Wanting To Improve Quality Of Dry Food Help?

[oonawingedwolf]

I'm shopping Chewy.com and I keep finding peas and potatoes in everything. I have been feeding Meow mix (yes crap I know) but now that I can afford better, I want to start by getting a better kibble. I'm going to be adding in some canned but am not ready to go full on canned food. The more I read the more I hate dry food but I really need to ease into a new kind of feeding more for me than them. I have bad anxiety and have to take things slow when it comes to changes. Can someone advise me on what the best brands on Chewy are? I live in BFE and have to order online as I can't get anywhere but Walmart and we know they sell mostly crap. I plan on adding in canned and maybe going fully canned but I have to go slow so I wanted to get a really good kibble. I'm getting overwhelmed honestly.

 

[cheesycats]

Well when I first got cats I was clueless and fed just whatever was cheapest at the grocery store. I switched to natures variety (also feed a variety of canned food as well) and not only do my cats love it they shed less, have small odorless poops once a day, and are sooooo much softer. There are better foods like Orijen (that’s prob the best kibble you can feed. Although since they started manufacturing in the US and not Canada the quality seems to have gone down but still good food). But my cats hated Orijen. My female is super picky. So I switch around often. From natures variety, performatrin, whole earth farms (not the best but they looove it as a treat). These are my females favorite foods so I rotate. Other great foods are dr elseys clean protein, and tiki cat.

 

[Neo_23]

If you want to get away from lots of pea and potato protein and find something that is low in carbs I would try Ziwipeak. It's on the pricey side, but it's one of the higher quality dry foods.

 

[oonawingedwolf]

I was just shocked I mean cats don't need peas and potatoes but is it still better than Meow Mix if it has that stuff in it?

 

[Neo_23]

I was just shocked I mean cats don't need peas and potatoes but is it still better than Meow Mix if it has that stuff in it?

Ideally cats need food that has mainly animal-based protein in it. Meow mix I believe has very little animal-based protein so I would say that a grain free food that lists meat as the first 3 ingredients followed by peas or potatoes is still better than meow mix. The problem is that most companies don't tell you how much of each ingredient is in the product, you just know that they are listed in descending order.

 

[Willowy]

Move up slowly. Try Purina Beyond first. You can get it at Walmart (although it's cheaper from Chewy). Definitely several steps up from Meow Mix, but not too much of a shock to your cats' tummies.

Personally I'm satisfied with the quality of Beyond but Canidae, Merrick, Nature's Variety, they're all pretty good.

I was just shocked I mean cats don't need peas and potatoes but is it still better than Meow Mix if it has that stuff in it?

Yes, definitely. The first ingredient of Meow Mix is corn, you at least want something with meat as the first ingredient. And no food coloring.

 

[Kieka]

I'd definitely go the route of something like Purina Beyond and then step up to Nature's Variety. Only to do an slow increase in protein and decrease in grains so it's easier on your kitties system.

The basic evil of pet food industry and dry food is in order to keep it affordable and make it dry some sort of binder has to be involved. Peas and potatoes I personally find slightly less offensive than rice and corn. Mostly because they won't spike the blood sugar as much. There is Young Again cat food which is the highest quality dry food out there, it's expensive but they have less than 1% starch and 50% protein in one variety. Plus they claim, but I haven't tried it or know anyone who has, that even though it costs more per pound you will need less volume because your cat will need to eat less to meet their dietary needs.

 

[oonawingedwolf]

Thank you, Willowy! I put beyond chicken and 3 kinds of their canned food in my shopping cart. I get paid in 9 days and will order them along with my cat litter (almost $3 cheaper than local), a new toy and cat tree! I'm excited. If they like this dry I will stick with it and buy a variety of canned to supplement!

 

[Furballsmom]

I think that a rotation of brands keeps cats systems from having to deal with any one starch or protein, and it can be a little easier on the wallet than just one expensive brand. One scary ingredient in any food that I work to avoid is a synthetic vitamin k called menadione. Going slow and easy will work well for both of you. Thanks for being such a caring cat person!

 

[oonawingedwolf]

Thank you for your kind words, Furballsmom. I'm trying hard to do what's best for them. Especially with how they started out their lives. Sylvestre was an orphan and was found all alone at about 4 weeks of age, Jazzy was found starving on the streets. She has put on enough weight to get spayed now only the car available to us is out of order at the moment and it's too cold to walk her to the vet to get spayed. Sylvestre is neutered so she won't get preggers.

 

[Furballsmom]

You're doing wonderfully. Hang in there!

 

[DreamCat]

I'm shopping Chewy.com and I keep finding peas and potatoes in everything. I have been feeding Meow mix (yes crap I know) but now that I can afford better, I want to start by getting a better kibble. I'm going to be adding in some canned but am not ready to go full on canned food. The more I read the more I hate dry food but I really need to ease into a new kind of feeding more for me than them. I have bad anxiety and have to take things slow when it comes to changes. Can someone advise me on what the best brands on Chewy are? I live in BFE and have to order online as I can't get anywhere but Walmart and we know they sell mostly crap. I plan on adding in canned and maybe going fully canned but I have to go slow so I wanted to get a really good kibble. I'm getting overwhelmed honestly.

I have just gone thru this nitemare and after all my research I've come to this: cats should only eat meat because they can't digest anything but extreme protein. No grains especially, which dry food is famous for. I chose Wellness Kitten. And the word Kitten is very important. Now I feed her Wellness Kitten grain free Pate Chicken Entree for her wet food and Wellness Complete Health Grain Free Kitten for her dry food. She eats all of her food now and it is good for her. Her coat is shiny, very soft and dense. Eyes are bright and she's alert and active. She's very smart and I think the food helps her brain. Her foster food was Meow Mix (both wet and dry), which she loved and after that, it was hard to find something that she would even sniff at much less eat. Felt bad the whole time I had to feed it to her. Wellness Kitten solved the problem and now I can relax for a few months till she's 1 year old. Note that she didn't like the turkey and liver wet kitten food, only the chicken flavor. I don't think she likes liver.
Good luck! Hope your kitty loves it like mine does. They're so individual and finicky.

 

[Neo_23]

I have just gone thru this nitemare and after all my research I've come to this: cats should only eat meat because they can't digest anything but extreme protein. No grains especially, which dry food is famous for. I chose Wellness Kitten. And the word Kitten is very important. Now I feed her Wellness Kitten grain free Pate Chicken Entree for her wet food and Wellness Complete Health Grain Free Kitten for her dry food. She eats all of her food now and it is good for her. Her coat is shiny, very soft and dense. Eyes are bright and she's alert and active. She's very smart and I think the food helps her brain. Her foster food was Meow Mix (both wet and dry), which she loved and after that, it was hard to find something that she would even sniff at much less eat. Felt bad the whole time I had to feed it to her. Wellness Kitten solved the problem and now I can relax for a few months till she's 1 year old. Note that she didn't like the turkey and liver wet kitten food, only the chicken flavor. I don't think she likes liver.
Good luck! Hope your kitty loves it like mine does. They're so individual and finicky.

It's good that Wellness is working for your kitty, but I just want to point out that a lot of these grain free brands still contain fillers such as potatoes or peas and many of them probably use these non-meat sources as their main source of protein. Wellness is still a good brand when it comes to cat foods and it's great that it's working for you, but just be aware that "grain free" is also a marketing scheme!

 

[ashekitty]

Hey I know you’ve already gotten many recommendations, but Chewy has their own brand of dry food that’s really great called American Journey. It’s very high protein for dry food and low carb. It’s also less expensive than the average high quality kibble because it’s their own brand. I think they are doing 50% off the first bag too.

 

[oonawingedwolf]

Chewy has their own brand of dry food that’s really great called American Journey.

Thank you, I found it and love the looks of it. Now to see what my cats will think of it!

 

[MeganLLB]

Your cats may not like it at first. It could take some time. One of my cats ate a dry food with corn in it and it was very hard to get her to eat grain free. Corn is sweet so sometimes cats like the taste of corn in the cheaper foods.

 

[oonawingedwolf]

I'll mix it with their existing food to do a slow change. Hopefully they will take to it. It looks like a good food and we can afford it.

 

[oonawingedwolf]

I ordered the goodies for them today and customer service says I could have it as early as tomorrow! I'm a bit more realistic though and figure it will come on Tuesday. I like to be surprised. This month I ordered the American Journey Duck recipe, next month it will be the Turkey and Chicken. I love the look of this food and hope my cats like it. In the past they have had a variety of the brands I could get at the grocers but mostly meow mix. I have a bin I keep my food in and have enough to blend it in. Does anyone else give variety of dry to their cats to keep them from imprinting on one brand? I have to keep looking because I want to order a different kind each month. Next month since I won't be ordering a tree I will be starting them on Canned varieties. I have in my cart some Friskies variety packs and a case of boar canned I forget the brand. The boar is in really big cans O.O I'll have to hope they like it. They have yet to turn their noses up to anything we have given them including snacks of raw chicken.