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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Best cat food.....?
Thanks, Emily |
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| 04/07/08 07:47pm |
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Turtlemom View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1693540 Best cat food.....?
Definitely stay away from store brands (ie. Special Kitty, Alley Cat etc...).Most premium foods offer the best nutrition. I always went with Eukanuba because I could get it at cost or free. :) But any food with meat as it’s first ingredient is a good choice. I recommend dry food only. I only use canned for sick cats I need to really coax to eat or hide meds in. |
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| 04/08/08 12:42am |
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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Message To: Turtlemom In reference to Message Id: 1694086 Best cat food.....?
Emily |
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| 04/08/08 11:50am |
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Penceoemoy View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1694455 Best cat food.....?
i house trained like a new puppy... if you have a bathroom that big enough for the potty box .you could use that instead of the pen...( i ve had cats hurt themselfs in them... ) but i put the 2 boys in there each time i had to leave the house.. i aslo had a radio on on the outside of the door on low ..kept them from meowing i made sure i put toys in there and a bed and a straching post..when i was home they had free time to wonder .... but if they ate or drink i kept my eye on them .. after a week they got free run ... hope this helps |
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| 04/08/08 02:49pm |
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KrazyKelli View Profile |
Message To: Penceoemoy In reference to Message Id: 1694657 Best cat food.....?
I think Nutro Natural choice was the second best, but by far the best cat food you can get on the market is Blue Buffalo. The problem with iams, science diet, and many cat food brands are that it’s mostly all filler. You’re paying for up to 70% cornmeal, wheat, etc, and around 20 to 25% bi products, the extra 10 to 5% being random Others they add in (from non-bi products to artificial junk). The percentage is different per food, but it’s around that. It’s more so for fillers in the cheaper bags. Why? Because fillers are inexpensive, will fill the cat, and they can mass produce it easier. The best way to test this is to look at the bag. If Fish or Chicken (and I mean actual, not bi products) aren’t in the first ingredient, but something like corn is... Then chances are that’s what you’re mostly paying for. |
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| 04/08/08 04:09pm |
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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Message To: KrazyKelli In reference to Message Id: 1694780 Best cat food.....?
Emily |
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| 04/08/08 08:33pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1695174 Best cat food.....?
Iams recently added "meat byproducts" to its ingredients. Now, chicken, beef, fish, etc. byproducts are fine, just the parts of the animal humans don’t eat. Meat byproducts could include ANY animal (use your imagination...). I prefer to know what goes into my pet’s food. As for moving indoors, I strongly suggest it! Confine the cat to the bathroom for the first 10-14 days with a litterbox, bed, and food/water dishes. Cats are naturally litter box trained and will go in the best place that absorbs urine. The bathroom works really well for training because the litter box is the ONLY suitable place to go potty. You can gradually start to allow the cat out in the rest of the house under supervision until you are sure there are no accidents. This also gives you time to see what the kitty will get into and kitty proof the house. Has the cat been fixed, had its vaccines, and been microchipped? Outdoor cats should have special attention paid to these things. |
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| 04/09/08 01:40am |
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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1695689 Best cat food.....?
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| 04/09/08 12:07pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1695999 Best cat food.....?
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| 04/09/08 08:27pm |
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Shadowcat0789 View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1696697
Quote: My favorite foods include Nutro Natural Choice, Royal Canin, Innova, Evo, California Natural, and Natural Balance. I hate Iams, Science Diet, and any food you can buy at the grocery store. I work in a pet store/cat rescue, so have a bit of experience with cat food.
I was gonna say something along the same lines lol. I have a strong dislike of Iams and Eukanuba. I recently went to a convention set up by the pet store that i work at and spoke with reps from Nutro, Iams/Euk, Merrick (which is mostly a dog food at the moment but they’re branching out into cat), Wellness, and Innova/Evo/California Natural. The ’best’ food depends on what you want for your pet. I was a little upset that Science Diet wasn’t there but I’ll throw my two cents in here about them too. The makers of Innova have tried to cover everything you could need with their different brands. Innova is an all around great food, but can be a little pricey. Evo is 95% meat. They’re trying to go for a more natural approach for those who want to feed their pets home cooked meals. California Natural is an attempt at making a hypo allergenic food which I’ll get more into in a second. If I remember correctly then it only has 5 major ingredients. Nutro is a great food if you want to feed your pet premium and holistic pet food but don’t want to break the bank. Nutro is also the number one selling pet food in the world. Merrick is a great food with a lot of flavors that are all interchangeable, meaning that you don’t have to wean your pet over from one food to the other if you want to feed a different kind of food. The reasoning behind all the different flavors is that is an animal is fed the same basic thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER again for generations, as has been done with ingredients like CORN and WHEAT then after a few generations your pet will grow a allergy to it. The makers of Merrick are trying to help prevent this. Wellness seems like a really good food but I can’t really say too much because I haven’t had a chance to field test it so to speak. For cats especially I like what I heard however because the man pointed out how cats are prone to urinary infections from lack of proper hydration, not because there ISN’T water for them to drink but because wild cats don’t drink from the same spot every time and in a large number of cats that instinct is still there. Wellness is making an effort to not only create hypo allergenic pet foods but also to add things to their cat foods to help urinary tract infections. Science Diet I’m going to be perfectly honest in saying that I don’t know too much about on the cat end. It’s a gentler food and not nearly as rich and if you want to transition a pet over to a premium food but don’t know what they were on then go with Science Diet at first. It’s what we keep our extremely small breed puppies on because it’s easy on their stomachs. It DOES contain corn products however! Please remember that cats are CARNIVORES. Dogs do eat some veggies and things like that but cats are pure meat eaters. It’s not good for them to have a lot of corn in their diet because they don’t digest it. Now for my favorite, Eukanuba/Iams. Please don’t support these guys. I know a bunch of you probably feed this popular "premium" brand to your pets but I promise you they don’t care about your pets like the other brands do. I sat through a lecture where for all but the last 5 minutes of it, the rep who is supposed to be the best of the best sent to encourage us to sell their food, sat there telling me that everyone else is lying, that corn IS good for animals, that it’s needed in the food to keep them healthy, and that the recall was just an unfortunate accident, and THEN at the very end if it she said very calmly, but for the customers that just won’t listen and still want to feed a "holistic" food, we’re coming out with this new food. She then showed us some very pretty new bags for this new food and when i looked at the list of ingredients, guess what i saw? Yepp CORN! It was 6th or so on the list but it was in there all the same. I will never feed Eukanuba/Iams based on the quality of the food and most importantly the principal of I don’t like being lied to. Keep in mind that this woman was a P & G authorized individual, sent by them to get us to sell this food. They don’t care about your pet, they just want a piece of the pet food industry to add to their sales. PLEASE don’t feed your pet less than the best. I lost two of my feline family members to the pet food recall within a month of one another and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had happen to me and my family. Embrace the nice weather, and remember to enjoy the small things in life. |
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| 04/10/08 03:32pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Shadowcat0789 In reference to Message Id: 1697681 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
I should also revise my statement that I "hate" science diet. It is a huge step up from grocery store brands while remaining very inexpensive, so I think it fills a good role. But, you should feed the best food you can afford! And if you can’t afford to feed science diet, you really can’t afford to feed your dog well at all. Don’t anyone take that the wrong way. I would just never get a dog without knowing I could feed it the best and most nutritious food. Just like I would with myself or a child. |
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| 04/10/08 11:42pm |
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Shadowcat0789 View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1698394 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/11/08 12:03am |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Shadowcat0789 In reference to Message Id: 1698418 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/11/08 01:24am |
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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1698469 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Emily |
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| 04/11/08 01:45pm |
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MissAnne2u View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1698893 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
She went through maybe 10 types of wet food and at least 8 types or dry food before I tried the Science Diet. She wouldn’t even lick it ... she just walked away. Now mind you this was the 4 weeks after Tobie died and before we got Scooter. She is now eating like a pig, maybe because she thinks if she doesn’t eat, she won’t get any because Scoots is a PIG !! I’ve noticed alot of the brands you guys are talking about aren’t even available here in WA. I haven’t seen 2/3’s of them on the shelves. Do you have to order them online? |
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| 04/12/08 01:09am |
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KrazyKelli View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1698893 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
1. While cats are carnivorous, cats in the wild do chew on grass and similar things as well. This is to aid digestion, mainly. Even Lions do it. You can purchase safe brands of grass for cats at pet supply stores (called CatGrass, but there are other types). Cats will also eat bugs, though that’s not considered actual meat =P And bugs don’t aid cats in anything, except maybe entertainment. The fact that there are vegetables in some cat foods is basically for this need. There are barely any actual vegis in the food, and it’s only there to brighten up the cat and make them feel good. I would not recommend giving indoor cats full chickens or anything as well, as I’ve heard many stories of cats choking or getting lodged up with bones of animals that they consume. This can also happen with birds and mice. I’m glad my mouser cat simply brings me her prize instead of eating it. A cat without any source of meat (or not enough) will slowly go blind and become emaciated. 2. If you switch to a new brand of cat food, transfer over to it in a period of four days to a week. Gradually go from 25% new cat food and 75% old food to vice versa in these days, then leap over to full new cat food. If you change to a new brand of food too quickly the cat will vomit. Even if the cat vomits during the change, don’t be too worried. There’s a problem that happens in both cats and dogs in which, if you change brands of cat food too often and don’t stick primarily to one, their digestive tract will screw up and they’ll end up with a permanent case of the runs as well as a weak gut (resulting in vomiting). It’s a pain to deal with, so try to prevent it and stay organized. |
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| 04/12/08 01:19am |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: MissAnne2u In reference to Message Id: 1699831 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Quote: I’ve noticed alot of the brands you guys are talking about aren’t even available here in WA.
I work in a pet store in Seattle, WA, and we carry every good brand I mentioned! Even Petco should carry Nutro, Wellness, and Royal Canin. Innova is funny about where it’s sold, but we sell it! Where are you located? Perhaps I can point you in the right direction... |
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| 04/12/08 03:00am |
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Turtlemom View Profile |
Message To: KrazyKelli In reference to Message Id: 1699840 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
To the person who buys Meow Mix......it is NOT the worst food you can feed. It’s a national brand that’s AVA recommended. Not the best, but substantial if that’s what you can afford. I found Eukanuba Lamb or Chicken and Rice significantly reduced the gas problem my cat had and created FAR less litter box waste to scoop. Also gave her the shiniest coat imaginable!!!!!! My point here is NOT to offend anyone but to point out that you need to read the label! If some kind of meat (not by products or meal) is listed as one of the first three (preferably first) ingredients...good!!!! If not than three of the first five ingredients should be meat products. |
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| 04/12/08 03:29am |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Turtlemom In reference to Message Id: 1699929 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Have you asked your vet about these foods? I have asked two or three and all recommend royal canin, innova, evo, nutro, canidae, felidae, wellness, natural balance, and precise over any grocery store brand any day. You should honestly talk to your vet about it. If the food you feed is working well, then more power to you! But it isn’t one that I would personally recommend. Most vets recommend that your cat food’s first three ingredients should contain two that come from animals. Meow mix’s first two ingredients are grown yellow corn and corn gluten meal. So your argument for it is failing if your argument against the foods that I recommended was that it contained those ingredients. Just to get everything straight, I will post the first three ingredients of all these brands mentioned. That might be helpful. Nutro’s Natural Choice (regular adult formula): Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal Royal Canin (indoor adult): chicken meal, brown rice, corn Innova (cat/kitten formula): turkey, chicken meal, chicken Evo (cat/kitten formula): turkey, chicken meal, chicken California Natural (chicken/brown rice formula): chicken, chicken meal, brown rice Natural Balance: chicken meal, chicken, brown rice Felidae: chicken meal, turkey meal, brown rice Wellness (chicken formula): Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Rice Science Diet (original adult): Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Brewers Rice And now for the grocery store brands! Lol, this is long. But I think it’s important. Iams (original chicken): Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Grits Meow Mix: ground yellow corn, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal Purina Cat Chow: Poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, wheat flour (which kind of poultry do you think??) Friskies (liver and chicken dinner canned): Poultry By-Products, Meat By-Products, Liver (what animals are the by-products coming from, do you suppose??) Eukanuba (adult chicken): Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken, Corn Grits I would absolutely NEVER buy ANY product listing "poultry" or "meat" by-products. Chicken and turkey by-products are simply the parts of the chicken and turkey that we don’t eat, but meat or poultry by-products could be a LOT of different animals. Meat by-products usually come from animals that have been rejected for human consumption because they were presented to the meat packing plant as "Dead, Dying, Diseased or Disabled." We pulled Iams from our shelves during the recall because we found they started to have meat by-products in their ingredients (they did not tell us about the change). So yes, some of the "premium" foods don’t have two meat based ingredients in the first three, but the overwhelming majority of them do (and many of the same brand’s other formulas do) and some of the grocery store brands have two meat based ingredients in the first three, but the overwhelming majority do not, and many have meat or poultry by-products. You will also notice that the only pet store brand with by-products at all in the first three ingredients is science diet (the one I do not recommend) and nearly all of the grocery store brands have them. You also have to look at all the ingredients and the nutritional value as well. For instance, many of the pet store brands don’t list any animal products after the first two ingredients while most of the premium brands do, and many seem similar but have hugely different nutritional percentages. I have found these sites useful: Link Link Hope this helps. |
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| 04/12/08 05:58am |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1699972 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Blue Buffalo: Deboned Turkey, Turkey Meal, Whole Ground Barley Merrick (Grammy’s Pot Pie canned): Chicken, Chicken Broth, Turkey Liver Also, Royal Canin lists several other meat products (NOT by-products) after the first three ingredients, while Iams does not. Turtlemom, Iams Weight Control DOESN’T WORK! You’re right! That’s because its first three ingredients are Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, and Corn Grits. It is 28% protein and 13% fat. I suggest using Royal Canin Indoor Light. It is amazing! My brother’s cat was literally 27 pounds eating Iams Weight Control for three years. We switched him to the Royal Canin and he is losing a pound a month being free fed! He now weighs 18 pounds (which is actually a healthy weight for him, he’s a big boy). The RC light formula’s first three ingredients are Chicken meal, corn, and wheat gluten. It is 37% protein and 9% fat. High protein low fat works really well to help cats lose weight, and the RC light can be free fed, even to a thinner or regular sized cat without causing problems (helpful for people with one overweight cat and one regular). With other brands, cats just tend to eat more until they are full, and therefore get the same amount of fat they would on regular food. The high protein formulas seem to fill them up more quickly. I also noticed that the cat food comparison’s info about royal canin was outdated. |
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| 04/12/08 06:24am |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1699983 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/12/08 06:25am |
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MissAnne2u View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1699901 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Quote: Where are you located? Perhaps I can point you in the right direction...
I live in Tacoma, near the mall. Unfortunately, Freaky is very PICKY about what she will and will not eat. Like I said, she finally settled on Science Diet, but I don’t know if it was because she was finally hungry after 4 weeks of eating almost nothing or if it was for sheer survival when Scooter got here and she found out if she didn’t eat her food, he would! LOL |
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| 04/12/08 11:46am |
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Shadowcat0789 View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1699984
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| 04/12/08 12:04pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Shadowcat0789 In reference to Message Id: 1700188 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Quote: I should also revise my statement that I "hate" science diet. It is a huge step up from grocery store brands while remaining very inexpensive, so I think it fills a good role.
Our pet store carries it for those reasons. It is a good alternative to grocery store brands and is inexpensive. |
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| 04/12/08 02:11pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: MissAnne2u In reference to Message Id: 1700173 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Here is a list of places that carry it within 15 miles of Tacoma, if that helps. Browns Point Veterinary Clinic 6720 Eastside Drive NE # 4 Tacoma, WA 98422 (253) 927-1323 Dog Outfitters Group 3302 Harborview Drive Gig Harbor, WA 98332 (253) 853-3294 Dogs Daze Natural Pet Market 116 Meridian South Suite A Puyallup, WA 98371 (253) 445-3647 Fish Gallery & Pets 26209 104th Ave SE Kent, WA 98030 (253) 852-9240 Green Cottage Fircrest 612 Regents Blvd Tacoma, WA 98466 (253) 566-4553 Green Cottage Pets 3024 Harbor View Dr. Gig Harbor, WA 98335 (253) 851-8806 Lucky Dog Outfitters 3411 6th Avenue Suite B Tacoma, WA 98406 Midway Tropical Fish & Pet 24101 Pacific Highway S Kent, WA 98032 (206) 824-2616 Nature Boy’s Farm 17022 Pacific Ave. Spanaway, WA 98387 (253) 537-8370 Next To Nature 1624 Tacoma Avenue Tacoma, WA 98402 (253) 779-8141 Website Pet Pros 900 East Meridian Milton, WA 98354 (253) 517-0911 Pet Pros-Lakeland 1404 Lake Tapps Pkwy E #A-101 Auburn, WA 98092 Pets & Things 801 C St. SW Auburn, WA 98001 (253) 735-0728 River Road Animal Hospital 1508 18th Street NW Puyallup, WA 98371 (253) 845-7525 Savy Dog Boutique 2811 Bridgeport Way West #12 University Place, WA 98466 (253) 566-9663 Simply Paws 1606A SW Dash Point Rd Federal Way, WA 98023 (253) 874-5702 Snoopy’s Dog House 13414 Meridian East Suite 107 Puyallup, WA 98373 (253) 841-5850 The Granary, Inc. 19626 8th Street East Sonoma, CA 95476 (707) 938-8011 The Wildside - Tropical Fish & Exotic Pets 11012 Canyon Rd E Suite 3 Puyallup, WA 98373 (253) 538-9453 Website The Wildside - Tropical Fish & Exotic Pets 215 Whitesell St. NW Suite B111 Orting, WA 98360 (360) 893-7387 Website Tiki Tails 106 11th Street SE Auburn, WA 98002 (253) 288-1199 |
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| 04/12/08 02:16pm |
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Futurebullybreeder View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1700299 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/12/08 03:04pm |
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Futurebullybreeder View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1700299 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/12/08 03:09pm |
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MissAnne2u View Profile |
Message To: Dragongirl6 In reference to Message Id: 1700299 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/12/08 05:46pm |
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Geckogirlemi View Profile |
Message To: MissAnne2u In reference to Message Id: 1700483 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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| 04/12/08 06:00pm |
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Dragongirl6 View Profile |
Message To: Geckogirlemi In reference to Message Id: 1700494 Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
Iams, Eukanuba, and Purina are just not as good as premium brands (some of them, anyway), and there are a lot of premium brands that don’t cost much more at all! Wellness and Precise are both pretty inexpensive options. Your cat’s food should have two meat based products in the first three ingredients (NOT by-products). Purina’s first three ingredients are Poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, wheat flour. Not one of those counts as either of the two meat products, in fact, they don’t have a single meat product in their entire ingredients list that would count. You might as well buy a bag of corn to feed them. Cats need ANIMAL PROTEIN, not a bunch of corn filler to fill up their bellies and not actually give them nutrition. Purina’s protein content is 31% (a lot of that not coming from meat), and 11% fat. Evo’s (made by the same company as Innova) first three ingredients are turkey, chicken meal, and chicken. All three count as animal/meat products and there are no by-products in it at all. Its protein content is 50.2% protein (almost all from animal) and it is 22.2% fat. Purina doesn’t have enough protein OR fat. Sure, you could throw in any type of food for your cat (just like you could serve mac and cheese or "meat by-products" (animal liver, testicles, and intestines) to your kids for every meal, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy or won’t cause health problems later. Cats are HAPPIER with a high protein food. It gives them more energy, makes them feel better, and makes them HEALTHIER. Please do some research before posting that "any food works fine". |
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| 04/12/08 08:49pm |
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Best cat food.....? A rant about premium foods
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