Castor & Pollux - Organix

ModernCatLady

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
208
Purraise
213
Hi everyone!

I am getting an 8 week old kitten in a week and have been doing a lot of research on health and nutrition. I found a brand called Castor & Pollux - Organix and would like to feed the kitten the "Kitten Pate" canned food. At the moment the breeder is feeding him dry and canned royal canin baby cat food. Do you think Castor & Pollux - Organix's ingredients are safe and is it a reputable brand? Thank you!

Ingredients
Organic Chicken, Water Sufficient for Processing, Organic Chicken Liver, Organic Pea Protein, Organic Coconut Flour, Organic Dried Egg Product, Organic Dried Peas, Organic Flaxseed, Salmon Oil, Organic Carrots, Organic Cranberries, Organic Dried Alfalfa Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Phosphate, Taurine, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate), Vitamins (Niacin, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid)
 

Attachments

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
2,844
Purraise
3,465
"Safe" and "reputable" are complicated terms when it comes to the pet food industry, but I would feed this over the Royal Canin garbage. I don't like that it has peas and coconut flour in it though. Some other decent canned food brands are Rawz, Weruva, Feline Natural, Hounds & Gatos. In general it's good to feed multiple different brands so that your cat gets a variety of different nutrients and also doesn't get picky or stuck on one brand (which would suck if the brand was ever discontinued).
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

ModernCatLady

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
208
Purraise
213
"Safe" and "reputable" are complicated terms when it comes to the pet food industry, but I would feed this over the Royal Canin garbage. I don't like that it has peas and coconut flour in it though. Some other decent canned food brands are Rawz, Weruva, Feline Natural, Hounds & Gatos. In general it's good to feed multiple different brands so that your cat gets a variety of different nutrients and also doesn't get picky or stuck on one brand (which would suck if the brand was ever discontinued).
Thank you for the informative response! I will be looking into Rawz, Weruva, Feline Natural and Hounds & Gatos. I did not think to feed more than one brand but that makes sense and I will do so.
 

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
2,844
Purraise
3,465
Thank you for the informative response! I will be looking into Rawz, Weruva, Feline Natural and Hounds & Gatos. I did not think to feed more than one brand but that makes sense and I will do so.
Do you have any independent pet shops in your area? Usually these stores carry better quality brands than the big box stores.

Also, make sure to introduce any new foods very slowly - mix them with the old food over a period of 10 days.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #5

ModernCatLady

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
208
Purraise
213
Do you have any independent pet shops in your area? Usually these stores carry better quality brands than the big box stores.

Also, make sure to introduce any new foods very slowly - mix them with the old food over a period of 10 days.
I found two online that are close to home going to check them out tomorrow. Thanks these are great tips! Glad I found this site.
 

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
2,844
Purraise
3,465
Awesome. Once a new food is introduced you can just add it to your rotation without having to slowly introduce it again. It’s just the first time intro that has to be slow. Some cats get diarrhea with peas in their food too, while others do just fine, so watch for soft poo or diarrhea when adding these foods.
 

She's a witch

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 21, 2018
Messages
1,780
Purraise
2,371
Location
Europe/WA, USA
I'd recommend feeding as many brands as possible if your kitten will allow. The recipes change, the brands go out off market and you'll be left with the kitten habituated to one food only, and it's difficult to transfer a cat to a different food it he was not used to it. I like all the brands A Azazel mentioned, I'd add Dr Elsey, Essence. Only Pet Natural online store sells individual cans if you want to try. Rawz and Dr Elsey will even send you samples for free.

On food unrelated note, 8 weeks to separate the kitten from his mom and sibling is alarmingly early, I don't think reputable breeder would do it. can you ask him to keep the kitten longer with his family and get him when he's around 14 weeks? It will be way healthier for his emotional health, and easier for you as behavioral problems will be minimized.
Delayed weaning reduces behavioural problems in cats
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #8

ModernCatLady

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Aug 12, 2019
Messages
208
Purraise
213
I'd recommend feeding as many brands as possible if your kitten will allow. The recipes change, the brands go out off market and you'll be left with the kitten habituated to one food only, and it's difficult to transfer a cat to a different food it he was not used to it. I like all the brands A Azazel mentioned, I'd add Dr Elsey, Essence. Only Pet Natural online store sells individual cans if you want to try. Rawz and Dr Elsey will even send you samples for free.

On food unrelated note, 8 weeks to separate the kitten from his mom and sibling is alarmingly early, I don't think reputable breeder would do it. can you ask him to keep the kitten longer with his family and get him when he's around 14 weeks? It will be way healthier for his emotional health, and easier for you as behavioral problems will be minimized.
Delayed weaning reduces behavioural problems in cats
Thank you! Oh my ... i did not know that as she said she has been breeding for 20 years and all her kittens go home at 8 weeks old. I am going to send her an email and ask if he can stay until he is older.
 

cheesycats

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
549
Purraise
686
Location
Indiana
What kind of kitten is it? Make sure she is offering health guarantees, first round of vaccinations, a spay and neuter contract, etc. these are signs of reputable breeders. Hopefully she isn’t just a backyard breeder producing hundreds of cats to be put into shelters and run the streets for 20 years. :/
 

lisahe

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
6,150
Purraise
4,969
Location
Maine
Awesome. Once a new food is introduced you can just add it to your rotation without having to slowly introduce it again. It’s just the first time intro that has to be slow. Some cats get diarrhea with peas in their food too, while others do just fine, so watch for soft poo or diarrhea when adding these foods.
Personally, I would suggest skipping any foods with peas, particularly in two forms like this food has: beyond the potential for diarrhea, peas just aren't a cat's natural diet and kittens especially need meat protein for growth/development.

Again, on a "personally" track: when we adopted our two cats (at ten months) I was glad we had a huge number of different kinds of food left over from our previous cat, who was elderly and very sick so didn't want to eat. That meant we had all kinds of foods to feed the new cats and all that variety was great to have because it helped us figure out what they liked. Which was important because some cats can be very choosy about their foods! One other thing you might want to watch for is calories: foods like Rawz and Hound & Gatos tend to be more caloric than Weruva and Feline Natural and kittens need lots of calories. All are fine, as long as the foods are labeled "for all life stages" but some of the less caloric foods are pricey and you'd need to feed more of them.

Finally, She's a witch She's a witch raises a very good point about kittens that are weaned early. We don't know when our two cats were weaned but we know they were underfed and we know they came from a household with too many cats. We also know they have some of the "issues" mentioned in that study that She's a witch linked to. The more stories I read about cats on the site, the more I think about stress that cats had in previous homes and long-term problems that stick with them and affect their behavior, including their eating. (One of our cats is still very food insecure even after nearly six years of steady meals!)
 

MoonstoneWolf

Cat Food Bowl Referee
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 15, 2019
Messages
4,590
Purraise
4,140
Location
St. Louis MO
Try one can. My cats despise it and I had to give away a bunch of cans to the local shelter.
 
Top