Hills Science Diet vs. Nutro vs. Wellness

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David - 19 Mar 2005 01:27 GMT

Is Science Diet better than all other brands? There were some catty posts
regarding that. Don't want to start another fight..Cat has not been eating
well, so I bought Nutro Gourmet dry - hopefully he'll like that.

He just ignored Iams Original - it might as well have been sand.

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Cathy Friedmann - 19 Mar 2005 01:37 GMT

> Is Science Diet better than all other brands?

Depends on who answers. ;-) I think it'd be a major miracle to ever get a
consensus on this ng as to which food is generally the best.

I've fed my own cats SD since '91, when I switched from grocery store
brands. I tried feeding them Nutro at one point - at a time when it was
highly recommended, but they threw it up (even when mixed in w/ their SD) so
gave up on that. Then was feeding them Royal Canin along w/ SD a few years
ago, but they gradually lost interest in the RC, so have simply stayed w/
SD. Otoh, I am just not fanatical about the whole thing - as long as I'm
feeding them a decent food & they're eating it & doing well, I'm content.

Cathy

There were some catty posts

> regarding that. Don't want to start another fight..Cat has not been eating
> well, so I bought Nutro Gourmet dry - hopefully he'll like that.
>
> He just ignored Iams Original - it might as well have been sand.

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Brandy?Alexandre - 19 Mar 2005 01:50 GMT

Cathy Friedmann <clfr@adelphia.net> wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav:

> Depends on who answers. ;-) I think it'd be a major miracle to
> ever get a consensus on this ng as to which food is generally the
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Cathy

That's the truth. Kami is SD all the way. When she rejected every
last prescription food on the planet, SD senior had the values closest
to what the vet wanted her to have AND SHE EATS IT. There's even a
couple of flavors of the adult maintenance formula that have decent
values so I can toss those in once in a while for variety.

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Brandy??Alexandre?
http://www.swydm.com/?refer=BrandyAlx
Well, would you?

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Mary - 19 Mar 2005 02:00 GMT

> Is Science Diet better than all other brands? There were some catty posts
> regarding that. Don't want to start another fight..Cat has not been eating
> well, so I bought Nutro Gourmet dry - hopefully he'll like that.
>
> He just ignored Iams Original - it might as well have been sand.

Why not just try them on your cat and see which premium food
he will eat? I had a cat that loved SD dry and did well on it. I found
it very oily and fishy-stinky, and that she produced less poo on it.
But now I am feeding my cats mostly canned.

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David - 19 Mar 2005 18:54 GMT

Right now he's not eating anything...he turns his nose up at Wellness..I
bought a bag of Nutro Gourmet dry and he hasn't gone near it...I'll try
Science diet next, plus some premium wet food in those packets...

How long can a cat go without eating? He doesn't seem any worse for
wear..He isn't following me around whining. I saw his records from the
animal shelter where he was sent in February after his owner died...

He was described as "Grossly Obese" and weighed 14.8 lbs! They took a photo
of him and he is indeed fatter. When I brought him home last week he
weighed 11 lbs 11 oz. Last night his weight had gone down to 11 lbs 8 oz...

But he doesn't look scrawny - I can't feel his ribs. And look at Renee
Zellweiger..(although I want him to be Kirstie Alley)

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KellyH - 19 Mar 2005 22:00 GMT

> Right now he's not eating anything...he turns his nose up at Wellness..I
> bought a bag of Nutro Gourmet dry and he hasn't gone near it...I'll try
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> But he doesn't look scrawny - I can't feel his ribs. And look at Renee
> Zellweiger..(although I want him to be Kirstie Alley)

Cats can go into fatty liver disease if they do not eat for a few days.
PLEASE make sure he eats something, even if it's Meow Mix or Fancy Feast.
Get him eating, and then work on the quality food issue. If you have dry
food, put out a countable amount of nuggets so you can verify whether or not
he eats anything. Also try meat baby food (chicken, turkey, beef) with no
onions. Get the kind that's just meat and broth.
What was he eating in the shelter? Did he like it?

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-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
"Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG

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Meghan Noecker - 20 Mar 2005 10:06 GMT

>Cats can go into fatty liver disease if they do not eat for a few days.
>PLEASE make sure he eats something, even if it's Meow Mix or Fancy Feast.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>onions. Get the kind that's just meat and broth.
>What was he eating in the shelter? Did he like it?

You might also take some wet food or gravy and put it on his foot. My
own cat, when she was sick, stopped eating. Couldn't get her to eat
for anything. Put some gravy on her foot, and she had to lick the
offensive stuff off. That kick started her appetite, and she was
eating within minutes.

Sometimes, they lose their appetite and have to be kinda forced (or
tricked) into eating something. And once something is in, they are
more likely to want to eat again.

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hamandcheese@betweentheknees.com - 20 Mar 2005 19:14 GMT

>>Cats can go into fatty liver disease if they do not eat for a few days.
>>PLEASE make sure he eats something, even if it's Meow Mix or Fancy Feast.
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>tricked) into eating something. And once something is in, they are
>more likely to want to eat again.

Just to add to Meghan suggestion, I was in PetsMart yesterday and saw
a product labeled as a *sauce* for cat food. Kind of a dumb product in
terms of how they position it as ingredient booster but it probably
works well to trigger interest in appetite. It was only in a fish
flavor that I could see, and comes in a sauce shaped beige plastic
bottle if you are going to try and look for it. I didn't catch the
name of the product.

-mhd

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Karen - 20 Mar 2005 19:37 GMT

on 3/20/05 12:14 PM:

>>> Cats can go into fatty liver disease if they do not eat for a few days.
>>> PLEASE make sure he eats something, even if it's Meow Mix or Fancy Feast.
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
>
> -mhd

I got some of that for my picky eater. No go. I got the sprinkles that are
supposed to make it "irresistable". Yeah right. *sigh*

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PawsForThought - 21 Mar 2005 04:18 GMT

>I got some of that for my picky eater. No go. I got the sprinkles

that are
supposed to make it "irresistable". Yeah right. *sigh*

Have you ever tried sprinking a little parmesan cheese on their food?
Seems to work with some of the more finicky ones.

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