Worst Cat Food Brands?

[tabbysia]

I was having a discussion with a friend who feeds her cat Kit N Kaboodle, which has obviously terrible ingredients, but she said that her cats are "still alive" so the food is okay. I feed dry Blue Buffalo (Basics Duck and Potato) which has supposedly better ingredients but has had a bad reputation as of late, as well as Solid Gold Winged Tiger dry--which also supposedly has good ingredients but some have said is too high in carbs. I feed Blue Freedom canned food also, which is the only canned food that BOTH cats will eat, but it has the dreaded carrageenan in it.

My question is, if you had to compile a list of the worst cat food brands out there, in terms of ingredients--both dry and wet--what would you put on the list?

I know some of you are going to say that the brand doesn't matter as long as you feed all canned because ALL dry food is terrible and evil, but I am really not looking for a wet versus dry debate. I would just like a list of the different brands that you think shouldn't be fed--either obvious ones like Meow Mix or more "high quality" brands that you think are bad or that you have had a bad experience with.

 

[KarenKat]

I can only speak from experience but I would never feed another cat Purina Indoor Cat Chow. First ingredient is corn and after we started feeding that our tabby gained a ton of weight. When we moved to Natural Balance dry he stopped binge eating, got way more energetic, lost 3 lbs over three years and has been generally healthier. At first we thought it was he NB but after researching more I think the benefits were more from NOT feeding the crappy dry.

 

[MissMolly08]

I really don't think brand matters and I'm not talking in terms of wet vs. dry, companies can make many different foods and some can be good while some aren't. I go by ingredients.
The only deal breakers for me are corn, wheat and soy. I don't want to see a lot of starchy stuff like potatoes, barley and peas but I don't mind some. Carrageenan and meat by products don't bother me. I want meat (whether named meat or by products) to be the 1st ingredient.

Friskies for example... their dry...nope, wouldn't feed. Their wet though...I feed the pates. Not a fan of all the cheese and gravy and such flavors.
Friskies is made by Purina which also makes things like Purina beyond. The chicken and egg dry food is so much better than Friskies dry and I DO feed that.

Every single one of these foods is Purina but they vary greatly.

 

[Kieka]

Any of the cheap artificial colored ones are very bad. Artifical color has no purpose but to make it pretty for human feeders. My girl was fed it in her hoarding/feral situation and she was significantly underweight with orange chalk like poop.

Meow Mix, Kit N Kaboodle, Friskies, Whiskas and several store brand ones to name the ones off the top of my head.

Surviving is not thriving. A cat can live off those foods but they will likely have poor cats, lower energy and either retain weight around the middle or be underweight (depends on their metabolism). Those cats will also appear to eat more since they are getting less nutritional benefits. People tend to not understand that upping the quality tends to lower the quantity of food needed. Someone switching from lower quality will find they buy less, most of the time, so that the cost increase can be offset by quantity.

 

[IndyJones]

Personally I don't like Purina or anything like that fancy feast made one of my old cats violently ill vomit and bad runs all the time no matter what flavour it was. Stopped feeding it and everything was back to normal. It's fine for the ally cats but I won' t be giving it to my own cats. I only keep a couple cans for last resort if a sick cat is refusing all other food.

 

[KarenKat]

M MissMolly08 I wasn’t actually trying to say all Purina products are bad, just that specifically the Purina Indoor Cat Chow is terrible. With large brands I agree they have so many product lines that it’s more important to find out what’s in the food.

I will say that I trust companies more when they only have one set of products and are all of similar quality. So I tend to avoid Purina because I don’t have much brand trust with them. But that’s a personal choice and many of their products would pass my list of acceptable ingredients.

 

[maggiedemi]

It might be kinder to make a list of what you think are the best foods instead of telling people the food they feed is bad, terrible, crappy, the worst, dreaded, and shouldn't be fed.

 

[Caspers Human]

When we got Casper, he would only eat Meow Mix.

That is the food that he was eating when we got him and, in order to make the transition to his new home less stressful, we continued to feed him his favorite food.

Casper eventually started to get crystals in his urine and we had to take him to the vet. The vet said that neutered, male cats of Casper's age commonly get urine crystals.

On the vet's advice, we switched him to a "urinary health" brand of food and we made sure that he also gets plenty of water and wet cat food. We also have some pills to give him in case his crystals start to come back.

So, for the most part, as long as you stay away from the "notoriously bad" foods like Meow Mix I think any food is fine. Like others say, read the ingredients.

On the other hand, some cats like Casper can be a real "stick in the mud" when it comes to their food.

Just do your best. Most cat food is marketed to humans. Most cats couldn't care less unless you've got a picky eater like Casper.

 

[Pjg8r]

Catfooddb.com compares dry and wet cat foods brands and rates them by different criteria. I’ve used it to evaluate different brands when I have tried to rotate something new.

 

[MissMolly08]

M MissMolly08 I wasn’t actually trying to say all Purina products are bad, just that specifically the Purina Indoor Cat Chow is terrible. With large brands I agree they have so many product lines that it’s more important to find out what’s in the food.

I will say that I trust companies more when they only have one set of products and are all of similar quality. So I tend to avoid Purina because I don’t have much brand trust with them. But that’s a personal choice and many of their products would pass my list of acceptable ingredients.

Oh, I know that's not what you meant! I was just saying in general, brand doesn't matter, ingredients do.
I agree with you on the indoor cat chow, actually. That is what I fed my cat for 9 YEARS of her life! I didn't know any better at the time and she ended up weighing in at 17lbs when we started our weight loss/healthier food journey last year! She now gets canned Friskies pates and a tiny snack of the Purina beyond and is down to 11.5 lbs and doing great! So much more energy and her coat is AMAZING! She used to shed SO bad!

 

[duckpond]

I do not know as i have specific brands that i would say are all good, or all bad. I look for certain ingredients, i think we all have our "bad" list of ingredients. Mine is Carrageenan, coconut oil, most fruits and veggies, grains, spinach, potatoes, peas, high carbs, or very high fat. I think most thickeners are a problem, but its very hard to avoid all of them. Im also not a fan of vegetable oils in general, but its very hard to avoid all of those as well. and Menadione bothers me, but its very hard to avoid.

I try to always look at the numbers, i want protein to be higher than fat, and i want very low carbs. Its often hard for me to find wet foods that are low carb, and low fat. Most cat food companies try to add more fat, or carbs as a way to lessen the cost of the protein i think.

And with dry we need to really compare those labels, carbs are a big problem with many dry foods. all brands seem to have some foods that are higher carb than others, what ever brand you decide on, wet or dry, i think keep those carbs as low as possible. and that protein as high as possible.

 

[Willowy]

Kit 'n' Kaboodle, Alley Cat, Meow Mix, and some grocery store generics. Those are the worst, I won't feed them to the ferals. Kit 'n' Kaboodle doesn't have any meat ingredients until the 4th on the list.

I will feed the ferals dry Friskies but I prefer Purina Cat Chow because Friskies has a ton of artificial coloring. I agree that Cat Chow Indoor leads to poor coats, but Cat Chow Naturals is pretty decent and not too expensive, it's a good way to ease someone into feeding their cats something that isn't too horrible.

 

[Caspers Human]

Don't forget that dogs' and cats' metabolisms are different than humans.

Their systems are designed to burn more fat and less carbohydrates than humans. I'd say that cats are almost the opposite of humans when it comes to the types of foods we eat. Humans need less fat and more carbs.

This is not to say that they should be eating all fats and no carbs.

So, yes, I would cut down on the amount of grain and soy that we feed our animals. A little bit is okay but too much is bad for them.

On the other hand, I wouldn't feed all meat and fat, either. Cats need a certain amount of bulk in their diets, too. It helps food pass through their digestive system in a similar way as it does for humans.

Just in different amounts.

Considering the problem we had with Casper getting crystals in his urine, I'd say that the biggest thing to look out for are fillers and other things that have a high ash and mineral content.

Like I said, pet foods are marketed to the HUMANS who buy them, not the animals that eat them. Consequently, you're going to see a lot of "fluff" and gobbledygook on the labels. Sometimes, you'll see outright manipulation and lies!

I'm not too concerned about meat by-products.
What else should we do with all of the "inedible" parts of the cows, pigs and chickens that are slaughtered every day for human food. Should we be throwing away all those tons of organ meat and entrails or would it be better to feed it to other animals? As long as it's not overly processed, I'm fine with it.

Bottom line: Don't pay attention to the fluff and pretty pictures on the front of the label. Look at the BACK of the label and read the ingredients.
Don't pick ingredients that YOU think sound good. Pick ingredients that are good for your pets.

Pick foods that are high in meat and fat content but low in grain and fillers.
Stay away from foods that have high ash and mineral contents.

 

[duckpond]

Kit 'n' Kaboodle, Alley Cat, Meow Mix, and some grocery store generics. Those are the worst, I won't feed them to the ferals. Kit 'n' Kaboodle doesn't have any meat ingredients until the 4th on the list.

I will feed the ferals dry Friskies but I prefer Purina Cat Chow because Friskies has a ton of artificial coloring. I agree that Cat Chow Indoor leads to poor coats, but Cat Chow Naturals is pretty decent and not too expensive, it's a good way to ease someone into feeding their cats something that isn't too horrible.

I hear a lot of people say indoor formulas lead to bad coats, i know this one has powdered cellulose, and soybean hulls fairly high on the list. these would be insoluble fibers, which do bind a lot of thing. i often wonder if its the higher fiber that causes the coat problem? And i agree with the cat chow naturals being a good step up from some other dry foods, i like the lack of artificial coloring too.

 

[duckpond]

It might be kinder to make a list of what you think are the best foods instead of telling people the food they feed is bad, terrible, crappy, the worst, dreaded, and shouldn't be fed.

I so agree with this. I think we get so fixated on what we personally perceive as good or bad that we forget we can hurt some that are doing the very best they can. And for some of us its just fun to have this kind of debate, but not for everyone. I would hate to run people from the site from anger, or embarrassment, then they miss out on all the wonderful positive things that are offered on here. I try to Recommend, not Criticize. At least i try, not sure i always succeed.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I so agree with this. I think we get so fixated on what we personally perceive as good or bad that we forget we can hurt some that are doing the very best they can. And for some of us its just fun to have this kind of debate, but not for everyone. I would hate to run people from the site from anger, or embarrassment, then they miss out on all the wonderful positive things that are offered on here. I try to Recommend, not Criticize. At least i try, not sure i always succeed.

I feel the same way.
Not cat food, but dog food...had anyone asked me 10-15 years ago what canned dog food was great I would have said Evangers. We kept some cans of their single proteins (chicken, rabbit, beef, etc.) that wasn't a complete diet but we used to add to the dogs food, and then heard some issues like the "novel" protein sources weren't all novel (100% rabbit shouldn't be some rabbit with mostly chicken, especially at $3.00 a can!), and then there was stuff about their plant being filthy with rotting bins of meat left outside, and penobarbitol in the food, etc (I think a dog died from this.)
So it was this really good company to most, single protein sources, low carb, etc., but the turds still hit the fan.
Marketing sells food. People feed dogs beneful because the package looks so nice, a happy dog being rained on with fresh meat, fresh vegetables, etc, when you're paying for a bag of not so good stuff.
Read the labels, know what ingredients you hate and go from there. Ignore the pretty marketing practices and cute packaging. All in all I would prefer a company that doesn't advertise a lot as the money goes there to sell more food. Blue wasn't a bad brand but I think the quality went downhill when the company started advertising more.
Quotes from Blue Buffalo CEO Bill Bishop…

“You can get into the market small with contract manufacturers making the stuff,” he says, displaying an easy candor. “Slap on a good label, come up with a slogan, and off you go,” he says. “There were already a lot of smoke and mirrors in how pet food was advertised, and that was the sort of stuff we were good at.”

Yeah. Ignore the marketing, the cute labels and slogans.

 

[Lari]

Clearly the worst cat food brands are the vegan ones.

 

[tabbysia]

It might be kinder to make a list of what you think are the best foods instead of telling people the food they feed is bad, terrible, crappy, the worst, dreaded, and shouldn't be fed.

Maybe, but I've already seen a lot of threads about what people think are the "best" foods.

 

[KarenKat]

And for some of us its just fun to have this kind of debate, but not for everyone.

I actually love looking for the "worst" foods. After I started researching sometimes I would go to Chewy and sort for the cheapest food for fun. This thread kind of excited me. It's super silly, but it was also a little fun.

I've already seen a lot of threads about what people think are the "best" foods.

Makes sense, I can see there being a lot of insight into what people consider to be the worst things in pet food -- you can get a consensus over what commonalities exist between bad brands and what to avoid.

 

[Daisy6]

I feed Daisy Blue Freedom chicken pate because she would not eat anything better. As bad as carrageenan is, however, I just could not make her eat something yucky. I accepted this fact despite my strong preference to feed something that has better ingredients and no carrageenan. Now I am ready to search for something else.

The worst pet food brands are obviously much worse than Blue Buffalo, however. If your cat only eats Purina products, you can expect problems to develop.