Just how bad is Go-Cat?

[Sunshine49]

Hello everyone! My mum came round to meet our two young rescue cats (a boy and a girl, both one year old) the other week and brought a big bag of dry Go-Cat biscuits for them as a present. It's what she always fed our cats when I was growing up.

However, since then I've done some research (and posted quite a bit on here!) and realise now that Go-Cat is apparently one of the worst possible foods you can feed your cat.

Both cats weigh just under 3kg and at the moment, they're getting two pouches of wet food (Royal Canin) each per day, plus a small handful of Go-Cat dry each in the morning.

I have bought a big bag of Royal Canin dry food for them too, which I'm planning to switch them on to when the Go-Cat runs out, as I've been very impressed with the RC wet food.

However, since reading up on Go-Cat and how bad it is, I'm wondering - would it be best just to chuck it away and switch them straight onto the Royal Canin?

Money is quite tight at the minute so I'd rather not do that if possible, but if it's really that bad for them then obviously my cats' health comes first. I'd say I have another two weeks' worth left.

Any advice would be much appreciated, as always!

thethoughtfox from a specialist natural pet store.

You can buy this online and the dog equivalent is very good. The thing is cat food has more tax so if you can get a whole meat product that’s advertised as dog food it’ll be cheaper. This brand of dog food though has veg in which isn’t needed for cats.

If you can get along to a specialist natural pet shop they may have whole meat (including bone etc) dog food that’s perfect for cats. Don’t just feed supermarket meat raw though.

I didn’t think you should give dog food to cats as it doesn’t contain taurine, which cats need.

Go Cat, Royal Canin. Both bad.

Why is Royal Canin bad? For that price it should be fabulous. They do so many variations too.
What is the best choice dry cat food?

Because it has wheat and rice and gluten and other crap and not that much meat.. you're paying for the name

My cat eats Applaws dry happily with an occasional tin of applaws tuna as a treat.

This thread has proved very enlightening thank you.

I have had cats for thirty years and always fed wet food twice a day but left a bowl of dry food down every day. A bowl would last three days for 2-3 cats.

Then I got Bertie. Bertie is scared of the everything so only goes out for an hour at the most a day, his choice. He doesn't hunt and prefers to play at home but has the tendency to be fairly sedentary.

He has never been a fan of wet food so I just filled the dry bowl up more often. He is only a year old but rather plump for a young cat, I have never had a fat cat before.

Two weeks ago I noticed he was peeing blood. A trip to he vets revealed no infection but he vet was quite clear that I had to cut the dry food right down and if he ate it, it should be mixed with wet food. Because of the length and shape of the ureter in male cats and his reluctance to go outside he was susceptible to bladder problems and the dry food was massively exasperating his condition.

So little fat Bertie is now on minimal dried food and his problem has completely cleared up. The only biscuits he gets are once a day in one of those Dreamy ball dispensers to encourage activity.

The biscuits were also apparently responsible for his weight problems, the carbs in them with flavour enhancers were rather addictive and the canine version of junk food.

In summary, pretty much all dried foods are not ideal for cats. I wouldn't blame Go Cat.

What dry food were you giving though as some are much better than others

Cat food is funny, though, isn't it. It's a bit like feeding a toddler: the good stuff might be the best for them, but if they won't eat it then there's no point in persevering with it. And there are all kinds of situations where the ideal isn't possible, so you have to do the best you can.

I'd love to feed only wet food to our old boy, but it's so hot here that it attracts flies almost as soon as it goes down, which is not helped by the fact that he only likes to lick the gravy off and not actually eat it.

I have a limited range of options to buy cat food, but can normally get the royal Canin dry food for senior cats, which he refuses point blank to touch; or the Science Plan dry food for senior cats. When I went this weekend the only options were Science Plan kitten food or Friskies. He currently has Friskies, and will be back on Science Plan at the weekend, hopefully, when the shop gets more stock in.

OP, one bag of Go Cat isn't likely to cause serious problems - if it disagreed with them, you would probably know by now. I'd use it up mixed in with the Royal Canin and then work out what you are going to have as your long term plan. Bearing in mind that they might not agree with you

I didn’t think you should give dog food to cats as it doesn’t contain taurine, which cats need.

Yes I know, I mentioned that about the hearts containing taurine.

The raw meat is just whole meat so although it’s labelled ‘dog food’ it’s just raw meat and cartilage etc, maybe I did t explain that very well. As it’s labelled dog food it’s cheaper due to tax, it’s suitable for cats though as it’s pure meat. If you were giving it to dogs you’d need to put veg with it as they need that and cats don’t.

Here’s the kind of thing meat that has ‘dog food’ in the labelbut is just pure meat.

My cats seem very happy on it (and like I said, non-smelly poop is a plus)!

Whatever you choose to feed, do your reasearch. So many expensive and well-thought of foods are actually not as good as they seem.

Sorry Hyena, I missed the bit about the hearts

Sorry Hyena, I missed the bit about the hearts

No worries, easily done

petfoodexpert.co.uk had just added cat food ratings if that's any help, not all foods are on there yet though! High meat content is important in cat foods as is a closed formula recipe. So when something says cereals this can mean 80% wheat 20% barley in one batch and 50% wheat and 50% barley in another - same with meat and animal derivatives, they can change the recipe depending on what is the cheapest off cuts at the time. Go the highest meat and lowest cereal/rice/filler content you can afford!

After reading an old thread on Gocat I wanted to say that with Zooplus you can get 3% of everything by paying a small fee which lasts about 2 years. This is because someone said zooplus cost was more. Also to recommend a dry cat food they sell called Purizon. This is a range of high quality food I think mainly sold in Europe. It is so often out of stock as everyone wants it. I resorted last week to Gocat for an elderly sick cat which she ate but do try buy Purizon for my others.

I buy Bozita and thrive dry foods from zooplus.

My boys love Go Cat! One would only eat biscuits as a kit and was on Iams Kitten but won't touch the posh ones at all. Both boys eat a mix of wet food and either go cat or Whiskas biscuits

They eat birds and mice too 🤢

Just to point out this thread is four years old, so the OP's Go Cat will be long since Gone Cat.

Cats last longer than 5 years so why would you think OPs cats are dead already?

Not the cats being dead but the food no longer existing.