On May 9, 4:24 pm, fem...@nospam.com wrote:

I'm not too familiar with allergies, as I've never had to deal with
it, so I'm not sure
what exactly constitutes a "allergy" food. What ingredients are left
off, or added,
to meet this criteria?
Pro Plan *does* have a new "natural" line called "Pro Plan Select".
You might check
it out and see what you think. I noticed that one of the claims is,
there is no corn
in it. IIRC it did contain wheat, though. Does that affect allergies?
There aren't any added colors or artificial flavors. I'm usually not
suckered in by
those stupid claims that food contains blueberries, or sweet potatoes,
or
leafy greens, whatever. But this one the cats really seem to like.
You make a good point though. Purina is a major player in the cat food
industry, and
they *should* expand their line to include alternatives to the other
brands that *do*
specialize.

Sherry

I have been using several varieties of Wellness ever since I adopted Duffy,
and I added Innova EVO when PetFoodDirect began to carry it.  I adopted
Duffy three years ago, so I made these choices long before the current
crisis began.  I did deliberately choose products with no grain -- not
because of contamination (no problem back then, as far as I know) but
because grains are not needed by cats and may be contraindicated.  I had
previously free-fed Holly with dry cat food but moved exclusively to a
canned diet for both cats at that same time.  All of this evolved as I
learned that a canned diet is much healthier for cats and began to realize
that the old theory that dry food is somehow better for a cat's teeth simply
isn't true.  Cats don't even chew as people do -- they "crunch."  Even with
people, would we really eat pretzels in order to clean our teeth??  There is
a much lower incidence of diseases such as diabetes and UTI in cats that
receive good quality canned diets.  Wellness and Innova EVO are
premium-quality cat food, and both of my cats have been thriving.  It has
been well worth it to me to buy quality food.  Interestingly, it doesn't
cost as much more as I expected because this food is "dense," and my cats
simply don't need nearly as much of it to maintain their weight.  Each cat
receives 1/3 of a 5.5 oz. can twice a day.  That looks and sounds too small,
but it has been "just right" to maintain stable weight.  They are both
active and beautiful cats.  Holly weighs 9 pounds, and Duffy weighs a little
more than 8 pounds.  (Duffy looks larger than Holly in some of their
pictures, but that is because of his longer, fluffy fur.  He is actually
rather small for a male cat.  He was much too thin when I first adopted him,
so I did use regular Innova -- which is higher in calories -- until he
reached his ideal weight.)

MaryL

Photos of Duffy and Holly:      >'o'<
Duffy:  http://tinyurl.com/cslwf
Holly:  http://tinyurl.com/9t68o
Duffy and Holly together:  http://tinyurl.com/8b47e