Cat food

[fordtraktor]

Hi folks -- can't believe I am opening up this topic again, but I can't find the cat food thread.

My seven month old kittens have finally consented to eat a reasonably healthy dry cat food (I think) -- the Chicken Wellness product. Are their kitten-y nutritional needs going to be met? It looks OK to me, but . . . any other recommendations for a dry kitten/cat food for the picky ones? One is is great weight and health, the other I can see getting too fat as she gets older, though she is fine now. They both have tons of energy and look fantastic despite being on that devil-food Iams, so they are not high-maintenance except for the picky problem.

I know wet is better, and I do feed it once a day, but have to keep them partially on dry because my work often requires me to travel out of town so they are by themselves for a day or two. I need something I can leave out for them while I'm gone. They are good self-regulators as they have always had free access to dry.

They are good drinkers, and I monitor their litter box activities to make sure they are producing what they should. Please don't suggest a wet or raw product! Not feasible for this need, no matter how much better it is.

[fordtraktor]

Speaking of which -- FYI, Nutro recall. Guess I won't be trying that one.

http://www.nutroproducts.com/

[Alagirl]

LOL!!!

considering I have picky eaters...

I started to read labels and so far I have come to the conclusion that pricier does not mean better. I am feeding Special kitty (the Ole Roy version for cats) it actually has chicken by products in first place of incridience, not corn (indoor flavor, the others are heavily corn based) while pretty much all of the other foods I looked at start of with a heaping helping of corn, even Iams and other so called higher end foods.

but when you get one of the 'good' foods, and the cat does not eat it, just try different flavors/brands. We can tell you all day long what to feed, in the end the cat has to eat it.

[wendy]

chicken by-products isn't exactly a quality ingredient.
Anyway, wellness chicken is decent. Wellness core or Evo are far better.
and really folks, statements like this are meaningless : "They both have tons of energy and look fantastic despite being on that devil-food"
maybe they do NOW but improper diets don't generally cause symptoms until middle to late age. Wait until kitty is 25 and is still healthy and leaping around then come brag about how well the diet is suiting her. Most likely though the grains and other totally inappropriate ingredients will give her diabetes or kidney failure at age 12 to 15.

[fordtraktor]

Statements like "most likely this will give your cat kidney failure" are overblown. More than 50% of cats would have to be dying of kidney failure for your statement to be correct.

There may be a slightly higher risk statistically, but you can't tell me that most cats on those foods die of kidney failure. That is just counterfactual. I've had a lot of cats in my lifetime, and none of them died of kidney failure or diabetes. That makes your more than 50% figure seem like the crap it is.

Besides, why preach at me? I'm changing that cats' food already. Moreover, they do have tons of energy and look fantastic. That says nothing about the long-term you are so worked up about, nor did I claim it did.

[dmalbone]

To one pp... chicken by-products in the place of corn as the first ingredient is not good. I prefer to see actual CHICKEN and not beaks and feathers as the only meat in my cats food. I wouldn't eat beaks, legs, etc., so why should they?

To OP, yes, Wellness is a great food. It may not be grain-free,etc., but it is a good, healthy, quality food. I have two kittens on the kitten food, and 3 adult cats on one of the adult ones. There is nothing it it to balk at.

[dmalbone]

...and, I've never been in any food debates on here, but my response is always the same. "Just because a person can eat only McDonalds every day of the week for their entire life and it doesn't kill them does not mean that they will be healthy doing so." Sure, cat's like the cheap foods because all of the junk tastes great. It doesn't mean that as the logical one involved you should allow it.

[starrysky]

I am interested in what ingredients to look for in a dry cat food. I feed my two cats various brands of dry food. It seems there is an old thread somewhere - if someone finds it, please link it here. I'd love to read about which foods I should be feeding my cats. Thanks!

[wendy]

kidney failure is the most common cause of death of cats at the moment. There are strong suspicions among veterinarians that dry grain-laden cat food diets is a major contributing cause.

[sk_pacer]

Kittens should ideally receive kitten food for the first 18 months, same diet for nursing queens. I have never found wet kitten food so feed dry (and try to keep the others out of it) and give Special Kitty wet to all.

I do try to find dry food with chicken or other meat listed first, then meat meal, meat by-products then the grains.

[starrysky]

A few brands are now making wet kitten food - when my kitten was brought to my doorstep at 3-4 weeks, I fed her iams wet kitten food (after she was nursed on replacement milk for a week) - she started sucking the wet food off of my finger until she figured out how to eat it like a normal cat.

[Alagirl]

To one pp... chicken by-products in the place of corn as the first ingredient is not good. I prefer to see actual CHICKEN and not beaks and feathers as the only meat in my cats food. I wouldn't eat beaks, legs, etc., so why should they?

To OP, yes, Wellness is a great food. It may not be grain-free,etc., but it is a good, healthy, quality food. I have two kittens on the kitten food, and 3 adult cats on one of the adult ones. There is nothing it it to balk at.

LOL, never said byproduct was good, but better than grain. :D

Considering I am looking at even more high end foods, corn is number one. so chicken byproducts beats that.

In the end, all things being equal, it comes down to what the cat eats.

(and considering the one poster in one of the other pet food threads, sometimes only the picture on the bag changes, the food is the same, but higher to the consumer...)

[LMH]

I think I would take grain over chicken beaks.

To tell the truth I would just say no to either.

[Pancakes]

In the wild, cats eat all parts, and parts like beaks and stuff like that have some nutrient value, so why not?

I'm actually with LMH -- say no to either.

As far as feeding older kittens, any food that says has AAFCO approval for "all stages of life" or "growth" is okay to feed kittens. DO watch that one that might become fat, as it's not wrong to restrict their food (calories-wise) now to prevent that. Also, if you get them spayed or neutered, they very well may need less food too. Spaying/neutering decreases their metabolism a lot.

As for food...well, only you know what your cat likes/wants. Mine do fine on Hill's Indoor, but every cat is different. The best, most "pure" canned food I've found is Purina Pro Plan Sardines and Tuna. Try to find grain in there -- there is none! Downside is that it's basially chopped up fish with added vitamins and minerals and it looks/smells like it. Purina Pro-Plan Natural Chicken & Brown Rice Entrée is designed for kittens specifically and looks good as well.
As for dry...EVO is made without grains but has a lot of other stuff in there (potato, cranberries, apple, tomato, alfalfa sprout) that seems stupid and not worth the extra money.
But hey, it's up to you -- the point is that MANY and PLENTY of cats do great and are healthy on "evil" brands such as Hill's, Iams, blahblahblah or even cheaper brands like Friskies and the like.

The point is that you really just don't know, and we have no way of telling which is the "best" food for optimal health. As long as the food meets AAFCO feeding trial guidelines, the rest of the health is up to genetics and god knows what else.
Hell, we don't even have HUMAN nutrition figured out. One day, antioxidants are the latest and best thing, and we all go out and drink pomegranate and acai juice by the bucketful. A few months later, we find out it may not be all it's cracked up to be. Who knows!? True, it doesn't mean you should go out and say "screw it" and eat McDonald's every day. Yes, you want to eat healthy and you want that for your cats -- but honestly, at this point, even the most intelligent and cutting edge veterinary nutritionists don't have data supporting what is and isn't the perfect commercial cat food diet.