How do I know which cat foods are good and which are bad?

Question

What should I be looking for on the ingredients list? If cereal is the first ingredient, is this a bad cat food? How high should the percentage of meat be to make it a quality food? I am currently feeding my cat a brand of food that has 26% meat, but cereal is the first ingredient, which I've heard can be bad for the cat. I am talking about dry food, by the way.

Thanks to anyone who can help :-)

xx Emmie

Answer 1

Price is a good indicator...cheap foods have poor quality proteins. Meat should be the principle ingredient, though grains are common in almost all dry foods, and that's ok. Stick with a national brand,( Purina, Iams etc) and for most cats ( not nursing queens, kittens or very aged adults, or show cats) that will be fine. When you say 26% meat, what you probably mean is 26% protein...not the same thing at all, since poor quality foods can claim "proteins" from a variety of sources...including chicken feathers ( no kidding!) Cats need meat protiens since they are obligate carnivores...some grain proteins are ok, but meat should be the primary source.
A can of Tuna is NOT the right thing to feed your cat! It's not balanced for total nutrition, and is not exactly a natural food for a feline, being a deep water fish! Wet cat food is ok, but a good quality dry food is better for thier teeth.

Answer 2

Hello,
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 3

The cereal content should be way down the list, as should protein from Vegetable sources. Even if it say's Meat only a tiny percentage will be the muscle meats they require. Don't rely on pet shops or Vet's even to tell you the truth, they are going to push the brand they are paid to push, not what is best for the cat. Look up Cat nutrition and natural diets on the web. Unless you have a Cat that drinks plenty of water, stay away from a totally dry diet, It causes Long term Kidney and Urinary problems, and has been linked to diabetes in cats. I've found that out the hard way! Costly for me and very uncomfortable for my poor cat. Don't ever feed a cat only canned TUNA! They may love it, but it's extremely bad for them! Look up Taurin!
All my animals are fed on as near natural a diet as possible which includes raw meat, even the fish get the frozen or live foods available!

Answer 4

A GOOD food should have 2 or 3 meat sources in the first four ingredients, and none of them should be byproducts. There should be no corn in the first 4 ingredients. It should have a protein level of at least 33-35% in dry food or 12% in wet food.

You can find comparisons over here:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_canned.htm

Click on the 'canned' or 'dry' to get to the lists.

Answer 5

Yikes - please don't take the advice of asking a Petco or PetSmart employee about pet nutrition. I was there once and overhead an employee telling someone to feed a ferret carrots! They're minimum wage workers with little to no knowledge of proper pet nutrition.

For reliable AND accurate information about pet nutrition check this site that my vet recommended to me - http://www.littlebigcat.com Click on the link for the "Free Article Library" and then the link for "Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food" - http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=004 Check out the other articles as well - REALLY great info.

And FYI - dry food is actually not a good thing to be feeding your pet - period (see that link for an article about this). It lacks moisture and is loaded with carbohydrates. If you want to feed your cats a mix of canned foods and dry foods at least pick one of the better dry foods - such as Innova Evo which contains NO grain and 50% meat protein.

Answer 6

Meat in the first 3 ingredients, definitely. Avoid wheat, corn or soy ingredients. Also any kind of gluten or protein concentrates - these were the ingredients that were found to contain the melamine and other stuff in the recalls. Don't buy anything that says "rendered" in the ingredients or "animal digest" (hm, guess what that is? It's digested food...which is literally crap-or it would be if the animal had lived).
Check out the food into in http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodandnutrition/Cat_Food_and_Nutrition.htm
It's really informative.
Good luck!

Answer 7

I buy Friskies and i have to say overll it's been pretty good.
But as the greed and profit margins at the major Corporations gets worse more greedy the pre-canned foods get watered down with junk.
So i add chicken cooked in a slow cooker into her food and some cold liverworst and sometimes the ends of the roast beef from the deli clerk they give it to you or it's very cheap.
Just be sure your cat gets "taurine" ask your vet or go to a library they need this!

Answer 8

I have just done a research project on cat food.
The perfect cat food is meat....wet cat food, in a can. For example, if you could afford to give your cat a can of tuna, that is the best.
Dry foods, based on cereals, contain too many carbohyrdates for the carnivorous predator that a cat is at heart. They get fat from eating it.

Answer 9

You've gotten some very good advice already - and some bad.

I won't reiterate what's already been said, but check out the What to feed link. It gives examples of some very good foods and also discusses the topic.

Answer 10

In the ingredients it should not say by-product. By-product is a bad ingredient for your cat. The cat treats should not say by-product either. I suggest to buy the naturals by purina. It is healthy for your cat and it does not say by-product. The main ingredient should be chicken.