cat food question: is there any difference between the real expensive type and the less expensive?

Question

the Science diet costs $20.00 per bag! I can get the Purina brand for around $6 or 7. Do you think there is any difference between the two? Some people I have talked to say get the science diet, others say there is no difference. What's your experience?

Answer 1

Hi there...Mary Jane and old cat lady provide some great answers. As a general rule when the first few ingredients state corn, corn meal...these are the worst brands of cat food--the more expensive Science Diet still has these listed as the primary ingredients. Corn and derivatives are fillers which help preserve the life of the dry food and make processing cheaper for the manufacturer's to sell to the consumer. Here's a website which really sheds light on the mystery of cat food and differences: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/cat-food/review.html

Answer 2

Yes there is actually a difference. Expecially for male cats. If a male cat eats a more inexpensive food that is high in ash then they risk the chance of getting crystals in their urinary tract. These crystals can be fatal if left undetected for a long time. If not, the surgery to get rid of these crystals is quite expensive. Many people will probably say what that I am crazy, but I know from experience that this can happen. Doesn't mean you have to buy the Science Diet but I would suggest comparing cat foods that are in the medium price range and purchase the one with the least amount of ash. I use Iams, which my vet had recommended. Hope this helps

Answer 3

Science Diet is the most expensive of the POOR QUALITY cat foods. So save your $$$ there. Purina is also a poor quality food, you are paying $6-7 for a bag of corn and by-product meat. They have the same ingredients.

Quality food is more expensive because the ingredients are more expensive and they are not prohibitive in price by any means. Go to www.petfooddirect.com and you can pull up almost any cat food and read the ingredients from the label. Compare Science Diet and Purina with Eagle Pack, Natural Balance, Felidae, Solid Gold etc. The last four mentioned have human-grade meat for the first two ingredients (not by-product meat) which make up approximately 60% of the food. The third ingredient is brown rice, millet, oats, pea etc. for the filler in the food. These are much better and more easily digestible for your cat than corn.

Answer 4

Although Science Diet considered a quality cat food was suprised some time ago that it contains BYPRODUCTS-the junk part of the animal ,beak,feet,inrestines and so orth that are ground up as a meal and when it says chicken byproducts thats actually what it is. Cats are Carniverous and need real meat in their diet. Stopped using Science Diet for that reason and began using NUTRO which is found in the same Petfood stores as Science Diet NUT gives the cat much better nutrition-no byproducts but real meat.I have been giving he NUTRO TOTAL CARE for years-she is 17+ and is still spry,jumps and runs around and always ready to play.Has also had no health problems and teeth are perfect shape-gets the Dry Food for it cleans the teeth. Here and there she'll get small serving of Chicken or Salmon-but not too often for animals actually do better not having people food.Nutro also makes various treats that cats love.The Price is comparable to Science Diet and I would feed my cat nothing else. Main 2 ways to ensure a long and healthy life for a cat is superior total nutrition and the least amount of stress. Switch to NUTRO -your cat will love you for it.

Answer 5

Unless your cat is real picky or has other diet concerns, like certain foods he can't eat, there is no need to buy the really expensive stuff. Your cat most likely won't know the difference. I usually avoid the real cheap stuff and the real expensive stuff. Purina, 9 lives, Friskies, Whiskas are all fine brands for cats with regular diets.

Answer 6

I'm glad you asked. Just because the price is high, does not necessarily mean better quality. Science Diet has some of the most horrific ingredients of anyone in their food. it is basically crap. the FDA allows a certain amount of rotten animal parts, fillers, rodents and their droppings and, yes, even cat and dog to be introduced into pet food. All natural is the way to go. i sometimes make my own. Something else you may want to consider when choosing is the horrific scientific animal testing that pet food company's do. Iams and Eukenuba starve dogs and then make them obese to see the effects of their food. they cut them open without the benefit of anesthesia and other coz kidney failure by experimentation. they dip cats into vats of water, they cut open and examine the contents of their bellies. BE CAREFUL about the food you choose. animals are sold to labs, so be sure to spay and neuter , if there are less and less unwanted pets this practice would be greatly diminished. and yes, i said there is dead cat and dog in cat and dog food. it is soooo terrible what these co.s can do and the federal gvmt. allows it. also i work at vet.s office, so i know that certain pet food companies give benefits to recommend their food. it makes it seem better coz the vet recommends it, but really, they get a kickback for doing so. good luck.

Answer 7

That is good question! First of all notice the feeding requirements on the side of the bag. Even know you spending 20 per bag(10 pound bag) you feed less per serving. So it cost less per seving plus in the long run the bag will last longer than 'grocery store brands'. Plus since it is higher quality food more food gets burned off in there system, so less clean up in litter box.
Plus nutrition. Alot of brands of cat food do not take the time to take excess amount of nutrients out of the cat food that S.D. does. For example to much protien makes the cat kidneys and liver work harder than they should to process the protiem. This Could cause kidney problems later in life for them. To much fat and calories can make your cat overweight. S.D. takes all the excess out of the food to make a very well balanced food.
It's alway better to buy a premium food than to pay a 2000 dollar vet bill later from feeding a lower quality food.
When choosing the right food for you cat make sure you feed the right 'life stage'. Kitten being under one year. Adult 1 to 7 years
mature 7 years and older.
One more thing. on the back of every cat/dog food there is an affco statement. AAFCO stands Assoction of Feed Control Officals. This is very important. If the statement is speific on what life stage the cat food is for. For Example: an all life stage food or a food for maintence is not an adult food! This is basically for kittens. Make sure the statement says for the maintenance of adult(or kitten) cats. In the first part of the statment make sure to stay way from anything that was formulated to meet affco stardands. This means they never actually feed the cat/dog this food. That is the short of it. Also one more thing!
Dont be fooled about other companies talking about ingredents over nurtituon. Like they use human quality food. Your CAT is not human(even know we treat them like ones!) it's a feline thus requires different nurtution than us.
Ohh by-products...First they are not bad!(that is a awhole other 10 paragraphs!!)
Hope I helped you and didnt confuse you

Answer 8

My experience is that I end up buying cat food from the vet's office...because it has the nutrition they require and keeps them healthy.
(My male cat had urinary tract problems... it was discussed and decided that the brands available to me had too much "ash" for him to not have anymore problems... since he had to eat it so did the other two.)

Even though I'm spending alot initially on the bag of food my cats do not require to eat as much as the other brands...(because it meets their nutritional needs.)
Their coats are shiny & full, their eyes are clear and they seem happy...that makes me happy because I don't have $500 vet bills to fix problems since they are eating that food... (C/D feline by Hill's just in case you're curious)

I'm hoping it adds years to their life as well.

If you can budget it, I would say get the vet recommended food...
Think of it this way...if a person eats junk or not so healthy food how many problems would they eventually get???

Quality equals health in my humble opinion.
Hope this helps.

Answer 9

your best bet is to look at the back of the bag at the ingredients. the first ingredient should be MEAT; like chicken, lamb etc. try and stay away from things that say ''chicken meal" etc. they contain too much fillers and aren't as healthy for your cat, and they can easily become overweight. I feed our two cats Nutro brand...it isn't cheap about $25 per bag but it lasts a month or so.

Answer 10

my buddy that works at the pet store says that the cheap cat foods have a lot of fillers in them and that makes then less digestable and less nutritious