Food Questions

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Kelly & Oscar

Kelly & Oscar

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I spent over an hour at Petsmart today with Janet and Binky's food charts in hand. I was appalled at reading all the food labels - most begin with "water sufficient for processing" followed by "**** by-products" cat(2)_steam My local store does not carry the Nutura Innova line, so the best I could find was various Fancy Feast Varieties and Authority. Authority makes their wet food with no by-products at all (yay!) but also lists brewers rice and egg product toward the middle of the ingredients list. The breakdown is 45/44/ 11 /0.4/ 306 /186 per 6 oz can. The Fancy Feast includes by-products in most of their varieties and often includes corn-starch or wheat glutin and is more expensive. The breakdown is 47 /45/8 /0.7 /284 /90.2 on average per 3 oz can. (many of their varieties are high in phosphorus though).

My question is: which is a better food for my kitty? It seems like both have their drawbacks confused_cat
 
The best food for Oscar is the one he will eat, that you can afford, between 8- 10% carbs. I feed Fancy Feast. I think it was Dr. Lisa who wrote that byproducts were not bad for cats. Mice are certainly full of byproducts! I have never gotten into the more expensive foods that have more quality, human-type ingredients because they have things like cranberries and carrots. What cat in a natural setting would choose to eat cranberries and carrots? But I know others really like Wellness and Merrick and some of the more expensive brands.

It is a personal choice with the most important element being Oscar willing to eat what you buy!
 
Many premium brands of foods are not sold in big chain pet stores. You can usually find them at non-chain and pet specialty stores. Check the pet food web site for a list of stores near you that sell the product. Here is the one for Innova: http://www.naturapet.com/where-to-buy/

Petco stores do sell Wellness products now. The Wellness varieties that have a yellow grain-free triangle on the label are low carb.

Buying online is another option. PetFoodDirect.com has many brands of foods, even premium brands. OnlyNaturalPet.com is another place.

The general rule is to feed whatever brand of lwo carb food your cat likes to eat and you can afford and can find in the local stores. Some people feed a mix of non-premium and premium foods.
 
Hi Kelly,

About those labels----the water is a good ingredient, cats have a low thirst drive and they need water to stay healthy, that's one of the reasons the worst canned food is better than any dry you can buy. To get the biggest bang for your buck the next ingredient should be muscle mean--chicken, turkey, beef or fish (not too much fish). Organ meats can follow and by-products include bone, which has the calcium needed for a complete diet, don't stress about it. As for the additives, you don't want glutens or grains.

All foods have their drawbacks, with the premium foods the big drawback is price. Find out what Oscar likes. Don't buy more than a few cans of several flavors to start and let him have his say. Just remember to limit fish to once or twice a week. I like to feed a big variety of flavors to prevent my boys from becoming too picky.
 
Concerning the water as an ingredient - I am more concerned about the wordage they use. "Sufficient for processing" does not sound like it is high quality water. I would rather add tap water to it at home honestly.

That is a good point about the by-products though. I didn't think about it including bone for calcium. I saw a lot of foods out there list primarily by-products though, with very little muscle meat.

I may just go with the Fancy Feast varieties. It costs the same as the prescription food, but seems to have better ingredients. I have a few cans of each here at home. We'll see what Oscar likes.

I was concerned when I read the ingredients list online last night for Innova EVO, Merrick, and Wellness foods. They don't include grains, but they do include apples, carrots, and even foods such as cranberries (merrick). I know these are high quality foods, but this stuff isn't part of a natural diet for a cat either?

Thanks for the help!
 
Actually, lots of us add water to our canned food. It helps with dehydration and stretches the food out so the cat isn't so hungry. (Unregulated diabetics tend to want to eat often because their bodies don't process food well.) Many kitties like a soupy mix.

One thing that many people do is to mix the cheaper stuff with the more expensive stuff. And many make their own raw food. After you get this diabetes thing in order, check out Dr. Lisa's site: http://www.catinfo.org. She has the recipes for raw food diets and the information you will need.
 
Kelly & Oscar said:
I spent over an hour at Petsmart today with Janet and Binky's food charts in hand. I was appalled at reading all the food labels - most begin with "water sufficient for processing" followed by "**** by-products" cat(2)_steam My local store does not carry the Nutura Innova line, so the best I could find was various Fancy Feast Varieties and Authority. Authority makes their wet food with no by-products at all (yay!) but also lists brewers rice and egg product toward the middle of the ingredients list. The breakdown is 45/44/ 11 /0.4/ 306 /186 per 6 oz can. The Fancy Feast includes by-products in most of their varieties and often includes corn-starch or wheat glutin and is more expensive. The breakdown is 47 /45/8 /0.7 /284 /90.2 on average per 3 oz can. (many of their varieties are high in phosphorus though).

My question is: which is a better food for my kitty? It seems like both have their drawbacks confused_cat
Click to expand...


If you're still looking for a place to buy Innova EVO wet canned food here are a couple locations in your city:

Delilah's Pet Shop
650 N College Ave
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 332-1382

T & T Pet Food & Supplies
2375 S. Walnut Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 334-1012


I hope they're close enough to get to! It's worth the drive :D

-Breayle
 
breayle said:
If you're still looking for a place to buy Innova EVO wet canned food here are a couple locations in your city:

Delilah's Pet Shop
650 N College Ave
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 332-1382

T & T Pet Food & Supplies
2375 S. Walnut Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
(812) 334-1012


I hope they're close enough to get to! It's worth the drive :D

-Breayle
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info. Delilah's is just a few miles down the road actually. I looked at the ingredients list for Innova EVO last night and many varieties include stuff like apples and carrots too. Can kitties digest this? Is it meant for fiber? I also noticed that many of their varieties are pretty high in fat content. Oscar used to be 16lbs (about 3lbs overweight despite anything I did) - will this hamper him achieving a healthy weight once he recovers?

I went back to petsmart today and purchased 6 varieties of Fancy Feast that does not include grains, wheat gluten, and has muscle meat as the first ingredient. I am hoping that Oscar likes this better than the prescription food. I decided that I wasn't happy with the Authority food containing brewers rice.
 
The apples, carrots and blueberries are there to tempt you, not to satisfy your cat, Remember that food labels show the ingredients from the most (the water) to the least. As long as the produce is down a few items from the top there isn't likely to be enough of it to matter. As for the water 'sufficient for processing' that says nothing about the quality, just the quantity needed to cook the batch of food.

You are becoming skilled in the art of label reading! People look at me funny when I pull out my magnifying glass, but who cares.
 
I agree that water is a great thing to have in cat food, but I have no interest in paying for it. I mix in my own filtered water.
 
Yeah bluberries, apples and carrots are really not kitty food and they are there to appeal to the consumer. There is a great food called BG: 100% Chicken/Tuna/Quail/Turkey it's by Merricks. However, I believe that they're cooked meat not raw and do not contain vitamins and minerals, just simply 100% whatever flavor it is. This could be a good start to mix in with raw kitty food or to wean em off the other food you give em but they mention on the can that it is meant for a protein supplement and not a balanced diet.

They have a more balanced canned food, it's Before Grain 95% (whatever flavor it is) then they add the vitamins and minerals.

http://www.merrickpetcare.com/store/det ... 14&s=20475

And you can get it here:

T & T Pet Food & Supply
2375 S Walnut St, Bloomington, IN 47401 812-334-1012
 
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