To think Felix, Whiskas and other cat "food" manufacturers are taking the mick

[TuppenceForYou]

Most commercial cat food has actually about 4% meat. This is for nearly 100% carnivores. They put soya protein shit in instead, plus carbohydrates (to make our cats fat).

Its really a scandal. And one I've only noticed because I've got a lovely little kitten I want to feed well.

Apparently this commercial cat "food" makes them hungry all the time (no real meat) so they overeat (diabetes) and it also makes their pooh pong when it doesn't need to, it makes them less energetic and their coats not so shiny!

Does anyone else wonder what planet we are on when our 100% carnivore pets are fed 4% meat by these bstd manufacturers? Its not even cheap!

It's appalling. I don't live in the UK and the choice is extremely limited here so my poor beasts have to get what they're given. They turn their noses up at all of the available complete wet foods (Whiskas/Felix/Sheba and a few others). They will only eat some of the complimentary foods and dry food. Sheba seafood cocktail is their favourite. Apparently tuna isn't good for them but I'd rather they had some wet food than none.

I've looked at ordering online but the few places that do deliver here charge £50-70 shipping.

Rainbow if you look at the back of the packet it says it's complementary, rather than complete.

Tuppence high quality dry food is fine. It's 80-90% meat. They will need to drink water or have some wet food with it.

Exactly Rainbow : peas, lentils and chickpea flour! For a 99% carnivore cat (the 1% I guess is grass ).

It doesn't even make sense FGS.

Rainbow applaws dry is 80% meat. You won't get many complete foods higher than that, wet or dry. It's actually a very well known brand, I'm surprised you haven't heard of it.

The best dry food mine have ever sampled is from Ziwi Peak. It's dehydrated meat/hearts/innards (yum). It's expensive though. I'm considering a trip to a neighbouring country to but some as I can't get it here.

One of my cats has dental issues and the vet keeps telling me to stop giving him wet food. I don't want to though. A biscuit diet feels wrong.

Yes Living high quality dry foods like Applaws has got a high meat content to be fair! up to about 80%! But I doubt Go-Cat etc has.

But I have still read that dry food is not good for cats generally, so I do give it to my cat, but not every day.

I do give one of my older Siamese girls a raw egg every night - she has to have metacam for her gums so it's less stressful to put it in that (its liquid) than syringe it down her throat

Tuppence I don't think anyone would consider go cat to be a quality food, especially with the links to urinary crystals.

*Applaws dry is good.

I just looked it up (not heard of it) Lots of peas, lentils, chickpea flour type stuff in it*

Here's the duck version. Plenty of good stuff in it. We feed Aldi tinned also (cereal free).

Ingredients
Dried chicken (47%), dried duck (21%), freshly prepared chicken mince (16%), sweet potato (6%), potato, beet pulp, brewer’s yeast, chicken gravy (1%), salmon oil, vitamins, minerals, dried egg, cellulose from plant fibres (0.03%), sodium chloride, calcium carbonate, seaweed/kelp, cranberries, DL-methionine, potassium chloride, yucca extract, citrus extract, rosemary extract.

If you go for raw feeding I think chicken hearts (or livers not sure) are high in taurine so a couple of those should provide enough.

Happy Kitty Company did me a custom sample box livinginmidnight so I didn't have to order a load that wouldn't get eaten. Their shipping is good too, I just make sure I order over a certain weight and it's free AND with DPD who are by far the best I've found from all the various delivery companies. Our cat has mostly wet food now with a few biscuits to tide him over during the day when we're at work and it works out to about a tenner a month on wet food so a damn sight cheaper than supermarkets as well.

LivingInMidnight My cat has this now www.waitrosepet.com/cat/wet-cat-food/tempt-me-cat-pouch-adult-tuna-in-jelly-85g-x8

Ingredients:
Dolphin-friendly Tuna (50%), either Prawns (4%) or Ocean Fish (7%), Sunflower Oil, Minerals, Tapioca, Taurine

Product Information
HiLife Tempt Me! Tuna Collection is an irresistible complete pet food.

Like I said I'm new to this so always grateful for information on how to make life cats life/health better

Fatcat I may be wrong but I think I read (when doing extensive internet research in cat diets) that dry food doesn't do an awful lot for their teeth and the health benefits of wet outweighs any benefits dry has for teeth. I think it also said that cat owners should brush their cats teeth though and think anyone who's tried to administer a working tablet would know how that would end!

I thought tuna over extended periods was poisonous to cats due to its high mercury content, or is that just tuna for han consumption?

Yes, thats what I've read Mistofelees, that dry food - despite being technically Ok - is not good for them.

I've even read that the worst commercial wet food is better than the best dry!

It would be great if we really knew the answer, and someone could produce definitive advice and evidence.

www.petforums.co.uk

This is where I got most of my info from, some very knowledgeable owners and experts on there.

Csj cat food is very high in meat and very good. Reasonably priced too. That's what my cats are now on once I'd weaned them off their go cat addiction.

Saying that my friends cat lived to 19 and was only ever fed whiskars.

My recently departed cat only ever ate bloody go cat tuna and bugger all else he lived to 13 (died from his heart murmur) his brother is still going strong.

The trouble is though cats eat what they like, so if what they like is felix or whiskas -that's what they get!

Or is it just my cat? She is 17 and still going strong.

Thanks mist will definitely try them out!

Yes rainbow hilife tempt me is complete and a decent mid range food (Indulge me isn't, just in case you thought of trying that). I do wish it wasn't quite so pungent though . I can get mine to eat that if I add freeze dried shrimp! In her defence it was my own fault for buying the applaws in the first place. Wainwrights is very similar to hilife if you wanted to try that. The posh sainsbury's one also has roughly the same meat/tapioca mix.

We feed ours on James Wellbeloved dry, the turkey one.

It's not just yours mycheeks. This is why I've relaxed my rules with mine, there's no point stressing myself out over what they're eating when they'll just do whatever they want.

Tuppence the wet/dry debate seems to have equal numbers convinced the other people are doing it wrong. Vets can't make up their minds either.

Yep. I've also read that dry food is not beneficial for teeth but all of the vets here tell me to drop the wet...

I'm ignoring them. Google also says that tuna is bad for cats but mine will only eat tune wet food.

Biscuits I change around. Currently they have a grain free dry food but they have dull coats and dandruff with this one so I'm going to change again. I refuse to give whiskers biscuits. They love them, but the orange vomit it creates has stained my carpet The vets here also told me that grain free is unnecessary unless your cat has a sensitive stomach. This also goes against everything I read online

I never anticipated the stress that would accompany cat ownership. I wish I'd never googled.

My two will just not eat the pate style wet foods and that's what most of the high meat content foods are. Add in that you want kitten food and the choice is even more limited. They have had bozita (too much jelly and they stopped eating it), feringa (pate like texture so they stopped eating it, high life which is smooth too, butchers but didn't like the chicken flavour so not worth buying the multipack. They now take James wellbeloved but only lamb flavour. They were eating the wainwrights tuna but again its smooth so they are going off it. I have offered them some adult foods and they now eat some Sheba fine flakes which doesn't have cereals but does have sugars! Have also given some gourmet stuff which ha no cereal but had sugars.

It's not that whiskas, etc only has four percent meat but that the named meat is four percent. It will have other meat and animal derivatives in order to make up the protein and meat content

I give them AVA kitten dry food and it has 66% meat in it (alongside the wet food)

What about Lily's kitchen is that any good?

Flynn was always on royal canin sensitivity control dry cat food as wet food made him sick! But after an upset tummy recently he is back on wet cat food - but I don't really know what to buy him

Google also says that tuna is bad for cats

FFS I didn't know this either! I give up.