Max Nutro Cat Chicken, Thoughts?

[tnbsp]

Hey,

My cats recently changed to adult food so I was starting to feed them Merrick Grain Free Wet Food varieties... they like them "OK" but aren't eating as much as what seems to be recommended for their age/weight. I just fed them "Max Nutro Cat Chicken" which isn't grain free but they ate it all up! they loved it.

Basically, any thoughts on how healthy or OK is Max Nutro Cat Food wet? Also, how important is it "really" to have grain free food? If the food has more meat in the top ingredients how much of a difference do you think it makes? I want them to be eating decent food, but I would also like them to be eating and enjoy it... I'm interested in your thoughts. thanks!

 

[abyeb]

I always like to recommend grain-free, because cats, as obligate carnivores, need meat. Grains are more like fillers for them. This article gives more details: Grain-free Cat Food – What Does It Mean?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! More meat in the first few ingredients is better.
Looking at the ingredient list of Nutro it looks fine, and for your cats to love it is great!
If nutro changes things down the road, (all the pet food manufacturers seem to do this a lot) you might want to try one or two other foods, just so that you have options for your kitties.

 

[lokhismom]

Looks pretty good to me. The worse being the potato starch and the wheat gluten. There are pricier foods filled with veggies so a lot of grain free have issues too. I would be ok feeding it in a rotation. Nutro does have grain free wet. My Lokhi loves their turkey slices. Its bits of turkey in gravy.

 

[lisahe]

Looks pretty good to me. The worse being the potato starch and the wheat gluten. There are pricier foods filled with veggies so a lot of grain free have issues too. I would be ok feeding it in a rotation. Nutro does have grain free wet. My Lokhi loves their turkey slices. Its bits of turkey in gravy.

To add to this: Nutro's Natural Choice line is very decent and the foods don't have either the potato starch or wheat gluten. Our cats also love them, especially the minced chicken and chunky chicken. (The minced chicken is pretty high-carb for a grain-free canned food -- because of the thickener gums -- but the chunky chicken is much lower in carbs.)

 

[duckpond]

I like to feed high protein, moderate fat, and low carb. I really do not care if the carbs come from fruits, veggies, grains, potatoes, i just want lower carbs. None of my guys have a problem with grains, but potatoes and peas will give one the stinky gas

The only max cat im familiar with is the chicken supreme, its not bad for carbs.
I have a few different places i like to look up foods. I think each line in almost all brands can be different, look up the foods in a line you like, such as max cat, and feed the best ones, lowest carbs. JMO

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

[tnbsp]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I'm definitely going to look up Nutro's grain free options, and low carb options in general. I might put this one on rotation as they do indeed love it and it doesn't seem too bad, hopefully i'll find some other different favorites for them as well. thanks!

 

[2BSH]

I like to feed high protein, moderate fat, and low carb. I really do not care if the carbs come from fruits, veggies, grains, potatoes, i just want lower carbs. None of my guys have a problem with grains, but potatoes and peas will give one the stinky gas

The only max cat im familiar with is the chicken supreme, its not bad for carbs.
I have a few different places i like to look up foods. I think each line in almost all brands can be different, look up the foods in a line you like, such as max cat, and feed the best ones, lowest carbs. JMO

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

If I remember correctly I think that particular max cat has around 8% carbs dry matter which is not bad at all. I’ve been wanting to try it with my kitties but I’m iffy about the wheat gluten. Everything else looks good.

 

[2BSH]

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I'm definitely going to look up Nutro's grain free options, and low carb options in general. I might put this one on rotation as they do indeed love it and it doesn't seem too bad, hopefully i'll find some other different favorites for them as well. thanks!

Mine really like the nutro chicken chunky loaf. It’s grain free,high protein and less than 1% carbs which is excellent.. I’ve been wanting to try the max cat with my 2. Seems like a decent enough food.

 

[duckpond]

If I remember correctly I think that particular max cat has around 8% carbs dry matter which is not bad at all. I’ve been wanting to try it with my kitties but I’m iffy about the wheat gluten. Everything else looks good.

None of my guys have a problem with gluten, so i dont worry about the wheat. I watch total carbs and dont worry so much where they come from, except peas and potatoes which give my one cat gas. I read something some where about all the bad press wheat in cat food gets, no they don't necessarily need it, but its better as far as running up the blood sugars than a lot of other things like potato that companies have added to replace the wheat. All about the marketing, and honestly i think its true. So unless you have a cat that is allergic to wheat, or it bothers them in some way i wouldn't worry. JMO

 

[2BSH]

None of my guys have a problem with gluten, so i dont worry about the wheat. I watch total carbs and dont worry so much where they come from, except peas and potatoes which give my one cat gas. I read something some where about all the bad press wheat in cat food gets, no they don't necessarily need it, but its better as far as running up the blood sugars than a lot of other things like potato that companies have added to replace the wheat. All about the marketing, and honestly i think its true. So unless you have a cat that is allergic to wheat, or it bothers them in some way i wouldn't worry. JMO

Good morning.
Thank you for all that info. I’m kind of thinking along the same lines. I’m going to go try and get a few new foods today at petco for my piggies to try. They came to me eating fancy feast gravy lovers and I believe those have wheat gluten in them and they never had any problems. Maybe I’ll give the max cat a try. I’m also thinking of trying the purina pro true nature pates and fancy feast turkey and giblets. I’m trying to find some more affordable better food options to rotate in bc my cat food bill is getting to be ridiculous.

 

[duckpond]

My checking account hears you and feels your pain.

 

[MargoLane]

I hear you, on the wallet. I use CatFoodDB and I keep a list of wet foods/flavours that are high protein and low carb. There aren't too many brands where I'll buy any flavour, but there are a lot of brands that I can buy one or two flavours from. My list goes from Fancy Feast all the way up to Tiki Cat, Ziwi Peak, etc. Right now, it's a bunch of the expensive ones because that's the pet store that is closest to me, but I'm going to do a run to PetSmart and grab some of the more affordable brands.

Nutre is actually one of the brands where there are a lot of flavours to choose form in that category; I have all perfect portions flavours, and all the adult cat flavours. The Max line isn't on my list (probably for more than 10% carbs?) but you can decide what carb limit works for you and your cat.

 

[2BSH]

My checking account hears you and feels your pain.

So true. It’s been getting a little ridiculous. I’m m going to TRY and keep it around $50 per cat per month but that might be a pipe dream with all the food my piggies eat. I went and picked up a couple cans of the purina pro plan true nature today ( the chicken and liver pate classic) and they loved it. I really like the fact that that is has chicken hearts and giblets. I think those are so nutritious for cats. I’m definitely adding that one to my rotation. I wouldn’t want to feed it daily bc the whole unspecified “ meat by- products” bother me a little.

 

[2BSH]

I hear you, on the wallet. I use CatFoodDB and I keep a list of wet foods/flavours that are high protein and low carb. There aren't too many brands where I'll buy any flavour, but there are a lot of brands that I can buy one or two flavours from. My list goes from Fancy Feast all the way up to Tiki Cat, Ziwi Peak, etc. Right now, it's a bunch of the expensive ones because that's the pet store that is closest to me, but I'm going to do a run to PetSmart and grab some of the more affordable brands.

Nutre is actually one of the brands where there are a lot of flavours to choose form in that category; I have all perfect portions flavours, and all the adult cat flavours. The Max line isn't on my list (probably for more than 10% carbs?) but you can decide what carb limit works for you and your cat.

I just ordered some nutro perfect portions chicken,chicken liver and shrimp pate for $21.15 on chewy .. for some reason that particular flavor was much cheaper than the rest. That work out to about $0.88 per tray. I’m super excited I also use the nutro chunky chicken loaf. I’ve been trying to be more frugal about my cat food purchases so I might rotate in some fancy feast classics and the newly discovered purina pro plan true nature which I just tried out today. All the foods I feed I try to keep under 10% carbs. I occasionally let them have the merrick backcountry pouches bc they love them but I don’t love the carbs in them

 

[MargoLane]

I just ordered some nutro perfect portions chicken,chicken liver and shrimp pate for $21.15 on chewy .. for some reason that particular flavor was much cheaper than the rest. That work out to about $0.88 per tray. I’m super excited I also use the nutro chunky chicken loaf. I’ve been trying to be more frugal about my cat food purchases so I might rotate in some fancy feast classics and the newly discovered purina pro plan true nature which I just tried out today. All the foods I feed I try to keep under 10% carbs. I occasionally let them have the merrick backcountry pouches bc they love them but I don’t love the carbs in them

Good deal!

 

[mekkababble]

If I remember correctly I think that particular max cat has around 8% carbs dry matter which is not bad at all. I’ve been wanting to try it with my kitties but I’m iffy about the wheat gluten. Everything else looks good.

My two kittens get Max Cat as their dry food and seem to do well on it- they seem to enjoy the taste, their coats are shiny, and they're energetic and a good weight. They came to me eating Purina and after way way too much research I settled on Max Cat as a low-end premium brand (based on price, volume of food, and protein percentage). I also give them a variety of 'not the worst' wet food to keep them hydrated and interested in their meals.

I wouldn't stress too much about 'grain free' as that strikes me as a marketing ploy. Even the hyper expensive brands- Royal Canin, Blue Buffalo, etc. have starch in their foods as a replacement to the grains (which cats still don't need). Very few cats or dogs have wheat allergies so I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[2BSH]

My two kittens get Max Cat as their dry food and seem to do well on it- they seem to enjoy the taste, their coats are shiny, and they're energetic and a good weight. They came to me eating Purina and after way way too much research I settled on Max Cat as a low-end premium brand (based on price, volume of food, and protein percentage). I also give them a variety of 'not the worst' wet food to keep them hydrated and interested in their meals.

I wouldn't stress too much about 'grain free' as that strikes me as a marketing ploy. Even the hyper expensive brands- Royal Canin, Blue Buffalo, etc. have starch in their foods as a replacement to the grains (which cats still don't need). Very few cats or dogs have wheat allergies so I wouldn't worry about that.

Thank you for all that info. My cats eat all wet food. My boy has always hated dry food from day 1 so I just feed them both all wet. I give them the grain free nutro as part of their rotation but today I bought a few cans of the max cat. Have not tried them yet. I’m hoping they will like them.