cat & dog food inquiry...

[Tilo]

Ok so we have a dog & a cat: images below




Cat has a hard time occasionally doing a #2, last night was just horrible he was having such a hard time, he was also vomiting a little, I removed all food & left just water out, he seems fine now though, both are currently eating:

-- Naturals plus vitamins & minerals Cat Chow
-- Iams mini chunks for small dogs but the Iams puppy has smaller pieces for her to chomp

I cut his food intake to 1/3 cup, 2/3 cup total a day, today only cause of last night, we just didn't have the $$ to take both pets in to the vet today to see what was up with both, & with the cat having a cold wet nose, eating his 1/3 cup of food & drinking water today, I thought he'd be fine, as he's acting normally now.

Sometimes I give them both wet food, I 'heard' that puree pumpkin can help soften up the colon for pets, just 1 tsp. I'll ask the vet when we pick up the dog, in 30m. as we had to take the dog in today for teeth problems, she'd been shivering & not going, eating, drinking since 1230a this morning, she had a little wet food at about 8a, we think we saw some chompers growing in, regardless they had to clean teeth, called them a little bit ago they said she's ''resting comfortably'' but I still worry about our little girl. bleh

Dog likes the pedigree wet, Cat likes the 9-lives wet, both love the "Tiki" brand at the specialty pet store but that's almost a dollar a can not that I don't love them but that's only when they're extra good.

Inquiry comes in the following:
- food - wet or dry or both if so what brands are ''good''?
- teeth cleaning - we're obviously going to have to clean both our pets teeth often, I hear those 'greenie' brand chews/treats are good for both, but also brushing
-pureed pumpkin, yay/ nay? (though I'll find out at the vet in a little bit)

Sigh my love for my kids

[Miraga]

For dog foods, I prefer Natural Balance and Blue Buffalo. They both also make good cat foods. Generally, if you can buy the cat/dog food brand at a grocery store, it's not good enough, from my experience.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

This website has a lot of information, but they don't list all brands properly. For example, some animals HAVE to have a specific diet but they rate the foods poorly even though it was designed that way. Also, pure protein doggy foods can really make your dog a chunk if not fed properly. Pure protein diets are also not good for doggies with kidney problems. At any rate, ask your vet. A lot of people QQ over Science Diet because it has a lot of corn [which is true and I don't feed it to my dogs as a staple] but that doesn't make it terrible either. Our vets recommend Natural Balance, mostly. Anyway, if you use this website to look up foods, take it with a grain of salt.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/artic ... 84&aid=459

This link provides a lot of good information about protein/how to feed your dog.

EDIT: About teeth, Greenies aren't miracle workers unfortunately. They [and other chewy things] help remove tartar buildup on the teeth involved in chewing but NOT things like the canines. So teeth brushing is a must. Regular dentals are also a must!

PS YOUR DOG IS ADORABLE AND I WANT TO HUG IT.

[zedxrgal]

Several months ago I did a ton of research on dog /cat foods a came across a lot of scary stuff. What spawned this was my dog had started to vomit blood. After trips to the vet, blood tests the works come to find out she had a violent allergy to the food she was on. I started heavily researching dog/cat food on the market and found out the food I was feeding her was rated the lowest possible score for a high dollar food. They even stated that they would have rated it -1 if the scale went that low. My dog was eating Nutro Max. Prior to Nutro Max she was on Iams large breed but she never seemed "healthy" for a young, very active dog. She was lethargic, her coat has little sheen and seemed dry every once in a while and she over all just never acted like a young dog should. And yes she had problems defecating also.
Come to find out dog food ingredients are hidden through big words so you think your dog /cat is getting proper nutrition when they're really being given the most unhealthy fillers and byproducts.
Here is the review on your Iams dog food. Notice your food ranked 2 out of five and that was giving it high marks:

Iams

Rating: **/*****
Price: $$$$/$$$$
Website: http://www.iams.com

Ingredients:

Chicken By-Product Meal (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Fish Meal, Chicken, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement,Beta-Carotene, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fructooligosaccharides, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Flax Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Dried Chicken Cartilage (Natural source of Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine), DL-Methionine, Marigold, L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract.

What's good about this food....
Fish meal is used, barley is included.

....and what's not so good.
By-products are primary protein source, corn is prominent, brewers yeast used, sorghum is so-so grain.
Review:

As I mentioned in the cat food review of this food, they have a good marketing strategy here. There are big displays, with a doctor on the display, as if to tell you that since this person in a lab coat says it's good, so should you. There are also fake vials showing how many great ingredients there are in it. And there should be, considering how expensive this food is.

But the problem is, it's just loaded with cheap ingredients and ones that aren't good for your pet. First, see that by-products are your top ingredient. That is never the mark of a good food, ever. Using beaks, heads and feet as your main ingredient won't instill any confidence. It gets worse with corn being the top grain, despite how difficult it is for dogs to digest and the allergy problems many have. The only place it looks up is when they list barley as a good grain, and fish meal (which should have been a top ingredient). Other than that, it's another underwhelming effort from Iams. They threw in brewers yeast as a final insult as well, which is an alcohol-making sideproduct bought in bulk by pet food companies as filler. Yummy.

Here is the review for your cat chow. Even worse then the dog food:

Purina Naturals Cat Chow

Rating: */*****
Price: $/$$$$
Website: http://www.catchow.com

Top 10 Ingredients:

Ingredients: Chicken meal, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, brewers rice, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), corn meal, chicken, salmon, powdered cellulose, ground whole wheat

What's good about this food....
Salmon meal is included, but too far down.

....and what's not so good.
Large amount of corn and soybeants, by-products are main protein source, powdered cellulose is not quality ingredient.
Review:

Let's agree on one thing: Anything that has "chow" in the name is probably never a good thing, and this is certainly no exception. The list of ingredients was long, but not able to be copied due to the format on their website so I just hand typed the first 10. Those are the ones that matter most anyhow.

What we see is more of the same from Purina: fillers leading off, by-products, corn gluten, liver "flavor" instead of actual liver, etc. Oh, and soybean hulls. How the heck can hulls be beneficial?? Yikes.

So there you have it. This is not posted to make you feel bad but to aid in helping you and others to truly pay attention to what our beloved pets are eating.

I have since changed both my dog and my cat to Blue Buffalo Blue Wilderness (which for them was the equivalent of changing them from eating the crappiest fast food on the planet daily to now eating healthy steaks and sea food daily.
The changes in both animals as been amazing. Within one week of being on BW the dog stopped being lethargic and so did the cat. By week two the dog's coat started to really improve, so did the cats. Week three they both were defecating completely normally and easily, both were extremely active like normal young animals, their coats looked amazing. Most importantly my dog had not vomited once! They've now been on BW for five months and are amazing. My dog leaned out and it's amazing to see how lethargic she was before and thick looking. Their teeth are cleaner. And amazingly (yes I am using that word a lot) they eat less and defecate less. The food sustains them so much longer. My 70lb dog eats barely three cups of food per day. On the old food she was going to the bathroom four or five times a day and eating four or five cups. Now she potties only twice per day.

Yes her food is $46.00 but it's more then worth it to have her truly be healthy. The truly good dog /cat foods are not cheap in price but extremely high in quality.
The best brands out there are:
AvoDerm
Blue Buffalo Blue Wilderness
Chicken Soup for the Dog/Cat Lover's Soul
Fromm's Surf and Turf
Innova Evo
Oirjen
Wellness Core

All of the above foods have cat and dog and are ranked five out of five stars against all other brands. Yes they're going to be a little pricey but, to me, it's more then worth it.

I really hope this information helps you and others.

[Tilo]

They usually get Chicken Soup for the Dog/Cat Lover's Soul, but we've not had enough $ to get it for them; I usually get the puppy version for the dog because the adult versions kibble is fricken huge & she's a small thing & has a hard time chomping it.

However, even on the Elderly or Light version of the cat food, my cat was still having just really hard bms...either way soon they'll go back on the steak dinners, it's just sometimes a little out of our league to get them the best of the best unfortunately.

Results from the vet:
fractured tooth right side behind incisor
tooth removal with antibiotics & pain meds
IF she was not brought in it would've obviously gotten a lot worse & cost a lot more
wet food all week = pet store visit for the good stuff

[Aleu]

If you really love your pet, you could feed them like one of my friends does. =P She doesn't give them any brand of dog food... Instead, she gets their food from a butcher. I have no idea how she prepares it, but she pretty much feeds her dogs pure meat with a small amount of veggies and rice. She measures their intake so precisely too. << >> But that also costs a good amount of money.

Both my dog and cats eat Wellness from a small brand of pet stores (Called PetLife). Although I think places like PETCO and Petsmart have picked those up as well. I was actually quite shocked when I looked at all the fillers in dog and cat food. oO

[AdamSavage]

I use Iams for my cat. It cost more then some of the other cat food but the cat will eat less because it's healthier for them. So it balances out in the end. Also the bigger the bag you get the more you will save in the long run.

[zedxrgal]

I use Iams for my cat. It cost more then some of the other cat food but the cat will eat less because it's healthier for them. So it balances out in the end. Also the bigger the bag you get the more you will save in the long run.

Here's the Iams adult cat food. Again just for FYI:

Iams

Rating: **/*****
Price: $$$/$$$$
Website: http://www.iams.com

Ingredients:

Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Corn Grits, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Tuna, Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor, Sodium Bisulfate, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Brewers Dried Yeast, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Rosemary Extract.

What's good about this food....
Tuna is 5th, fish oil included.

....and what's not so good.
By products are main protein source, way too much corn, brewers yeast, insufficient real meat.
Review:

Iams may be the best known pet food out there today, and maintains a very large group of customers who are loyal to them, even after the huge pet food recall that stained them a bit. They have a ton of varities out there, so I've chosen a basic one: Original with Tuna. Let's see how it does. Iams isn't a cheap food, and so I'd hope the ingredients would reflect that. Unfortunately, by-products are the very first ingredient and primary protein source of this food. Then, we're confronted with two corn sources directly afterward, which we know by now aren't beneficial to cats at all. Having filler as the 2nd and 3rd ingredients doesn't really instill a lot of confidence.

Well, at least they have tuna as their 5th ingredient. There's one good meat source, but if you're buying something with the meat's name on the bag, don't you want it higher than 5th? It seems a little disingenuous to have a bag labelled "tuna" when "chicken by-products" are first and foremost.

Dried beet pulp's value as a fiber source is often debated, so I tend to leave that one alone. I DO know that brewers yeast is worthless to cats, though. Any by-product of alcohol making isn't exactly what you'd call highly nutritious for your cat.

All in all, it's a very expensive food, so don't you want to get what you pay for?

Also one thing about cats is that unlike a dog they are 100% carnivores. So the first several ingredients should be meats not corns, fruits and veggies.

[AdamSavage]

I just checked the bag I have the first Ingredient is Chicken then Chicken By-Product Meal etc etc. I guess it depends on the type of Iams ?

[zedxrgal]

Which Iams cat do you have? The reviews were based off three different Iams cat food and this one was the most basic cat food. I can look and see but they only reviewed and rated the three most popular Iams cat foods.

[AdamSavage]

I'm Using Iams Original with Chicken Proactive Health.

[zedxrgal]

Iams Original w/Chicken:

Iams Original ProActive

Rating: **/*****
Price: $$$$/$$$$
Website: http://www.iams.com

Ingredients:

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Corn Grits, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Meal, Dried Egg Product, Natural Chicken Flavor, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Sodium Bisulfate, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Folic Acid), Fructooligosaccharides, Brewers Dried Yeast, Choline Chloride, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extract.

What's good about this food....
Chicken is first, chicken meal later in ingredients, fish oil.

....and what's not so good.
By-products are top protein source, lots of corn.
Review:

You've got to hand it to Iams, they have a heck of a marketing campaign. I've seen large displays for this food, showing a doctor (almost life size) and a bunch of vials showing just how balanced this food is. Of course the vials don't really have the ingredients in them, but it's still an interesting display. Unfortunately, they count on people not being educated, b/c they actually boast about having corn in this food. Corn is not easily digested, is a high source of food allergies, and isn't a good nutritional choice for cats.

Not only that, but they're using by-products as a prominent ingredient. No food that really seriously is putting that much thought into what they're feeding the cats would put by-products in the food. At least give the cats a quality meat source, not beaks, heads and feet.

On the good side, chicken is the first ingredient and they do include fish oil for beneficial fatty acids. That's about all, though. I can't recommend this, especially for the very hefty price tag.

[Tahlian]

As we discovered back when our late cat Norman was diagnosed with diabetes, a wet food diet is actually far lower in carbs than a dry food diet, so that's what's suggested for diabetic kitties. We've tried to get our current kitty Merlin on wet food, but he looks at it like it's something that belongs in his litter box. We'll have to see if we can convince him that wet food really is edible.

One other thing you might look into is what's called Biologically Appropriate Raw Food diet (BARF). It has its supporters and its detractors, and does tend to cost a bit more than mass-market dog food.

[AdamSavage]

So what's a good cat food then if Iams isn't up to par ?

[GormanGhaste]

We've tried to get our current kitty Merlin on wet food, but he looks at it like it's something that belongs in his litter box. We'll have to see if we can convince him that wet food really is edible.

We used to have one that was that way--she had only eaten dry food, and was highly skeptical the first time we offered her canned food

[Miraga]

Just wanted to say that BARF/raw diets are not safe and a no-no according to our animal hospital. Feeding your dog raw food is dangerous from all the nasties that live in raw food like salmonella.

[Aleu]

As we discovered back when our late cat Norman was diagnosed with diabetes, a wet food diet is actually far lower in carbs than a dry food diet, so that's what's suggested for diabetic kitties. We've tried to get our current kitty Merlin on wet food, but he looks at it like it's something that belongs in his litter box. We'll have to see if we can convince him that wet food really is edible.

One other thing you might look into is what's called Biologically Appropriate Raw Food diet (BARF). It has its supporters and its detractors, and does tend to cost a bit more than mass-market dog food.

Rusty scarfs down wet food like no tomorrow and Honey... Kinda likes it. XD We're putting my dog Emma on a diet. D: I almost wanted to put her on pure wet food if that's lower in calories, but I'd rather she at least finish the Wellness dry food we have. << >>

[Rarako]

I just checked the bag I have the first Ingredient is Chicken then Chicken By-Product Meal etc etc. I guess it depends on the type of Iams ?

Ah, I think I know what's up. When I was looking at what to feed my cats I found out from a few sources that a lot of the "big brand" cat and dog foods have wheat/grain as the main component in their foods, this does not look good and folks will be less likely to buy it, so they split the "wheat" into three or four separately listed ingredients so they can list "chicken" or "beef" as the top ingredient. I want to say that Iams was one of the groups that did this. Also "chicken By-Product Meal" is pureed chicken byproducts (in other words bones, legs, skin, beaks, organs, etc), all the things you would never want to feed an animal do to lack of nutritional value and the possible spread of disease.

My cats are fed half a can each of BFF (Best Feline Friend) every day, half in the morning and the other half at night (this will be going up soon since they are getting bigger). I like to have them on B.G. (Before Grain) for dry food, which is available at all times, but because everyone in the area has problems selling it (bag not pretty enough?) it's like pulling teeth to get it in. Right now the two are going through a bag of Natural Balance: Alpha Cat and they seem to like it ok. I have noticed that I need to refill both bowls far more often than B.G. so once this bag is gone its back to the old food.

BFF is $1.15 a can where I buy it (the cats love this and I have a picky eater on my hands), you can buy it a lot cheaper on line though. BG is not to that bad either do to how little of it they need to eat, an 11 lb bag is about $20 but it lasts a little over two months between two very active, growing cats.

Hope this helped a little.

[AdamSavage]

I don't think we have B.G in Canada. I've never seen it. I will go to the pet food store on Monday and see what they have there.

[Tahlian]

Just wanted to say that BARF/raw diets are not safe and a no-no according to our animal hospital. Feeding your dog raw food is dangerous from all the nasties that live in raw food like salmonella.

If that's the case, then why do oh, say, wolves do so well eating pretty much the same stuff? I know plenty of greyhound owners who feed raw, whose dogs are healthy as horses. They feed raw despite their vets saying the exact same thing, and their animals are perfectly fine. Many vets sort of have a certain vested interest in keeping pet owners buying prepackaged dog food, because many of them sell it.

That being said, if ANY diet doesn't work well for your particular pet, don't feed it, of course. I also said that raw feeding had its supporters and its detractors and was perfectly happy to let any pet owner who was interested in it go and do the research for themselves, as they should do with just about anything.

[Siliverin]

a rule of thumb i have been told over the years is
1) if you can afford it stay away from pet food with by-product as the first ingredient. Blue buffalo, natural recipie are good food BB is expensive, NR is but not as bad if not get something your pets enjoy and dont get sick from
2) a good rule of thumb to follow my vet told me is if its posionus/bad to us, dont give it to your pet either ( just what he uses as a rule of thumb)

i have never given my pets a raw diet...along time ago we got a dog who was on one, and she always begged us when we had food cause she thought it was for her also.. so can be ehh situation

dry food and wet food are good, my cat eats both. She eats friskies dry indoor cat food and only patte wet food xD

if your not sure on a food and if your pet would like it, i would try getting the smallest bag and see, most places say if most of it is there you can bring it back ( petsmart by me does that anyway)