Thread: Kitten food to Grown Cat food?

Originally Posted by NCarver

Let me first say that I see no point in getting into a discussion about particular brands, as my experience is that people often have a lot invested emotionally in the particular brand they have chosen, because they want to feel they are doing the best for their pets. Probably everyone here is trying to do the best for their pets. My point is that there really isn't enough information to make well informed decisions most of the time. Furthermore, there are obvious trade-offs in most choices.

As for claims, I doubt they are much different than in Europe. The basic claim is simply that their food is healthier or more "natural" for the pet or more "biologically correct" or similar. Unfortunately, there is rarely any hard science they point to to back these claims. Now I would rather feed my cats food made from say chicken rather than chicken meal, but is the first actually going to make them healthier? Is a certain exact ratio/percentage of protein or meat really "optimal" for cats? Many of the premium companies make claims like this but provide no scientifically valid evidence for the claims. I find this very frustrating personally, as I would feed my cats something if it truly were healthier than what they are getting. The current situation is such that I have a very limited basis for making that judgment. I recently scanned the "white paper" that one of the premium companies pushes on their website. Frankly, none of the key claims in the document have any citations at all for support, and most of the citations that are provided are so incomplete as to be difficult to verify. Having a "white paper" with lots of scientific sounding claims and a few incomplete citations may impress some people, but reading it as a scientist, it is really little more than marketing BS. Maybe the claims are true, but since they cannot cite actual research to validate them there is no way to know. The food looks like it is made with high quality ingredients and all, but if my cats won't eat it, is it worth trying to train them to eat it because it will improve their health? No way to know that. Of course this is not surprising, since it hard to see who exactly would fund the expensive and long term research needed to answer many of the key questions.

I don't really remember any similar claims aside from a current campaign from Iams at the moment so it might just be an American thing or something the brands I tend to avoid anyway use.

I know I look at ingredients over the brand logo when cat food shopping. There's no proof that fresh chicken is better that poultry meal, you're quite right, but it does show a certain standard that they use to create the food. I'd rather a list of ingredients that didn't sound like chemical compounds & additives but a list of natural resources as I would do the same for myself. I also find that it is usually the words after the kind of meat they use that helps too. Some are FULL of grains which aren't required for a cats or dogs diet & are filler to make up that 75% of dry food that isn't chicken/lamb etc.. I would say that a ratio of meat to non-meat is optimal. They are carnivores not herbivores with a 75% grain diet.

There were a couple of brands of cat food my cats wouldn't even sniff but if I had a child with the same ethos about vegetables on the table in front of them I would do the same thing - call their bluff as they will eat what I think is good for them or nothing at all.

& of course we are all on budgets & limitations etc. such as I cannot feed raw as I cannot get deliveries of raw meats for my cats & dog as I work full time in an office I cannot accept deliveries.

I'm happy to hear that someone ventured out & is trying Applaws. A very popular food in my house. Especially the fish one!

You feel quite strongly about the food don't you messyhearts lol
Is it something you have researched for your cats or are you a professional?

We used to feed them wet applaws anyway- just cut it out as it was getting expensive
Never saw the dry applaws anywhere- seeing as they only do one variety it gets hidden on teh shelves

Anyway if anyone is interested, applaws is on special in Pets at Home til March £9.99 for 2kg instead of £14.99

Originally Posted by missdiane

You feel quite strongly about the food don't you messyhearts lol
Is it something you have researched for your cats or are you a professional?

We used to feed them wet applaws anyway- just cut it out as it was getting expensive
Never saw the dry applaws anywhere- seeing as they only do one variety it gets hidden on teh shelves

Anyway if anyone is interested, applaws is on special in Pets at Home til March £9.99 for 2kg instead of £14.99

My dog started me off on a frenzied ingredient checking mode for all pets three years ago. When we got her, we didn't know any better so simply fed her Bakers & Pedigree Chum. She didn't have a solid stool for weeks & was actually pooing blood. After a bit of research, I went for a food of a higher quality (Joe & Jacks) & it cured it straight away. Every since then I won't feed poor supermarket value given the chance as it upsets tummies.

A diet of just Applaws is very expensive, I agree. We found Simple (bought at Pets At Home) was a good quality food for £5 for 12 pouches compared to Applaws being £7.25 for 12 smaller tins.

Originally Posted by messyhearts

A diet of just Applaws is very expensive, I agree. .

Actually, it's no different to Royal Canin on the dried front, so we feel like we have made a good move by changing

Originally Posted by messyhearts

My dog started me off on a frenzied ingredient checking mode for all pets three years ago. When we got her, we didn't know any better so simply fed her Bakers & Pedigree Chum. She didn't have a solid stool for weeks & was actually pooing blood. After a bit of research, I went for a food of a higher quality (Joe & Jacks) & it cured it straight away. Every since then I won't feed poor supermarket value given the chance as it upsets tummies.

A diet of just Applaws is very expensive, I agree. We found Simple (bought at Pets At Home) was a good quality food for £5 for 12 pouches compared to Applaws being £7.25 for 12 smaller tins.

Wet Cat Food | Pets at Home
Is this the one you mean messyhearts
I thinking of changing from royal canin to a mix of this and orijen with some raw meat as an occasional treat

Originally Posted by Klach79

Wet Cat Food | Pets at Home
Is this the one you mean messyhearts
I thinking of changing from royal canin to a mix of this and orijen with some raw meat as an occasional treat

Yes! Good food that doesn't cost a lot.

I have always put my babies straight onto adult food but for the first six months just backed up with an extra vitamin powder {was SA37 but think it has now been
discontinued} just to help with all the extra growth they do in that first period.
I use Felix tins as it is a lot cheaper than pouches esp.when you have more than one cat + they have a small amount of biscuit.
I don't give a lot of biscuit because as I posted in another thread we never used to see obese & diabetic cats until dried food was brought onto the market{thats someone who has worked 39 years at a vets & seen a lot of change...! } also never used to get the bladder stones that you do now.
Could be that we are more aware of our animals & take them to the vet more readily plus like humans they can now diagnose more but still doesn't alter the size increase that we now see,maine coons aside that is.....

Hi,

I'm due to get two Maine Coon kittens at the end of June and I will probably try them
on Applaws. I don't think Pets At Home do the dry variety, though, and I've been
feeding dry food to my moggies (now 15 years old) since they were kittens.

At the moment I have Molly and Cassie (15 y/o moggies) on Royal Canin outdoor
senior because Molly suffers from joint stiffness and there are few foods which contain
omega3/6, glucosamine and chondroitin (and there's no way she'll take a pill or eat food
if I have sprinkled anything on it !).

Now that I've checked PETA UK list of manufacturers who will not test products on
animals, I will probably switch to one of those on their list. Of those, it seems there's only
Clinivet who include omega3, glucosamine and chondroitin in their adult/senior dry cat
food.

Bye for now
Trevor

[QUOTE=jckkerrison;2135]I have always put my babies straight onto adult food but for the first six months just backed up with an extra vitamin powder {was SA37 but think it has now been
discontinued}QUOTE]

It was discontinued by Intervet some time ago but Hyperdrug do their own version called SF50 which is avalable from your Vet as well as on line from them. TRM also have a version too which again you can get from your vet it's called Multiplex powder.

Well I checked the whiskas I had in the cupboard tonight.
The kitten one has 32% protein and 11.5% fat and the adult one is 29% protein and 10.5% fat.
The friskies (which is made by purina) is only 26% protein....