What kind of cat food is better for your cat? Science Diet or Nutro?

Question

I don't want to spend a lot of money but don't want to compromise their nutrition either.

Answer 1

The ingredients in Science Diet regular are (by weight): (1)chicken by-products (that's heads, feet, feathers and entrails of chickens), (2) brewers' rice (that's rice with all the "germ" nutritional part removed used to ferment beer), (3) corn gluten meal. And it costs $2.04 per lb. So what's good about that - low quality protein meat and not much of it, fillers that make up 2/3 of the product and have minimum of any nutritional value for your cat?

I have looked at Nutro and don't have specific information at hand. It does have good quality meat protein for the first ingredient and only poor quality fillers for 2/3 of the formulation. I just checked on the Nutro - a four pound bag is $2.50 per lb. There is a bonus 10 lb. bag at $1.80.

For $1.50 you can buy Solid Gold with two human-grade meat protein sources as the first two ingredients and millet and brown rice as fillers. For $1.66 per lb you can get Natural Balance with duck, lamb and chicken and brown rice as a filler. Felidae is $2.50 per lb. with chicken and turkey meal, brown rice and lamb meal. Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers' Soul at $1.49 per lb. has chicken, salmon, chicken meal, fat, barley as the most predominant ingredients.

So those are much better choices for a healthy cat diet.

Answer 2

Well from what I have researched, it's NOT Science Diet! There are fillers and by-products used in the creation of their foods - and those things are not good for any animal!

Nutro and other brands such as Royal Canin, Wellness and Natural Balance, are created using only human-quality ingredients. This means that foods you or I would eat are what cats and kittens get in their food. Do you think it's good to eat hooves, beaks and feathers? Then why feed it to your pet? That's what by-products are - a fancy name for the leftover parts of pigs, cattle, chickens, etc.

People that feed Science Diet to their pets are asking for trouble. I had a cat pass away from feline CRF and she ate nothing but Science Diet and Purina brand foods almost all of her life because there were no comapnies such as Wellness, Nutro or others on the market and readily available. She lived through her first battle with it - but the damage had been done. Foods like Wellness and Nutro kept her alive for another 2 years and 2 months.

Please - skip the Science Diet and the other cheap brands! Read the package ingredients just as you would for your food. If you won't consider eating it - then why feed it to your beloved pet?

Answer 3

You can go to Costco and buy better than Nutro or Science Diet for 1/2 the price. My cats eat science diet and what a differnce in makes in their coat, shedding, teeth. My dogs eat science diet too, but thats what they have always eaten.

Answer 4

Nutro. Science Diet contains corn and from what I can remember no specific meat source (only by products) Cats are carnivores so thats not good. Make sure you feed either canned food or cooked or raw meat often, not just dry cat food.

Answer 5

All cat food has to undergo screening and testing by the vet association, so don't bother spending your money on these fancy foods. If you do some consumer research, you will find there is basically no difference and, in fact, some of the upmarket brands have been found to be harmful.
Go with a store brand or generic, they are every bit as nutritious and as good.

Answer 6

Both brands seem to have a good reputation. One rescue claimed that Science Diet had way too much preservatives for a premium (pet store) brand. Nutro has a minimum of preservatives.
Personally I feed Nutro and have had no problems, my pet loves it.
http://www.epinions.com/pets-Cats-Food-All-Nutro_Natural_Choice_Adult_Cat_Food

Answer 7

Science Diet

Answer 8

Science diet contains corn (I forgot either nutro does too), which is not really good. Corn is not digestable by animals, and it will put stress to the digestive system.

Answer 9

Science Diet.