Worst Cat Food Brands?

[1CatOverTheLine]

Tender Vittles was discontinued over 10 years ago. So you can take that one off your list. I remember feeding that to my very first cat over 30 years ago. It was pouches of soft dry food. It was really different compared to today's kibble.

M maggiedemi - Tender Vittles was re-launched by Retro Brands Inc. and is actually available at your local WalMart.
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[Furballsmom]

Seriously, dang!!
Can't believe I missed this!

 

[Willowy]

M maggiedemi - Tender Vittles was re-launched by Retro Brands Inc. and is actually available at your local WalMart.
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That's what Wikipedia says. . .I'm going to look next time I'm there, I haven't seen it but then I haven't been looking either.

I know it's now illegal to use propylene glycol in cat food, which is what used to make Tender Vittles tender. Wonder what they use now.

I liked to toss the pouch to the cats unopened and let them "kill" it themselves. Good enrichment!

OK, from what I can find, Retro Brands bought the trademark name and sells t-shirts with the Tender Vittles logo. But I can't find any info on whether they actually sell Tender Vittles cat food. http://retrobrands.net/about-us/

 

[Furballsmom]

I saw that as well...

 

[duckpond]

lol i didnt find the cat food, but i found this

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tender-V...Selective-Juniors-Sheer-T-Shirt-Tee/114375408

 

[Daisy6]

Maggie, I certainly don't try to make people feel like they are bad cat parents just because their kitties eat low-quality diets. It is not their fault if cats hate the good stuff. It is fair to call the food disgusting if your own cat refused to eat it!

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

I know it's now illegal to use propylene glycol in cat food, which is what used to make Tender Vittles tender. Wonder what they use now.

W Willowy - Wild guess: cheese whey permeate. It's inexpensive, organic, perfectly safe for animals, and fulfills both of the functions for which propylene glycol was used in "semi-moist" cat foods in the '70s - an humectant and aquastabiliser.
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[Hugospal]

Brands people say are low quality...like for instance Fancy feast. Yes a lot of the gravy formulas are very carby. Some have lower quality ingredients, but for example Fancy Feast Classics are meat for the first ingredient and are grain free so not bad food at all IMO.

Meow Mix cups are leaps and bounds ahead of their corn based dry food and are real meat.

Purina makes everything from the lowest quality, corn as the first ingredient food, up to food that is pretty decent (Pro Plan).

Most pet owners aren't spending over a dollar for top notch canned food because cats are fickle and picky. I know I can't feed a $1.79 can of food to my cats regularly, especially when they're like "Eh, i don't want that flavor today" half the time. I do think it's important, if you feed dry, to pick a high quality brand, as some of the cheaper ones at grocery store just seem really like something a cat should not be eating.

 

[maggiedemi]

1CatOverTheLine- have you actually seen Tender Vittles at Walmart? That's a blast from the past. I hadn't thought of that cat food for years. I bet it would be expensive to feed today as a dry food in those little pouches.

 

[maggiedemi]

Mia, I assume that the first company on the list you gave us "Pruina" means Purina? They actually have 2 lines- Purina Muse and Purina Beyond that have no corn, wheat, soy, or artificial coloring. So your list might need updating.

 

[Daisy6]

Purina also bought Merrick and Natural Balance, which are supposed to be good. I read too many critical Amazon reviews about longtime Merrick and NB eaters who had no problems in the past getting sick after Purina bought the companies. So in fact you still can't trust the label when they say meat first ,grain-free, etc.

 

[maggiedemi]

Was it the dry food that had critical reviews? To be honest, I've had problems with most dry foods, no matter how fancy, just for the simple fact that they dry my cats out. But they love it, so I try to do a mix of wet and dry every day. I don't think I've ever had a problem with canned food, just sometimes they refuse to eat it. They like Sheba right now, which seems to be a bit better ingredients, but they raised the price.

 

[cheesycats]

Purina also bought Merrick and Natural Balance, which are supposed to be good. I read too many critical Amazon reviews about longtime Merrick and NB eaters who had no problems in the past getting sick after Purina bought the companies. So in fact you still can't trust the label when they say meat first ,grain-free, etc.

Natural balance is owned by Smuckers not nestle.
Nestle does however own zukes and merrick.

 

[Daisy6]

I never heard of Zukes.

 

[Daisy6]

Was it the dry food that had critical reviews? To be honest, I've had problems with most dry foods, no matter how fancy, just for the simple fact that they dry my cats out. But they love it, so I try to do a mix of wet and dry every day. I don't think I've ever had a problem with canned food, just sometimes they refuse to eat it. They like Sheba right now, which seems to be a bit better ingredients, but they raised the price.

Nope, it was all canned food.

Did Sheba raise the price to reflect higher quality ingredients?

 

[maggiedemi]

No, it's the same ingredients. They switched from cans that were 50 cents to the plastic perfect portions that are 70 cents.

 

[maggiedemi]

No corn, no wheat, no soy, no artificial colors. It will be $42 to $63 dollars per month depending on how much I feed. That's still kinda affordable I think.

 

[Sasha&Rocky]

I am using the Fancy Feast kitten and it has no grains. Im not sure why this isnt a great food? Here are the ingredients maybe the artificial flavors?

Chicken: Chicken, liver, meat by-products, chicken broth, fish, milk, egg product, artificial and natural flavors, added color, guar gum, Minerals[potassium chloride, magnesium sulfate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, potassium iodide], tricalcium phosphate, salt, taurine, Vitamins[Vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate (Vitamin B-1), niacin (Vitamin B-3), calcium pantothenate (Vitamin B-5), Vitamin A supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (Vitamin K), pyridoxine hydrochloride (Vitamin B-6), riboflavin supplement (Vitamin B-2), Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin (Vitamin B-7), folic acid (Vitamin B-9), Vitamin D-3 supplement]. A662318

 

[maggiedemi]

Yeah Sasha, that one looks pretty good, just the artificial flavors, not sure why they have to add that in there. The rest looks fine to me. I feed Fancy Feast sometimes.

 

[Sasha&Rocky]

I like it because the cans are small, he can only eat a half can at a time. The bigger cans would be too big.