Hounds and gatos canned food

smartyfoj

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Does anyone know why on the hounds and gatos website not all of their foods are listed in the detailed info as meeting AAFCO requirements but overall they say their food meets the AAFCO requirements. I was thinking of ordering some to add my cats rotation but I want it to meet all of the nutritional needs outlined by AAFCO. Also does anyone know what the consistency of the food is like, is it pate? And it seems like a great food but any opinions on it would be welcome.
 

denice

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I hadn't noticed that until you brought it up.  I went to the website to see what you're talking about.  I am wondering if it's just some kind of web design thing because I really do think all of their foods are complete.  I got a case of the lamb and my two cats who are very picky about wet food like it.  It's a pate style food.  Along with being picky one of my cats has IBD, can't tolerate beef and recently developed a chicken allergy.  Along with eating it, it hasn't caused any problems for him.

I have seen a few opinions both here and elsewhere about the chicken.  The negative opinions weren't anything about quality but that their kitties didn't care for it.
 

sivyaleah

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H&G is a pate but a bit thicker than most.  

Could you point out which ones don't have the info?  Everyone one I clicked on did.

BTW I noticed they seem to have retermed the rabbit specifically as "American" rabbit so that we know it wasn't sourced in China.
 

shaheena

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One of my cats is a very finicky eater but he loves H&G lamb and eats it reliably.  

I also had a foster cat that had skin reactions due to food allergy. After switching her to H&G pork the symptoms were gone. I love the quality of this food and think it's reasonably priced.
 
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smartyfoj

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On the hound and gatos website, beef, chicken, salmon, and rabbit din't have the AAFCO information listed underneath along with calorie info. And yeah I noticed the rabbit is sourced from the US which is variety I'm excited to get because my cats have never had rabbit since even the premium brands I've heard of get rabbit from china.
 

denice

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I think it is just a website design thing.  Maybe they thought it would be too cluttered if they added that under every can on that page.  When you go into the more info page on each one the same supplements are listed on each one.
 
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smartyfoj

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Yeah I figured that it was their website but I wanted some other opinions, thanks everyone.
I didn't think to look at the supplements but yep they are the all the same so it looks like great food.

Also thanks for the information on the food I like that it is reasonably priced too. I hope that it is liked by our most finicky eater because I have cat that is addicted to fancy feast and threw up when she ate the classic fancy feast. My family has been trying to get her to eat premium foods but she barely touches them.
 

dianamc

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I have H&G Chicken and the Lamb, Chicken & Salmon (whose ingredients really read lamb, salmon, chicken). My kitten didn't care for either of them and I decided the LCS was giving her some issues.  Our outdoor cat will eat both of them or else the dog does - no one is quite sure who finishes it.

It is a pate but not like any other pate I've seen. Maybe if you can use a whole can without reheating, you will have better luck than we did.  It was very hard to reheat without turning into a mush.  It has a very light texture compared to something like FF pate. I would like to try something like the rabbit or plain lamb. They didn't have plain lamb where I ordered. I have since seen quite a number of posts where cats didn't like the chicken. Hope this helps.
 

sivyaleah

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Yeah I figured that it was their website but I wanted some other opinions, thanks everyone.
I didn't think to look at the supplements but yep they are the all the same so it looks like great food.

Also thanks for the information on the food I like that it is reasonably priced too. I hope that it is liked by our most finicky eater because I have cat that is addicted to fancy feast and threw up when she ate the classic fancy feast. My family has been trying to get her to eat premium foods but she barely touches them.
The Fancy Feast "Classic" line is actually not a bad choice.  Which one have you been feeding her?

Also, the beef flavor of the Hounds and Gatos isn't exactly a pate quality now that I think of it.  It almost has a ground beef texture, but much finer but I wouldn't go so far as to say it is chunks or shreds by any stretch of the imagination.  My cats like that one a lot.  I do tend to slightly heat them (and all other foods) this time of year; my kitchen is pretty cold a lot of times and the food is just to chilly to feed them right out of the can.  I found that putting in some really hot water worked well - by the time you stir it in it just barely warms the food up and the texture isn't too noticeably changed.  I try to avoid the microwave for the cats food but will in a pinch on something like 20-30% power for a few seconds.  
 
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smartyfoj

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The Fancy Feast "Classic" line is actually not a bad choice.  Which one have you been feeding her?

Also, the beef flavor of the Hounds and Gatos isn't exactly a pate quality now that I think of it.  It almost has a ground beef texture, but much finer but I wouldn't go so far as to say it is chunks or shreds by any stretch of the imagination.  My cats like that one a lot.  I do tend to slightly heat them (and all other foods) this time of year; my kitchen is pretty cold a lot of times and the food is just to chilly to feed them right out of the can.  I found that putting in some really hot water worked well - by the time you stir it in it just barely warms the food up and the texture isn't too noticeably changed.  I try to avoid the microwave for the cats food but will in a pinch on something like 20-30% power for a few seconds.  
Well my mom gets the final say on food for our 3 cats and I've been working on her to buy the hounds and gatos but she is nervous because it contains no fruits and veggies only meat and vitamins unlike nature's variety which we currently feed once a day but it is expensive to keep buying for every day. I explained we can still buy nature's variety and feed it a few times a week to ensure the cats are well fed. We also feed fancy feast primavera because it's good to keep costs down and our finicky eater won't eat anything else. When I suggested buying fancy feast classics my mom said yes and fed it one morning, probably the chicken variety because that is their favorite meat generally but then never again once our finicky cat threw up and my mom claimed the other cats weren't enamored with it either. My plan is to try and get my mom to buy it again because it looks like a good cheap food to have mixed in to their rotation.

And thanks for rethinking the consistency our finicky cat doesn't generally like pate too much but maybe this will be her brand. And thanks for water tip for warming cold cans we generally heat up the food in the microwave for a few seconds.
 

sivyaleah

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Fruits and vegetables are not a cats natural diet. They add carbohydrates and are more or less fillers. Not as bad as grains but not necessary. The Hounds And Gatos is nearly 100% protein, or is - don't remember offhand. I don't know how old you are, but since your mom is making the final chice maybe she would like to post whatever concerns and questions she has so we can guide her on good feline nutrition. I'd post links but am writing from my phone at the moment. Perhaps someone else will be able to before I'm able to.
 
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smartyfoj

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I'm in college but I commute from home so I always try to make sure our cats are fed good food as well as loved. Unfortunately my mom refuses to listen, about the only thing she agrees is that grain free food is best for the cats. My sister and my mom both believe the cats need dry food because it helps their teeth and it doesn't help that our vet agrees. Our vet thinks cats would be fine on dry food alone and we first found out grain free would be best because a petco employee told us so eventually I did some reaserch and discovered that we have not been doing best by our cats. Mainly my mom loves the cats as much as I do but she is swayed by marketing that says fruits have antioxidants and why would some foods have them but not others there must be something wrong in her opinion with the food lacking such extras. She also believes that because there is not a consensus about dry food being bad and I guess cats not being obligate carnivores even though they are, she is afraid she could hurt the cats by not feeding them right. If someone came along to post sone links I could show them to my mom as she isn't very internet savvy. In the end I guess we are doing okay feeding the cats I just wish we could do better.

Also thanks for confirming that fruits and veggies are just filler and of no use to cats.
 

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Wish I saw this thread earlier.

The Hound and Gatos website does need to be kept up a little better. This AAFCO inconsistency is not the only detail I've noticed that is not correct. It must be small company, though, because I called to get answers to questions once and president was the one who answered. He was very helpful, by the way.

I am looking at a can of rabbit right now and the label says, "Hound & Gatos Rabbit  Canned Cat Food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for ALL LIFE STAGES."

My kitty didn't like the HG chicken, either! But she loved rabbit! Rabbit is supposed to be like chicken but a little gamer, and since HG is a very plain food maybe it added a little more taste.

Here is another link on cat nutrition:

http://www.fnae.org

Cats lack certain enzymes needed for carb digestion, so you can tell mother she is wasting her hard earned money buying stuff with fruits and veggies. It literally turns into waste!

See my signature for online stores where you can buy single cans of cat food to try out. The first two sell HG.
 

raintyger

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 My sister and my mom both believe the cats need dry food because it helps their teeth and it doesn't help that our vet agrees. Our vet thinks cats would be fine on dry food alone and we first found out grain free would be best because a petco employee told us so eventually I did some reaserch and discovered that we have not been doing best by our cats.
The teeth cleaning myth again! No, dry food does not clean teeth. Do you brush your teeth with a hard pretzel? I don't think so.

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/does-dry-food-clean-the-teeth/

Vets get very little nutritional training and the training they do get is sponsored by pet food companies who want people to continue to believe kibble is OK. Their nutritional textbook is even written by pet food companies.
 
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smartyfoj

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I finally convinced my mom to buy some single cans of hounds and gatos to see if the cats like it. And I showed her several links regarding that cats are carnivores and that dry food is not healthy for cats. She agreed to consider getting rid of dry food once we've gotten our 3 cats reliably eating wet food other than fancy feast. Her other fear is that is when we go on vacation which happens maybe once a year our nervous cat Fiona doesn't come out for the pet sitter that she would not get enough to eat but we discussed that the pet sitter can put out extra cans so that our other cats don't eat all of Fiona's food. All of our cats walk away from food when they aren't hungry. So hopefully we can get our 3 cats happy on a couple of brands of wet food soon. Also interestingly my mom even showed an interest raw feeding. Which to be honest I don't know much about it and we are both just nervous we would mess up by not giving the cats vital nutrients they need so I've never thought about raw feeding even though I know it's very healthy.
 

raintyger

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I finally convinced my mom to buy some single cans of hounds and gatos to see if the cats like it. And I showed her several links regarding that cats are carnivores and that dry food is not healthy for cats. She agreed to consider getting rid of dry food once we've gotten our 3 cats reliably eating wet food other than fancy feast. Her other fear is that is when we go on vacation which happens maybe once a year our nervous cat Fiona doesn't come out for the pet sitter that she would not get enough to eat but we discussed that the pet sitter can put out extra cans so that our other cats don't eat all of Fiona's food. All of our cats walk away from food when they aren't hungry. So hopefully we can get our 3 cats happy on a couple of brands of wet food soon. Also interestingly my mom even showed an interest raw feeding. Which to be honest I don't know much about it and we are both just nervous we would mess up by not giving the cats vital nutrients they need so I've never thought about raw feeding even though I know it's very healthy.
Hooray!

Hopefully Fiona will eat her food fast enough that the vacation sitter can just put out food and make sure Fiona gets a decent portion. My kitty would pretty much eat her food in 10-15 minutes.

Raw feeding is considered the gold standard in cat feeding and can also be cheap if you make your own food. But that can be hard because you have understand how to make a balanced meal. There's a special forum on the site for raw feeding, so if you're interested you can ask for help there. Usually, though, cats on dry food are transitioned to wet first, then to raw.
 

luvmycat6204

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What about the Pork that Hound & Gatos offers.  Currently my kittens are on Hills I/D which is mostly pork and want to transition them off of Hills due to one of my kittens having bloating and gas issues, so thinking I will try the Pork version of H&G.  I am not seeing anything about Pork being not recommended anywhere.

Thanks.

Debbie
 

dianamc

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My cat wouldn't touch it. Of course she has been a real pain. She quit eating the lamb too. The only thing I can suggest is to get a couple of cans and try it.

I may try the lamb again some day but we are down to a couple of FF Classics, Tiki Cat Chicken and occasionally NVI Rabbit. She refused NVI chicken too.

Our outdoor cat would eat the Lamb and Salmon one okay. She's not nearly as fussy.

Diana in PA
 

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I went to the pet store for a new cat scratcher and came home with that and a rescue kitten.  My current cat is on a frozen raw food diet because of food allergies.  The 5 month old kitten came home with a bag of dry kitten food which I plan to just use while I transition her to wet or raw.  I have cans of Hound & Gatos left over which my current cat never ate because of her allergies.  It doesn't say on the cans whether its sufficient for kittens.  Does anyone know for sure if this is complete for all life stages or just complete for adult cats?
 
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