What are some ingridents i should look out for in cat food?

Crissy

Whats some good brand food for my cat? I want him to live longer and healthy. I feed him purina right now.



Bernadine

You want to watch out for grains and by-products. These are ingredients found in lower quality foods and are hard on your cats digestive system. Higher quality foods like Wellness, Merrick, and Innova are made with muscle meat and little to no grains. If you cant afford to feed premium food, some good mid-grade foods are Fancy Feast, Authority by Petsmart, and Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul. Heres an article on selecting a good food for your cat. It has some really good info. http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac…Dont feed fish based foods more than 2-3 times a week and consider a wet only diet for your kitty. Wet food provides much needed moisture to your cats diet to help maintain his kidneys. Here is more info on why feeding wet food is best for cats. http://www. littlebigcat. com/index. php? ac…



Amberly

Innova Evo and Felidae are two that come to mind. Purina = not too good. These ingredients should be avoided: corn, meat by-products, poultry by-products, meat and bone meal, rice, pretty much any vegetable or grain. Look for something with a lot of meat but not too much else.



Candra

I would watch out for magnesium as it can cause urinary problems.



Enda

Any words that are long and you dont understand. -_-



Allyn

A lot of the time, its easier to know what to avoid. Ill list some good foods at the bottom. :)You should look for quality, named meats, like chicken, turkey or rabbit. Beef or pork can be given, but they often dont agree with cats. Meals are okay (like chicken meal, turkey meal, etc), but there should be some non-processed meat too (like turkey and chicken).Eggs (written as either Eggs or Fresh Whole Eggs) are a great source of protein and are highly digestible. Try to look for natural preservatives, such as Rosemary extract and Ctric Acid or Vitamin E. Mixed Tocepherols are also okay. What to avoid - Grains (corn, wheat, rice, barley, oats). Also anything like ------- flour or ----- gluten or ------ hulls. If it has the name of a grain in it, dont buy it. However, if you cannot find a grainless food, oatmeal is considered better. Note that maize, ground yellow maize, etc is technically corn. However, Zea Mays is okay - its actually corn silk and is healthy for a cats bladder system.-Unnamed meats. meat meal, meat by-products, meat by-product meal or just meat are a no go. This can be anything from euthanized pet animals to roadkill - lots of companies were getting sued for that. ( read about it here: http://www. mflegal. com/petfoodlawsuit )-(more) Unnamed meats; stuff like poultry this, poultry that or fish this, fish that.-any chemical preservatives such as ethoxyquin. Vitamin K3 is also bad. I suggest you feed WET, CANNED food, not dry. Its shown that a cat that drinks no water and eats only canned food is 50% more hydrated than a cat on dry food that downs water all the time; and water is very improtant to a cats health, as it prevents urinary, kidney, and renal problems! Wet food also does not rot teeth like so many say, nor does kibble clean teeth. If you watch a cat eat kibble, they just chomp once to crack it or swallow it whole; it never rubs or cleans the teeth, but instead, crumbs drop into the gumline and rot into sugar. I suggest you read this site to teach yourself more: http://www. catinfo. org. Good brands are:Wellness: http://www. wellnesspetfood. comOrijen: http://www. orijen. caNaures Variety: http://www. naturesvariety. com



Christoper

Check the labels. There should be NO corn and NO by-products. In the first five ingredients at least two should be meat sources (again, not by-products). The ingredients are listed from largest item to smallest, so the first five are important. Good dry foods are Wellness, Wellness Core, EVO, Wysong Vitality, Royal Canin Siamese 38, and Prairie. There are more out there, just look at the ingredient list. Most grocery stores dont carry anything of quality, you need to look at a pet supplies store.