Which food to buy?

[phillydogs]

Ok so as you man know, I have Earl who is a 4 week old abandoned baby who weighs less than a pound. 13 oz to be exact. Clean bill of health, no worms and a HEALTHY appetite.

I am using science diet. When I was in the aisle at petsmart, I got a lecture from a girl that says this is bad because it has meat by-products in it, and she suggested Max Cat, but they didn't have many choices and she kept saying cats don't care about flavor. But I beg to differ. Earl prefers the liver entree as opposed to the oceanfish one (better for me because then I don't have a fishy smellin' kitten)

Petsmart has a fairly large variety of different brands. What do you guys feed your cats?

[Magnum]

There is another thread "My Cat's" where a bunch of cat foods are listed. I always base the food choice on the main ingredient being meat, and also staying away from fillers, such as corn, wheat, etc.

Here is the link:;)

http://forums.petlovers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9585&page=2

[ABYLOVER]

It almost seems like whichever food it is, it always has meat by products or corn fillers? I thought Science Diet was good? The way I look at it. Science Diet,Eukanuba, and Iams, etc...It is better than 9 lives or the other grocery store ones.

[ringletchk]

I've been using Hills per the vet's recommendation. My 6 month old had the runs constantly. Now he has no more problems and he really likes it too.

[Cutepeach]

I've been using Hills per the vet's recommendation. My 6 month old had the runs constantly. Now he has no more problems and he really likes it too.


Vets will always recommend Hills cause they get money from them for using their products and recommending them. However, Hills doesn't have meat as the first ingredient and has corn in it. Animals need meat in their foods.

[PatchO'Pits]

There are a ton of foods out there without by products and corn and other crappy fillers. Checkout Chicken Soup for the cat lovers Soul for instance

[Mamato5kats]

I use Purina, Cat Chow for the older ones and kitten chow for Mama and baby Chase. My vet say's it's the best choice if I don't/can't afford to use Eukiniba or Iams. She say's she will never reccomend Science Diet because it is known to cause urinary/kidney problems.

[cathrine98]

We used science diet with our first cats for years with no problems.

With our rescue cat we used Iams since it was what they fed him at the humane society and I dislike messing with my cats food much.

Both worked just fine :)

[PatchO'Pits]

Please don't just take a vet's recommendation on food . Not only do most get money for selling certain products but also the majority have little to no experience in proper nutrtion unless they took extra training in it. Foods with corn, wheat soy and by products food colorings and other unnecessary extra fillers are big NO NOs. You may get lucky and have an animal due fine on it but they still would most likely do much better and be healthier if they were fed a more nutrtious meal. LOL Just food for thought so to speak.

[Miranda]

Meat should be the main (first listed) ingredient in dry cat foods, but corn as one of the ingredients is not necessarily a bad ingredient in dry cat foods. All dry foods contain at least some type of grain. Corn is not recommended for most dogs because their digestive systems are different. The most important thing is that you know what is in the food and that it doesn't contain potentially harmful chemical preservatives and coloring. If "byproducts" are listed as an ingredient you don't know what you are getting and the food can be very inconsistent from one batch to the next. Some byproducts might be ok if they contain organ meats, but other times it could mean chicken feet or beaks which aren't very nutritious. It could also mean very nasty stuff from a rendering plant that has been treated with chemicals to prevent putrification.

Buying less expensive foods doesn't necessarily save any money. Usually you will need to feed more cups per day of the cheap food so a 5lb bag of the cheap stuff won't last as long as a 5lb bag that is more expensive but you feed less per day. Poor nutrition may also lead to more vet bills or a shorter life for your pet, but sometimes it's not obvious to make that connection until your pet becomes ill after several years of poor quality food and then it's too late.

If you'd like to read about comparisons of cat foods go to:
http://www.picnicpointpets.com/PRODUCTINFORMATION-CATFOODS.htm

[RowdyLady]

We use Purina, Cat Chow for Sparkie and kitten chow for the 4 little ones here.
Our Sparkie gained LOTS of weight as he was eating the kitten chow along with the little ones.. We just put them all on Purina Cat Chow now with our Vet's permission. These 4 little ones were 8 months on the 28th of November. They are all doing very well with there food that they are given. :)
There growing according to the charts. And yes Sparkie is losing that baby fat he has gained with the kittens...Which is fine with our Vet..

[phksfsd]

I have an indoor only cat and have always used purina dry food. When the purina indoor food came out I switched to that and have a 14 year old cat in beautiful health.