Cat Food For Healthy Diet- Any Clear Winners ?

[Dawn F]

I was in jolleyes yesterday and the boy on the till tried to get me to buy there own brand stuff which he assures me is the same as royal canin - I didn't because I had parked the car miles away and was wearing very high heels but I might get a back next time just to have a look

[Mark]

I remember thinking it will rot Kylie's teeth until I learned differently 

[JUDYANNGEE]

Thanks Mark, I give them JWBeloved dry, in fact more dry than wet, so not such a great issue really.

[Mark]

The various sugars bit is fine as it is needed to make it a complete food - to get the glucose balance right - it's the 4% meat that isn't so good. It is no better than regular Whiskas or Felix which are fine as long as the cat has a good quality dry to go with it.

[JUDYANNGEE]

I'm a new cat owner, bought a lot of Felix As Good As It Looks from PAH and am disappointed to find that there are "various sugars" in it

[Robbo]

its very suprising what sounds good on the label isnt always what it seems, companies can get away with a lot by way of wordings!

I am even a bit wary with Orijen as they claim it is grain-free but one of the ingredients is listed as Zea Mays which is corn 

yes i was reading that earlier today, like i say you should research each ingreadient and be a bit of a geek like me 

[Mark]

its very suprising what sounds good on the label isnt always what it seems, companies can get away with a lot by way of wordings!

I am even a bit wary with Orijen as they claim it is grain-free but one of the ingredients is listed as Zea Mays which is corn 

[Skiddaw]

And it really does depend on what they'll eat. Re dried, Uncle M quite liked Hills but The Munchkin won't touch it (though he likes Royal Canin Outdoor 30 very much). They both liked Nature's Menu wet, but not so much after they changed the formula. The Munchkin likes Sheba pouches but doesn't like any of the high quality wets (Applaws, etc).

[Robbo]

it depends on what you can afford to....it can get pricey depending what u feed etc........ Hills science diet, not bad...ish..., contains meat meal, and grain/cereal,  not the best, but its £15 for 2kg bag of dry, while applwas dry, which is not meat meal or any derivatives just the best stuff with no grains, same prrice.......except not many places stock applaws so there is a postage charge on that.

i always researche the makes online, find the ingredients and research them.....its very suprising what sounds good on the label isnt always what it seems, companies can get away with a lot by way of wordings!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I favour a predominantly wet diet, and whether wet or dry I favour a high meat content, minimum grains and no nasty artificial colourings etc.  Provided your cat will eat them, of course.

As to brands - for dry food I prefer Orijen and Applaws as they are grain free.  When I'm not feeding Orijen, I usually feed hi life dry or james wellbeloved dry.  At the moment I'm feeding joe and jills dry as it was on offer recently in tesco so I stocked up with a few bags.  PAH premiuim dry is pretty good too, and regularly on BOGOF or similar.  Generally, the more premium brands sold in pet shops are better quality than supermarket brands.  So Hills, Royal Canin, JWB etc have a higher meat content and better ingredients in general than go cat, whiskas etc.  I wouldnt say RC was wonderful - it's in that group of good foods but not necessarily any better than the likes of PAH own brand.  I think it was RC that wouldnt give the meat content of their dry foods - I think someone on here tried to find out and RC wouldn't tell.  I bought some RC Pure Feline recently and it had a meat percentage on the back so maybe they've decided to be more open, or maybe it was just that particular food.  Iirc, it was slightly lower than some other comparable foods.  I do think RC have links to vets because of their prescription foods, and many vets will recommend it, as they recommend Hills.  I do think it's a good food, but not perhaps as fantastic as some vets will have you believe.

For wet - foods with a high meat content and which are complete inc hi life essentials, PAH Purely, Tesco luxury, Tesco Finest, bozita, animonda..   complementary foods with high meat content include applaws and almo nature, some hi life pouches and tins.

[Christine (Blip)]

I feed Blip a predominantly wet diet to ensure adequate fluid intake.  She's currently keen on Miamor (higher meat content) and Almo Nature (100% meat), but also Gourmet Pearl.  So I alternate: one pouch of GP for breakfast and one pouch of the high meat content foods for supper.

She also has about 20g of Royal Canin Neutered Mature dried food down each day for snacks.

She's in pretty good health and looks very good - we need to keep up the exercise on this amount of food though 

[Robbo]

i feed a mix of Applaws wet and dry kitten food...... ive noticed a 25g drop in feeding amount from science diet to Applaws dry.  If you read science diet there is a lot of grain related ingredients in it, 3 kinds from my head maybe...so maybe its the reduction off filler thats aided a 25g less?

[moiramassey]

I feed Orijen dried - grain free - and there has been a big improvement in my cats' health since I changed to it. Also, they eat less of it.

They also have a small feed of Applaws tinned (one 156g between four cats) each evening, which they adore.

[Beth]

Yeah I tend to agree - but in this case one of the rescue workers works at the vets so it does sound like the vet has genuinely done her homework - and the woman says they have genuinely seen a dip in amount of cat illnesses they are seeing where owners swap to RC.  Maybe they would also see a dip if they dropped to Bozita, Orijen etc, who knows!

Yep, i agree with that, if they're swapping from the 4% meat full o' nasties stuff to RC then that's definitely an improvement, but i'd still rate it among the lower end of the premium stuff.

[Mark]

Hill's do the same thing with vets. I think PAH premium is as good. Keep an eye out as they usually sell it BOGOF over Easter 

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

As I said, Fluffybunny.. RC are very good at PR and they do have a good product. We at CP would be delighted to test drive a few kilos if they offered it gratis!  But IMHO there are equally as good products on the market. 

And I wouldn't knock good old Felix - widely accessible, reasonably priced and never known it to cause problems.

On the other hand we have just taken delivery of a staggering amount of Gourmet Perle and Gourmet Gold - a freebie organised by HQ. Sharon gave it to our recently ex-stray Dodger, who promptly threw the whole lot up! Way too rich for his little tum! 

[fluffybunny]

Yeah I tend to agree - but in this case one of the rescue workers works at the vets so it does sound like the vet has genuinely done her homework - and the woman says they have genuinely seen a dip in amount of cat illnesses they are seeing where owners swap to RC.  Maybe they would also see a dip if they dropped to Bozita, Orijen etc, who knows!

[Beth]

The rescue my kitties came from said their vet did a lot of research into cat diets and concluded that Royal Canin was the best - she says since she's been recommending it she's seen far fewer health problems in many of her clients cats. 

I dislike royal canin purely because they target vets by "training" them in nutrition, and i actually think they add a lot of unnecessary ingredients to their foods. My favourite brands for cat and dog food are Orijen, followed by Arden Grange. My cats have a partly wet diet and i use Bozita for that.

[Mark]

I just wish mine would eat it. Willow was the only one eating sensitive 33 but now she is on renal, I am stuck with it - well not true as the hedgies are eating it, otherwise I would have donated it.

[fluffybunny]

The rescue my kitties came from said their vet did a lot of research into cat diets and concluded that Royal Canin was the best - she says since she's been recommending it she's seen far fewer health problems in many of her clients cats. 

[Mark]

Poor Mark is so embarrassed by the fact his beloved Clapton eats like a chav!   

It's true  He turns his nose up at high-end food like Arden Grange yet gorged himself on Lidl wet food just now 

Orijen is possibly the best dry food as it is grain-free and has lots of high quality ingredients. Also Arden Grange is good. At the end of the day, it's whatever they will eat. Hills science Plan seems to be the most palatable better food in my experience.

[Dawn F]

I've made my lot a real pain by giving them too much choice, now all four eat something different!  I use royal canin dry and of the three who will eat wet one likes felix supermeat pouches, one likes felix as good as it looks and one likes pets at home purely chicken - all the wet food eaters get applaws at the weekend but I couldn't really justify the cost if they wanted it every day

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

I think we would most agree that supermarket own brands aren't value for money. Also at the lower end of the scale are products like Katkins and Go Cat. (Actually my own vet says that an abnormally high amount of male cats with cystitis that he sees have been fed Go Cat biscuits... but that could just be coincidence because they are a very popular brand).

For political reasons we most of us avoid Iams - Proctor and Gamble, animal testing, etc... 

Royal Canin is good you are right, but also bare in mind they are good at PR too!  Other acceptable brands in my view are Purina, James Wellbeloved and Natures Menu. Others will have their own favourite niche brands too. 

At the end of the day, it boils down to what your cats will eat and what you can afford. I always suggest to folks we rehome cats and kitten to that the best balance is a higher end, easily accessible wet food - say Felix pouches - balanced with a dry alternative of a high quality biscuit from Pets at Home (or similar outlet) such as Purina One or JWB. But even with the best intentions, your puss will dictate to you what you feed it. Poor Mark is so embarrassed by the fact his beloved Clapton eats like a chav!   

[moongirl]

Hi,

Are there any clear winners and losers when it comes to cat food? The reason I ask is that there seems to be a bewildering range of choice, often with plenty of marketing spin from manufacturers. If I believed all of the spin, I might go for a bowl myself, instead of my nice juicy bacon and cheese toasted sandwich with a generous drizzle of hot chilli sauce.

There are the obvious choices of wet food and dry food, but each of these has brands competing in the marketplace with a range of products. From general reading it seems that Royal Canin is a reputable manufacturer and I wondered how their products compared with rival products from anyones personal experience.

Also, are there any types/manufactures of food that should be a definite no.

Thx & Rgds