Any Thoughts On This Food?

I am considering changing the dry food that I give my cats. Has anyone tried Solid Gold cat food? What was your experience with it? I do feed canned as well as dry, so please no wet versus dry debate. I would just like to know your opinion of this food--specifically the Winged Tiger dry food.

Anybody?

I don't have personal experience with this food, but it seems like an okay food - it has quail, turkey meal, and chicken meal as the first three ingredients. I'm not a fan of how high up the peas, potatoes, tapioca, and chickpeas are in the list though.

What dry food are you currently feeding? It may be easier to compare two foods than give you an objective analysis of one.

I am feeding Blue Buffalo, but with all the complaints that I have been hearing about it, I am wondering if it is safe to give to my cats anymore. I started feeding my adult cat (who has IBD) Blue Basics Duck roughly two or three years ago, and she was doing fine on it. However, I got a kitten a year ago and began feeding him Blue Wilderness kitten food. It was impossible to keep my adult cat out of it, and she became addicted to it and now only wants the kitten food.

Both her and my now one year old "kitten" need to be on adult food, but I am still buying the Blue Wilderness kitten food because it is the only thing that my older cat will eat. The one year old actually does eat the Blue Basics food and likes it, but he also eats the kitten food 50% of the time. He is already a big guy and probably doesn't need the extra calories. Also, he has really stinky poop at times, which could be attributed to the food. I thought of simply buying the adult Blue Wilderness food for both, but again, I am not sure if I want to continue feeding Blue Buffalo.

I actually bought a small 3 lb. bag of the Solid Gold food to sample it and gave them each a couple of small handfuls. They both really seemed to like it, but I am kind of nervous about feeding Solid Gold since I don't really know much about the brand.

Solid Gold is a very good food company. I would call the 800 number in the a.m. and get more info from the company, they can be very helpful to consumers. Quail and pumpkin sounds like something that would sooth gastric issues. But its a good company and I feed my cats Solid Gold canned items. I would say its up there with the high end 'boutique' foods.

I fed my cat Blue Wilderness duck for quite some time before I stopped feeding her dry food altogether. It seems to have comparable ingredients to Solid Gold. But going off reputation, I've also heard iffy things about Blue Buffalo, so maybe give Solid Gold a try and see how your cats do in terms of palatability and GI issues?

Solid Gold was part of my rotation when I was feeding dry food. My sensitive boy did really well with it.

I think it looks pretty good! Better if it didn't have potatos, but I have heard good things about the company.

I think some of the things we are hearing about Blue Buffalo are PR tactics from the big pet food makers who are trying to scare people off the competition. Poor quality pet food makers are now following the trend for grain free under their own umbrella brand but often disguised to look like a new brand.

Yes, this is probably true about the PR tactics and Blue Buffalo, but I did find out that Solid Gold is part of Diamond pet foods, which also has a bad reputation, so that is a little concerning. It's hard to get a straight answer about any food. Every time I look up a review on a different cat food, the reviews usually range from "This is the best food ever!" to "This horrible food killed my cat!"

I have been giving Solid Gold a try. I have been gradually mixing some of it with the Blue Wilderness kitten for my older IBD Kitty to hopefully wean her off the kitten food and back to adult food. So far, there has been no vomiting, so fingers crossed!

My one year old "kitten" also seems to like it, although he still seems to prefer the Blue Basics food, which my OTHER cat is supposed to be eating.

Looks like a pretty good food.

I did want to mention something about the quail, though. One of my cats' former favorite foods (which is now discontinued) had quail in it, and toward the end of when it was being produced, it was sometimes unavailable because of supply chain issues and difficulty sourcing quail. That may be a resolved issue now, but with a more exotic ingredient like that, I would check with your retailer to make sure it is consistently available before making it a diet staple.

I know I started this thread a while ago, but I would like some more opinions about the Solid Gold food. I have still been feeding it, and the cats are doing well, but I am still concerned about the Diamond pet foods connection.

My vet does not seem very impressed with the Solid Gold food and has been trying to convince me to buy a prescription (Royal Canin, I think) food that costs $47.00 for an eight pound bag and has CRAPPY ingredients. She seemed a little angry that I wouldn't buy it, but I held firm. She is also all of a sudden concerned about the food containing fish (it is the sixth or seventh ingredient in the Winged Tiger formula), even though she has tried to sell me prescription canned food before that was tuna-based!

Well, it's not great, but it's definitely better than the royal canin crap the vets sell.

Neo_23 said:

Well, it's not great, but it's definitely better than the royal canin crap the vets sell.

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I'm curious--what makes you say that Solid Gold is not great? I'm just trying to get more info.

Sorry I didn't give much detail.

It's not a food that I would personally feed mainly because I don't feed dry food since it is lacking in moisture. But, if I were going to feed dry food I would look for one that is low in carbs as cats really don't need and cannot process high amounts of carbs. I would also look for lots of meat-based protein. What looks good about this product is that it has meat ingredients as its first 3 ingredients, but unfortunately without further information we don't know how much of the protein comes from the meat (it could just be a lot of animal fat). Fat is better than carbs - cats process fats better, but still, they need animal proteins. The fact that it has peas, potatoes, tapioca, and chickpeas is concerning, not only because it means that this food is high in carbs but also because these are all foods that contribute to dietary intolerances in cats. A lot of companies use the slogan "grain free" as a marketing scheme to make you think that the food is healthier but they just replace the grains with peas and potatoes which are just as unhealthy and "carby."

This food has roughly 44% carbs based on the guaranteed analysis values. If we convert the protein, fat, and carb percentages into percentage of calories per 100 grams, we end up with this food being made up of 28% protein, 30% fat, and 42% carbs. The diet of a cat should be +50% protein, ~40% fat, and less than 10% carbs. Not to mention cats need lots of moisture in their food (which is why I don't feed dry food at all - in addition to the fact that most dry foods are mainly carbs).

I would say this is a very starchy, carby, and unhealthy food. Just my 2 cents.

tabbysia said:

I'm curious--what makes you say that Solid Gold is not great? I'm just trying to get more info.

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I can't answer for anyone other than myself, but I'll throw this in there.
When I started feeding raw many, MANY years ago, I fed raw and Solid Gold canned mixed to my dogs and they ate their food ravenously. They LOVED it.
I don't feed the cats Solid Gold (they like Wellness), but the dogs have some cans of Solid Gold in the pantry. (They like the green cow tripe!)
I have no affiliation with this company but I do really, REALLY like their seameal supplement for our dogs. It seems to help digestion for anyone with digestive problems, and the dogs that have received this have enjoyed a noticeable "intensification" of coat color. Our black and white BC's are blue-black and shiny white, our red and whites are copper-penny red and white, and our gray and white sledders are shiny as all get out with a definitive shine to their top coat.
I can't give a plug for the cat food but we've had no problems using their products. A friend of ours with a dog with chronic UTI's used their cranberry supplement and was very happy as well.
If I had a cat that wanted this food and no other, I would be comfortable with it.

If your cat is doing ok on this food and your vet becomes UPSET about you’re unwillingness to buy their products I would find a new vet. Just throwing that out there. There’s no way I would deal with that. The cold hard fact is vets know next to nothing about nutrition most the time. The vet school in my state only has one class for nutrition and it’s an elective. So unless she’s a nutritionist she shouldn’t be giving you opinions if your cats are doing well on what you’re already feeding them.
I’ve fed solid gold before. I don’t really think any kibble is very good but I never had issues when I fed it.

For starters, it's kibble food, which many pet nutritionists are against. It contains: peas, potatoes, tapioca, chickpeas, pumpkin, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, celery, lettuce, watercress, beets, spinach, sugar, and spearmint. CATS ARE CARNIVORES. Meals are also included, which pet nutritionists do not recommend as well.

As neo-23 said this food is high carb, higher than i would feed my cats. If i had to feed solid gold the indigo moon with chicken and egg is the only one i would consider. I try to keep my cats as Katkins diet as much as possible High protein, moderate fat, and low carb.

I do feed wet, and dry. With dry the only one i feed right now is Dr. Elseys Chicken. It has less than 5% carbs. Young again also has a low carb dry, but i have not tried it.

But different cats have different likes, and needs, what works for one is not necessarily what works for another. If you like the food, and the cat likes the food thats what counts.

It has too many fruits and veggies, I probably wouldn't buy it, but at least the first ingredients are meat-based. It seems okay.