Science Diet Indoor Formula

[enigma]

I have been doing alot of reading on finding good quality Cat food and feed my Cats Science Diet Indoor Formula. But from what I have been reading in the posts by products are not good? Was wondering if this is a good brand to use, or if someone could suggest another brand? (although not any more expensive than science diet, feeding 9 Cats can be expensive!!

) Here are the ingredients. . .


Chicken by-product meal, Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Powdered Cellulose (10.1% source of fiber), Chicken Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Sulfate, Glyceryl Monostearate, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Iodized Salt, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), L-Carnitine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.


Their coats are great and soft, and they do fill up fast so luckily, a big bag does go for quite a bit. (they get two feedings a day) this is also the only formula that everyone doesn't have any problems with....(goes along great for everyones tummy..no dirrhea, etc...and am afraid that changing slowly will bring on more problems. ) Thanks...

 

[arlyn]

They fill up fast because of the overabundance of grains in there.


Chicken by product meal...could be anything really, beaks and feet, feathers, who knows?

Rice, ground corn and ground cellulose (again, vague, who knows what sort of plant this came from?)
If a cat food HAS to have a grain, there really should opnly be one grain.
I'm not going to count the gluten meal because that is used as a source of protein.

Chicken liver flavor (why not real chicken liver instead? and of course there's no telling how this artificial flavor was made, or what from)

Soybeal oil (why?)

Those are just the ones that are glaring at me.

 

[enigma]

this is why I was confused, science diet advertises itself as having no fillers...etc...but why all the grains and such?


Would anyone advise Authority? I would love to order online (chicken soup) but with shipping and handling it goes way over my budget.

 

[arlyn]

Authority reads much, much better, I'd even use it myself eccept that their one grain filler is corn, which is a big no for one of my cats.

Still the vaugeness of 'animal fat' in it bothers me, but it is a superior food to SD.

 

[sharky]

Okay Filler is a relative term.. see corn rice and wheat are grains and thus give some nutrition so it can be addvertised as no fillers... cellulose is in my book a filler as it is often floor sweepings...

Authority is good I dont like the cellulose or grd corn but that is me... animal fat is a ?? able too ....

chn soup is what my ferals are eating now and they like ... it is IMHO way better than SD evan though it is grain heavy

I would suggest looking at Nutro and Royal Canin since you have access to a Petsmart

 

[enigma]

Thanks, will look at those next time I am up there, although feeding raw is looking better and better, although I am worried they may get dirrhea when they switch over, as they never had raw...(except once when i was defrosting the chicken and they got to it, although it was more scratched than eaten...

 

[zissou'smom]

Do you feed them wet food at all? I've reached a compromise where Zissou gets decent dry food, not the best, and good wet food, since thats what she mainly eats. I think one of things about cat food is that theyre eating the same thing all the time, so if there's just one little thing that is less-than-good about it, it becomes a bigger deal. I know cats don't need variety like we do, but it just makes me nervous to think she's eating the exact same thing her whole life. That's why I like more than one kind of food. I think she does too.

 

[reddicequeen]

i was thinking of giving it as treat?

 

[yosemite]

There are quite a few good wet foods - Natural Balance, Felidae, Merricks to name but 3. There are other food threads in this forum that have mega information on wet and dry foods. Take a few minutes to search and read some of them and you'll get quite an education on food quality.

 

[semiferal]

Science Diet is a very poor quality, very expensive food! If you only have access to PETsMART/Petco, I would recommend Nutro Natural Choice. It is comparably priced to SD if not a bit cheaper, with much much better ingredients.

At small, privately owned pet supply stores and human health food stores, you can get foods like Felidae and Chicken Soup. Chicken Soup in particular is very cost-effective especially considering the very high quality. An 18# bag usually costs about $20.