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Cat Forum / General Topics / July 2003Cat Food
Hi all. I'm new to this group and was just curious to find out opinions on the best food to feed a cat? We currently feed ours Science Diet, but was just wondering if there might be something better. When bringing our new cat to the vet for a checkup, she suggested Eukanuba. My dad, who is also owned by a cat, said his vet suggested Nutro. So many brands to choose from. Thanks in advance. Janel First off, canned food is better than dry food. Other than that, look at the label. Ignore any food that contains any grain as one of the top 3 ingredients. I also avoid brands that have grains listed twice (i.e. corn gluten and corn flour), that is misleading. I also try to avoid by-products. Never buy any food with artificial stabilizers, look for vitamin E instead. Cheers.  SignatureVictor M. Martinez martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv > First off, canned food is better than dry food. Why is canned food better? Doesn't the dry food help keep their teeth and gums healthy? M Actually my vet told me to take my cat off wet food because she was gaining to much weight. All I feed my cats is dry food and they are very healthy. I feed them Nutro. Karen > > First off, canned food is better than dry food. > > Why is canned food better? Doesn't the dry food help keep their teeth and > gums healthy? > > M > Actually my vet told me to take my cat off wet food because she was gaining > to much weight. All I feed my cats is dry food and they are very healthy. I > feed them Nutro. > Karen My vet told me to hold back on the dry food because it's too high in carbohydrates and one of my cats is very fat. I feed them a third to a quarter of a 5/6 oz. can of food (Wellness, Felidae...Sam'll only eat ocean fish Iams!) twice a day, and a "lite" all natural dry food (Flint River Valley). Dee >Why is canned food better? Doesn't the dry food help keep their teeth and >gums healthy? Canned food is better for several reasons, among them that is more closely mimics their "natural" diet in composition. Also, cats usually do not drink enough water, since their bodies evolved to get all the water they need from their food. Particularly if you have neutered males, it is imperative that they receive adequate water in their diet. Wet food is the best way of doing this. As for the weight issue, why would wet food make a cat fatter than dry food? Is has more water and more protein, but no more fat. A cat will get fat if he or she does not exercise enough. We have 5 adult cats who eat wet food morning and night, plus have kibble available all the time for snacks. Not one of them is even slightly overweight. Cats are notorious bad chewers. The "dry food is better for teeth" is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Besides, dry food has a lot of carbohydrates, which cats have no need for. Why feed corn to a carnivore? If you're interested to learning more about this, I recommend the following site: http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm SignatureVictor M. Martinez martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv > Besides, dry food has a lot of carbohydrates, > which cats have no need for. Why feed corn to a carnivore? I did notice on my kitten's food that the 3rd ingredient is grits. I was looking at the first 3 ingredients because of your earlier post. She seems to be thriving on it, though, and having regular and consistant toileting. Funny you should mention the water thing, as I was thinking that my kitten sure drinks a lot of water. She drinks from her bowl that is sitting next to her food (just in case she needs water while she is eating) and then she goes to the dogs water bowl and drinks frequently. I guess this is a good thing, since I don't have to worry about her getting dehydrated :-) > If you're interested to learning more about this, I recommend the following > site: > http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm Thanks, Victor :-) I will check it out. I will also start looking at the ingredients when I buy food for her. M That's what I've been told by my vet. -- Visit my new webpage - http://mywebpage.netscape.com/Aeris5000/cats.html Michelle Fulton wrote in message ... >> First off, canned food is better than dry food. > >Why is canned food better? Doesn't the dry food help keep their teeth and >gums healthy? > >M >That's what I've been told by my vet. Most vets have little knowledge of feline nutrition, nothing more that what they learned in vet school. Also, they receive a lot of "information" from food vendors, particularly the Science Diet folks. Do you expect a food company to be objective in their recommendations? I certainly don't, that's why I've taken the time to do research. SignatureVictor M. Martinez martiv@FAKE.che.utexas.edu http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv Victor M. Martinez wrote in message ... >Most vets have little knowledge of feline nutrition, nothing more that what >they learned in vet school. Also, they receive a lot of "information" from >food vendors, particularly the Science Diet folks. Do you expect a food >company to be objective in their recommendations? I certainly don't, that's >why I've taken the time to do research. What I don't like about the dry food is that it is dry and cats have to drink lots of water to compensate for the lack of moisture. Cats are not drinking natural rain water or water from a creek, but city water; fluoridated, chlorinated, chemically treated tap water. I believe that fluoride was banned from the water supply in Canada as fluoride hardens the bone, but causes major problems as well, including arthritis, bone cancer, etc. The US continues to pump fluoride into its water supply which is too much fluoride because unless you brush your teeth with baking soda, you'll get plenty of fluoride in your toothpaste. Now the danger in the US is that young children are getting fluoride poisoning. Troy is right on about cats consuming small rodents and insects and that it's the best diet for them. Natural prey has lots of moisture. I suppose I'll have to order filtered water and give some to the kittens. -- Visit my new webpage - http://mywebpage.netscape.com/Aeris5000/cats.html >> First off, canned food is better than dry food. > >Why is canned food better? Doesn't the dry food help keep their teeth and >gums healthy? Wet food is better in some theories as it contains more water. The best thing for health teeth & gums is some raw food every so often. The canned stuff seems to get well stuck round their teeth, the dried less so but if you think of cutting a biscuit with a knife it soft of shots through compared with cutting meat. However a wholly raw diet needs considerable care to make sure it's balanced, not to mention a cat that will eat all the various bits of it! SignatureFive Cats > Hi all. I'm new to this group and was just curious to find out opinions on > the best food to feed a cat? We currently feed ours Science Diet, but was [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Janel The best diet for a cat are rodents, small birds, and insects - not entirely practical for most of us! I personally don't believe wet or dry food is particularly good - both incredibly processed and full of artifical ingredients. The problem is that there are really no "fresh" alternatives apart from the odd fresh meat meal which does not provide all the nutrients that a cat needs. I make my cats homemade food which is time consuming and, initially, takes a lot of effort to make sure that the cats are getting all the nutrients/minerals/vitamins/food groups they need. People will often tell you that product "X" or "Y" is the best for your cat and everything else is inferior. I think that anyone that believes that you can get an entire balanced diet out of a can or box of biscats has been subject to very good advertising. Whatever you do, provide your cat with a variety because although cats will get used to the same food day in and day out it doesn't mean it's good for them (also bare in mind that a cats dietry requirments are no less complicated than ours). As Victor said, look at the label and check the ingredients and also remember that you get what you pay for. There is a superb all-round meal suppliment called "The Missing Link" http://www.designinghealth.com which contains all the good bits that other foods may be missing. It is well worth using as I've seen such good results (as have friends). Good luck with your decision making! Troy. We try not feed our cat at all as she was getting too heavy. Obviously she has plenty of water, but deprived of food, heat and light has certainly reduced her weight considerably. Our vet told us to do this. > > Hi all. I'm new to this group and was just curious to find out opinions on > > the best food to feed a cat? We currently feed ours Science Diet, but was [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > Troy. |
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