My family of 4 (husband + 2 cats) are moving to England (Norwich) and I was wondering what brands of low carb/high protein food are best
Hello Nadje and Sam,
Until a few years ago it was really hard to find good quality cat foods in the UK. Pretty much everything here was made by the huge multinationals.
But in recent years all that has changed (not least because of our wunderbar German neighbours): And we now have access to what is -
probably - some of the best cat food in the world!
Brits got chatting on cat forums and started buying cat food directly from German websites. But then some enterprising companies started importing the stuff so that we don't need to do that any more (hooray!).
The German cat foods are streets ahead of most of the stuff on the supermarket shelves. Labelling of contents is usually very clear (especially so with premium brands). And some brands also give some assurance that the animals
that go into the food have decent welfare standards.
There are also some interesting British-made grain-free cat foods from companies such as Nature's Menu, Lily's Kitchen and Forthglade. And if you like to feed ready-made raw food we have that here too.
Another useful thing about European cat food is that we have 'typical analysis' rather than 'guaranteed analysis' (of minimum and maximum values). So it is much more likely that what you see on the label is the same as what's in the tin.
If you're willing to buy online then you will have a huge variety of foods to choose from. It is possible to buy decent food at supermarkets but your choice will be much more limited.
I just had a rummage through my 'cat cupboard' and these are the foods that I have there at the moment and that I buy regularly:
Grau grain-free and Catz Finefood from Zooplus. Granatapet and Mac's from The Happy Kitty Company. Nature's Menu pouches, Forthglade 'natural cat', and Lily's Kitchen (available from several sources online and I buy from wherever I can get the best deal!) Some of these are premium foods. But they can be pricey so I also buy Mac's from the Happy Kitty Company. It's a similar price to the supermarket Whiskas and Felix foods but is much better quality.
Other popular foods for diabetics here include Cosma and Bozita (the latter is from Sweden).
What you buy will depend on your budget, and what your cat likes/needs. But please DO be reassured that your kitty will do just fine here, food-wise!
Best wishes,
Eliz