Does premium cat food really make a difference?

Elna

Im wondering if Premium Cat food really makes a difference. I had 2 cats and fed them both meow mix their entire life, one lived to be 17 and the other lived to be 19 and he just passed away a few months ago. They both lived long healthy lives. They were always very active cats even in their senior years. I realize with premium food they usually dont use fillers/by products etc etc. But do you guys think the extra price on premium food is worth it?



Pearle

Hi Ashley! That is wonderful that you have had two cats that lived for such a long time. Some cats just have the right genetic makeup for a longer life span than others and how lucky you are to have had them with you so long. I used to think that cat food was cat food, ages ago. I didnt give it much thought until my vet began talking to me about feeding. She was one of those vets that bothered to really do research about excellent feline nutrition. So when my cat started vomiting frequently, she suggested a grain free diet, high quality cat food. I was amazed at how soon he stopped that frequent vomiting, and seemed to be doing much better all over. Cats are obligate carnivores and need meat as the mainstay of their diet. Most ordinary cat foods contain grain and by products as fillers. We dont even know what are in the by-products, so we dont know what we are feeding. Many cat foods are covered with "addicting" gravies which most cats lick and then discard the rest of the food. Additionally dry food really contains a high load of carbohydrates which are not good for kitties. If you just translate human nutrition, we want to feed our families the best foods possible. Poor nutrtion in humans leads to health problems, obesity, etc, so it is with our felines. You do know that fillers are just that.. fillers to make profits for the manufacturers. For some excellent information about the best feeding plans for cats, visit: http://www. catinfo. org/http://www. catnutrition. org/index. phpHope this helps and thanks for an excellent, thought provoking question which will help other folks with their cats as well. TroublesnifferOwned by cats for over 40 yearsMember: Cat Writers Association



Michaela

Premium cat food makes a huge difference. The name premium in the label has no meaning and is not held to any special standards. People can live past 100 smoking 2 packs a day and eating taco bell every day. It is when you take thousands of samples that you see the difference it makes Learn about nutrition Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s healthContrary 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 symptomsThe 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 inDry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and dont 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 doesnt have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. THE BEST CAT FOODS CONTAIN NO GRAINS NO BYPOODUCTS NO MEALCats are meat eaters not cereal or rice eaters 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. catinfo. org/ 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…



Cuc

Im not sure it is worth it. i had two that lived as long as yours and still have one that is about 10 and i have always from the time they were born given them whiskas. wet and dry. so again im not sure. hope i could help



Lucile

I do think premimum cat foods make the difference I feed my cats purina one dry and 9 lives wet they have always done well my boyfriend tried a lesser brand of cat foods to save a little money all 10 of my cats got really sick and after i read the lable of the lesser brand of cat food as opposed to the premium brand the lesser brand had a lot of junk in it that wasnt really good for them



Barabara

It depends less on the label and price and more on the ingredients. When youre deciding what to feed a pet you should research exactly whats good and bad for them and check for the nutritional information on the packets before you buy. Even some generally well recommended brands have fillers that can be unhealthy for pets. A product that will be good for your animal is definitely worth it. You want to keep them as healthy as possible.



Debrah

Ken S basically copied and pasted that answer and didnt actually answer your question. People who feed low quality food to their cats dont always have a bad experience. Everyone that I know who has cats hasnt had a bad experience with feeding low quality dry. I choose to feed canned and raw to avoid any health problems that may arise from feeding low quality. I feel it will make a difference in the future. So far, my cats have very shiny coats, their breath doesnt stink, their poop isnt very smelly, and more things I cant think of at this moment. Im glad your cats lived long, happy lives.



Jolyn

I think it is worth it, because I am not convinced that the larger cat food manufacturers are not importing cat foods from China. My cats are vert important to me. I also check to make sure there is no corn or fillers (except for green peas or pumpkin). My cats are both 3 and have been fed top human-grade cat and kitten foods since they came here at about 6 weeks. I feed them Wellness for the dried food, and brands like Wellness, Evo, Merricks, Natural Balance and others for wet food. For treats they get dried bonito flakes and Liv-a-little freeze dried meat treats (like astronaut food for cats). The males coat (black and white) is so shiny he looks metallic. I bathe him about once a year. His sister has much finer longer hair, also in superb condition. I take them to a holistic vet that will use antibiotics if necessary. My favorite cat had to be put down at 16 for kidney failure, when it got severe.



Emilio

Lets put it this way. You can live on boxed macaroni and cheese, or you can buy chicken and vegetables. Is the extra price of the healthy diet worth it? Cats are no different. And I do believe that years ago, the cheaper foods were of a better quality than they are now. Big companies have become greedy, and are producing products as cheaply as they can. Waste that used to go to the landfill now is bought up for use in our pet food. Look at some of the crappy food now - they used to be good foods, prior to being bought up by the big food conglomerates. IAMS is a prime example. It used to be a pretty good food, now its over-advertised corn and scraps.



Sherill

My mothers cat was fed Dollar Store brand food, dog food, or table scraps her whole life. She died at age 12 from eating a poisoned mouse. Her eyes were never bright and she shed alot. Her coat was always dull. I fed my own cats what I thought was good food (dry Purina). One of them now has CRF. Since then I learned alot from reading and from my great Yahoo contacts about proper feeding. My CRF kitty is doing very well on Wellness now as are my other cats. Their coats glow, their eyes sparkle, and they have lots of energy. All are maintaining good weights. I only wish I had known the benefits of feeding premium years ago.



Amada

Yes,.I didnt think so and I was worried Id spend all that extra money for nothing. My cats have beautiful coats, they dont eat as much, their litterboxes arent nearly as bad. They dont have icky danderuff. Its worth it from what I seen. You should have seen me the first week when I realized I could scoop the litterboxes once a day instead of three. *happiest cat owner on earth* haha



Geoffrey

Yes. My baby eats innova holistic cat and kitten food. As a former purina feeder I must say it was worth EVERY dime. With purina Sprinkles was never satisfied, and I had to give her 3 bowls of cat chow filled to the brim to get her to stop meowing with hunger. Her shedding went down to almost nothing, her coat is shiny, and she doesnt need nearly as much to fill her up.



Alec

Well, my cats are on a raw diet and their poop literally does not smell. As in, I can forget to scoop the litter boxes and there is absolutely NO poop odor - none. (which was not the case at all before they switched)So...you tell me. I personally would say that absolutely is a big difference. My cats are at an exceptionally low risk for urinary tract problems b/c of their diet...my friend recently had to take her cat to the emergency vet for urinary blockage - the bill totaled more than $500. (I have other friends who have gone through the same thing - some actually required surgery.) Before switching, I tested one of my cats for urine crystals - he had a small amount. After the switch - none. Again...you tell me.



Graciela

IMO, yes. I made the switch even though most of my cats were looking pretty good (one is fat, the others were fine). Well, I thought they were looking good. I didnt know cats could be this soft. Theyre fluffier but shed less, theyre more active, their eyes are brighter, the fat one is losing weight and my kittens are growing well - all on the same food. No messing around with kitten food, weight loss food, hairball food, senior food, and regular adult food. They all eat the same thing and dont just survive, they thrive. Food that is free of fillers is more filling - it costs more but they wont eat as much of it. That also leads to less poop. Tainted wheat gluten resulted in the deaths of many beloved pets, including some of my friends kitties. And cats dont even benefit in any way from eating wheat gluten. Buying the best food is not just about the best ingredients, its about knowing where the food really came from. One problem is that all "premium" food isnt really premium. Science Diet is over priced and not great at all. Over the weekend a Petco employee pulled me away from the good cans of food to give a coupon for a free can of some new Science Diet food. The regular price was 99 cents for a 2 ounce can (I didnt know cans came that small). So its more expensive and smaller than many better foods. I grabbed a bag of Royal Canin kitten food while I was there because I had a coupon to get it free. The regular price for a 3.5 pound bag was $19.49. The 3rd and 4th ingredients are corn, just broken up into corn and corn gluten meal so they could claim chicken meal as the main ingredient. What a rip off. They even make two kinds of kitten food, one for tiny kittens and one for older kittens. Ridiculous marketing ploy. If they got their way I would have to feed all six of my cats a different food. It is a challenge to be an educated consumer. Many vets just go with what they were "taught" by the pet food companies. Foods claim to be complete and balanced while being full of stuff no cat would ever need to eat. As far as cats living a long life with lousy food - of course it happens sometimes. People use the same excuse for smoking - oh my grandfather lived to 98 and smoked like a chimney. That doesnt make it good and it doesnt mean it will always work. Personally I wont be taking that chance. I do think that a life on cat chow is considerably better than being killed in a shelter, but to someone who can afford better or someone buying one of the over-priced fake premium foods, its much better to get the really good stuff.



Albertine

Absolutely. 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 the dump cheap leftovers and things that arent safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. 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, Natures Variety Prairie, Natures Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics. Although the high quality foods are more expensive, youre getting what youre paying for. Less filler material and higher quality ingredients 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 poop! Seriously on a budget? Two of the most affordable of the higher quality foods would be Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul and Felidae. Before following your vets food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by... you guessed it, the crappy pet food companies! They also often get kickbacks from the companies for pushing these products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)A great option is to go with an entirely grain-free diet. Diets high in grain/carbohydrates 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 grain-free formulas. Some good grain-free diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Natures Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Fromm Surf Turf, Now!, GO Natural Grain Free, Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Ziwipeak, and Taste of the Wild. Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, Castor Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo. If you cant find a food, most of the high quality cat food brands have websites with store locators on them that will help you find the store closest to you which supplies their products. Simply type the cat food brands name into Google, go to their website, and type your zip code into their store locator. Another option, if you cant find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Heres an excellent place to do so: http://www. petfooddirect. com/store/Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing the new slowly in with the old over the period of about week or so), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies. For example:Days 1 2: 75% old food, 25% new foodDays 3 4: 50% old food, 50% new foodDays 5 6: 25% old food, 75% new foodDay 7: 0% old food, 100% new foodAnother option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:http://www. rawfedcats. org/ (Raw Fed Cats)http://community. livejournal. com/rawdogs… (Raw Dogs Livejournal Community [not just for dogs despite the name!], excellent raw feeding information on the profile page and overall helpful community for raw feeding questions)http://www. rawfed. com/myths/index. (Myths About Raw Feeding)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 dont 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 (cats barely even chew their dry food and, really, does a pretzel clean /your/ teeth? Cats should have their teeth brushed with cat toothbrushes and cat toothpaste at least a few times a week as well as see the vet for dental cleanings when necessary /regardless/ of what they are being fed). Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cats natural diet. More on why canned food is best:http://www. catinfo. org/ (Why wet/canned food is best. Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac… (Why Cats Need Canned Food)http://www. blakkatz. com/dryfood. (The Truth About Dry Cat Food)http://cats. about. com/cs/catfood/a/canne… (Canned Cat Food: Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?)http://maxshouse. com/feline_nutrition. ht… (Maxs House: Feline Nutrition)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. Also remember that freefeeding (leaving food down) is the fast lane to feline obesity. Make sure to have scheduled feeding times loosely based on the feeding guidelines on your cats food. Adult cats are typically fed two meals a day. More:http://www. petfoodratings. net/cattable. h… (Cat food reviews. Four stars is a good food, five stars is a great/excellent food [click the name of the cat food brand for a more indepth analysis of it])Darksong~



Bianca

Yes I do. Like you, my last cat lived to be 20 eating grocery store foods. She did get sick at 14 and was on meds the rest of her life, but thats another story. The only reason I know anything at all about cat food is because I was lucky(?) enough to get a kitten who has a grain sensitivity. Disgust at having to wipe her butt all the time drove me to learn about this fascinating subject, and as soon as I switched to a better food, her problem cleared up. Along with some of the extra pounds she packed on too! So in my case the answer is very clear. But what about "normal" cats? I have one of those too. I cant say I noticed any real difference in Sophie when she too was switched. But what Im hoping is that as they both get older and one begins seeing health problems that theyll continue to be healthy and wont develop some of those problems that many older cats face. That said, I question what YOU mean by premium food. Im talking about grainless foods, especially canned foods. I also include raw meat even though its not necessarily commercial food. I do not consider Science Diet or Iams to be premium foods even though they are known as such. I also have found that feeding raw can be very inexpensive.



Darwin

Of course!! Premium cat food is always good one to go for! Remember that protein, ideally, according to an experienced specialist in animal nutrition, should be listed as at least 30 percent. Keep in mind that dogs utilize fat well and some nutrition specialists think that at least 18 percent is ideal. However, if you are looking for quality cat food in cheapest prices, i recommend you to visit the link given below.



Annett

Holistic foods with no grains are the best foods for cats simply stated. Cats were meant to eat meat not cereal and by products.



Candelaria

I am not so convinced it is worth it to buy expensive cat foods either. My mom had a cat live to 21 and it was basically only fed stuff like Whiskas or Friskies all its life. Dont get me wrong, Im not saying that expensive foods are all BS. But I also dont think theyre always absolutely necessary for the cat. I have a hard enough time buying premium groceries for myself, let alone the cat. If I had more money, I would buy higher priced foods maybe, but quite frankly I just cant afford them. I dont feed my cats crap food or anything, but I also dont go all out and buy that stuff that costs 35 bucks a bag. Ive owned many cats and have very few problems with ordinary cat food, other than a few cats who were susceptible to UTIs and had to be fed urinary tract health cat food.