Science Diet vs. Healthy Harvest?
Jennifer White
Hi Fellow Cat People,
I went into my regular pet store the other day to buy another huge bag
of Science Diet for my 3 adult cats, but the owner said that he had
decided not to carry it anymore, and had replaced it with Healthy
Harvest. I agreed to try a (small) bag of Healthy Harvest, but was
curious why he had stopped carrying SD. He said that he objects to
their high prices (Healthy Harvest is 40% cheaper), and that they use
preservatives that are known carcinogens.
The cats are not particularly fond of the HH, and I'll probably got
back to SD, but I am interested in other people's experiences with the
two brands, or if there are other good cat foods to try.
Any information about the health attributes of the foods, your own
cats' preferences, or your veterinarians' opinions is invited.
The cats have dry food out constantly, and about once every three
months they get a can of wet food split among them as a treat.
Obviously they have to really like the dry food, since that is really
all they get.
Thanks for any information/opinions,
Jen
(and Lex and Certain and Impending)
Jessica L. Handy
Jennifer White wrote:
>
> Hi Fellow Cat People,
>
> I went into my regular pet store the other day to buy another huge bag
> of Science Diet for my 3 adult cats, but the owner said that he had
> decided not to carry it anymore, and had replaced it with Healthy
> Harvest. I agreed to try a (small) bag of Healthy Harvest, but was
> curious why he had stopped carrying SD. He said that he objects to
> their high prices (Healthy Harvest is 40% cheaper), and that they use
> preservatives that are known carcinogens.
>
Is it true that SD uses known carcinogens?
Jess
Johanna Botari
Jennifer White wrote:
> The cats are not particularly fond of the HH, and I'll probably got
> back to SD, but I am interested in other people's experiences with the
> two brands, or if there are other good cat foods to try.
>
> Any information about the health attributes of the foods, your own
> cats' preferences, or your veterinarians' opinions is invited.
I am not familiar with Healthy Harvest, but I am trying to switch my
cats off of Science Diet, after several years. My biggest reason is my
skinny, oldest cat, Lenny, has a real barfing problem, and having
examined and tested away all causes, a couple of vets now have told me
that some cats with sensitive tummies will just hurf up SD. The reason?
Their tiny, little round kibbles are dense and easily swallowed whole,
after which they swell in little kittie tummies, get much bigger, and
come back up.
My pet store owners, a couple with many years of pet experience who are
very good at their job (selling pet supplies) seem to have done their
homework on all their products, too. They've told me that SD uses
chemical preservatives (perhaps the same "known carcinogens"), but also,
their protein quaility is supposedly lower, with their prime ingredient
being chicken by-product, i.e., processed feet, beaks, bone meal, etc.
I'm told this is less efficiently utilized by the anima.
So far I have tried Fromm Family nutritionals, a premium, all natural
food that is more expensive per weight than SD, but you feed the cat
even less. It seemed quite good, but the barfer still yakked up the
small, cheerio-type kibbles. What I have most recently had a better
response to is Nature's Recipe, a premium food the same or cheaper than
SD, wich uses chicken, lamb, and rice as prime ingredients. Nature's
Recipe comes in X shaped kibbles that Lenny has to chew, hence he breaks
the food up and eats more slowly, hence, fewer barfies.
I've heard no serious complaints of SD on the nutrition side, i.e., most
vets I've asked will say it is a quality formula, but there are other
things out there that may be better for particular cats.
Johanna
Angie Streich
Jessica L. Handy wrote:
>
>
> >
> Is it true that SD uses known carcinogens?
>
> Jess
I stopped feeding my cats Science Diet dry food because it has a
preservative in it called ethoxyquin, that was orginally developed and
used as a pesticide. It's also used today in the making of a lot of non
food items. I think a previous post mentioned it's used to make rubber
tires. I think it is also found in IAMS dry food as well. I feed my
cats Pro-Plan, which is preserved with Vitamin E. FYI
--Angie
Dan Glover - GO GIANTS
My little kitty, Mr. Spud is now on a strick diet
to keep ash and other fillers out of his diet.
The vet has prescibed SD's CD blend, but also mentioned
Purina's Pro PLan has less filers and is also OK for
cats with urinary problems. Does anyone out there have
any experiance using Purina Pro PLan for thier kitties ?
Thanks
Dan
Helen and Charles Goodwin
I used Purina Pro Plan for my cats (they were all old and now deceased
but all died of old age) but only as an extra. I used it because they
all liked it so much. The cats were old when they started on it and
although some had kidney failure it was age related and nothing to do
with the Pro Plan.
I don't like giving dried food as a staple diet - I feed a mixture of
tinned and fresh to my cat and dogs and the cat has dried as an extra
(only grocery shop at the moment). One of my dogs will occasionally eat
the cat dried but wouldn't touch dog dried. The cata won't touch tinned
so she gets the little square foil trays.
I always thought it was the magnesium content of dried food, not the ash,
which was what caused urinary problems. I have a feeling that although
called ash what is in the food is not ash. I know that sounds silly and
I don't know what it is.
In my opinion (but this is my own and I have no veterinary knowledge)
feeding dried food only is not a satifactory way of feeding a cat. I
have had cats for over 30 years and at one time had a lot and never had
one case of urinary crystals or infection. All I seem to read about in
the cats newsgroups is urinary infection. I think it is because all the
cats now seem to be fed exclusively on dried food but I am sure the vets
who recommend it would shoot me down for that. I have noticed from Cats
magazine (the UK show fancy magazine) that it is getting more common in
this country - 10 years ago no-one would admit to feeding their cats
anythng other than fresh food but I now see adverts from people endorsing
dried.
I know this is not exactly what you asked but going back to it my cats
really liked purina pro plan adult, even though I bought a huge sack
which lasted ages. Personally, I would not feed any dried food to a cat
with urinary problems.
Helen
Sharon Davis
On 28 Feb 1997 07:49:57 GMT, wh...@scully.msu.edu (Jennifer White)
wrote:
>
>back to SD, but I am interested in other people's experiences with the
>two brands, or if there are other good cat foods to try.
>
>Any information about the health attributes of the foods, your own
>cats' preferences, or your veterinarians' opinions is invited.
>
>The cats have dry food out constantly, and about once every three
>months they get a can of wet food split among them as a treat.
>Obviously they have to really like the dry food, since that is really
>all they get.
>
>Thanks for any information/opinions,
>
> Jen
> (and Lex and Certain and Impending)
Jen,
I used Science Diet dry kitten food for my two kittens on the advice
of my vet. They seemed to like it fine and their stools appeared
healthy and all so I continued to use it. Eventually I discovered that
one kitten had developed a severe allergy. I still didn't know what
she was allergic to but I thought that I would start with the food. I
switched to Nutro's Natural Choice kitten food on the advice of a
member of this list, and to my delight, the allergy cleared right up.
The Nutro food has a chicken protein base, no corn and is preserved
with vitamin E so I am still not certain what exactly was causing her
problem. It doesn't matter much to me though as long as she is fine
with the new food.
This is in no way a criticism of Science Diet products, about which I
have heard many good things. The other kitten did just fine on their
kitten food but it is just more convenient to feed them the same. I am
only passing along this information so that you will be aware that
there are several choices and what works best for you is what you
should use.
Sharon Davis
Georges
li...@thebeech.EBay.Sun.COM (Dan Glover - GO GIANTS ) wrote:
> My little kitty, Mr. Spud is now on a strick diet
> to keep ash and other fillers out of his diet.
> The vet has prescibed SD's CD blend, but also mentioned
> Purina's Pro PLan has less filers and is also OK for
> cats with urinary problems. Does anyone out there have
> any experiance using Purina Pro PLan for thier kitties ?
>Thanks
>Dan
Not a direct answer to your query but just a tip.
I have heard rumours locally that there *may* be
a problem with Iams diet (Chicken Flavour) it seems
that it may, and I emphasise 'may' sometimes cause
kidney problems.
Ex-Bacteriologist
Now running boarding cattery
Bristol UK.
Judy or Andrew
Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant which is widely used in the feed industry
and has been included in pet foods for the last 10 years to help prevent
the oxidation of fats in the diet. Without preservation, the fats in pet
foods can become rancid as well as making essential fatty acids and
fat-soluble vitamins such as Vitamins A and E unavailable. Therefore,
some form of antioxidant is necessary to ensure the wholesomeness of
commercially prepared pet foods.
Natural antioxidants such as vitamin E and vitamin C are preferred but
may have difficulty surviving the processing of pet foods. Their
inclusion in the food is no assurance that the fats and fat-soluble
vitamins are being protected. Synthetic antioxidants include ethoxyquin,
butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA).
Ethoxyquin is effective in a lower concentration than the other two and
survives well the rigors of pet food processing. There have been some
poorly-documented complaints by individuals but, to date, there have
been no valid studies showing that ethoxyquin poses any real danger to
pets. In fact ethoxyquin appears to be less toxic than BHT or BHA which
have been commonly used as antioxidants in human foods since 1954. Time
and continued research will provide the real answers. It is also
important to note that many raw foods are preserved with antioxidants
before being purchased for pet foods and therefore even if a pet food
company does not add any, there are likely still preservatives present
in the diet. (copied and pasted from
http://www.familyinternet.com/pet/5-1.htm ) Another site is
http://www.kol.net/~polycell/
Judy
--
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/// //_.-' .-/"; ` ``<._ ``.''_ `. / // /
///_.-' _..--.'_ \ `( ) ) // //
/ (_..-' // (< _ ;_..__ ; `' / ///
/ // // // `-._,_)' // / ``--...____..-' /// / //
In Memory of MAU, Our Beloved Friend. Oct. 30,1996
>
> Jessica L. Handy wrote:
> >
> >
> > >
> > Is it true that SD uses known carcinogens?
> >
> > Jess
>
Angie Streich wrote:
> I stopped feeding my cats Science Diet dry food because it has a
> preservative in it called ethoxyquin, that was orginally developed and
> used as a pesticide. It's also used today in the making of a lot of non
> food items. I think a previous post mentioned it's used to make rubber
> I think it is also found in IAMS dry food as well.
Yes, it is. In the orange bag type anyway.
Diana Wells
My little kitty, Mr. Spud is now on a strick diet
> to keep ash and other fillers out of his diet.
> The vet has prescibed SD's CD blend, but also mentioned
> Purina's Pro PLan has less filers and is also OK for
> cats with urinary problems. Does anyone out there have
> any experiance using Purina Pro PLan for thier kitties ?
My cats have no problems but I use Optimum brand Nature's Recipe and
Purina's Pro Plan Natural Turkey and Barley. My cats seem to like the
Pro Plan best and so far they are happy, healthy cats. My cats have
always prefered dry food and I switched to lower ash brands from my pet
store, instead of grocery store, two or three years ago. Just check out
the ash levels on the brands your vet ok'd and make sure nothing you buy
exceeds those levels. My cats don't like Science Diet but I know many
people who buy it and at one time my vet recommended it. My cats like
variety so I change after two or three bags. I have to do it slowly,
mixing the brands together in different proportions for a few days so
there's no tummy upset.
Diana
R Wrede
hi
It is not the ash level, but the magnesium level that is important.
Unfortunately many brands do not list this information so I recommend you
call their ( hopefully toll free ) number or e-mail address if they have
one.
Renee Wrede
Diana Wells <UEB...@prodigy.com> wrote in article
<5f9gbd$1b...@usenetz1.news.prodigy.com>...
Ruth Mays
Every male cat I have ever had has developed bladder stones when
eating Purina Cat Chow. I finally wised up and switched to Science
Diet (why did it take me so long???)- no more problems.
Ruth Mays
may...@mosquito.com
MktgMan1
Have heard and read that rice is easier to digest than corn. Tried
PetGuard Premium Dry food because its ALL natural. After three months,
LeMew started throwing up occassionally. Went back to ProPlan. No
problems. Go figure...vet said it could be food allergy that had built up
over time.