Thread: Dry Food

I'm not 100% certain, but I do remember her saying he was eating whiskas....
he is the biggest in the litter. Dh was worried about getting too big a wire for the run, as he didn't want him to get his paws caught... ummm I don't think that will be much of a problem.

thanks for your all of your advice.

so what I want to look for is something with a high protein content and actual meat rather than meal? eg.. chicken rather than chicken meal?

In the "high-end" foods at least, the protein content is linked to meat content. Lower protein generally means higher carbs, which can mean more grains. Certainly some people believe that grains--particularly corn and wheat--are bad for cats. The actual scientific evidence for this seems limited however. No doubt there are some cats that have a problem with, say, corn, but there are also cats that have problems with fish for example.

Having looked again online, the highest protein dry foods I see available in the US are: Innova EVO (50%), Wellness CORE (50%), Blue Wilderness (45%), Orijen (42%), Pro Plan Selects (40%), Pro Plan (40%). [These are the guaranteed minimums.]

We personally have tried EVO, Blue W., and the Pro Plans. You definitely have to try various foods, as not all cats like any food. Our 7mos old loves the Blue W., but the other three cats much prefer the PPS. We have tried EVO off and on, but usually the cats eat it once or twice and then do not want it again. We suspect that it may go off flavor much more rapidly than other foods. Going off flavor can be an issue with dry foods if they are not used up quickly enough. We currently keep the opened dry foods in their original bags tightly rolled up and clipped, in the fridge.

In the US and Canada (I think), pet food labeling is controlled by a non-governmental agency called AAFCO. They do not publish their ingredients standard online, but a few websites have at least some: AAFCO DEFINITIONS OF DOG FOOD INGREDIENTS and Cat Food Glossary - AAFCO Definitions of Cat Food Ingredients

While it isn't necessarily the case that "chicken" will be a healthier source of protein than "chicken meal" or even "meat by-products" are, when you do some reading on what really can end up in "meat by-products" it is at least unappealing. Certainly "chicken" is guaranteed to have less junk in it than "chicken meal." The above foods all have something like "chicken" as the first ingredient. With cheaper foods you can even find a corn product as the first ingredient and mostly or even all meals and by-products for their meat sources.

Of course these "high-end" foods also have a high-end price as I noted. It doesn't help that some actually brag about selling their products only through "specialty" retailers--i.e., they are selling an already expensive product through expensive retailers. Great! I also note that most of these companies also make lower cost products with lower protein. This makes shopping interesting, as, for example, Wellness CORE has much higher protein than the other Wellness dry foods. In my opinion, this practice also rather undercuts some of the claims these companies make. Their premier product is a "truly cat-appropriate food," but if you won't pay for it they will sell you something less good? So is the cheaper product actually bad for my cat? If it is not, then why should I be paying for your more expensive food? Clearly these are all businesses, so I wouldn't get too carried away with believing their marketing. Also, some of these companies have scientific sounding "white papers" on their sites, but reviewing them (as a scientist) I find little or no hard science in them. Just really more marketing.

The other aspect of many of these foods are special ingredients, such as probiotics, antioxidents, various fruits and plants, etc.

thanks everyone... definately food for thought