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I’m always on the lookout for the best: best guy, best job, best place to live, and lately … best kitten food. The offer out there is overwhelming, and unfortunately most of it is really bad. It may seem unbelievable, but the most advertised cat food brands include bad, bad, bad ingredients which can even be harmful (e.g. onions).
When you bring your kitten home, feed them in the first week with the same food they are used to. Then, if you decide to change the food, always change it gradually, over 2 weeks, to avoid upsetting their stomach (and the fun task of cleaning up cat puke).
Some important points to keep in mind: cats need their meat, they cannot live on vegetarian diet (unlike people or dogs, their bodies can’t get their energy from carbohydrates). Also, you should always feed them cat specific food (vs human/dog/rabbit/… food), they need the taurine cat food contains to avoid the risk of blindness & heart disease. Good quality cat food is quite expensive, but trust me, it will be worth it in the long run. Poor nutrition leads to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and many other nasty things.
Alfie seems to approve my cat food shopping spreee :”)
The first question you should ask is if you should go for wet or dry food. Most people recommend wet only or a wet-dry combination. Wet food contains a high amount of water which is essential for your cat’s health, but cannot be left out for too long. Some people say dry food is good for the cat’s teeth (other say the opposite, as it sticks to teeth like biscuits do). It is also good if your cat is teething. Another benefit is that it does not go off, so it’s quite convenient to leave out during the day. Your cat should always have fresh water available (especially if they are on dry food diet). Contrary to what people think, cats don’t need milk, and some of them are actually lactose intolerant, so if you want to give them, buy one specifically for cats. And always choose your cat’s food based on their needs: life stage, health, and activity levels.
Sorry for the somewhat gross description that will follow, but I think it’s fair for you to know all this and make an informed decision. And no, the cute cat food ads do not count as information.
- The Good:“complete” cat food, with a mixed wet-dry combination of high quality food. You know, the kind of food that actually has meat as the 1st ingredient. And it should not say just “meat” but what meat exactly it is: tuna, chicken, beef, … Apparently chicken is considered to be the best protein source in pet foods. Out of the 20+ cat food brands in my pet store, only 2!!! passed the test: Schesir & Almo Nature. They don’t come cheap at 1.15 euro/can (more than human food that is!). But hey, ho, best and cheap are never best friends.
- The Bad: popular cat food brands, without actual meat in the ingredients list. Avoid any cat food that has (meat) by-products as ingredients: they are animal parts unfit for human consumption (such as organs, bones, chicken feet & beaks). By-products can contain meat from the so called 4 D’s: dead, dying, decayed or diseased which may contain cancerous tissue.
- The Ugly: any cat food full of corn, wheat, whole grain and soy. Cats are purely carnivorous animals, so all those grains offer no protein value and are very difficult to digest, causing extra stress on your cat’s kidneys. Also, avoid anything that contains Ethoxyquin, BHA, or BHT (carcinogens).
Remember, it’s quality, not quantity that matters: cheap food lacks nutrition, so your cat will eat more (and poo more), costing you at least as much as investing in healthy food. Plus, bad food = health issues = vet bills & shorter life span.
OK, I might have gone a bit overboard on the quantity side here, but at least it’s quality food too (tuna: 51%; chicken: 61% actual meat)
I should also mention some people prefer to feed the cat a raw diet, but to me, that’s too much hassle, so not for me thank you. You can read about it here: Link!
Hope you found this useful. Which is your cat’s favourite food?
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brownponytail said:
omg i’m literally jumping with joy!
i’m so happy to see that there are other out there that see through the shit food that is on offer everywhere!!!
i can’t believe how ignorant some people can be, and keep feeding their pets literally “junk food” all their lives- then are surprised when the pet dies in their early teens due to organ failure!
i also feed my monsters schesir, although none of them really like fish except for salmon (gourmet, anyone? 🙂 ) i order food from zooplus, and give them animonda carny, smilla and bozita 🙂
xxx
A Purrfect Cat said:
That’s so totally true. It just doesn’t make sense. all these supermarket brands are like giving your cat McDonalds every day. It also doesn’t make sense from a savings point of view: save on cat food, pay 10X in vet bills, not to count the most important thing: your pet will get sick and die early. I can’t believe people don’t do a bit of search on this topic before they slowly but surely poison their pets.
Alfie LOVES the tuna, but i had to cut it down as i heard it’s not healthy and can cause addiction. i now give him 50% chicken, 30% tuna and 20% other fish/shrimp/ham (half dry, half wet) xx
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budziak said:
The first cat food you posted looks good enough for human food! hahaha. When we got our kitty cat, we fed him the rest of his Iams dry kitten food and Meow Mix Selects but opted for more expensive Taste of the Wild dry food and Wellness cans. He definitely seems to have way more energy after eating the better food.
A Purrfect Cat said:
Haha, it actually is more expensive per 100g than human food!! how ridiculous is that 🙂 i really think good quality cat food pays off in the long run.
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Dianda said:
My cats get (dry) food that doesn’t contain grain or other things that cats don’t need. I must say, they look much better and healthier. 🙂
I did find a brand of wet catfood, that only contains meat, and very little grain. But my local petstore doesn’t have it often, and most web-petstores doesn’t have it either. So we can’t rely on it.
A Purrfect Cat said:
You’re a good mummy 🙂 Your cats are lucky to have you.
judy said:
Can’t you order it online? I’m sure amazon would have it.
A Purrfect Cat said:
Yeah, you’re right, they should have it. They seem to have anything And everything!
judy said:
I have a lovely cat site you may be interested in. I don’t mean it’s mine. I visit it daily. Well a few times a day. It’s called TCS The Cat Site.
Lovely people there.
Judy
judy said:
I sent you a message yesterday but I have a feeling you didn’t get it. It was to do with your recommending Schesir food and I have been looking at it to buy for my pusses.
Could you tell me what’s in and not in that’s makes it so good in your eyes. Please help. Oh and their dry food too please.
Thank you.
Judy
A Purrfect Cat said:
Hi Judy, Sure. Here are the ingredients for Schesir: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/schesir/schesir_cans/14059#composition
As you can see, the only ingredients it has are PURE MEAT and some rice. With cat food (dry or wet), what you need to check is that the first ingredient(s) is meat (as opposed to rice or cereals), as they are listed in descending order – so if cereals are the first ingredient it means that it has more cereals than meat. And cats are carnivores, meaning they don’t need/assimilate anything else except meat. Also, you need to make sure that the “meat” is pure, so avoid anything that says “animal derivatives” or “animal by-products”. Those are cartilages, skin, and other horrible parts of the chicken, essentially all the parts that are not fit for human consumption. So to answer your question, I love Schesir because they only use healthy, pure ingredients, rather than mashing loads of unhealthy things and adding lots of salt and artificial flavours. When you open a pouch/can of Schesir, the meat looks like shredded chicken/tuna and smells like chicken soup/tuna, rather than a dodgy looking paste. Hope this helps.
judy said:
Thank you very much for your reply. Weirdly enough this reply turned
up in my spam. I will certainly be getting this food for my 3 lovelies.
I have a request. The makes of dry food I can get here need to be checked but it doesn’t seem to work when I Google it. Could you check them for me please?
They’ve been eating Pro Plan up to now but I’m slowly trying Happy Cat. Have you heard of it? It’s a
German make! and apparently work with Pro Plan. My Blighty did manage to btrae the bag open.
There’s another I’ve seen. It’s called
Now. I think it may be Spanish and has no grains. I would be very grateful. There’s s lack of choice where I live but do want the best for them.
Am I signed up to your blog?
Best regards. Judy.
A Purrfect Cat said:
Hi Judy, sorry for not relying earlier.
So I checked the Happy Cat and Now ingredients. First, let me say that I’m not a vet and I haven’t got formal studies in animal nutrition, so my recommendation is to double check the ingredients with your vet. However, based on what I’ve read online so far about cat food, here are my observations.
Happy Cat – seems to have ok ingredients (no nasty things like by-products), HOWEVER, look at the last ingredient: “garlic”. Garlic is poisonous for cats!! (see here: http://www.petinsurance.com/healthzone/pet-articles/pet-health-toxins/Garlic-Toxicity-and-Pets.aspx) and even though it’s the last ingredient meaning there’s only a tiny bit. But I do wonder why anyone who knows anything about cat nutrition (like a cat food company should) would ever put an ingredient which is poisonous to cats in there. Personally I wouldn’t buy any cat food with onions/garlic in the ingredients list.
Now – this seems all ok, but again I am not an expert 🙂
Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions
And yes, you are now subscribed to my blog, thanks so much for subscribing! x
A Purrfect Cat said:
Oh, and here’s a very useful and informative video: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2011/05/17/the-quality-of-pet-food-ingredients-part-2.aspx
judy said:
Strange to find replies of emails in spam. Oh well.
Thank you for noticing the garlic.
I know you’re not a vet but from what I see it appears you know a lot.
Whilst whisky and blighty like the good I will not be buying it again.
I don’t live in America so there’s just so much I can choose. I like to know what I’m getting.
I’ve discovered a new food here which is looking okay. It’s called ‘GO’.
Do you know anything about it?
It must seem as if I’m picking your brain but most of the years I had my cats they were eating vetanarian! food so all this choice is new to me.
Keep well.
Judy.
A Purrfect Cat said:
Oh no, it’s very strange my replies go to your spam. Is the brand called “GoCat” or just “Go”? Do you have a link to their website or a picture of the ingredients?
judy said:
All I know is that it’s called ‘GO’ and it’s grain free. This is what caught my eye. My supplier of everything has it I think I’d like to try it. If it is good then my search for places to live will be over.
I find it impossible to Google it
I’ve lost my typing ability and cannot bear my idiot laptop. So galaxy 3 is what I use.
Thanks again
Judy.
How do I get you buy u
A Purrfect Cat said:
Oh, I found it. Looking at the ingredients it seems very very good. High % of meat and whole vegetables without any nasty things. I think it’s a really good find!
judy said:
Yay thank you. It’s the next bag of food I’ll be buying and if they like it then that’s what they’ll be eating.
Really thank you very much.
A Purrfect Cat said:
You’re very welcome, glad I could help.
Lisa said:
Thank you for your article. I have been feeding our two new kittens Almo Nature and I came across your site while trying to research cat foods. I am happy with Almo Nature but I am concerned because all of the foods recommended by many sites are not “complete” foods but “supplemantary or incomplete”. Both Schesir & Almo Nature are not complete foods. I also looked at Applaws but this is also not a “complete” food. At present both of ours are still kittens and so they get dry food left all day long until they are older.. but I feed them a wet food in the morning and at night and so I am worried that even though they have dry food all day which can give them the complete vitamins, etc they need… I still worry if they are not eating as much of the dry and eating Almo Nature they are missing out on what they need. I would rather feed them a complete wet food too. Do you know of any wet foods that are complete? Thanks and best regards.
lars iverson said:
i like schesir. kitty loves schesir.only thing i dont like is all the little boxes.yes,im sure teyre made from recycled paper but so what.why does every can need its qwn box. i phoned the montreal office to ask and was told they were considering stopping the boxes.this was over a year ago so i guess theyre still considering.a minor issue maybe but still an issue.at least for me.
Anonymous said:
Opt for high-quality cat food with a mix of wet and dry options, like Schesir & Almo Nature, featuring meat as the primary ingredient. Avoid brands with by-products, as they may contain undesirable elements, and steer clear of corn, wheat, and soy-filled options, which offer little protein for carnivorous Cat Food. Prioritize quality over quantity to prevent health issues and extra expenses, ensuring a longer and healthier life for your feline friend.