Can anyone tell me about a good brand of cat food?

Question

I have a 5 month old kitten, and I worry about high ash content. He likes both wet and dry foods. I don't mind spending a little more, but I don't want to break the bank. He is healthy, and I want to keep him that way!!! A suggestion for foods that are available in supermarkets would be great, but I will make a special trip to the pet store if necessary. Also, are those cat treats good for cats?

Answer 1

"Iams" cat food is suppose to be very good. It helps with the digestive system and it is a good sorce of protein. Veternarians usually recommend it.

Answer 2

When I adopted my cat he was 4 mths old, he is now 2 . When He was kiiten I had him on Wellness Kitten food till 10mths, then switched him to Innova Evo , for adults. Both are high quality cat food . My cat does not like wet food . Every once in a while I will also buy him a can of high quality wet food and give him just a little .Some cats only prefer dry food, others like both. It depends on your cat. But make sure you only buy Premium cat food for your cat . Your cat will be healthy and happy, and around for a long time. It may cost a little more , and you can only buy this quality of food from a pet store that sells the good stuff. Stay away from commercial products, they are not good for you cat . It is very nice to see you are concerned about your cats health . You and your cat will be fine !

Answer 3

None of the grocery store brands mentioned are good quality foods. They all use by-product meat and have only 30% protein in their makeup. A good cat food has 60% wholesome meat protein and 30% fillers such as brown rice, millet, oat, pea etc. Science Diet is the most expensive and quality foods may be less or the same price.

For dry food: Eagle Pack, Blue, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, CA Natural, Felidae. By Nature Organic are some that meet the high meat protein criterion. Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul does also as does Innova Evo. Newman's Organic is twice the price of these foods - also high quality. You may find some in PetCo or Pet Smart or a small pet store.

For canned food my cats like Natural Balance which has about five varieties available. I stay away from the fishy formulations and may use them once a week at most with my cats. I also use Wellness canned and Lick Your Chops. Blue is not available where I live.

I am glad you are feeding your male kitten some canned food. It is important that the males not have a diet of only dry food for their long-term urinary health.

You can go to www.littlebigcat.com and read some of Dr. Jean Hovfe's articles on feeding cats such as "Why Cats Need Canned Food", "Why Fish is Dangerous for Cats", "Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food" etc.

You might also be able to get your kitten some raw food now. For information on raw meat diets go to www.catinfo.org and read a veterinarian's take on that.

Answer 4

I work at a pet food store and taking the time to pick out a good, healthy pet food shows you are going to be a great pet owner!

There are many good to great pet foods out there, and the most important thing you can do when picking out a pet food is look beyond name (like Iams, Science Diet) and packaging and read the ingredient list! Most healthy foods will proudly display low ash contents etc. on the back of the bag. Also, the ingredient list should include words like 'chicken' instead of 'chicken by-product', and the protein should be listed first. Some foods can have several proteins in them (such as chicken, lamb and salmon) or just one. Cat foods also include carbohydrates, and good ones to look out for are oatmeal or brown rice. Cats do not have as many food allergies as dogs, so it is your decision to pick what you think is best! These same rules apply when picking out a wet food or treats. Also, many stores carry raw food options, which is also very healthy and cats love it.

A lot of big chain pet food stores own or have deals with some of the big pet food companies as well as carrying their own lines of food, so going to a smaller store will probably get you better, less biased service.

Answer 5

I feed my 6 month old kitten Felidae dry. Sometimes I give him wet as an extra treat. I also give him Feline Greenies as a treat. They are supposed to help clean their teeth...not sure if it works or not.

Grocery store foods are cheaper for a reason...they are filled with corn and animal by-products. If you can, go by a feed type store. They carry the higher quality and less marketed foods such as Felidae, Innova, Natural Balance, etc... There are some really great foods out there and a lot of really bad ones. Normally you get what you pay...however in the case of Science Diet, it is high priced for having so much corn in it...cats get no nutritional value out of corn and some are allergic.

Answer 6

I've tried a couple of different brands, including iams and my oldest cat wouldn't eat any of them, then I switched him to Purina kitten chow and he loved it. Since then I've tried just about all of the Purina cat food and he loves all of them, I also switch up between wet and dry to add some moisture to my cats' diets, it's not good to feed them dry all of the time but you don't want to go crazy with the wet either, it causes build up on their teeth. As for treats, I give them Feline Greenies (you can get it at petco), it's a more healthy treat and helps to clean their teeth but I try not to give them to many at a time (3 max). I also measure the amount of food I give them, they both get a little under a cup a day each, I'll adjust the servings based on their weight. As far as hairball control goes, I give them both Petromalt (petco), I feel the need to mention this because my oldest cat had to have surgery to remove a huge hairball that he couldn't cough up and he was just over a year old, if you take measures to prevent that now, you shouldn't have problems with that later, or a $1200 vet bill, so with that being said, get medical insurance for him too.

Answer 7

I noticed that fishy cat foods tend to have a slghtly higher ash content than say chicken, beef, turkey, lamb. I also noticed that dry cat food always has a higer ash content than any wet cat canned food. Most good brands of canned cat food will have ash content at or lower than 2.5%. Iams chicken flavors has very low ash content at 2.1%. Eukenuba which has very high quality ingredients has an ash content of not lower than 2.5%. Science Diet senior has 2.2% but lists by-products. I suggest that you read the labels of the canned or dry food where it says, "Guaranteed Analysis" to check ash content.

More than 3% is simply not an acceptable number to me. I am also very very picky when it comes to ash content. As I said, non-fish flavore cat food tend to have lower ash content tna say "tune" or "ocean fish" or even "salmon."

Answer 8

All 3 of my cats love and were raised up eating PURINA ONE Kitten Formula. its a blue bag, a little pricey but nothing is too good for my angels sent straight from heaven. it's dry food, and since you gave your cats wet food you're thinking they might not like it right? well that can change, my cats ate wet food prior to eating purina one, and once i gradually switched them over to dry, they loved it. of course every now and then i treat them to wet food but only about once every 2 weeks.
also, purina one did wonders for their coat and eyes. it really improves them. i think you can go to their website and get a coupon for a free 3.5lb bag to take "the purina one challenge". It's a miracle.

Answer 9

I feed my cats Science Diet it maintains a healthy all around cat. There digestive system, healthy coat, healthy everything. It is a little more expensive but they eat less and fill up faster! I give my cats the new cat treats Greenies, They are very good and healthy for them, they also have fresh growing green grass to enjoy as they are inside cats! You could try Iams cat food I hear they are pretty good.

Answer 10

Hi, first, I recommend dry food: less work, you can leave it out; less stools, and less litter-box smells.
About the brand: I tried many of them, and one of the best ratio quality/price was ProPlan. My cats looked very healthy on it. Right now, they are eating Nutro Natural Choice Light, they love it (bigger kibbles = crunching entertainment) but it makes their skin a bit dry.
Otherwise, you really get what you pay for: Science diet, royal canin, eukanuba are excellent but super-pricey; but all the Whiskas and other cheap foods will cost you more in vet bills later... For example, the last cheap store-brand food I tried made both my cats gain 3 pounds each!! Horrendous!

Answer 11

9 lives