cat chow or pro plan for my cat?

Answer 1

Feeding a cat a healthy diet is of the utmost importance for the good health of every cat.
Many people feel that dry is the best way to go. Vets feel it is the way to go. Why? Vets are taught very little about nutrition and they are taught what they know by the Pet Food Companies. The companies push dry as it is the very cheapest food in the world to make as they use fillers, vegetable protein and things that cats do not eat in normal life like veggies and fruits. Of course the veggies and fruits are NOT good for human consumption and thus they get it free or for pennies so the big suppliers can get rid of it.
Dry does not keep teeth clean. A cats jaw is made to grab, tear and shred. They have no chewing action. When a cat barfs he throws up the chunks of food. Sometimes the dry shatters but that doesn't rub on the teeth either. A vet told me that she had an elderly cat around 20 who had had wet food her whole life and never had a problem with her teeth, but she had a 7 month old kitten who had to have every tooth pulled since they were so bad he was sick.
Dry food causes diabetes, UTI's, Kidney problems and the list is to long to continue.
The proper food is a diet for an obligate carnivore. Remember you have never seen a lion chasing a biscuit. Your cat needs wet food of good quality. It should be high in protein and under 10% carb. You should not feed your cat fish or seafood more than 1 or 2 meals a week if that much as they become addicted to it and it is high in phosphorous and low in nutritional value.
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html
Here is a chart of most wet foods. The good and the bad. Look for one that is high in protein and low in carbs. Fancy feast is a good middle of the road one, and the cheaper brands but still following the rule are much better than any dry ever could be. Wellness and Merrick are on the higher end with higher cost. But you have good food.
It is cheaper to feed a cat the wet as they are filled up faster. Think if you are hungry and eat a bag of potato chips you are soon hungry but if you have a nice piece of chicken you are filled up longer. The same for a cat. I began adding small amount of water and mixing it in good for the meals and now add 1/4 cup water to 1/3 cup wet food. It is now like soup. It keeps the food from drying out and Cessan eats when she wants. She is a grazer and I let her be happy. She gained the weight she needed and then the weight gain stopped. If your cat is over weight he will lose weight on a wet diet.
Here is a link explaining very clearly cat nutrition and care. It is excellent and I think every new cat owner should have to read it first.
http://catinfo.org/
Good luck and be good to your sweet kitty.

Answer 2

Cat Chow

Answer 3

a few BAD answers here already....Pro Plan is not even close to cat chow, its not "crap" as one person said. If those are your choices steer clear of Cat chow, it's bottom of the barrel, you'd be getting fillers, by-products and very little nutritional value. Spend more and you save more: the better the food is the less you have to feed to meet the cats dietary needs. Foods with fillers, i.e. corn, is basically like feeding your cat cardboard. I'd defiantely vote Pro Plan over Cat Chow, hands down!

Answer 4

All cats have their preferences and needs...The only thing I'd stay away from is a supermarket brand. Stick with a good name....
My darling Buddy ( 1/2 Maine Coon, 1/2 Persian ) lived almost 22 years on nothing but Kitten Chow, Cat Chow, and then back to Kitten Chow ( the mature stuff seemed a bit rough on the tummy ). His "brother" ( my daughter's cat ) is 17, and we only now have changed from Cat Chow to Iams indoor because it seems to help the hairball issue he gets from grooming his newest foster brothers ( long haired twins ). They are all 3 thriving on this one. But, until they get older, I'd go with whichever one you can afford that they do well on. We have a demand feeder, and demand waterer and if you start from kitten, they just don't get used to feeling like they have to fight for food. They are all healthy weight and have great teeth ( unlike canned food cats, according to the vet ) and soft shiny fur. I love my cats, but I'd never, ever be able to get the twins to let me brush their teeth. They were feral and I'm lucky if I can pet them on occasion after 2 years. We're just glad they have each other.
When / if you change foods, make the change very gradually. Mix in about 1/4 bag new to a full bag of the old stuff, and then next time make it 1/2 new, 1/2 old.. you get the gist.
Enjoy your kitty/friend :)

Answer 5

Neither

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard, dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.

http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html

Answer 6

Get Naturals by purina cat chow. It is healthy for your cat and it has no by-products a bad ingredient that is used in lots of cat foods.

Answer 7

I have used borth brands for my cats I used to have them on cat chow lean mixed with a bag of hairball formula now I have them on pro plan hearball special care and weight mannagement mixed together the proplan costs more but it seems to last longer when i mix 2 jugs together. hope this helps!

Answer 8

Iams cat food is great and cost the same as the other two and has better nutrition, flavor, crunch and doesn't cause diseases and cancer like cat chow! cant say anything about pro plan i didn't think they sold that anymore! well my cats head over heels for Iams!!!

Answer 9

My cats love Pro Plan Sensitive Systems crunchy food.

Answer 10

cat chow is the best it's cheaper and does everything the other foods do, feeds your cat honey! Your cat doesn't need all that special mess to be happy and healthy