Thread: Dry Food

Not sure what would be available in Australia, but...

We feed Pro Plan Selects chicken, used to also use the salmon, but the cats decided they prefer the chicken. Note that Purina sells both regular Pro Plan and also Pro Plan Selects. Recently we got something called Blue Wilderness to try, and the kitten just loves it. The other cats, however, prefer the Pro Plan. The Blue W. is slightly higher protein than the PPS, though ingredient quality seems similar. Again, the company makes two ranges of foods, the Wilderness and the cheaper Blue Spa Selects. Our breeder feeds Orijen, however I came across web articles about Orijecn issues in Australia that led to a recall. You might want to check into that. We do not have a ready source for it so have not tried it.

I would suggest you go to your stores and spend some time reading labels. I did that again recently and posted the following in another food thread:

I spent quite a bit of time in Petco the other day looking at all the "high end" dry cat foods they sell. The Royal Canin ingredients are not terribly high quality (e.g., "chicken meal" vs. "chicken"). The best two in terms of quality of ingredients and protein levels were Pro Plan Selects and Blue Wilderness. I was extremely surprised to see even supposed "high end" dry foods with corn as a major ingredient and only 30% protein levels (PP Selects is 40% and Blue W. is 45% protein).

Incidentally, I also looked at prices of cat foods. Dry cat foods have actually become significantly more expensive than dog foods. The cheapest large bags of cat food I could find (at Walmart) were more than $.60/lb, while dry dog food can be had for $.40/lb. By contrast, the PP Selects and Blue W. are in the $3.60-$3.80/lb range--around six times the price. For that, you get mainly chicken or salmon, etc. as ingredients rather than "meals" or "meat by-products," and little "grain." One of the disturbing things is that a number of the "high end" foods at Petco are not objectively any better than the cheapest cat foods at Walmart. Don't know what you are paying for with them.

thanks for that...

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?

I was beginning to get confused the more I looked...

Acana and Orijen are both very good dry foods as is Almo Nature

None of them contain wheat or any other additives at all so I would look into whether you can get them where you are.

hey just looked at your latest pic whats your breeder feeding him on? he looks like he will be huge...9 weeks and he looks massive lol!!!!
i have so far tried applaws and iams and they prefere iams ive been introducing new brands gradually as not to upset their tummy but the seem to pick out the iams and not fussed on the applaws its all about trial and error i think and what you feel most comfortable with and more importantly what your putty kitter likes, im really trying hard to find a brand that fills them up for longer as they seem so greedy and i always try and leave food out for them but its not long before its scoffed and theyre meowing for more lol!!! i have been reading lables and dont quite understand them myself they really should simplyify them lol x

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