New/updated cat food list?

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Aimee77

Aimee77

Member Since 2016
With so many new wet cat foods appearing, could someone please post an updated list of the very best/low carb, grain free eet cat food please? If there is one out there.

I am looking for no byproduct, no grain, low carb for my kitty. He is gaining weight and I fear he will turn into a diabetic like my last kitty did. He refuses raw diet, and frankly it is too exp for me. I have used tiki, bff, lotus, evo and some of the FF foods to name a few, but they either have hidden ingredients or are too expensive. It is so frustrating and overwhelming reading good, then turning around and seeing bad on certain recommended foods. Please help. Thanks so much!!!
 
Have you ever considered making your own cat food? That's really the only way to know
exactly what's in it. There are recipes available online. I've looked at doing this myself,
but I have far too big of a crew (5) to do it.
 
Mogmom and Goofus said:
Have you ever considered making your own cat food? That's really the only way to know
exactly what's in it. There are recipes available online. I've looked at doing this myself,
but I have far too big of a crew (5) to do it.
Click to expand...


Yes, but it is also expensive.
 
PLEASE! If anyone has a new.list...especially for Friskies or Fancy feast, please list! Been hearing Friskies changed their formula...if anyone has time to do this it would be greatly appreciated
 
Yes, a new list would be greatly appreciated. As far as fancy feast..i have been told mostly all of the classic's are low carb. I have been using turkey and giblets, chicken and liver, beef and liver and a few others. The only thing I hate about fancy feast is the byproducts in the food. I use to buy tiki cat, but have hit huge fincancial difficulty in my life so I am unable to shell out the cash for it. If you can afford it...that's the way to go.
 
I also used to use Tiki Cat, Merrick, Wellness etc before having to switch over to FF for financial restraints of having 3 cats. I had never really looked at the ingredients of FF before, so when I only saw the by-products, I was relieved. By-products are just other parts of the animal that a cat would likely eat if they were hunting in the wild, such as organs. In retrospect to what is in "prescription" diets like powdered cellulose (sawdust), I thought hey, it could be worse!! For me, FF was the best "cheap" food I could find free of corn, wheat and soy but it is high in phosphorus which is my only concern.
 
Aimee77 said:
Yes, a new list would be greatly appreciated. As far as fancy feast..i have been told mostly all of the classic's are low carb. I have been using turkey and giblets, chicken and liver, beef and liver and a few others. The only thing I hate about fancy feast is the byproducts in the food. I use to buy tiki cat, but have hit huge fincancial difficulty in my life so I am unable to shell out the cash for it. If you can afford it...that's the way to go.
Click to expand...
I like tiki as well but mine refuse all but 1 flavor and many of them have rice in them....it is a good quality food tho-
 
It would be great to have an updated list of US foods. But that means someone will actually have to volunteer to take on the work of doing it.
Any volunteers..?

Maybe a small group of people could take it on..?
Perhaps an approach would be to start out with the most popular foods and then add in more and more foods as people get the time to gather the data and do the calculations?

The calculations themselves aren't difficult, just a bit time consuming. But it's possible to have a spreadsheet do the calculations for you as long as you have the raw data (percentages of protein, fat, fibre, ash and moisture).

A difficulty with getting the raw data is that US foods usually give 'guaranteed analysis' percentages. These are guaranteed minimum or maximum values for protein, fat, moisture etc. These may or may not be an accurate indicator of what is in the can at any given time: And for that it's usually necessary to contact the manufacturer and ask for the current 'as fed' values. Sometimes these are listed on the manufacturer's website.
If possible, it's also helpful to get the phosphorous percentages, as this is very useful for those with CKD kitties to know.

An alternative is to just use the 'guaranteed analysis' percentages, but you must be sure to make clear to others using your calculations that the calculations have been done on this basis, and may not be as accurate as they could be. They may, nonetheless, give 'a ballpark' figure. And this, coupled with a thorough reading of the ingredients list (to check for carb sources) could still be very useful...

Eliz
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
It would be great to have an updated list of US foods. But that means someone will actually have to volunteer to take on the work of doing it.
Any volunteers..?

Maybe a small group of people could take it on..?
Perhaps an approach would be to start out with the most popular foods and then add in more and more foods as people get the time to gather the data and do the calculations?
Click to expand...
I wouldn't want to lead the initiative, but would be happy to be part of a small group to share the task.
 
To throw it out there, I'm a dietitian but was absolutely clueless about feline nutrition for years. I was essentially feeding Minion junk food all day, every day. Now faced with diabetes, secondary to hyperthyroidism, and a cat that's underweight but the pickiest eater I've ever met, I'm really in need of quality nutrition information. But these pet food companies are really making that difficult.

I would be willing to help with a project to compile nutrition data for an updated US list. I'd learn a lot and it would really help my feeding situation at home. I definitely feel I have time to work with one company, maybe more. If anyone else is interested or already working on something and could use another hand, or another set of eyes, I'm available.
 
I make my own cat food at home. I have 9 kitties and in the long run its a lot less expensive than any commercial cat food. Plus that way I know exactly what my babies are eating. I make enough to last about 3 weeks and freeze it and thaw as I need it. The kitties don't need to eat as much of this food either as it is nutritionally dense and doesn't have any fillers or other crap in it that they don't need. And less fillers and crap in their food means less poop in the litterbox! I am very happy I made the switch about 5 months ago.
 
@KJ & Alfred , on my first attempt I followed the recipe on catinfo.org. Then I discovered felinenutrition.org. Its basically the same recipe, but on that website there is a recipe calculator. Since I don't always have the same amount of meat & bones, I just put in the weight amount of the meat & bones, and the calculator tells me how much hearts, liver, and supplements to use. I make different mixes switching up the proteins such as chicken thighs, turkey, pork, and lamb.
 
Erica & Carter said:
I also used to use Tiki Cat, Merrick, Wellness etc before having to switch over to FF for financial restraints of having 3 cats. I had never really looked at the ingredients of FF before, so when I only saw the by-products, I was relieved. By-products are just other parts of the animal that a cat would likely eat if they were hunting in the wild, such as organs. In retrospect to what is in "prescription" diets like powdered cellulose (sawdust), I thought hey, it could be worse!! For me, FF was the best "cheap" food I could find free of corn, wheat and soy but it is high in phosphorus which is my only concern.
Click to expand...
 
Erica & Carter,

Are you only buying the classics? From what I read those are the only ones good for a diabetic kitty. If so, which do you buy most of? I buy mostly turkey and giblets, liver and chicken and beef. I add a few fish, but not many.
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
It would be great to have an updated list of US foods. But that means someone will actually have to volunteer to take on the work of doing it.
Any volunteers..?

Maybe a small group of people could take it on..?
Perhaps an approach would be to start out with the most popular foods and then add in more and more foods as people get the time to gather the data and do the calculations?

The calculations themselves aren't difficult, just a bit time consuming. But it's possible to have a spreadsheet do the calculations for you as long as you have the raw data (percentages of protein, fat, fibre, ash and moisture).

A difficulty with getting the raw data is that US foods usually give 'guaranteed analysis' percentages. These are guaranteed minimum or maximum values for protein, fat, moisture etc. These may or may not be an accurate indicator of what is in the can at any given time: And for that it's usually necessary to contact the manufacturer and ask for the current 'as fed' values. Sometimes these are listed on the manufacturer's website.
If possible, it's also helpful to get the phosphorous percentages, as this is very useful for those with CKD kitties to know.

An alternative is to just use the 'guaranteed analysis' percentages, but you must be sure to make clear to others using your calculations that the calculations have been done on this basis, and may not be as accurate as they could be. They may, nonetheless, give 'a ballpark' figure. And this, coupled with a thorough reading of the ingredients list (to check for carb sources) could still be very useful...

Eliz
Click to expand...
I've been a part of the gathering of data for Tanya's and it's incredibly time consuming. Purina, for example, would have to check with their nutritionist and would only check two or three foods at a time. Others don't understand that minimums and maximums are worthless.

Some companies post all their data. One is Weruva, Soulistic and all foods made by them. I wish others would follow their great example. Lisa Pierson tried it but her list is older than Helen"s on Tanya's. Helen planned to update but was doing it all in her own which is way too much work and likely why it hasn't been done. I sent her data as I called some companies a few months back but never saw any updated. The business is thriving with new foods popping up every week it seems.
 
tiffmaxee said:
I've been a part of the gathering of data for Tanya's and it's incredibly time consuming.
Click to expand...
Well done for your efforts, Elise! :bighug:

I do appreciate that it is time consuming. And boring too.....:rolleyes:
It took me ages to put the UK list together, and we are fortunate in Europe in that foods are usually labelled with 'typical analysis' rather than 'guaranteed analysis'; so it's not necessary to write to the manufacturer all the time for the current 'as fed' values.

But the initial list doesn't have to be huge. I started out with about a dozen foods and added more as I had the time. If a small group of people could update even the 20 most popular US foods that would still be really useful info.

Eliz
 
Aimee77 said:
Erica & Carter,

Are you only buying the classics? From what I read those are the only ones good for a diabetic kitty. If so, which do you buy most of? I buy mostly turkey and giblets, liver and chicken and beef. I add a few fish, but not many.
Click to expand...

I was only buying the classics, yes. I rotated between a few of the flavours, normally around 3-5% carbs. However I've recently switched back to Weruva and am almost completely transitioned to raw as my oldest cat's renal values were in the upper range of normal, and FF is high in phosphorus.
 
Oh how I wish my cat would eat raw, but it is super expensive and he just smells it and looks at me like, WTH lady, are you kidding me. LOL I've tried transitioning him to it slowly, but he isn't having it. I wish someone around here would make me some raw food from the recipes I see. It just looks way too difficult for me to do, and I work 2 jobs, so I don't really have the time to give to it. I am thinking of going back to Tiki. They have a new product out now called Velvet Mousse.
 
Aimee77 said:
Oh how I wish my cat would eat raw, but it is super expensive and he just smells it and looks at me like, WTH lady, are you kidding me. LOL I've tried transitioning him to it slowly, but he isn't having it. I wish someone around here would make me some raw food from the recipes I see. It just looks way too difficult for me to do, and I work 2 jobs, so I don't really have the time to give to it. I am thinking of going back to Tiki. They have a new product out now called Velvet Mousse.
Click to expand...


i like ziwipeak a lot. we still use it a bit though we're on mostly raw homemade.

i believe they are all below 5% carb except for the beef recipe, for some strange reason.
 
Elizabeth and Bertie said:
Well done for your efforts, Elise! :bighug:

I do appreciate that it is time consuming. And boring too.....:rolleyes:
It took me ages to put the UK list together, and we are fortunate in Europe in that foods are usually labelled with 'typical analysis' rather than 'guaranteed analysis'; so it's not necessary to write to the manufacturer all the time for the current 'as fed' values.

But the initial list doesn't have to be huge. I started out with about a dozen foods and added more as I had the time. If a small group of people could update even the 20 most popular US foods that would still be really useful info.

Eliz
Click to expand...

I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am for your UK list Elizabeth and I know how much time and effort you put into that for everyone. I really feel there has been a massive difference in Tempests bg levels since I picked foods from your list and didn't have to buy the prescription one from the vets to begin with. Thank you! :)
 

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My baby doesn't have diabetes or anything, but I give him low carb as if he does. He is just so fat. What am I doing wrong? I give him classic fancy feast 3 oz can 2-3 times a day. He prob weighs about 13lbs, possibly more. I'm just guessing on his weight. I just know he's big and everyone points it out. :( I frequently worry he will get diabetes like my other 2 did. I feel like a horrible cat mother. :( I try to play with him for exercise but he doesn't play too long. I bought some tiki cat like we use to use, but he ate it once this time around and decided he likes FF kitty crack more. Now I wasted money on tiki. What is good for him to eat so that he can lose some weight?

Thanks! <3
 
I was wondering if anyone could lead me to the link that shows carb content for DRY cat food .. someone is feeding their cat chicken soup for adult cats and we are trying to locate carb content on it, thanks for any help!
 
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