Thread: My opinion on foods... (For what it's worth)

Definitely there is poor quality pet food available. Certainly there is a vast range of prices, and unless the more expensive foods are totally marketing BS, I would hope you are getting something. For example, there is dry cat food here that costs $5 for 25lbs and dry that costs $25 for 5lbs. They are not remotely similar in their ingredients. Thus, it is absurd to lump them together as "dry cat food" unless it is the dryness that you think is the sole critical attribute.

Thanks NCarver for that website link. One thing pops into my mind though is that I cant believe that they only fed them on rabbit! I dont doubt they did, but why just one meat type?!! Im 100% astounded! Ive only been researching raw diets for a short while and I understand the important of variety. By doing that they were just asking for trouble. A big oops! indeed.
Taurine deficiency... again, Im giving my two kitten milk + 24/7 water. Kitten milk of course contains a fair degree of Taurine. Surely any balanced diet test should take these things into account.

They had tested the rabbit diet and found it had sufficient nutrients on its own, but for some reason it did not provide it to the cats. That is one of the unanswered questions--why were the animals not getting sufficient taurine when there should have been enough in the raw meat? Shows that one must do actual feeding studies, not simply nutrient assays. Anyway, the point is not this particular diet as nobody is too likely to be feeding this. The point of interest for me is that the researchers at a major vet school thought from their observations and basic tests that the cats on one diet were healthier, while in reality their hearts were being destroyed. This shows that there is a significant limit to what can be determined from personal observation, so nobody is really "an expert" from trying a couple of alternatives in their own few cats. It is fine to consider others' opinions in arriving at your own decisions, but that is all they are: opinions. It is extremely unlikely that there is only one approach to raising healthy cats, and furthermore cats differ so that what works in some may not work well for others. You put your kitten with soft stools on raw and the stools are now fine. We gave our cat that occasionally had soft stools FortiFlora and she has not had soft stools since (> 2mos.). No single correct answer for all cats and all owners!