Cat food Vet VS pet stores
Hunter
wondering if that was true. I heard Ekinuba (sp?) was good. Any comments
would be appreciated.
Thx,
Kim
news:3p0Ja.253178$ro6.6...@news2.calgary.shaw.ca...
I bet your vet told you that.
I'm going to have to disagree as there are many high-quality cat foods
available at pet supply stores like EaglePack, PetGuard, Wysong, Felidae,
etc. I would not however feed my cats anything from the pet aisle at the
grocery store. That stuff is crap and contains animal by-products which
essentially is animal cannibalism in a bag or can. Gross, gross gross!!!!!
Just my opinion so please no one flame me for it.
ashort
about the same as Iams
D. Stephen Heersink
My vet, whose no slouch when it comes to keeping up with the latest
information, claims the worst wet food is better than the best dry
food. She admits that this advice is contrary to what she has been
telling cat owners for the last 15 years. I was flabbergasted.
Apparently, cats need meat, and the more the merrier. IAMS, Science
Diet, Fancy Cat, and even Friskies (latter two made by same company)
are rich in meats (and not just "meat by products").
I had my cats on Science Diet dry food for ten years and just switched
them to hairball formula of IAMS with success when it comes to
hairballs and enjoyment when it comes to eating. Fortunately, my cats
are not finicky eater and adjust to almost anything (save 9 Lives)
that I put before them.
I am impressed with IAMS formulas as far as both wet and dry food are
concerned, but I wouldn't hesitate to use IAMS dry in the morning and
Friskies in the evening (I don't; I use IAMS wet at night). But all
the warnings about dental problems with wet food seem exaggerated, and
there is no question my guys like the wet food better than the dry.
Conclusion: If you have the money, I'd buy IAMS as a very good
commercially-available wet cat food. If you want to mix wet with dry,
again I found IAMS superior when it comes to meat content. There's no
question other, more expensive foods are available, but the point is
there are diminishing returns. And I return to my vet's point: The
worst wet food is better than the best dry food.
Kind regards,
___________________
D. Stephen Heersink
San Francisco
dsh...@intergate.com
Eowyn
> My vet, whose no slouch when it comes to keeping up with the latest
> information, claims the worst wet food is better than the best dry
> food. <snip>
Your vet is right on, in my experience. My poor Sasha went through
several weeks of urinary problems (squatting everywhere, blood in the
urine - had me *very* scared!) After all the test it was determined
she had "irritable bowels" - and for 2 weeks I stuffed pills down her
poor little throat - she didn't like that at all! When all was said
and done with the meds (2 different kinds) and she was still having
trouble, the vet Finally informed me that cats are "desert" animals.
They don't normally drink very much water - instead, getting their
water requirements through the food they eat (which would be other
animals in non-domesticated situations). I immediately switched to
canned food which I smash up nice and fine and mix with warm water -
lots of it - she drinks it all down and the urinary problems have
completely disappeared!
I think that for indoor/outdoor cats, dry food is probably fine - it
supplements the mice/birds/etc that they hunt & eat. But for indoor
only cats, like my Sasha, wet food is the only way to go. We use
Friskies because the pieces come in a nice beef gravy (she doesn't
like white meats). I imagine she gets a good 1/2 cup or more water a
day this way.
Eowyn
ashort
all over the US.. The new studies show that dry food does not make
that big of a difference in dental hygiene, and contains 30-60%
carbohydrates. Cats do not digest carbs very well, and many believe
they contribute to many health problems.
Scott Barnard
harmful or dangerous? A cardinal sin to many of you here, I feed my
cat Whiskas and he seems normal and healthy (though he eats a LOT). I
try to avoid the cat food with more fish/seafood flavorings in it and
I have tried feeding him other stuff, but the dry Whiskas is the ONLY
thing he likes. He won't eat anything BUT Whiskas/Crave.
I don't have a lot of spare cash, but is it really necessary for me to
switch him to some fancy vetinary cat food. The only reason I see
that he should do it is dental care (his teeth look kind of rough and
he's lately chewing on bark/roots).
Steve Crane
It may be his vet did tell him that. Primarily because his vet has
taken a little better look at nutrition. Three of the four brands
recommended above contain excessive levels of calcium and phosphorus,
in excess of the Key Nutritional Factors levels for an adult cat. I
would guess the vet had gone beyond the elementary level of assessing
the food based on ingredients and was assesing the food based upon the
nutrients.
Did you ever wonder how a food could possibly end up with calcium
levels as high as 1.3%? Plain chicken meat only contains 0.01%
calcium. There is virtually no calcium in the grains, veggies etc. The
vast majority of calcium in a pet food comes from ground up bone
tissue in the meat meals. The cheaper the meat meals, the more calcium
will be in the finished product.
D. Stephen Heersink
Most of us love our dear animals above almost everything else, that we
are often willing to do stupid things to make us feel good about them.
For example, the Waterford glass used in Fancy Cat commercials. And, I
often find that those who peddle something often have a financial
interest in the peddling.
So it came as relief when my veterinarian of 20 years made this
statement at my cats' last annual visit: "The worst wet food is better
than the best dry food." Studies, she claims, have demonstrated that
healthy teeth are no more common in cats who eat dry food as with
those who eat wet food.
Moreover, she stressed the importance of meats being the principal
ingredients -- it matters not which, but just so that it is. In my
shopping for "new" food (change from Science Diet to something else),
I kept her comments in mind. I could spend a fortune on cat food and
gain only diminishing returns on the benefits I would get. My search
led me to IAMS (dry in the morning, wet as night) because meat, not
meat by products, were almost always the first ingredients.
As long as my pocket book can support it, I will feed them a diet far
less composed of grains and sweeteners (which like human food can
cause Type II Diabetes in cats), and stress the meat. Fortunately,
neither of my Siamese are finicky eaters, and make it clear that,
while they prefer IAMS wet food, they'll do Dad a favor and allow him
to do dry food in the morning.
Maybe there are better products on the market, but I was impressed
with Friskies and Fancy Cat, other commercial brands that are cheaper
than IAMS. With the price of tuna and wet cat food these days, I even
give in occasionally to feeding them tuna from a can (not albacore, of
course). The point of the above is that (1) food content is the most
important, (2) that meat should be the prominent food ingredient, (3)
and feed cats wet food over dry food whenever the occasion avails.
Steve Crane
> Moreover, she stressed the importance of meats being the principal
> ingredients -- it matters not which, but just so that it is. In my
> shopping for "new" food (change from Science Diet to something else),
> I kept her comments in mind. I could spend a fortune on cat food and
> gain only diminishing returns on the benefits I would get. My search
> led me to IAMS (dry in the morning, wet as night) because meat, not
> meat by products, were almost always the first ingredients.
Meat first if a great marketing trick and rarely true about any canned
food and NEVER true about any dry food. There are two major tricks.
1. Wet meats. By using a meat protein that is "wet" the water
contained in the meat can be claimed as "meat" for the purposes of
label ingredients. Thus when you read terms like 'Chicken", "Beef",
"Lamb" you are looking at wet meats. In contrast any meat which is
followed by the word "meal" is the dessicated form of that meat.
Ingredients are listed in order of weight at the time of entry into
the manufacturing process, not in order of weight after the production
process is completed. So how does this affect a food? Example:
A mythical food with the following label ingredients: chicken, rice,
corn gluten, turkey, rice flour..... could contain the following:
15 ounces of chicken wet meat(70% water) = 4.5 ounces of actual meat
14 ounces of rice (10% water) = 12.6 ounces of grain
13 ounces of corn gluten (10% water) = 11.7 ounces of grain
12 ounces of turkey (70% water) = 3.6 ounces meat
11 ounces of rice flour (10% water) = 9.9 ounces of grain.
Total 8.1 ounces of meat, 34.2 ounces of grain
A second marketing trick is called "splitting" the grains. An example
of such a label might be: chicken, rice flour, rice gluten, corn meal,
ground yellow corn..... While chicken is listed first, there are
substantially more grains in this food that chicken.
So how can a consumer determine if the food contains more
carbohydrates (grains) than meat? Add up the 5 numbers. In the case
of cat food add up the 5 guaranteed analysis numbers on the bag or
can. Examples below:
Dry example
30% protein
15% fat
2% ash
2% fiber
10% moisture
59% = Total Do not add any other listed numbers. Omega fatty acids
etc are already included in the fat numbers for example.
In this case the numbers add up to 59% - where's the rest of the food?
What is left is carbohydrate. 100%-59% = 41% carbohydrate. That would
be the minimum level of carbohydrate in this example. Remember that a
portion of the protein and fat listed is derived from the grains. In
this example 41% carbohydrate is substantially greater that the 30%
protein listed which is primarily meat.
Canned example
78% water
8% protein
3% fat
1% ash
1% fiber
91% Total = 8% carbohydrate minimum, in this case the carbohydrates
numbers are equal to the protein level at 8%. Since a portion of the
protein and fat was supplied by the grains - this food contains more
carbohydrates than meat as well.
You can do this simple math with any food and find out if you have
been fooled by marketing glitz in regards to being "meat first".
> As long as my pocket book can support it, I will feed them a diet far
> less composed of grains and sweeteners (which like human food can
> cause Type II Diabetes in cats),
There is no data to support this theory. While the carbophobics have
postulated that diabetes may be caused by carbs, there is yet no
supporting studies to confirm it in any way. Cats are not humans -
what happens in humans cannot be transferred to cats. Most board
certified veterinary internists are not in agreement that diabetes is
"caused" by anything at this point, except for genetics (poor
breeding).