Do suppliers of generic cat food use the same quality ingredients as main line products?

Question

I recently bought my 4 month old kitten Special Kitty (Wal-mart brand) kitten food. I switched him from Purina Kitten Chow because the ingredients are very similar and the nutrition content is the same. Will the product deliver the same performance and is it as safe?

Answer 1

Your question has been answered pretty well already, but I can add a little more.

The ingredients list for cat food is listed by weight, not quantity. So two products which have the exact same ingredients listed doesn't mean they're the same because it's the order of the ingredients that matters.

Another thing to know is that you want to see meat listed as one of the first three ingredients. You do not want to see wheat, corn or soy. You don't really want to see any other grains either, but those three are the worst. You don't want to see tons of veggies and fruit - although they don't do much harm. You don't want to see the words "meal" or "byproducts."

Here's a link with more info on decoding the ingredients in your cat food, along with a list of recommended foods.

Answer 2

Well, in my opinion, neither Purina nor Wal-mart brands are any good. They are loaded with corn and cats can't digest corn. If you want a quality food then you really need to do some more shopping and locate a food in which the first ingredient is a meat product and not corn or rice. As for your question, Wal-Mart brand or GreatValue brands are supplied by the name brands. For an example: Wal-Mart's GreatValue brand peanut butter was made by Jiff until the recall.

Answer 3

Cats do not like the taste of corn and cat food contains more meat than dog food (or it should anyways!). Cats are carnivores and dogs are omnivores. Yes, corn is a filler and if the cat food you use lists corn as the first ingredient, change cat foods. More filler means using the litter box more, so you're not saving any money! Choose a food with meat as the first ingredient.

Answer 4

Often the generic brands are made by the same companies, like drugs often you pay the extra price for the brand name, packaging and advertising. Rather than the brand name on the package it's more important to read what ingredients go into the product.

Answer 5

I was amazed at the similiarities of cat foods when they had the recalls of the tainted cat and dog foods. Those big name manufacturers are also the same ones that make generic foods! So, yes, I think these products do deliver the same performance and it is as safe as all the rest. Good luck

Answer 6

Both brands that you mentioned are pure garbage. Anything you can buy at a grocery store is garbage, full of fillers and by-products.

I'm feeding my cats Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. They probably have it in a kitten version. THe better quality the food, the less they eat and if they eat less they poop less. Plus it's healthier for them.

Answer 7

No, cheap brands of animal food do not contain real anything, instead what makes up the food is the by product of the animal such as the feet, beaks, bones and feathers of the chickens as well as corn for filler. Also many cat and dog food companies use diseased animals for their food as well as dogs and cats that have been euthanized.

Answer 8

Some of them are. However, Special Kitty didn't test out very well in Consumer Reports testing... check there. Also, some Special Kitty food was on the recall list.