Cat food question. Is it really worth feeding my cat expensive cat food?

Question

Is it really worth feeding my cat expensive cat food?

*** It's $17 for a bag. Wellness is the brand.

Answer 1

its not worth it just go get the canned cat food is only 89 cents!

Answer 2

it is but expense doesn't mean good. I oi not believe that ry food should be fed at all to cats but if insisted, wellness core  or evo are top choices because they have no grains Learn about what makes a food good or bad





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 3

Let's ask the question another way - is it worth it for you to eat healthy food, or should you save money and eat hot dogs every night?  It's cheaper to eat hot dogs than eat a proper diet, but I'll bet you don't do that.   Cheap foods are cheap for a reason - they are nothing but fillers that are of questionable nutritional value for our cats.  They are mostly corn - it's cheap, but cats were meant to eat meat not grain.  The other main ingredient is by-products - that's not meat, it's the scrap "parts" that have been deemed unfit for human consumption.  You get what you pay for.  Quality, wholesome foods really help to ensure that our cats get proper nutrition, and stay as healthy as possible.

Wellness is an *excellent* brand, by the way!  

Answer 4

Cats need good quality food to stay healthy. Think about what they eat in the wild.  Dry food is not enough for your cat, but if you must feed it, feed them the best brand you can. Wellness is good.

Have you ever thought about feeding your cats real food?  There is a book out called "Whole Health for Happy Cats" that explains cat nutrition and how to make balanced, cost effective cat food for your cat.

I have 3 very healthy felines that I feed homecooked, raw, and a little bit of high quality dry food as treats.

One recipe my cats like is:

2 lbs of ground turkey

1 small chicken liver

1/4 cup of minced beef heart

2 1/2 teaspoons eggshell powder (from eggshells that I saved and ground)

2,000 milligrams of Taurine(an essential amino acid for cats)

Cook turkey and liver in a bit of water until just done.  Stir in minced heart, calcium, and taurine.

I also give my cats raw chicken necks a few times a week to clean their teeth. Once a week or so, they get a treat of raw beefheart.

Cooked whole eggs as well as raw egg yolks are also a great healthy treat for your cat.  If you have to feed dry food, why not treat your cat to some real food at least a few times a week.

I buy meat and eggs on sale for my cats, make the cat food and freeze it to use conveniently when I need it, and all  3 of my cats are very healthy and I feed them for less than $30  per month

Answer 5

Absolutely. Have you considered Felidae? It's a high quality food but very affordable.

Answer 6

I think doing your research on ingredients and what they are before you make a decision is your best bet. Learn to be a label reader. You get what you pay for: but just because it's the most expensive doesn't make it the best. Know what is in their food before making your decision.

I certainly know that the cheaper the food is the more of a chance there is for filler ingredients and dyes. I personally stick with brands like Nutro but that's because that's what works for my cat crew. A little knowledge can help you make the right choice for your cats.

Answer 7

ok I have a question to you. How would you feel it that cat food you do fed your cat ends up killing your cat? Because of bad wheat? that's in all cat food. Remember the cat food recall last year? Menu Foods puts out HUNDREDS of different brands of cat food. So check your brands. Wellness wasnt on the list. My cat of 8 eights died a year ago next month from food I thought was good for him. My beautiful heatlhy 16 pound cat wasted away to less than 3 pounds.

It's not the cost of the food that matters but the safest one.

Answer 8

I have a dog not a cat but I've only fed my dog high quality dog food from petsmart that is on the expensive side and I can tell the difference between her and other dogs that I know that are fed grocery store food. If you want a healthy cat, feed her the high quality stuff.

Answer 9

I think it all depends on the cat. I've started giving my cat expensive food because his coat was looking really dull and he was shedding a lot, and he hates it but he'll eat it if he has no other choice.  

Answer 10

depends if they need special food or not, or wat they like and if u can afford, i feed mine cheap cos that all she like no idea y, but my fat cat gets special dry food to help her lose weight she put on after been fixed.

so it depends on u and ur cat

Answer 11

It really depends on your cats needs and likes. My big male tabby cat won't touch my Bengal's "d**k Van Patten's Nature Balance" but he LOVES the cheap kitty mewmew mix from the dollar store. He's happy with it, has a healthy coat and plenty of energy so I'm happy with it. My Bengal has food allergies so that's why she has special food.

Answer 12

Unequivocally----YES!!!!  The cheap foods you get at Petsmart/Petco and the grocery stores are filled with carbs and fillers, and very little quality meat.  Furthermore, many of the protein sources in these foods are "by-products" such as "chicken by product," or "turkey by-product."  By products are parts of rendered animals, and include hair, eyes, intestines, hooves, etc.  Anything can be put into pet foods as long as the rendering company has followed the USDA's rules for "clean" practice, ie, no fecal matter has contaminated the ingredients.  Also, most of the cheaper foods have lots of carbs, such as wheat gluten (which was involved in the food recall last year), corn gluten, soy, pysllium husks, barley, etc.  These are not easily digestible by cats (or dogs), as cats weren't made to eat this stuff.  They are carnivores, and their digestive tracks were meant to digest protein and very little carbs.  These carbs play a huge role in obesity and diabetes in cats as well.  By rule, the first 5 ingredients listed on pet food should contain 3 quality proteins, such as beef, chicken, fish/salmon/herring, etc, chicken meal, turkey meal, fish meal, etc. If there are any less than 3 good sources of protein, then it is considered to be a less than healthy diet.

I never really thought one way or another about Wellness, but it's now being sold commercially in Petsmart.  With that, I could never recommend any Wellness products, because as soon as companies start to go commercial, they will inevitably start looking for cheaper ways to process the food, and hence, cut costs.  I would suspect that within the next 1 yr, Wellness foods will go to the way side and the ingredients will become a higher proportion of high carbs versus quality protein that some of it's food currenty has.  

As long as your kitty doesn't have kidney problems, feeding them a higher protein diet is ideal, and feeding them canned/moist over dry is even better.  Dry food contains very little moisture and results in cats being chronically dehydrated, even though they drink their water.  Being chronically dehydrated puts a strain on the kidneys, and when that happens, kidney disease occurs.  There is no direct link that feeding dry food results in kidney disease, but there is certainly anecdotal evidence, and it has been theorized that this occurs.  If you feed a canned food, that has very high water content, so your cat is getting plenty of water between what he drinks from the water bowl, and what he gets from the canned.  Canned is packed with more nutritious ingredients that are excellent protein sources, and has all the vitamins and minerals as well.  

If you feed dry, I highly recommend Orijen, Innova Evo, Nature's Variety, Felidae, or Artemis.  I would recommend the same brands for canned.  I also highly recommend a raw diet.  Because raw diets are becoming so popular, there are more and more choices out there, and you no longer have to actually cook or prepare a raw diet.  Many come prepared, and all you have to do is defrost a patty, then cut it up when it's meal time.  I recommend Nature's Variety and Primal.  I feed my 2 kittens the raw diet, and they scarf it down.  It's a complete balanced diet for all life cycles, and it's easy.  It best simulates what they would eat in the wild.  Sure, all these foods cost more, but you end up saving in the long run because you have less veterinary visits for medical problems; and you use less litter because they don't have as many stools (but every cat is different).  

Hope this answers your question.  I've done a ton of research on feline diets, and I absolutely believe paying more for quality food is worth it and will save you money in the long run.  

Answer 13

Yes, it is definitely worth it. Your cat will live a longer healthier life. I would feed my cats Wellness but they don't like it so I feed California Natural which is a high quality food too.

Answer 14

yes becasue it has less fillers n bad stuff just like humans who would each cheap burgers and fries all the time.

my kitties eat a mixture of wet sheba , whiskas dry , iams dry and always bits from the roast occasionally some tinned tuna (salty though) also raw whisked eggs and cat milk.