Does anyone know a canned cat food that is better for the heath of my cat?

Question

She's about a year and a half old and i've always given her a little bit of canned cat food(started out with formula) because i had to bottle feed her when she was a baby. But i had to go away for about 2 months and "grandma and grandpa" (my mom and dad) gave her a whole package about twice a week. I'd never given her that much. Cloey(the cat), has grown rather large and i'm concerned about her health. I'd rather not stop giving her "her treats", because i only give it to her occasionally and my parents have corrupted and spoiled her.(suprise suprise right?). Choosing heathly can cat food over regular "junk food" cat food and not giving it to her as often may solve her problem, but i have no idea what they have on the market, i.e.) purina, meow mix, ect... Help!

Answer 1

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less p**p!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Diets high in grain have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diet's include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, and Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some of the high end foods can be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness and Solid Gold. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...

Now the question is, do you feed wet or dry? Wet is the correct answer. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least. Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:

http://www.catinfo.org/  (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canne...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

More:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. It's for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Anything with five or six stars is a great food.)

Answer 2

Healthy foods really will help you out tremendously.  You can tell a healthy food by reading the ingredients carefully.  Avoid those that contain any kind of by-products.  These are just scrap "parts" that have been deemed unfit for human consumption, and are of questionable nutritional value.  There will be a large selection of foods available to you at many price levels, so there will be one to fit every budget.  Start out with different brands, flavors, and textures until you see what she prefers, then go from there.  It's always best to get them used to eating a variety of brands, this way she won't get bored and you won't have a major issue on your hands if her one and only brand is suddenly not available in your area.  

You'll have the best selection of the premium brands at the smaller non-chain pet stores, but even Petco now carries Wellness!

Answer 3

The best canned cat food has between 40 and 65% meat, like highlife or hills science plan. As a complementery treat I give my cats a tin of Applaws every now and then. Its the best stuff on the market, but because it is "pure" meat (no added vitamins etc.) you cant feed them that alone. But as a treat, woah, they love it! and i feel good cause its sooo good for them.  

Answer 4

There are several and new lines are coming out here and there.  See the What to feed link for suggestions and handy links so you can learn more about them.

I currently feed Instincts and Wellness.  I occasionally offer B.G. (Before Grains by Merrick) and Evo, both their regular and their 95% Meat line.  I used to use Natural Balance.  I would endorse any of those personally.

You won't find any of these foods in a grocery store - you'll need to start shopping at a pet store.

If you'd like assistance with a weight loss plan, let me know.  But just switching her to a better grainless canned food will probably be all you'll need to do.

Answer 5

I recommend varying the diet with a constant rotation of accepted canned foods that your cat enjoys. If you do this, and allow your cat the same assortment they would have in nature when eating mice, bugs, birds and rabbits, your cats’ digestive system won't be so sensitive and you won't have to run around looking for a specific brand when your store is out. You will have a nice variety to choose from instead.

Canned foods I recommend for your rotation:

Nature's Variety - http://www.naturesvariety.com/content.la...

Wellness Grain Free Formula’s - http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_welln...

By Nature Organics - http://www.bynaturepetfoods.com/productp...

Organix -  http://www.castorpolluxpet.com/store/org...

Evanger's Holistic Pheasant - http://www.evangersdogfood.com/cat/20089...

Evanger's Organic Braised Chicken - http://www.evangersdogfood.com/cat/50103...

Evanger's Turkey & Butternut Squash - http://www.evangersdogfood.com/cat/50111...

Answer 6

do NOT give your cat purina, friskies, or meow mix they add alot of artificial ingrediants which can make your cat sick.

i highly recommend science diet or iams.

trust me there the healthest things in the market right now :)