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Complete and complementary cat foods

2 replies

AsTimeGoesBy · 03/09/2015 16:56

We adopted two cats a couple of years ago, they are now 3yo. Their diet has always been a good quality high meat complete cat food, plus one pouch a day each of Felix. I have always felt that the Felix was probably the MacDonalds of cat food, so decided to try them on Encore pouches, which have a higher meat content (70% plus and minimal grains).

But the Encore are complementary, the Felix are complete. Now, as they only form a fairly small part of our girls diet it probably doesn't matter too much. But it has made me think, is the Felix better because it's complete, or is the Encore better because it's high meat / not padded out with cereal?

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Tiptops · 03/09/2015 21:36

How much encore are they having per day? I would ditch both the encore and Felix in favour of good quality food that is also complete.

I only give mine complementary feeds now and then as a treat, or if someone is really sick there's a complementary food that they all love (Cosma nature) so I give it to get them through the illness.

Giving complementary food too often, and in too high quantities can be really dangerous. For example, the complementary foods often lack the required amount of taurine which is essential to cat health. Not enough taurine causes dilated cardiomyopathy in cats which can prove fatal.

I personally think complementary foods shouldn't be available for sale. High quality complete food is available, and I don't think pet owners are made aware of how important it is feed a complete diet. On some packaging, you really have to search around on the box to check if the food is complete or complementary. I imagine plenty of owners are buying their pets 'posh' food like encore, almo nature etc and not realising it could badly affect their pets health.

AsTimeGoesBy · 03/09/2015 21:50

Well, they have only had complete up until now (Felix 1x pouch per day and good quality dry complete foods). I only bought the Encore pouches yesterday. But I agree, it is dangerous, I had absolutely no idea about this until I read the description of the Encore pouches, and I did a lot of reading up about cat care when they arrived with us.

Can you recommend any complete pouches? They love their wet food, but DS is in charge of feeding them in the mornings and he can't manage cans.

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