What do you think of Blue Carnivera dry cat food?

[Storm Shadow]

I've never been a fan of dried cat food, but I saw bags of Blue Carnivera dried cat food in the pet store recently and they seemed to have an impressive list of ingredients with the protein sources made from raw foods. They do, however have a few questionable ingredients, like fava beans, flax seeds, carrots, pumpkin and while these may well provide fiber and nutrients, I have to ask, should a cat be ingesting them? The other downside is that the food is not cheap, at $30 a bag.

 

[Azazel]

It’s dry, so it’s low in moisture and inappropriate for cats. The “high protein” claim seems like a clever marketing ploy. But it’s mainly high in protein coming from fish, which is not an ideal protein source for cats. And all foods start off with “raw” ingredients. There’s nothing special about that. I take this as a case of big name brands trying to develop foods to compete in a market where the consumer is getting smarter about what obligate carnivores need. Unfortunately they still feel that they can trick the consumer into believing that this food is somehow better because they upped the protein amount above the very minimal protein regular dry foods usually have.

 

[lisahe]

This food is pretty much all fish, which, as A Azazel mentions, isn't an ideal protein source for cats. I have problems with any legumes in food, though pumpkin is a healthy source of fiber.

Storm Shadow , since you said you're not a fan of dry food... if you're looking for a dried food to use as treats, Dr. Elsey's makes a chicken food that's very decent (no legumes! no potato! no fillers!) and they'll send samples. I asked for some to consider for use as treats, but the cats have been eating only wet food and Pure Bites for six years and didn't really recognize it as food!

 

[Storm Shadow]

Thanks for your replies Lisahe and Azazel. I've managed to get our three cats on just wet food now, after some tantrums as they all consider dry food as "real" food and wet food as a poor substitute. The older cat used to eat just dry food for years apparently (He is my mother in law's cat) and it was me that changed him to wet food, after he nearly died a couple of years ago, from what the vet suspected was kidney failure. He refused food for several weeks & went down to skin & bone. We nursed him back to health with Applaws limited ingredient food in broth, then onto full spectrum canned foods. Personally I believe he was either poisoned by someone on one of his outings or that his body just couldn't cope with the ingredients in the dry food he was being fed.

I just saw this food in the pet store (they also do a "woodland" version with chicken, etc) and thought, "Oh, made with raw food..." duh... Yes, you're probably correct that it's more a marketing ploy, and yes, all food starts out raw! So I'll be sticking with the canned foods unless I go full raw.

 

[lisahe]

So I'll be sticking with the canned foods unless I go full raw.

Yes, better to feed wet food! But there's nothing wrong with feeding both canned and raw... we feed canned food, commercial raw, and homemade cooked foods. That works out really well for our cats (they love variety) and their humans, too (we can't do it all!). The big thing, at least for us, is not to compromise on things like carb levels, which have to stay low.

 

[Storm Shadow]

I started our kittens off on a mix of Stella & Chewy's raw and added tinned cooked chicken & turkey - not cat food, but human food. I prepared the raw then crumbled in the chicken or turkey, and this went well for a time but it was proving too expensive for us, being on a very limited budget so we reverted to tinned cat food. I know it's not as good and that bothers me so I'm always looking for something better that won't break the bank. With three indoor cats and two outdoor feral cats that we feed, plus food for the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and deer that are both ours and our cats "Nature Channel", we spend quite a bit on critter food.
I know the arguments for raw food and fully agree with them, but there's not much choice locally and buying online is prohibitively expensive on our budget.
But thanks for your expert advice. I'll be sticking with wet food.

 

[Azazel]

I started our kittens off on a mix of Stella & Chewy's raw and added tinned cooked chicken & turkey - not cat food, but human food. I prepared the raw then crumbled in the chicken or turkey, and this went well for a time but it was proving too expensive for us, being on a very limited budget so we reverted to tinned cat food. I know it's not as good and that bothers me so I'm always looking for something better that won't break the bank. With three indoor cats and two outdoor feral cats that we feed, plus food for the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and deer that are both ours and our cats "Nature Channel", we spend quite a bit on critter food.
I know the arguments for raw food and fully agree with them, but there's not much choice locally and buying online is prohibitively expensive on our budget.
But thanks for your expert advice. I'll be sticking with wet food.

Although it’s true that the tinned human food would be better quality, it wouldn’t contain all of the necessary nutrients that cats need since it’s not formulated for cats. So in that sense, the cat wet food is better if you’re not actually following a recipe and preparing your own food from scratch.