Pet Food News

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what do u feed your cat? what is the best cat food?

I just aswered this question today so here it is again. Basically, anyone can recommend a food but its up to you to learn how to read the label and know if the food is good or not.

Any food you can pick up at your local super market or wal-mart are pure garbage. That includes Iams. They have a wonderful website and great commercials to mislead the consumer. Same with pedigree. I know they only have dog food, but their commercial is a tear jerker but one of THE WORST foods you can feed your pet. Anyone can reccommend a food that is best, but you really need to learn how to read food labels so you can make an educated decision.

Start with the name of the food.

100% Rule:
The terms “all” or “100%” cannot be used if there is more than one ingredient, not including water sufficient for processing, decharacterizing agents, or trace amounts of preservatives and condiments.”

95% Rule:
Ingredients derived from animals, poultry, or fish constitutes at least 95% or more of the total weight of the product.

25% Rule:
An ingredient or a combination of ingredients constitutes at least 25% of the weight of the product. These foods are characterized by the descriptions “recipe,” “platter,” “entree,” “dinner”, and “formula”.

“With” Rule:
The “With” rule allows an ingredient name to appear on the label, such as “with real chicken,” as long as each such ingredient constitutes at least 3% of the food by weight.

“Flavor” Rule:
The “flavor” rule allows a food to be designated as a certain flavor. A “beef flavor” food may contain a small quantity of digest or other extract of tissues from cattle, or even an artificial flavor, without containing any actual beef meat at all.

What to be aware of in pet foods and what to avoid:

Rendered ingredients:
“Because of persistent rumors that rendered by-products contain dead dogs and cats, the FDA conducted a study looking for pentobarbital, the most common euthanasia drug, in pet foods. They found it. Ingredients that were most commonly associated with the presence of pentobarbital were meat-and-bone-meal and animal fat. Industry insiders admit that rendered pets and road kill were used in pet food. Although there are still no laws or regulations against it, pet food companies universally deny that their products contain any such materials. However, so-called “4D” animals (dead, dying, diseased, disabled) were only recently banned for human consumption and are still legitimate ingredients for pet food.”
“An animal that died on the farm might not reach a rendering plant until days after its death. Therefore the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli. Dangerous E. Coli bacteria are estimated to contaminate more than 50% of meat meals. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins some bacteria produce during their growth. These toxins can survive processing, and can cause sickness and disease. Pet food manufacturers do not test their products for bacterial endotoxins. Because sick or dead animals can be processed as pet foods, the drugs that were used to treat or euthanize them may still be present in the end product. Penicillin and pentobarbital are just two examples of drugs that can pass through processing unchanged.” http://www.api4animals.org/facts?p=359&m…

Meat-and-bone-meal and animal fat are two very common ingredients in “popular” pet foods.

What do some of the ingredients mean?

Corn: Dogs and cats are obligate carnivores which means they are true meat eaters and lack the physiology to digest vegetable matter. Corn is the most commonly used filler and holds absolutely no nutritional value.

Brewer’s Rice: The dried extracted residue of rice resulting from the manufacture of wort (liquid portion of malted grain) or beer and may contain pulverized dried spent hops in an amount not to exceed 3 percent.
Another deffinition says: Brewer’s Rice is the small milled fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice.
Both are pretty bad.

Animal Digest: This is the dry by-product of rendered meat. During rendering, all usable animal parts (including fetal tissues and glandular wastes) are heated in vats and the liquid is separated from the dry meal. This meal is covered with charcoal and labeled "unfit for human consumption" before processing it into pet food.

Animal Fat and Tallow: Animal fat is a "generic" fat source that is most often made up of rendered animal fat, rancid restaurant grease or other oils that are deemed inedible for humans. Tallow is low quality hard white fat that most animals find hard to digest.

By-Product: After the lean meat is removed for human consumption, the remaining animal is sent for processing. Whatever remains of the carcass — heads, feet, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, spleens, livers, ligaments, fat trimmings, unborn babies, and other parts not generally consumed by humans, is used in pet food.

Ethoxyquin: Fat stabilizer suspected of being a cancer-causing agent.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
Known to cause liver and kidney dysfunction

Propylene glycol: Causes the destruction of red blood cells.

A good rule of thumb is that if its sold in super markets and multipurpose stores like Wal-Mart, or if you’ve seen it on TV in a commercial, don’t feed it to your pet!

Hills Science Diet – brewers rice, poultry by-product meal, ground corn, animal fat, BHA/BHT, corn gluten meal

Purina - corn, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, beef tallow, animal digest

Friskies - corn, chicken by product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat, animal digest, wheat gluten

Meow Mix - chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, corn, brewers rice, beef tallow, turkey by-product

Fancy Feast - brewers rice, poultry by-product meal, corn gluten meal, animal fat, corn, animal digest

Iams - chicken by-product meal, corn, Animal Fat (FDA found the chemical used in euthanization in the meats)

Eukanuba - chicken by-product meal, brewers rice, chicken by-products

Also beware of any foods labeled as “organic”, “premium”, “human grade”, “USDA or other organization Inspected” etc. These are usually sales gimmicks. Do not trust brand name labels. Do your own research!

Also, even though higher end foods are more expensive, they end up equaling out in the long run. Paying for a cheaper food may save you money, but your cat will be eating more of it to gain the proper nutrition that it needs. With a higher end food, it will eat less beacause it is meeting the nutritional needs and the food will last longer. Another positive point is that with higher end foods with less fillers, the cat will be creating less waste so theres much less poo you will be cleaning up after which also means saving money on kitty litter!

Most higher end foods can be fed to both cats and kittens which means you dont have to worry about when to switch over. I currently have my boy on Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul. When he was a kitten, I had him on their kitten formula. I have to say that he is doing great on it. His coat looks wonderful and I leave dry kibble out for him at all times and he munches as he likes and he is nice and fit and quite a handsome cat. He’s going to be a year old in July.

Im planning on switching him to something else only because of the pet food recalls. I am a worry wort and I would do anything for all my babies. I have kept a close eye on the recalls for nearly 6 months now and with the growing trend of cross contamination, I fear that the food he is on will eventually be recalled as well. They have a few items on the list and thats enough for me. Wellness does also and even though its a really good food, I still worry about the cross contamination. So what Ive decided to do is once he’s running low on his current bag of food, I will begin weaning him onto something that isnt on the list at all.

My top picks are Felidae, Innova, Solid Gold, and Natures Variety. Yes they are kinda pricey, but a single 20 - 25 pound bag which costs about $25 - 30 lasts me almost 3 months! I just use ziplock bags to keep the food Im not using fresh. Buying in bulk also saves a lot of money too. When switching food though, I would buy the smallest bag possible to make sure your kitty likes it first. You wouldnt want a giant bag of food that he wont eat! And you need to keep some of the older food to wean to prevent stomach upset and allow him time to get used to the new stuff.

The main ingredients in my chosen foods:

Solid Gold - Kat n Flocken - Lamb, Chicken Meal, Millet, Brown Rice, Ocean Fish Meal (all US ingredients)

Felidae - Cat and Kitten - Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal, Brown Rice, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat, Herring Meal, Eggs (all US ingredients)
Felidae also has a chicken and rice formula that is good for cats and kittens too.

Innova - Cat and Kitten - Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Meal, Ground Brown Rice, Whole Steamed Potatoes
Innova Evo Cat and Kitten food is another good one.
(does not say it is made in the US)

The importance of having a food where ingredients are obtained and manufactured in the US means that the threat of contamination because of the recall is greatly reduced as most of the contaminated products are coming out of China and they are difficult for the consumer to determine where the ingredients came from.

So for me personally, I am greatly leaning toward Felidae.

Cats also are very prone to kidney problems. I would normally suggest to feed wet food to help keep a lot of moisture in the cat’s system, but again, the recall has left me incredibly wary and I personally have opted to not feed wet (which also gives my cat the farts which isnt pleasent) and I keep multiple water dishes throughout the hose so he can drink as much as he needs.

I tried to switch commercial cat can food to homemade cat food. My Cat were not interested at all! Is there any way to do it? Have anybody tried to do it for cat’s over all health? Thank you!

Here’s a link to my blog on the subject: http://runeamok.multiply.com/journal/item/16/HOW_TO_GET_STARTED_FEEDING_RAW

My blog on converting to canned food lists suggestions for making the change, and these suggestions could work for converting to raw as well: http://runeamok.multiply.com/journal/item/17/CONVERTING_YOUR_CAT_TO_CANNED_FOOD

I have successfully converted one cat - who is nowhere near malnourished - and am restarting the process for my other cat.

I have one of each and they mainly eat dog or cat food, but occasionally I give them people treats. What should I avoid?

chocolate, pork, and chicken bones

My kitten eats dog food and my dogs eat the kitten food . We don’t feed it to them purpose it just occasionally happens.
Also my kitten likes dog treats better than her own cat treats . why do they like the opposite food ? Is it harmful to their health?

It’s not good to feed the wrong food to different species. Cats need a lot higher protein (can cause diarhea in dogs), also they need taurine and minerals the dogs don’t.

dog food is ultra high in vitamin A because they need that, but that amount in a cat’s food would cause health problems very quickly since cats can’t handle that amount.

Feed the kitten where the dog can’t get the food–on top a counter or in a closed bathroom. The kitten needs to eat it’s own food, for good growth, nourishment and all the vitamins and minerals–to eat the dog’s food all the time will have deficiencies showing up, and won’t let the bone growth develop right in the kitten.

The treats should not be a problem, provided you’re only giving one treat a day to them. This should not be a significant portion of their daily food intake.

In the animal kingdom, animals usually have to wait before they eat. Often times there are other animals higher up in the hierarchy or maybe they had an unsuccessful hunt. In the domestic world, you should make your dog wait before they eat as well. A domestic animal doesn’t have to kill its prey to eat, but it should still have to do some sort of exercise or work before you feed them. This is imperative for normal pack psyche.

A typical rule of thumb, if you have multiple animals, is to feed the ones with calm tendencies first. Do not feed aggressive or otherwise bad behaving animals until they calm down. This corresponds directly to the animal kingdom where a mother or a pack leader would not feed an aggressive animal until they show they are subordinates.

You want to make your dog work for food. By work, I mean taking them on a walk or asking them to perform several obedience routines. Working is a form of waiting, and this will not only exercise your animal, mentally and physically, but will help create a healthy and well balanced dog.

A typical routine would be to take your dog for a walk or other exercise routine and then when you get home, you may prepare their food. Ask your dog to sit or lay down while you make their food bowl. If they sit quietly and don’t display aggressive or other negative behaviors then you may give them their food. If your dog acts aggressive or will not sit or stay while you prepare their food, then you should wait until they do before feeding them. Remember this is how nature intended it to be.

It is important not to reinforce negative behaviors when feeding. Feeding a dog when its aggressive, tense or nervous is not natural. The pack leader would never let a dog eat that had these tendencies and will require the dog to be very calm and submissive before receiving any food. Be sure your dog is calm and submissive before you give them food and this will help in many areas of their life. In fact, if you feed them while they are aggressive or while they are nervous, tense or excited than I can guarantee you that the next time you feed them they will act the same manner. Remember dogs learn by association. Associate negative behaviors with food and you will get negative behaviors in return.

Remember that feeding your dog is a critical part of training your animal. If you are able to have the discipline to only feed your pet when they submit the correct behaviors than your dog will live a happy well-balanced life.

Bart LeToad
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/how-to-feed-your-dog-as-part-of-daily-training-115463.html

with so much to choose from im confused on what is truly healthy and good for my pet …i want nothing but the best for my little kitty doesnt matter if its expensive …im not looking to get a deal on buying my new family member food ..i just want peoples honest opinions :]

Hi
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.
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. The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, 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.
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. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html

Ginger cat

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I have a friend that has adopted a cat and 3 kittens. The kittens were born a couple of weeks ago. When is it appropriate to feed cats solid food? What should the solid food be - regular cat food or something else?

At about 4 weeks or so, mom will start to wean the kittens, at this time, blend some dry (kitten formula) food with water (or kitten milk replacer), to make a mush, think baby cereal consistency. Gradually blend it less and less, by about 6 1/2 weeks, soak the dry food in a bit of water to soften it, at about 8 weeks, they should be on completely dry kitten food.

Mom can also be eating some the kitten food, since she is a queen who is nursing.

I have a young Jack Russell Cross she is now 10 months old. Since bringing her home from the dogs trust she has been on Arden Grange puppy/junior which is what she was on at the dogs home. She will never eat her food all at once, and will pick a mouthful up from the bowl and take it across the kitchen and eat it why does she do this? We are looking to change our dog food due to Arden Grange being hard to get hold off. What would people recommend? Dry dog food recommendations only please.

Hi there,

As far as she is concerned your pup thinks she is in a wolf pack. She probably knows by now that you are the boss but like children there is nothing to stop her trying to assert herself.

Anyway to my point in a pack in the wild any food belongs to the head of the pack and then the followers can have their share after. Any food left around is likely to get eaten unless you are the boss in which case no one would dare touch your food. By leaving her bowl and taking her biscuits to the other side of the room she is saying to you that she can mess about if she likes because you can’t touch her food. It’s really just her way of acting up.

Never leave her food down for two reasons. 1 it’s not hygienic with flies etc. and 2 if she thinks it’s there when she wants it she will be in no rush to eat it and will become a picky eater. Instead offer her food to her three times a day and if it’s not eaten within ten minutes pick it up and let her see you do so.

Obviously if you are going to treat her, never feed her from the table and always make her sit before giving her a treat. If she snatches make a high pitched squeel this may seem a bit of an over reaction but she will think she has heart you and will learn not to snatch.

As for food, if money isn’t an issue I feed my dog and my two pups on Hills Science plan. It is very easy to