Why is Whiskas Bad?

amy-dhh

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I'm a dry-food feeder. Wet food once in a while as a treat.

After we got Cosmo I went to the local Petco to get him some food. I didn't know what he'd like and I read that most "supermarket grade" foods have enough of what they need.

I bought a large bag of Kit N Kaboodle. He seems to like it.
I also bought two small bags of Fancy Feast Gourmet, which he seems to like too. But it's pretty expensive and only comes in these tiny bags.

I've been mixing the two together. Seems to make him happy.

I also bought a small bag of Whiskas, but I've read around here that it's not so good. He doesn't seem to like it as much, so it's sitting on the side for now.

How are my choices? I really know NOTHING about good catfoods. Comere lived on Meow Mix Seafood Middles for many years and lived to a ripe old age -- I'm not sure why I didn't go back to that for Cosmo.

What do ya think?

(Cosmo is about a year old)
 

hissy

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All the food you mentioned here isn't on my choice for prime cat food. The more colors you see in the food, the more dyes are used to make it, and dyes are chemicals and not good for cats.
Dry cat food when it is processed is all the same color and some companies use dyes to attract YOUR eyes and not for the benefit of your cat. I started feeding mostly canned food this year. Iams is what I feed. When I feed dry, I feed Kirkland which I get at Costco. My strays outside get dry food, but the inside/outside kitties get canned.
 
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amy-dhh

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Thanks Hissy...

I just looked at the ingredients of the ones I bought and I'm less than impressed after reading some other posts here. I'm looking at different dry foods available at Petco and I think the Eukanuba looks most promising. I looked through some of the longer posts on preferred foods and got some good starting points, but of course it gets a bit overwhelming since everyone has their own ideas of "good"


I'd love a list of the top 5 dry foods -- but I'm sure it would be hard for everyone to agree
 

sharky

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My top five dry kitty foods by ingrediant in no order:

nutro
sensible choice
natural balence
eagle pack holistic
fealidea

wet foods
merrick
wellness( mine arent thrilled but it reads well)
nutro( not the pouches mine like the pate with veggies )
meow mix ( read the label only one not great thing)
authority


My reason for no eukanuba is that it is filled with corn , by products and a few chemical pres.

sorry for any spelling errors ..
 

pat

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Amy,
My top (in no particular order): nutro natural choice complete care (several formulas within this group) sold at Petsmart
Authority Brand at Petsmart is a reasonable price and not bad at all on it's ingredients.
Innova, california natural chicken and rice, petguard, felidae round out my list of top dry foods.
 

nano

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There is nothing horrible (=makes you a bad pet owner) about any of the brands you mentioned. But for a little more money, you can feed your cat quality food and over their lifespan cut down on some unnecessary vet bills. Whiskas' popularity is more about marketing and advertising than winning any awards for being good.
 
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amy-dhh

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Ingredients by brand:

Nutro Natural Choice:
Chicken meal, ground rice, corn gluten meal, poultry fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of natural vitamin E), dried beet pulp

Sensible Choice (could only find kitten formula)
Chicken meal, brown rice, chicken fat, corn gluten meal, brewers rice

Natural Balance (this one looks promising to me)
Chicken, chicken meal, brown rice, duck, lamb meal

Eukanuba (Indoor)
Chicken, chicken by-product meal, chicken liver, corn grits, corn meal

Out of these four, I'd have to say looking at the first 5 ingredients Natural Balance appears to be the best. The other three seem to be similar with corn and rice filler, no?
 

nano

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I have a bag of Authority (Petsmart's generic brand) here with me...I am not trying to convert anyone, but just adding some information for people who want to analyze and crunch data.

Authority is touted to meet the needs of an indoor cat: maintain ideal weight, control hairballs and reduce litter box odor. It boasts these "key" ingredients: chicken, brewers rice, dried cellulose, dried beet pulp and canola/corn oils.

The first five ingredients listed are: chicken meal, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, ground corn and chicken.

(Nano sometimes struggles with digestion so I actually like the idea of "brewers rice" being a big ingredient.)

I will type up information from "Guaranteed Analysis" upon request.
 

jalapeno

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Originally Posted by Pat & Alix

Amy,
My top (in no particular order): nutro natural choice complete care (several formulas within this group) sold at Petsmart
Authority Brand at Petsmart is a reasonable price and not bad at all on it's ingredients.
Innova, california natural chicken and rice, petguard, felidae round out my list of top dry foods.
Is Royal Canin an okay brand for cats? I recently changed from Nutro to RC because of availability of cat food in 10kg sacks.
 

cjandbilly

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I feed Billy and CJ Purina Cat Chow Indoor formula. However, they are eating kitten formula right now, because CJ's expecting. But, I normally feed them the indoor formula, and it maintain's my FATSO Billy's weight, and it also controls hairballs. I like it, and so do they.
It doesn't have any dyes in it that I see. They have a healthy coat when they are fed that. I also feed them Friskie's Canned Cat food, which is made by Purina,... one can each every day. They like that! I feed them Whisker Lickin' treats, too, which, oddly enough, is made by.... PURINA! I guess I'm a Purina house hold!


Good luck finding the right food for your Cosmo!
 

gsdgirl

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I feed the kitties Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul and BARF (bones and raw food). They get a split raw chicken back about 2-4 times per week and the occasional turkey gizzard (too rich for all the time). Chicken hearts are great too. I've got my dogs on barf too and my 7 year old's allergies have all but vanished! I don't know of any websites off hand, but check them out, it's a great diet and relatively inexpensive! I get chicken backs for .19 cents a pound at my grocery store.
 

cjandbilly

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Originally Posted by gsdgirl

I feed the kitties Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul and BARF (bones and raw food). They get a split raw chicken back about 2-4 times per week and the occasional turkey gizzard (too rich for all the time). Chicken hearts are great too. I've got my dogs on barf too and my 7 year old's allergies have all but vanished! I don't know of any websites off hand, but check them out, it's a great diet and relatively inexpensive! I get chicken backs for .19 cents a pound at my grocery store.
 

hissy

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There are a lot of people who feed the BARF or the RAW diet and swear by it. The only problem I have with it is that the food being fed is sometimes filled with preservatives and additives that years ago weren't there. Plus, if you aren't careful you could be feeding your cat salmonella which can result in tragedy. Cats eat mice, gophers, squirrels, birds etc- can't get anymore rawer than that.
 

pat

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Originally Posted by Jalapeno

Is Royal Canin an okay brand for cats? I recently changed from Nutro to RC because of availability of cat food in 10kg sacks.
I just took a quick refresher look at the kinds of ingredients they use, and the ingredients list for some of their formulas...not the worst on the market at all! I do wish they didn't use corn (though corn gluten meal is a seperate issue - it is used as a source of protein), but I saw no by-products, no animal digest, no bha/bht etc. So...not bad!
 

vegansoprano

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The biggest thing to look for is no "meat by-products" or "animal digest". This is pretty much a fancy name for whatever the heck they want it to be. Sometimes it's the sludge scraped off the slaughterhouse floor. Grosser than gross.

By-products from an identified animal (e.g. "chicken by-products") are okay as long as it's listed after actual meat on the ingredients list. These by-products are things like organs and feet, which humans wouldn't eat but which an animal would eat if left to their own devices.

The best foods have no by-products at all.

As for grain, corn is the worst - it is very hard to digest. Rice is best, and wheat is in the middle. There should be no grain at all in smooth textured canned food. Wheat gluten is found in chunky canned food and is fine unless your cat doesn't tolerate wheat well.

Basically, any food you can find in the supermarket will be inferior quality. The best supermarket foods are Purina One and Iams, but these do not compare with the premium brands found in a pet supply store.
 

grapegal45

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I have a question, maybe this would be a separate post but as long as we are discussing food. My cats eat Royal Canin and Nutro dry food and they love that and it seems to agree with them well. Some of the other Premium brands seems to upset Marcellus' system... eg. Eukanuba being too rich, not to mention, I think it was making him fat. Anyway, I was a total dry cat food person but have recently been giving some canned food, which they love. My question, I have read it is really good to give them canned cat food and Hissy, you said you said you feed that as the primary food now. Any thoughts/information on this? I always thought dry was the best and was told to stick with the same brand, although I didn't always abide by the same brand thing. I read a couple articles stating that dry cat food isn't made all it's out to be, especially regarding dental health. Any thoughts/experiences on this everyone?
 

sharky

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The best way to tell what is in foor in too look up the ingrediants in the affco ( hope that is right ) website or on the links... It will tell you the difference of corn from corn gluten ... rice versus bewrers rice etc...
 

scamperfarms

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I personally like Purina Pro plan..again you will find everyones opinion diffrent on this one. But pro plan works well for my dogs and cats..my vets happy too. We also get some friskies i the morning for good messure.
first five ingridents..
Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour,

They have an indoor forumla too. And For a while I did mix Purina Pro plan, with the plain Purina Indoor. that worked but I am fulltime pro plan now.
 

pat

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Originally Posted by Grapegal45

<snip> My question, I have read it is really good to give them canned cat food and Hissy, you said you said you feed that as the primary food now. Any thoughts/information on this? I always thought dry was the best and was told to stick with the same brand, although I didn't always abide by the same brand thing. I read a couple articles stating that dry cat food isn't made all it's out to be, especially regarding dental health. Any thoughts/experiences on this everyone?
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