Cat food dry brands?

[Nurse Kipsie]

linx1

Thanx for the suggestions peeps. I have a feeling ill be feeding science diet for a bit because thats what the shelter feeds.

Why does the shelter feed Science Diet?
sad

[Nurse Kipsie]

How does Orijen and Acana (I haven't heard of this one much) compare to EVO?
I've heard lots about Orijen, but i've overlooked it.
Acana sounds pretty good if it's high meat protein enough to give to a ferret.

[linx1]

Nurse Kipsie

linx1

Thanx for the suggestions peeps. I have a feeling ill be feeding science diet for a bit because thats what the shelter feeds.

Why does the shelter feed Science Diet?
sad

Most shealters work out deals with big companies for there food brand. They also relie on donation though that can be a rough bussiness as well.

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

BubblesQueenKitty

The decision is ultimately up to you, but I try to stay away from brands that have vegetables in the ingredients. Cats are a special type of carnivore that has absolutely no need for any vegetables or additives like dogs do. However, it's really hard to find a brand that doesn't have something extra to keep the dry food stable. I feed my cats Purina One Indoor Advantage because my cats are strictly indoor cats.

Vegetables are better than grains, at least in my opinion...

Did you also know that formulas like "indoor", "hairball control", "weight loss", etc.. are scarcely more than marketing gimmicks and are usually actually worse for the cat? Compare the ingredients and analysis to the "regular" formula - at most, you'll see some minor shifting in ingredients, usually being less meat and more grains.

[~ Aki - Fairy ~]

Nurse Kipsie

How does Orijen and Acana (I haven't heard of this one much) compare to EVO?
I've heard lots about Orijen, but i've overlooked it.
Acana sounds pretty good if it's high meat protein enough to give to a ferret.

Champion Pet Foods - Orijen and Acana

Acana (all three formulas)
Crude protein (min.) 35%
Crude fat (min.) 20%
Crude fiber (max.) 3%
Pacifica - first five ingredients are meat, two being meal, the other three boneless
Grasslands, Prairie - first four are meat, two meal, two boneless

Orijen Cat & Kitten, 6 Fish
Crude protein (min.) 42%
Crude fat (min.) 20%
Crude fiber (max.) 3%
C&K - seven meat, eggs, six meat - four being meal, three being boneless, three being organs (two liver, one heart)
Fish - first nine are meat, three being meal, three being boneless
Regional Red has 40% protein
Counting liver, not fat, first twelve ingredients are meat, four being boneless, five being meal, two being liver

EVO Turkey & Chicken
Crude Protein (Min) 50.0 %
Crude Fat (Min) 22.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max) 2.5 %
First three ingredients are meat, only one in meal form
Herring & Salmon
Crude Protein (Min) 50.0 %
Crude Fat (Min) 18.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max) 3.0 %
first four ingredients are meat, only two in meal form

So EVO has higher protein, than the others, but it's questionable as to where it's coming from, based on the ingredients, whereas Orijen is absolutely loaded with meat and Acana's a bit lacking in comparison to most of the high-end foods (which is why I personally switched to Go!)..

Adding in Go! because it's what I feed currently

Crude protein (min) 48%
Crude fat (min) 18%
Crude fibre (max) 1.5%
Chicken, Turkey & Duck - Seven meat, four meal, three boneless
Trout & Salmon - three meat, two meal, one boneless

Daily Defence - Chicken (not grain free)
Crude protein (min) 32%
Crude fat (min) 20%
Crude fibre (max) 2.5%
Two meat, one meal, one boneless

[BubblesQueenKitty]

~ Aki - Fairy ~

BubblesQueenKitty

The decision is ultimately up to you, but I try to stay away from brands that have vegetables in the ingredients. Cats are a special type of carnivore that has absolutely no need for any vegetables or additives like dogs do. However, it's really hard to find a brand that doesn't have something extra to keep the dry food stable. I feed my cats Purina One Indoor Advantage because my cats are strictly indoor cats.

Vegetables are better than grains, at least in my opinion...

Did you also know that formulas like "indoor", "hairball control", "weight loss", etc.. are scarcely more than marketing gimmicks and are usually actually worse for the cat? Compare the ingredients and analysis to the "regular" formula - at most, you'll see some minor shifting in ingredients, usually being less meat and more grains.

I find it hard to believe it's a gimmick when they spend thousands of dollars in research to make sure each cat food works the way it should, having it tested by expert nutritionists and veterinarians. That seems like a waste of time and money if it's just for gimmicks. And yes, I do know grains are worse than vegetables. I try to stay away from them, too. I studied to be a veterinarian for three years before I quit.

[Holsteiner]

Henrika

Holsteiner

Henrika

None of them. Innova gets recalls a lot, natural choice has tons of corn - same as nutro, royal canin lots if corn, with blue I'd only consider the grain free wilderness formulas.

I'd recommend Orijen, Acana, natures variety, go!

Acana is my favorite brand of food!
I feed Taste Of The Wild Grain free to my kitten, she is 6 months old now. When she was on Simply Nourish Grain free kitten, her poops were AWFUL. Now, no odor whatsoever and already, a shiny coat. I did recently find out that Diamond took over the company, so I'm watching it like a hawk now.

One thing about UTI, is the cause of that sometimes is too much fish in their diet/and or fat content.
At the OP as far as science diet. PLEASE get her off of that and buy the new bag of food, put a little of new at a time before you transition fully over on the new food. Like Royal Canin, Science diet is notorious for being mainly corn. Its like feeding cardboard to an animal that relies sully on protein in its diet. While I know it won't kill them, how would you feel eating mcdonalds everyday?

It's not having too much fish in the kibble that causes problems, its caused by too much ash (fish bones) or the pH being off. Orijen's 6-fish kibble is very well balanced and I've never had problems with it. I feed all their flavours, even to my ferret, and my parents rotate the Acana flavours because its more affordable for them.

Fish do have bones last I checked.

[Assassin Of the Year]

is blue the brand with the blue buffalo on it? if so, get that one, I trust that one.

[Nurse Kipsie]

~ Aki - Fairy ~

Nurse Kipsie

How does Orijen and Acana (I haven't heard of this one much) compare to EVO?
I've heard lots about Orijen, but i've overlooked it.
Acana sounds pretty good if it's high meat protein enough to give to a ferret.

Champion Pet Foods - Orijen and Acana

Acana (all three formulas)
Crude protein (min.) 35%
Crude fat (min.) 20%
Crude fiber (max.) 3%
Pacifica - first five ingredients are meat, two being meal, the other three boneless
Grasslands, Prairie - first four are meat, two meal, two boneless

Orijen Cat & Kitten, 6 Fish
Crude protein (min.) 42%
Crude fat (min.) 20%
Crude fiber (max.) 3%
C&K - seven meat, eggs, six meat - four being meal, three being boneless, three being organs (two liver, one heart)
Fish - first nine are meat, three being meal, three being boneless
Regional Red has 40% protein
Counting liver, not fat, first twelve ingredients are meat, four being boneless, five being meal, two being liver

EVO Turkey & Chicken
Crude Protein (Min) 50.0 %
Crude Fat (Min) 22.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max) 2.5 %
First three ingredients are meat, only one in meal form
Herring & Salmon
Crude Protein (Min) 50.0 %
Crude Fat (Min) 18.0 %
Crude Fiber (Max) 3.0 %
first four ingredients are meat, only two in meal form

So EVO has higher protein, than the others, but it's questionable as to where it's coming from, based on the ingredients, whereas Orijen is absolutely loaded with meat and Acana's a bit lacking in comparison to most of the high-end foods (which is why I personally switched to Go!)..

Adding in Go! because it's what I feed currently

Crude protein (min) 48%
Crude fat (min) 18%
Crude fibre (max) 1.5%
Chicken, Turkey & Duck - Seven meat, four meal, three boneless
Trout & Salmon - three meat, two meal, one boneless

Daily Defence - Chicken (not grain free)
Crude protein (min) 32%
Crude fat (min) 20%
Crude fibre (max) 2.5%
Two meat, one meal, one boneless

I'll look more into EVO canned and Origin dry, then.
smile
I believe companies list ingredients from most used to least used amount, so perhaps Orijen has a bigger variety of meat, yet EVO has less variety, but more of concentrated amounts... If that makes sense...

[Some1WhoPwns]

I've been a fool and feeding my cats Purina indoor.. One of my cats has been rather unhealthy and eating all the time, turns out she ended up developing an allergy to corn, so I'm glad you posted this topic. I've heard tons of good things about blue buffalo but it's nice to know about these other brands of cat food.

[moon sugar mints]

I trust Blue Wilderness with my dogs as well with my cats. Cats are obilgate carnivores, they need meat. I heard Evo is really really good too, you might try that.

[Holsteiner]

Acana and Orijen come from the same company.
Acana, when I see it given to dogs, is usually given when dogs have severe allergies.
Above every other dog food, Acana and Orijen have the least controversy in their ingredient list.