Need food advice - Denmark

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Charlotte & Prop

Charlotte & Prop

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Hey everybody

I come from Denmark and most wetfood in DK is not really that cheap. I have partly changed my diabetic cats food to wet food but with only a partly it cost me 20 dollars pr. week.

So I have some questions about the food. The food I buy now and cost me 20 dollars pr. week is Gourmet Perle from Purina. The ingrediens list look like this:
Protein 14 %
Fat 2.5 %
Ash 2.2 %
Some kind of fiber 0.5 %
Water 79 %

It says nothing about carbs.
Would it be ok to choose something with a lower protein % and a higher fat % because it seems to be cheaper. How much fat is to much if the cat is normal weigth and how much protein is to little?

I also have a can of Select Gold, it i half as cheap as the Purina above only about 10 dollars pr. week. The ingrediens list looks like this:
Protein 8.8 %
Crude fat 5.5 %
Crude fibre 0.9 %
Crude ash 2.2 %
Moisture 81 %
Calsium 0.31 %
Phosphorus 0.26 %

Are the ingrediens in the cheaper product ok?

I hope someone can help me please.

Charlotte
 
Re: Wet food questions

Rather than looking at the % on the label which are only the guaranteed max/mins and not the actual as fed values, it is better to look at the actual ingredients. Generally, if there is no corn, rice or soy then the food is likely to be relatively low in carbohydrates. Note that wheat gluten is a protein and not a carb.

Jen
 
Re: Wet food questions

Change the title of your post to something like "Need food advice - Denmark." We have a member, Monique & Spooky, who is in Germany and seems to know European cat foods - both which ones are good and where to get them economically. She probably has not realized that you are in Denmark.
 
Ok thanks i have changed the title.

But even if I should not look so much on the % in the lables, there must be some numbers on the fat % there is wise to follow?
 
As I stated, you do not look at the percentages as they really aren't a true indication of the composition of the food. Really, looking at the ingredients should tell you enough....
 
I don't know if any of the foods on these charts are available to you, but you should be able to start to understand the ratios. http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

Unfortunately, cat food companies are not required to lis % of carbohydrates. "As fed" numbers must be gotten from the mfg. and then a series of calculations done to get the % of kcal from protein, fat and carbohydrates. This is what the tables show.

Another option is making your own cat food. here are a couple of sites that have recipes for both raw and cooked.
http://www.catnutrition.org/foodmaking.php
http://catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood
 
Hi were the German connection...First off in Europe the labels list actual content not min/max like in the US, I guess we have better laws about that. You can go by the info on the label although it's never totally accurate.

Gormet Perle is not a recommended food, if you look at the ingredients you will likely find it contains sugar as well as many of the selections have vegtables (carrotts and peas) it seems they appeal to the humans taste (a delicacy of fine poultry combined with tender carrots and potato, smothered in a midly herbed gravy.....) not what intrests most felines!

Gormet Gold from Purina is the same thing as Fancy feast and as long as you choose the pate' styles they are low carb (avoid the ones with sauce or jelly) read the labels for ingredients, it should contain mostly "meat" usually 60-80% (meat and meat by-products-which are usually organs/blood/tendon etc.) not appitizing for humans but for cats sutable. Most foods list that they contain between 4-10% "muscle meat" generally of the sort that is listed as the flavor, for example 60% meat and meat by-products (at least 4% of each of the following chicken, duck, and rabbit) other ingredients may be fats and oils vitamins and minerals. Sugar or plant by-products (vegtables etc.) should NOT be on the list, also try to buy ones that say "contains no artifical color or aroma". Sauces are generally made brown and thick by caramel (sugar) and starch (corn starch) so avoid those.

Good options that are somewhat cheaper are Felix-as good as it looks (German =so gut wie es aussieht) and Whiskas Mmmmmm. If you have Lidl or Aldi both sell a reasonable food which is very cheap at Aldi it's called either Cachet or Lux and comes in 200g cans (the pate styles are ok) Lidl sells Opticat and it comes in 400g cans (only the pate with 3 types poultry) again avoid the ragout with sauce. The Lidl brand costs just 50 cents per can and 1 can feeds 2 cats in my house each day (that's 3,50€ a week!) check out this site http://www.zooplus.com/ they offer free shipping to all of Europe )incl. Dänemark. Many brands to choose from and good prices delivered to your door. Most of the brands you can view the ingredients for example Whiskas http://www.zooplus.com/shop/cats/canned ... omposition

Hope that helps: Somewhere I have given the formular to caclulate from the European labels the carb content (I think it's in a sticky...?)
 
Thanks for your answers Monique it helped a lot.

I have looked through the Gourmet Perle and it says nothing about vegtables and sugar og any of the other things you mention, but it is very expensive, so i will change it anyway.

The whiskas mmmmmm I can only get with gravy or jelly, not paté. Is that ok?

In LIDL they have the opticat paté but only in little 100 g. cans , is that the same as the 400 g. cans you mention? It says sugar on the lable, but nok how much.

And still i am a bit concerned about the amount of fat. My cat is normal weigth and I don't want her to gain weigth. What is an acceptable amount of fat pr. 100 g. and how many grams of wetfood should a normal 5 kg cat have a day?

Hope you Monique or someone else can help me with these questions.

Thanks :)
 
Charlotte,
I just rejoined the board today after about a 5 year or so absence from this board. My Bandit had contracted Diabetes back in the early 70's and I found this board back then and was helped greatly with his insulin therapy. He was on insulin off and on for over 10 years. He passed away about 3 years ago of old age (19) NOT DIABETES. He was fortunate to be a kitty who enjoyed many Honeymoons (about 5 or 6) during his life and was in one when he died. I attribute this partly to his diet of RAW meat (chicken). I had discovered a vitamin and mineral supplement that I mixed with chicken called Instincts TC, made in Canada. He loved it and I now feed it to my 10 year old Miracle. If you consider what a cat (big or little) eats in the wild you would see that ALL his food he eats RAW. All cats process their food differently that any other animal on the planet. IT'S ALL RAW. All commercial cat food is cooked which takes most of the nutritional value out. A cat does not need vegetables or fruits in his diet, in fact you will see that he never will eat any fruits or veggies ever. Your cat only needs a diet of raw meat to get everything he needs. If you need more information let me know and I'll send you more information. You will be surprised at how easy it is and how your cat will like it. Let me know what you think.

Gene and Bandit
 
The Whiskas Mmmmm is in Gravy or in jelly, the same for the Felix but both are sutablile (somehow the gravy is REAL meat juice and not caramel) I think the both are around 3-8% carbs so well in a good range. The Whiskas is higher in protein (14% whereas most others are 9%) more real meat in the Whiskas.

The Opticat in the 100g dishes (aluminium square shaped) are also acceptable, one or 2 types are Ragout with sauce and contain sugar so avoid those but the pate (chicken, beef, or lamb) are ok, here they cost 25 cents each, I feed them occasionally but they cost twice as much as the big cans when feeding 2 cats. Other discounters have simular foods just with other names (Norma, Edeka, Penny, Netto...) they sell the same stuff just thier store name, I checked it out once the Cachet from Aldi (comes in cat shaped tins) is actally from Animonda (Rafine) which cost 3 times more at the pet store.

If you have the pet store called Fressnapf (or simular) they have a brand which is grain free it's thier store brand called Fit-n-Fun the 200g cans od pate cost 35 cents and my guys like it.
 
Thanks both :)

Gene: I am not really up to making the raw food just yet. If I change my mind I hope it will be ok that I contact you.

Monique: Thanks again, that gives me some options. Still not sure about the amount of Grams at a meal. For now I feed wetfood morning and evening before the shot but she eats some dry food during the day and her bg is higher when the wetfood amount is smaller because she then eat more dryfood. I have to figure out a way to get her of the dryfood, but difficult when the other cat don't like the paté.
 
I just check..the Gourmet Perle doesn't contain vetables (but it does have sugar and artifical color as well as plant by-products

Zusammensetzung:
Fleisch und tierische Nebenerzeugnisse (mind. 4% Huhn), pflanzliche Eiweißextrakte, Fisch und Fischnebenerzeugnisse, pflanzliche Nebenerzeugnisse, Mineralstoffe, Zucker.

Inhaltstoffe:
Rohprotein 14,0%, Rohfett 2,5%, Rohasche 1,5%, Rohfaser 0,5%, Feuchtigkeit 79,0%.

Zusatzstoffe:
Vitamin A 1.110 IE/kg
Vitamin D3 140 IE/kg
Vitamin E 10 mg/kg
Kupfer (als Kupfersulfat) 1,1 mg/kg
Mit Farbstoffen (EG-Zusatzstoffe).
Click to expand...

I'm hoping you can understand some German :-D I was thinking of the Gourmet Ala Carte which really does have some wierd stuff in it (I got a sample once and found peas in it :lol: my cat ate it but left all the little "green" peices in the dish. check out the decription https://www.gourmet-cat.co.uk/Default.a ... product/59

I found it you do have that pet store it's called Maxi Zoo in danemark http://www.maxizoo.dk/index.php?id=44/f ... 6ring.html. I can read danish pretty good but I don't find an online shop I do see they carry the brand fit and fun though (at least for dogs)
 
Jeps I have the maxizoo just 10 minutes from where I live, so that wont be a problem and i will look to see if they have the food for cats.

I can't read any german unless it is pretty much the same word in danish or english :)

This evening I gave Prop 100 grams of opticat in the aluminum foil and she can't eat all of it, but can't leave it alone as well. So she eats more than she can and i am affraid she will vomit. Is 100 g to much for a cat that weighs about 5 kg and is used to free feed all day?
 
This evening I gave Prop 100 grams of opticat in the aluminum foil and she can't eat all of it, but can't leave it alone as well. So she eats more than she can and i am affraid she will vomit. Is 100 g to much for a cat that weighs about 5 kg and is used to free feed all day?
Click to expand...

Mine will do that too (vomit). Socks my cicie weighs 6kg (he's a little heavy) and Spooky the sugar cat weighs 4 kg (just right) I feed them mornings (6am) about 80 grams each then at noon each gets a spoonful (about 40g) in the evening again about 80 grams each. The cans and dishes recommend 300 grams a day, but with that much (they will eat it) both would be severly overweight! If you calculate the number of calories per gram of food an average adult cat needs about 70 cal per Kg of body weight. Less active cats needs somewhat less and kittens or mother cats needs a little more. I find 200g of the opticat a day to be just right for my 2 (actually Socks is still pudgy on that much) they do get a few treats.

Mine used to free feed on dry as well and both were heavier and acted like they were being starved when I switched to "mealtimes" but they have gotten used to it (they don't let me forget when it's time though :-D ) Spooky was hard core dry addict and took me almost a year to get him switched to canned, he is still very picky. I spent 3 months hand feeding him human tuna fish to get him to try anything other than dry food. I cried, beat my head, threw out money for things he wouldn't eat and he protested by destroying things in the house (my dinging chairs :twisted: ) but sure enough when he was almost completly off dry food his insulin dose was reduced to almost nothing and a few months later he went OTJ, it's been about 18 months now. He was just 3 years old when he became diabetic and it likely was caused by eating very high carb (poor quality) dry food and a bout of pancreatits. We used Levemir during the German Levemir study.
 
Thanks a lot Monique it helps me more than you think. Prop my sugarcat loves wetfood so that wont be a problem, my other cat will be a bit more work, but i think she will come around. This saturday i will switch to all wetfood. But I worrie a bit about when i am away at work, i cant serve a noon snack like you unless i serve frozen food. But i have to figure out a way to make it work.
 
I have done the frozen food thing, when I can't be home at lunch. I actually used those opticat tins (the 100g square dishes). I removed the foil cover and cut the "patty" in half with a knife, left it in the dish and placed it in the freezer overnight. In the morning I put half in each dish and left it to thaw for lunch. I don't know when they ate it but it was gone by evening and they seemed satisfied.

They don't eat overnight (I feed at 6am, a small lunch, and again dinner at 6pm) both my cats sleep all night and don't seem to get hungry. They start bugging right before my alarm goes off, and get annoyed that they have to wait for me to get my coffee before they get served :razz:
 
Thanks I will try the frozen food.

Just got back from the vet, where Prop should have a blood fructosamin test. My vet checked the urin as well and there were no sugar in it and she had gained 200 grams. So I am pretty happy about that.
 
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