I'm currently feeding a 7 week old kitten with Merricks LID, but I'm decidedly not happy with it. I've narrowed it down to either Feline Natural or Ziwipeak and would like some input from you all. If you feed either of the two, please let me know how your cats have done on it. Thank you!
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Feline Natural Or Ziwipeak?
- Thread starter Freyr
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Feline Natural Chicken & Lamb Feast Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6-oz, case of 24
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Crude Protein 6.80% min
Crude Fat 4.40% min
Crude Fiber 0.03.0% min
Moisture 82.30% max
Taurine 0.22% min
Feline Natural Chicken & Venison Feast Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6-oz, case of 24
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Crude Protein 10.40% min
Crude Fat 3.30% min
Crude Fiber 0.03.0% min
Moisture 83.40% max
Taurine
Ziwi Peak Daily-Cat Cuisine Lamb Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6.5-oz, case of 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Crude Protein 8.0% (min)
Crude Fat 5.5% (min)
Crude Fiber 1% (max)
Moisture 78.0% (max)
Ash 3.0% (max)
Chondroitin SulFate
Ziwi Peak Rabbit & Lamb Recipe Canned Cat Food , 6.5-oz, case of 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Crude Protein 9.5% (min)
Crude Fat 4.0% (min)
Crude Fiber 1.0% (max)
Moisture 78.0% (min)
Ash 3.0% (min)
Chondroitin SulFate 300 mg/kg (min)
Ziwi Peak Daily-Cat Cuisine Venison Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6.5-oz, case of 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
Crude Protein 9.0% (min)
Crude Fat 4.5% (min)
Crude Fiber 1.0% (max)
Moisture 78.0% (max)
Ash 3.0% (max)
Chondroitin SulFate 300 mg/kg (min)
I pasted this all here to make things easier for future posters. Feline Natural and Ziwi Peak are hard to compare because they are both some of the most high-end brands. The only thing I'd say is that Ziwi venison looks a bit lower-quality than the others- because it contains agar-agar, which I've heard can have similar effects to carrageenan.
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- Chicken, Lamb Heart, Lamb Kidney, Lamb Liver, Lamb Blood, Flaxseed Flakes, New Zealand Green Lipped Mussel (Perna Canaliculus), Dried Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Canola Oil, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid. Water added for processing.
- 620 kcal/kg
Crude Protein 6.80% min
Crude Fat 4.40% min
Crude Fiber 0.03.0% min
Moisture 82.30% max
Taurine 0.22% min
Feline Natural Chicken & Venison Feast Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6-oz, case of 24
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- Chicken, Chicken Heart, Venison Kidney, Venison Liver, Venison Blood, Flaxseed Flakes, New Zealand Green Mussel (Perna Canaliculus), Dried Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Proteinate, Canola Oil, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid,. Water added for processing.
- 650 kcal/kg
Crude Protein 10.40% min
Crude Fat 3.30% min
Crude Fiber 0.03.0% min
Moisture 83.40% max
Taurine
Ziwi Peak Daily-Cat Cuisine Lamb Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6.5-oz, case of 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- Lamb, Lamb Broth, Lamb Liver, Lamb Lung, Lamb Kidney, Chick Peas, Lamb Tripe, Lamb Heart, New Zealand Green Mussel, Lamb Bone, Dried Kelp, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B1 Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement).
- 185 kcal/170g can, 1000 kcal/kg
Crude Protein 8.0% (min)
Crude Fat 5.5% (min)
Crude Fiber 1% (max)
Moisture 78.0% (max)
Ash 3.0% (max)
Chondroitin SulFate
Ziwi Peak Rabbit & Lamb Recipe Canned Cat Food , 6.5-oz, case of 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- Rabbit Meat, Lamb Broth, Lamb Liver*, Lamb, Lamb Lung*, Lamb Kidney*, Chick Peas, Lamb Tripe*, Lamb Heart*, Hare Meat, New Zealand Green Mussel, Lamb Bone, Dried Kelp, Minerals (Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B1 Supplement, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement). *Depending on seasonal availability will be temporarily substituted with sheep.
- 950 kcal/kg. 176 kcal/can
Crude Protein 9.5% (min)
Crude Fat 4.0% (min)
Crude Fiber 1.0% (max)
Moisture 78.0% (min)
Ash 3.0% (min)
Chondroitin SulFate 300 mg/kg (min)
Ziwi Peak Daily-Cat Cuisine Venison Grain-Free Canned Cat Food, 6.5-oz, case of 12
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- Venison Broth, Venison Meat, Venison Heart, Venison Liver, Venison Lung, Venison Kidney, Venison Tripe, New Zealand Green Mussel, Olive Oil, Dried Kelp, Potassium Chloride, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, Agar-Agar, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Taurine.
- 1000 kcal/kg, 85 kcal/can
Crude Protein 9.0% (min)
Crude Fat 4.5% (min)
Crude Fiber 1.0% (max)
Moisture 78.0% (max)
Ash 3.0% (max)
Chondroitin SulFate 300 mg/kg (min)
I pasted this all here to make things easier for future posters. Feline Natural and Ziwi Peak are hard to compare because they are both some of the most high-end brands. The only thing I'd say is that Ziwi venison looks a bit lower-quality than the others- because it contains agar-agar, which I've heard can have similar effects to carrageenan.
We feed Feline Natural chicken/lamb and our cats like it. It's great food and I like that it doesn't have gums, carrageenan, or agar-agar. The one downside is that it's relatively low-calorie, at only 53 calories per small can, so you'd have to feed a lot of it to a kitten.
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My cats love the Feline Natural chicken and lamb. They use to love the Ziwipeak Rabbit and lamb but my little guy decided he didn't like it much anymore when they changed the formula and added chick peas.
They do make freeze-dried raw food, though that's designed to be rehydrated. Our cats love it. (I don't know the calorie count for the freeze-dried... I don't count calories for these two, particularly since it's harder to do with their raw foods!)
Your cat is smart to refuse the chickpeas!
Ours refused Merrick LID, which they had absolutely loved, after the addition of some pea ingredient: I'd noticed a texture or color change but hadn't thought much of it until the cats stopped eating the food.
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I think the chick peas were used as a binder in place of carrageenan, which is probably an improvement, considering carrageenan can have inflammatory and carcinogenic effects in cats, but of course healthier ingredients don't help if out kitties refuse to eat them. 
abyeb
Exactly! Is there a natural binder that doesn't involve peas or carrageenan? IDK but I wish some companies will use it as my cat won't finish his ZP dry food. TBH I haven't used FN freeze-dried raw food but I should. Are the calories more than in their cans?
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The calorie counts per kilogram are in my first post, for comparison.
Fenugreek is the binder in Rawz canned foods: it's the only binder (other than gums, which I try to limit) that I'll feed. I agree that carrageenan is the worst risk over all (I've cut carrageenan out of our household's human diet, too, no more Ben & Jerry's!) but given our cats' weird stomachs, I won't feed them peas, either! That stuff just shouldn't be in cat food to begin with. Our cats, who can be pretty picky, definitely prefer their raw and homemade foods, which don't have any binders at all, and that kind of makes me wonder if binders really make much difference to most cats. I know there are "gravy licker" cats because we had one, but the food she ate best in her last weeks was Rad Cat. (I'd be lying by omission, though if I didn't admit that Merrick's Cowboy Cookout, with peas, was a close second, though!)
TBH I haven't used FN freeze-dried raw food but I should. Are the calories more than in their cans?
As for FN chicken/lamb freeze-dried, it's 160 calories per (metric, I think) cup, which seems like it's also low, probably (after adding water) about what the canned food is. Of course I have no idea how much of it we feed per meal, particularly since it gets mixed with other food.
abyeb
I was asking about the freeze-dried raw
lisahe
Thank you! I never knew that fenugreek existed. Honestly I don't like carrageenan but I do have one or two canned foods that have that and I still feed. It's just so gosh darn hard to find ones that don't have that. I do agree about the peas which is why I stopped feeding nature balance and nature's variety. The calorie is similar to Ziwi Peak dry then which is good.F Freyr Thank you for your input I'll have to check my local store to double check
FN is the better of the two. The chicken & lamb is pretty low in calories, the chicken & venison is a bit higher, and the lamb & salmon is the highest. I rotate all 3 of those with raw, the lamb & salmon is also the lowest in phos of the 3.
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Well, as a matter of fact, I use both! I have been trying to tame the costs, but so far I'm still there. I have figured out calorically, that a 6 oz can of Ziwipeak, rabbit and lamb (176 kcals), and a 1/2 of a 6 oz can of Feline Natural Chicken and Lamb (52.5 kcals) daily will get me at +/- 230 kcals daily. Artie weighs in at a whopping #16 and needs to be at #13-14. So, the given is that since he is an indoor cat, he should probably get about 225-230 if I am feeding to the desired weight. VOILA!
And, I have found both to be the best I can find, all things considered (except the cost!). I am STILL searching for an alternative diet at about 33% cheaper, but to maintain the food quality, the only alternative looks like a raw diet. I'm not comfy there yet. But, if I can find a less expensive ready-to-go out of the freezer raw diet that already has all of the taurine, etc, etc mixed in, I might try it.
Good luck with your search. FN & ZP are about as good as I could find. Been using ZP for two years +, and mixing FN in every so often.
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I looked at Lisa P's chart today, and saw that ZP is pretty high fat, and FN has lower kcals than a lot of foods. I know you are a raw food proponent, but if you couldn't get raw, which canned food might you use until you could get raw? ALSO, are there raw (frozen ?) that are complete all-stage level, and already have the taurine and other essentials in it? (I looked at your blog. It looks well done. I bookmarked it so I can get into it a bit more as time allows.)
Thanx, Fred?
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They are TERRIBLE about posting their kcals. I even called the Canada/USA phone, and it was a voicemail. It does show the kcals/Kg at 620 on the flavor I'm ordering, and I found a calculator that shows that at 620 kcals per Kg, that comes out to 17.576704 kcals per ounce! So a 3 oz can = 52.7 kcals. (kinda low, but with my feeding combo it works!)
If only I had time to update my blog more! If I couldn't or didn't want to feed raw I would feed FN canned and freeze dried raw. My crew like some Primal, and the FN freeze dried. FN also has frozen raw, too, as does Primal and Stella and Chewy. I also feed some Fresh is Best freeze dried raw, which uses bone meal so phos level is a bit lower, so ok for my cat with kidney issues.
Feline CRF has a better break down of phos/cals for foods, but they don't have the newest FN proteins and FN did have a slight change in their recipes and the phos levels went up a bit on all of them. The venison/chicken and chicken/lamb aren't super calorie dense, i think like 110 or 120 cals for a 6oz can, but the lamb/salmon is better something like 160.
Most cat foods are on the higher fat range because cats have a higher need for fat than dogs do. In general they do fine with higher fat.
Feline CRF has a better break down of phos/cals for foods, but they don't have the newest FN proteins and FN did have a slight change in their recipes and the phos levels went up a bit on all of them. The venison/chicken and chicken/lamb aren't super calorie dense, i think like 110 or 120 cals for a 6oz can, but the lamb/salmon is better something like 160.
Most cat foods are on the higher fat range because cats have a higher need for fat than dogs do. In general they do fine with higher fat.
