Worst Cat Food Brands?

[cheesycats]

You are missing the point. I was saying Merrick used to be a good brand, but after Purina bought the company, its quality went way downhill.

Says who? Since the three-ish years it’s been owned by purina I’ve been working around it and no formulas have changed from what I’ve noticed and I’ve only heard one complaint from the many people who I sell it to on a daily basis and it was about a consistency change in their cheaper brand whole earth farms so the lady stopped buying that particular canned flavor for her cats and no other issues.

 

[lisahe]

Merrick made one change that our cats and I weren't happy with: they added pea protein (likely to increase their protein numbers with vegetable product, a strategy I think is just awful) to their LID food. I think that must have been in the first half of 2016; I started this thread when I discovered the recipe change. I won't feed peas and the cats weren't enthusiastic about the new formula, so it was unanimous to take it off the menu. Worst of all, they had really loved that food!

 

[2BSH]

Says who? Since the three-ish years it’s been owned by purina I’ve been working around it and no formulas have changed from what I’ve noticed and I’ve only heard one complaint from the many people who I sell it to on a daily basis and it was about a consistency change in their cheaper brand whole earth farms so the lady stopped buying that particular canned flavor for her cats and no other issues.

Yup. I think it’s a good product at a reasonable price and my cats love it and do great on it. Their customer service is also very good. No complaints here.

 

[maggiedemi]

What exactly is Limited Ingredient dry food? I think that's the only type I haven't tried yet. Would it be good for cats that get too soft poop from most grain-free kibbles?

 

[2BSH]

Merrick made one change that our cats and I weren't happy with: they added pea protein (likely to increase their protein numbers with vegetable product, a strategy I think is just awful) to their LID food. I think that must have been in the first half of 2016; I started this thread when I discovered the recipe change. I won't feed peas and the cats weren't enthusiastic about the new formula, so it was unanimous to take it off the menu. Worst of all, they had really loved that food!

That’s really too bad about the peas. I noticed that a lot of the lid formulas have peas. Why is that? Cats don’t need peas. I still like merrick though bc my piggies do.

 

[2BSH]

What exactly is Limited Ingredient dry food? I think that's the only type I haven't tried yet. Would it be good for cats that get too soft poop from most grain-free kibbles?

I think the purpose behind limited ingredient diets be it dry or wet is to have as few “extra” unnecessary ingredients as possible. They are designed for cats with sensitive stomachs and they are certainly worth a try for your problem child in my opinion.

 

[lisahe]

I think the purpose behind limited ingredient diets be it dry or wet is to have as few “extra” unnecessary ingredients as possible. They are designed for cats with sensitive stomachs and they are certainly worth a try for your problem child in my opinion.

This may be part of it but LID foods are also usually single-protein. In the case of Merrick's poultry LID foods, our cats just loved them so I was glad to feed them... before the peas, which cats most definitely do not need! (And which ours didn't even like!)

 

[Azazel]

What boggles my mind about LID foods is how they can be good for the tummy when they’re packed with peas? — an ingredient that causes stomach upset for lots of cats.

 

[lisahe]

What boggles my mind about LID foods is how they can be good for the tummy when they’re packed with peas? — an ingredient that causes stomach upset for lots of cats.

I know! And some use potato, which makes some cats (including one of ours) vomit. Peas and potatoes don't belong in any cat food but especially not LID!

 

[maggiedemi]

What's a good affordable LID dry food? It needs to be in a small bag, in case it doesn't work out. They tend to like bigger kibble, like the size of cat chow or purina beyond.

 

[Daisy6]

What exactly is Limited Ingredient dry food? I think that's the only type I haven't tried yet. Would it be good for cats that get too soft poop from most grain-free kibbles?

One meat that is not chicken or another common allergen and one vegetable. NVI (Nature's Variety Instinct) is good at this.

 

[KarenKat]

M maggiedemi I was feeding Natural Balance LID Green Pea and Chicken dry food (they have duck and salmon flavors as well). It is pretty high carb, and has more green peas than meat protein. Those come in 5 lb bags. The kibble size is about pea-sized?

We switched over to Nature’s Variety Instinct LID Rabbit dry food to get away from chicken (still contains peas, but Rabbit is the first ingredient) and it is lower carb. The smallest bag is 4.5 lbs and is a little more expensive. Kibble size is about the same.

I have tried any others, and we want to try introducing the Instinct rabbit wet food and see if it takes. Also remember to transition very slowly so that the cats are more likely to take to it.

 

[2BSH]

What's a good affordable LID dry food? It needs to be in a small bag, in case it doesn't work out. They tend to like bigger kibble, like the size of cat chow or purina beyond.

The merrick limited ingredient chicken looks good. About $15 for a 4pound bag. I know for a fact that if you buy it at petco and it doesn't agree with your cats you can return or exchange it even after the bag is opened. They will take it back no questions asked so there is that. Good luck!

 

[Daisy6]

I don't understand how a recipe can be "limited ingredients" when it has peas and potatoes. Isn't the whole idea to have fewer ingredients, and none that cats might be allergic to?

 

[maggiedemi]

Daisy, what do you feed for wet and dry food? I can't remember if you already told me. The Sheba Cuts would be more like $63 per month for both cats. That seems a bit expensive. They need at least 3 perfect portions per day between them at 70 cents each. That's $2.10 a day for both cats plus tax. Plus the cost of dry food.

 

[10009891]

Blue Buffalo kibble is now being sold in certain supermarkets. They have a proactive campaign promoting their food saying it's the best out there.

 

[Daisy6]

Blue Buffalo kibble is now being sold in certain supermarkets. They have a proactive campaign promoting their food saying it's the best out there.

I can't believe you are so far behind Troy. In 2007 my cats ate dry Blue Buffalo so I know the company has been around more than 10 years.

 

[10009891]

You misread what I posted. Blue Buffalo kibble is now being sold in other supermarkets that did not sell it before. The brand had been recalled a few times and pet nutritionists say it has questionable ingredients in it like rice, meat meals, sweet potato, sugar, apples, bananas, garlic, blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, and carrots. I do not feed my cats that.

 

[maggiedemi]

Well Maggie has decided she hates Sheba now. Good thing I didn't buy a case of it. She likes Fancy Feast Classic Pate now. The ingredients are pretty good, only thing I see that might be considered unhealthy is artificial flavors. Why do they put that in there anyway? I'm sure they could find a natural flavor that would work.

 

[BonitaBaby]

You misread what I posted. Blue Buffalo kibble is now being sold in other supermarkets that did not sell it before. The brand had been recalled a few times and pet nutritionists say it has questionable ingredients in it like rice, meat meals, sweet potato, sugar, apples, bananas, garlic, blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, and carrots. I do not feed my cats that.

I'm glad for this "Worst Food" thread because I think it's very useful for people to realize if the food they're feeding is bad. If nothing can be done about it right now, it's still useful to know, especially for people who think they are feeding their cat(s) well.

I switched from Origen to Acana to Petcurean Now (read something about my cat's blood test last year) to Blue Buffalo Wilderness. I had heard Blue Buffalo was supposed to be good, but I just took a look at the long list of ingredients and it's rather alarming. Not sure what I'll do after this bag of Wilderness Rabbit is finished. I still have a small bag of Petcurean Now I'll probably feed her after that, but I was going to go back to Blue Buffalo Wilderness after the Petcurean Now since she seems to really like it (for now). She seems to like small kibble, so not Origen and Acana, or I might go back to them just because they are better.

Feeding food to a very picky cat is frustrating. I don't have to worry about kibble so much since she likes kibble, but the Nutro Perfect Portions she's eating a little of now is not good because of the guar gum, carageenan, menadione complex and also xantham gum in the pate. I'd forgotten that since it'd been a year since I tried to get my cat to eat wet food. She doesn't like expensive wet food. I might try Fancy Feast pates again then although I feel it's such a shame about the Nutro pates and cuts in gravy that she likes right now because they seem like good food. I wish Nutro would remove the bad ingredients.