Food Question - and Happy Birthday to Zeus :-)

[knolet]

Happy Birthday to my Zeus, he's 6 today! He started the day off by climbing up onto the basket of my clean clothes (which he hasn't done before) ... so cute. He gave me the look that said "it's my birthday, I can do whatever I want"

Anyway, I've been reading lots of posts about the foods that people are feeding their furbabies, and the links to the food with the protein/fat/carb etc counts, as well as the cans in the stores and online... but I still have questions. This is really confusing to me. Lots of the cans (Wellness, Merrick) that are low carb according to the list contain fruits and veggies, even potato/sweet potato. I didn't think that was good for cats?

I'm currently feeding the purina DM - 1 can per day, plus Fancy Feast - 2 cans per day. I'm wanting to switch Zeus off of the purina, but I had bought a case and will be finishing it first. I want to feed him a high quality food but looking all of the cans and the ingredients is starting to overwhelm me. Am I just over-analyzing? Maybe I'm not looking at the right cans?

Happy 4th of July!

 

[squeem3]

Ha
Anyway, I've been reading lots of posts about the foods that people are feeding their furbabies, and the links to the food with the protein/fat/carb etc counts, as well as the cans in the stores and online... but I still have questions. This is really confusing to me. Lots of the cans (Wellness, Merrick) that are low carb according to the list contain fruits and veggies, even potato/sweet potato. I didn't think that was good for cats?

All commerical canned foods have some amount of fruits and veggies and other unnecessary ingredients. They're not harmful to a cat so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just stick to whatever foods are low in carbs and your cat will eat. If you really don't want to feed unnecessary ingredients, then you'd have to make your own raw food.

 

[hmjohnston]

And don't consider what the vet gives you as high quality because sometimes it is worse than what you get at the store!

As for the vet purina- they make some of the store food and it is higher quality in the store- or at least comparable quality- than the vets as it doesn't have all that liver in it but adds in muscle meat- which is better for kitties.

 

[PrettyBlueEyes]

Happy Birthday, Zeus! :smile:

I recently decided to try and "branch out" what Leo gets, just so he could have a little more variety and not get bored with what he is eating. I saw the same things and wondered about them too. So I decided just to stick with his FF at a couple of cans a day and boiled chicken for snacks. If it isn't broken, I guess I shouldn't try to fix it!

Kate & Leo

 

[knolet]

And don't consider what the vet gives you as high quality because sometimes it is worse than what you get at the store!

As for the vet purina- they make some of the store food and it is higher quality in the store- or at least comparable quality- than the vets as it doesn't have all that liver in it but adds in muscle meat- which is better for kitties.

I know - that's why I'm trying to make the switch But reading the cans ingredients and looking at the list is just so confusing. I've even seen some that are LC but that have rice as the 4th ingredient. Isn't there a calculator on this site? Or a formula that I can use to calculate the carbs? Thought I saw one a while ago, but can't seem to find it again.

Thanks Kate and Leo for the Birthday wishes to Zeus I saw just now that Leo is OTJ? Did I miss it? Congratulations!!! and after only one month? What's your secret? Zeus has been all over the place, he's in the green tonight. I gave my second Big Chicken Shot.... this time I gave 1 unit instead of 1/2. I'm going to test several times tonight to make sure it was the right choice (fingers crossed).