My vet recommends I feed Ideal balance instead

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

William Rufo

Member Since 2016
I feed my cat fancy feast classic chicken and my vet recommends I start feeding ideal balance grain free wet food instead because "fancy feast is not a great brand." I couldn't find grain free ideal balance food at my pet store only regular ideal balance food. Should I still use fancy feast?
 
I checked out one of the Ideal Balance wet food....the Grain Free Roasted Chicken Recipe and Hills lists it as having 32% carbs by dry matter according to their own calculations.


http://www.hillspet.ca/en-ca/products/ib-feline-grain-free-chicken-canned.html

That is REALLY high in carbs for any kitty and especially for a diabetic kitty when you are trying to keep the dry matter carb content below 10%. If all the grain free Ideal wet foods are similar you would be much better sticking with the Fancy Feast classic.
 
Check out this list here and look specifically at the canned food under 10% carbs.

There are some more premium brands on there if you'd prefer not to feed FF, such as Wellness, Nature's Variety, Merrick, Weruva etc that all have some low carb options.

Agreed with Mary Ann, Ideal Balance is much to high in carbs.

Just remember, just because something is grain free, doesn't mean it's necessarily low carb! ;)
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
I checked out one of the Ideal Balance wet food....the Grain Free Roasted Chicken Recipe and Hills lists it as having 32% carbs by dry matter according to their own calculations.
Click to expand...
How did you do the calculation? The like you provided said carbs are 32.9 % by weight but There are 9 calories per gram of fat but only 4 for fat and carbs. I calculate 25% calories from carbs which is still too high
 
Larry and Kitties said:
How did you do the calculation? The like you provided said carbs are 32.9 % by weight but There are 9 calories per gram of fat but only 4 for fat and carbs. I calculate 25% calories from carbs which is still too high
Click to expand...

Larry I just quoted the dry matter that Hill's had on their site at the link I provided.
 
Trying to figure out how to read that chart. For example Nature's variety chicken is showing it has 3% carbs from the calories. Is this good and reliable to try although ingredients show potatoes and peas?
 
The amount of carbs depends upon how much of an ingredient is in the product. If little then it will add little carbs to the food.
However, one problem is that the manufacturer is free to change the formula for the food and thus the table reflect the % carbs at the time the information was generated.
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
I checked out one of the Ideal Balance wet food....the Grain Free Roasted Chicken Recipe and Hills lists it as having 32% carbs by dry matter according to their own calculations.


http://www.hillspet.ca/en-ca/products/ib-feline-grain-free-chicken-canned.html

That is REALLY high in carbs for any kitty and especially for a diabetic kitty when you are trying to keep the dry matter carb content below 10%. If all the grain free Ideal wet foods are similar you would be much better sticking with the Fancy Feast classic.
Click to expand...
yikes!!....32%
 
I was having huge issues with food--I have finally fun one (MAX cat ) it is a higher LC --I use the 8% ones but I don't have to worry about him eats and he is a early diver so it may actually be a good thing! Dre is now that carb sensitive tho--
not to say that he would do ok on much higher but I can live with 8% if he eats!
 
jayla-n-Drevon said:
I was having huge issues with food--I have finally fun one (MAX cat ) it is a higher LC --I use the 8% ones but I don't have to worry about him eats and he is a early diver so it may actually be a good thing! Dre is now that carb sensitive tho--
not to say that he would do ok on much higher but I can live with 8% if he eats!
Click to expand...


Each kitty can be different as to how much carbs they can handle. My Tuxie can handle 11 or 12% without much of a food spike, but his sister can't.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top