I read somewhere on this forum that Natural Balance is very high in calories and I'm wondering if this would make it a poor choice for my lazy kitty?' (Oh! My cat also has really long hair so I wonder if I need some sort of hairball control formula?)

Also, can someone point me to research to show my SO about why brands like Iams are not as good for cats? He thinks I am turning into a crazy cat person.

7 months can do adult or kitten ... how big is your baby wt wise?? YUP kitties sleep alot /// Natural balance is moderate high in cal ///... Nutro s natural choice line is designed for hairballs( my Zoey still eats kitten natural choice )...

Most of us dont like animal type by products ... do to a LACK of SPECIFICS .. it can be all heads and ft and no organs or 90 liver and 10 % heads... COrn is NOT evil but should not be the bulk of the formula and I personally do to corns low digestabilty prefer corn gluten to corn...

corn 30-50% digestable and relatively low protein

corn gluten 66% protein and 66-76% digestable

I personally like one meat to one grain//

ie ingrediants read
chicken meal( concentrated meat) , rice , chn fat , corn gluten salmon meal and barley
vs

chicken , rice , corn , barley , wheat gluten chicken meal... chicken and chicken meal are one meat ... so this is one meat to three grains/...

CATS are OBLIGATE carnivores and NEED MEAT ...

 

[leila]

I reccommend Innova EVO - I order online and for a good grain free food it's pretty reasonable. I mainly feed canned but I also offer some dry food as well as a snack as my kitty is only 10 months old. I checked Pet Food Direct and found that the dry Innova EVO Cat and Kitten is cheaper than Royal Canin - so if that brand is something you'd consider then I would recommend checking Innova out. Ordering online may sound more expensive due to delivery but they regularly mail 20% discount coupons which effectively removes the delivery charge. As tutti_bella mentioned dry alone is dehydrating, but I would believe this true of all dry foods and highly recommend feeding some if not mostly wet food if possible.


Ingredients for dry:

Turkey, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Potatoes, Egg , Turkey Meal, Natural Flavors, Vitamins, Apples, Potassium Chloride, Carrots, Cranberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Minerals, Tomatoes, Herring oil, Cottage Cheese, Ascorbic Acid, Dried Chicory Root Extract, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract
(this is a rough list, they have more details for things like "vitamins" on their website - same for the wet food)

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min)\t \t 50 %
Crude Fat (min)\t\t 22 %
Crude Fiber (max)\t\t 2 %
Moisture (max)\t\t 10 %
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid) (min) 4 %
Carbohydrates NFE (max)\t\t 7 %
Vitamin E (min)\t\t 300 IU/kg
Vitamin C (min)\t\t 500 mg/kg
Taurine (min)\t\t 0.2 %
Magnesium (max)\t\t 0.1 %
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (min)\t\t 0.4 %
Docosahexaenoic Acid (min)\t\t 0.1 %


Ingredients for wet (it's good to offer at least some):

Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Broth, Chicken Broth, Chicken Meal, Herring, Carrots, Whole Eggs, Salmon Meal, Natural Flavors, Carrageenan, Tomato Flakes, Cottage Cheese, Apples, Guar Gum, Vitamins/Minerals, Inulin, Herring Oil, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Sunflower Oil, Taurine, Sodium Phosphate, Beta Carotene

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min) 12 %
Crude Fat (min)\t\t 8 %
Crude Fiber (max)\t 0.5 %
Moisture (max)\t\t 78 %
Ash (max)\t\t 3 %
Carbohydrates NFE (max)\t\t1.01 %
Vitamin E (min)\t\t 100 IU/kg
Magnesium (max)\t\t 0.03 %

Again, they list all of the vitamins and minerals etc. on their website - they break down every ingredient actually. I feel very happy feeding this to Oliver, and it all looks pretty good to my inexperienced eye - maybe Sharky would provide some critique

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by Leila

I reccommend Innova EVO - I order online and for a good grain free food it's pretty reasonable. I mainly feed canned but I also offer some dry food as well as a snack as my kitty is only 10 months old. I checked Pet Food Direct and found that the dry Innova EVO Cat and Kitten is cheaper than Royal Canin - so if that brand is something you'd consider then I would recommend checking Innova out. Ordering online may sound more expensive due to delivery but they regularly mail 20% discount coupons which effectively removes the delivery charge. As tutti_bella mentioned dry alone is dehydrating, but I would believe this true of all dry foods and highly recommend feeding some if not mostly wet food if possible.


Ingredients for dry:

Turkey, Chicken Meal, Chicken, Herring Meal, Chicken Fat, Potatosethis is alot of starch and not great in digestability, Egg , Turkey Meal, Natural Flavors, Vitamins, Apples, fruit and cats regularly rubs me the wrong way.. Potassium Chloride, Carrots, Cranberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Minerals, Tomatoes, Herring oil, Cottage CheeseI suspect this is why none of my girls could handle EVO, Ascorbic Acid, Dried Chicory Root Extract, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Lecithin, Rosemary Extract can cause tummy issues as can alfalfa
(this is a rough list, they have more details for things like "vitamins" on their website - same for the wet food)

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min)\t \t 50 %
Crude Fat (min)\t\t 22 %
Great but this amount of DRY protein is not well researched
Crude Fiber (max)\t\t 2 %
Moisture (max)\t\t 10 %
Linoleic Acid (Omega-6 Fatty Acid) (min) 4 %
Carbohydrates NFE (max)\t\t 7 %
Vitamin E (min)\t\t 300 IU/kg
Vitamin C (min)\t\t 500 mg/kg
Taurine (min)\t\t 0.2 %
Magnesium (max)\t\t 0.1 %
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (min)\t\t 0.4 %
Docosahexaenoic Acid (min)\t\t 0.1 %


Ingredients for wet (it's good to offer at least some):

Turkey, Chicken, Turkey Broth, Chicken Broth, Chicken Meal, Herring, Carrots, Whole Eggs, Salmon Meal, Natural Flavors, Carrageenan, Tomato Flakes, Cottage Cheese, Apples, Guar Gum, Vitamins/Minerals, Inulin, Herring Oil, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Sunflower Oil, Taurine, Sodium Phosphate, Beta Carotene

Guaranteed Analysis:

Crude Protein (min) 12 %
Crude Fat (min)\t\t 8 %
Crude Fiber (max)\t 0.5 %
Moisture (max)\t\t 78 %
Ash (max)\t\t 3 %
Carbohydrates NFE (max)\t\t1.01 %
Vitamin E (min)\t\t 100 IU/kg
Magnesium (max)\t\t 0.03 %

Again, they list all of the vitamins and minerals etc. on their website - they break down every ingredient actually. I feel very happy feeding this to Oliver, and it all looks pretty good to my inexperienced eye - maybe Sharky would provide some critique

I like EVO but for about 50% of cats cant handle the richness do to the numerous things....

 

[mezlo]

Originally Posted by sharky

I like EVO but for about 50% of cats cant handle the richness do to the numerous things....

If a cat can't handle the richness do they simply not eat it or are there other symptoms? I'm asking because last week I started mixing EVO with the Nutro MaxCat Kitten I was feeding Junior. While he appears to love it, I've noticed a marked change in his behavior, which I'll post about in a new thread.

Mez

 

[laureen227]

Originally Posted by mezlo

If a cat can't handle the richness do they simply not eat it or are there other symptoms? I'm asking because last week I started mixing EVO with the Nutro MaxCat Kitten I was feeding Junior. While he appears to love it, I've noticed a marked change in his behavior, which I'll post about in a new thread.

Mez

well, when Cable eats something too rich, she gets a really soft stool...