cat food?? science diet, iams or cheap stuff? Does it really matter?

Question

my kitties eat science diet, but do you think it really makes a huge difference if they were to eat, purina, or some cheap cat food?

Answer 1

Yes it matters. A lot!!
Cheap cat food doesn't offer the proper nutrition, and has many ingredients that will either make her sick outright, or cause her organs, and immune system to malfunction, causing illness. Shedding and skin allergies are common on cheap food. Research is also finding that cats who get a better diet live longer.
No matter what you have heard, cats do not need any plant material in their diets. Some like it, none need it. It is a marketing ploy from the manufacturing companies.
Don't believe me, read "Foods Pets Die For" by Ann N Martin. You will be shocked and amazed at the disgusting things it is perfectly legal to put in pet food. It is making our pets sick.
Go to naturapet.com for more information on cat nutrition, and read about the best cat food available today, Innova EVO. Their whole line is great. Check out California Natural too. It is really good.
Check out Wellness, Felidae, and Artemis. They also have wonderful products.
Never feed Iams, Science Diet, Purina or anything else you find at Petco, Petsmart, Walmart or the grocery store. It is all but poison to cats. Read that book to see why.

Answer 2

Yes it makes a difference. But expensive foods like IAMS and Science Diet are not the best foods!

Look for a food that does NOT have "by products" in the ingredients list or you'll be paying a lot of money for garbage. Personally, I like Nutro - it has no by products and is reasonably priced and my dogs have done fine on it for more than 10 years. They make canned and dry dog foods for kittens and adults. Any changes in diet should be made slowly to avoid diarrhea - gradually mix more new food in with what you've been using until he's switched over.
http://www.nutroproducts.com/cat.asp

Answer 3

Cheap foods, as one poster has said at length, contain biproducts that can be unhealthy. Biproducts are waste products in the production of food -- in other words, they contain a type of garbage, unfit for human consumption..

A cat's natural diet is more than 90% meat and few dry foods contain this proportion. Most are overwhelmingly corn and some cats cannot digest such large quantities of corn protein. My cat died, according to the University veterinary school I took her to, of inflammatory bowel disease likely caused by an inability to process all that corn protein. She was 8 years old, a calico, and threw up all the time, so much so that she wasted away. The vets at the U told me that some cats can handle the dry corn based food, others can't.

I did some research on this a couple of years ago and cats fed home scraps in England lived much longer than American cats. One theory was that it was the cheap dry food.

I feed my new cat canned food, usually "organic". At first the smell of the canned food bothered me, but the cat litter odor is much less when he eats the canned "expensive" food, probably due to better digestion of this food.

Answer 4

Yes it definitely makes a difference what your pet eats. The cheap stuff is easier on your wallet but really isn't doing anything for your cat. Think of it like this choosing the cheap stuff is like feeding your cat hostess cupcakes, taste alright, is cheap but there really isn't anything good for it. Now i admit science diet is a lil pricey for a pet. But think of it this way better food, means a healthy cat and less vet trips, it also means less shedding, as cheap food contains a wheat gluten that makes pets shed. Try to find an imbetween food, or mix it up between science diet and the cheap stuff. Good luck

Answer 5

I think that Science Diet is not that much better, just pricier.

You need to start reading the labels of ingredients on the bags.
Most of the cheapie foods are 2/3 corn. Did you know that the $4.00 box of corn flakes you buy has 14 cents worth of corn in it?

The higher quality cat foods have meat protein sources are the first two ingredients. They have to have the grain to process the food properly. CA Natural is chicken and rice. Natural Balance has a venison and pea. Wellness has a good quality food and the company recently changed their processing method. My cats don't like it so much anymore.

Corn is used to fatten slaughter animals and they have life spans of under two years. It supplies high energy and little nutrient that is appropriate for a cat. Cats in corn fields are not there for the corn. They are there for the mice! When you think cat food, think high meat protein. Cats require more meat protein than dogs.

Quality food does matter, for you and your family and for your cat.

Answer 6

With all of the cats I have had in my life, I have found that you should let the cat choose his own food. I can buy the expensive "good for them" cat food out there, but if they won't eat it, what good is it really doing for them.
I had a cat that was exceptionally thin, I asked the vet about it and he told me to give him whatever he wanted for food. The cat liked to eat, but didn't gain weight. I wanted him to have more fat in his diet, so the doctor suggested people food, and whatever and whenever he wanted it. He did like people food, so I gave him a lot more.
My cats prefer Friskies, but they really only like the cans that are labeled prime fillets. So that's what I give them, let your cat tell you what he or she likes and it will be fine.

Answer 7

The quality is different. Remember, Everything they say on TV is not necessarily true. They are just trying to get you to buy their product and make money. Check the ingredients for the best cat food.

Answer 8

Yes, IMO it does matter. The cheaper foods have more by products which means more doo doo in the box. ;) In the long run the cheaper foods are more expensive as you have to feed more to get equal nutrition.

Always check the ingredients. We use wellness and get ours from http://www.heartypet.com and they list all the ingredients. You may have a small specialty shop near you that carries it too.

Answer 9

check the nutrition label, most are the same thing. You don't want one that is all soy or corn. If the cat is happy eating it go with it- I had a cat that turned his nose up at all but a few kinds.

Answer 10

You will find that a pet will eat "more" cheap food than a nutritious food like Science diet.
With the cheap crap, it passes with less nutrition.

Note how much they eat with cheap crap and sh**.

It's called marketing. Sell more sh**!