best dry foods for cats?

Question

I have 3 cats and I want to know what the best dry cat food is.

Answer 1

The MAIN issue you must always keep in mind when feeding cats is the fact that they are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES, meaning they require MEAT as their main source of nutrition. In a perfect world, there would always be organic, home rasied fresh MEAT to feed our cats, but in reality, our choices are often limited to what we can find locally, and what we can afford, tempered with what lengths we are willing to go to to give our cats the BEST food we possibly can. The fact is, typical grocery store raw meat is often tainted with bacteria that is dangerous if fed raw. So, even if we could afford and if we had the time to prepare good, fresh, raw food, it's often hard for the average person to get access to the quality of meat really required to make good raw cat food. The best raw meat comes from local farms, and it slaughtered fresh just for your cat, and it goes straight to the grinder to become cat food from there. If that's not an option, occasionally, you can find good, qaulity raw meat at a good health food store that specializes in natural or organic meats. All that being said, it's also got to have ground bone or bone meal, and supplements to make it balanced... something most cat owners just don't have the time or skill to cope with.

In comes commercial cat food! As a society, we have become evermore dependent on convienence and ease of use in our daily lives. The pet food industry bought into this fact early on. From the beginning, pet foods have contained the bits and pieces of food that is unfit for human consumption. Recently though, the industry is beginning to change due to the greater understanding pet owners are learning about the importance of a good quality diet for our pets. That being said, there are still an awful lot of BAD pet foods out there, made by pet food companies that only have their bottom line in mind. It can be hard for the average pet owner to know what's good, and what's not, faced with so many options.

The very first thing you need to know to understand cat food quality is how to read a pet food label. If you look on the saide or back of the bag (or can) there will be a list of ingredients. The ingredients are ALWAYS listed in order in which they appear in the food. The First ingredient, is what the food has THE MOST of in it.The second ingredient, there is a little less of that, and so on, until the last ingredient, there is very little of actually in the food. Logic says, if a cat is an obligate carnivore, then the cat needs MEAT to be the main ingredient of it's diet. So, first off, read the label... is a MEAT the FIRST ingredient? If so, good, continue reading the label. If not, toss that bag (or can) back and move on to the next food. MEAT MUST BE THE FIRST INGREDIENT. Now that we've found the first key to good cat food, let's move down the label a bit. Look at the second, and third ingredients. What are they? Are they both GRAINS, like rice, corn, oats, wheat, or barley? Let's ponder this if they are both grains. If the second and third ingredient are BOTH grains, then, if you add them together, it's quite possible that there's MORE grain in the food than there is meat, even though the first ingredient IS meat. That's a trick pet food companies have learned to trick people into believeing their food is "mainly meat". At least the SECOND ingredient should NOT be a grain. It can, however, be a meat product, such as fat. So, now, does the food you are reading have MEAT as the first ingredient, and MEAT or FAT as the second ingredient? Excellent if it does, you're well on your way to getting a good qaulity cat food! Now, continue down the ingredients. Do you se CORN, corn meal, or corn gluten meal anywhere in the ingredients? If so, then DON'T buy that food. cats do not process corn, they lack an enzyme to digest the nutritional benefits from corn. It is simply a FILLER in cat foods. In addition, corn is the most likely ingredient to cause allergies in cats. AVOID CORN!

Those are the basic rules of feeding cats...
1. Meat first.
2. Meat or fat second.
3. NO corn.

There are lots of great brands out there, but your BEST option is to take the time to READ THE LABELS!

My suggestions:

California Natural
Innova Evo
Wellness
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul (the food)

Answer 2

After checking over the ingredients and comparison lists, we settled for these.

Wysong Vitality (only the Vitality, not the others) $8 a bag

Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul (hard pieces, if the cat has trouble chewing don't use this) $9 a bag

Royal Canin Siamese 38 (great food) $11 a bag

Fromm Go ($8 a bag)

Evo feline (the small bag, but it lasts 2 months) $17 a bag

Answer 3

We have 5 cats in my family, and we've tried a lot of different dry cat food over the years. The one we have found consistently enjoyed by the cats (finicky eaters and those who will eat anything alike) is from the Science Diet brand. Not only do they make a variety of foods for your cat's special needs (I feed my cat Science Diet Light because otherwise she'd pack on the pounds), but the brand is available at any pet store. The brand has been recommended to us by multiple vets and while it might cost a little more than the types of food you can buy for your cat in the grocery store, the ingredients are considered healthier and more specific to your cat's needs. While it might not mean too much now that the pet food scare is over, it was nice during that time to know that Science Diet dry food was not recalled.

Answer 4

You want to feed them a dry food that has a good mix and balance of all the vitamins, minerals and what not that they need. Problem I have with most store bought brands is that they contain a lot of fillers and they use animal by-products, like beaks, feet, and stuff. There are companies that make for lack of a better term "organic" foods that don't contain a lot of the preservatives and use whole meats in the mixtures. I have been using Flint River Ranch. I have been very happy with their product so far. And my cat loves the stuff. They are a little more expensive then what you would get in the store but they deliver direct to your door and its made fresh.

Answer 5

I feed my cat wet canned food in the morning and dry cat food at night. Dry cat food exposure lasts longer, as far as freshness is concerned, than canned after opening. Canned food is healthier than dry. I want to make sure my cat is happy and fed. So, I say both are good.

Answer 6

dry foods cats

Answer 7

My cat lived for 18 years on Purina Cat Chow.

Answer 8

I foster cats and kittens for the local shelter and they send me science diet(which is what they swear by) But I feed mine Purina.I have noticed that when I first get them, their coat is very course and dry and (of course) as they begin to sneak into the Purina, their coats become very soft and shiny and they grow faster.So naturally I prefer Purina.

Answer 9

I only have one cat and I have been feeding her Purina's Pro Plan since the day I found her. Pro Plan is nutritious and provides her with all of the vitamins and minerals that she needs in order to have a well-balanced diet. In the years I have had her (4 years), she has been happy, healthy and well adjusted. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

I feed my cats any of the following brands, depending on which ones I can get at the time:

By Nature Organics
Innova
Blue Spa Select
Castor & Pollux
PetGuard