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I am really looking into feeding my cats even better food then I thought I was feeding them. These are two foods I am looking at . The Evo is very $$$ but they eat less, poop less etc...and more protien and less carbs. The california natural is less $$$ but seems to be a good one too. It has the least ing. in it then any other food on the market. Not as much protien as the Evo but tEvo is like 50% that is really high.
Any one use these?
I give my kitties canned Ziwi peak - its an all meat cat food. After the pet food scare I did a lot of research and found out that cats are not natural omnimovies - they are true carnivores, so all the grains in cat foods are really not particularly good for them.... They look really great eating the new food - soft, shiny coats, nice and trim. I give them a little dry food too - also grain free, though it does have a little bit of veggies in it. I can't remember the brand, but its duck and green pea flavor and the bag is yellow...
I used to give my dogs California's Natural, when I could get it, which wasn't always. They did really well on that. The only thing I'd say about high-end kibbles is to check the expiration date. Depending on the store, the stock may not move quickly, and since they don't contain any artificial preservatives, they get rancid fast.
I don't know anything about cat food though.
Brandi--I have a good friend who is crazy about her pets. She gives her cat Innova. She loves it so much that her puppy eats Innova, too.
Our golden retriever puppies came from the same breeder (are a couple months apart), so when my girl, Fiona, wouldn't eat her Nutro, we switched her to Large Breed Puppy Innova & Avoderm Puppy. Her coat is lovely--it's those avocados in the Avoderm. We like it so much that we switched our two older goldens to Avoderm, too. Maeve used to have skin problems but since going with the Avoderm, she is doing much better.
Ok, so you may think I'm a bit of a whack job for admitting this, but I listen to martha stewarts channel on Sirius. There is a lady with a show called "cat chat".
She calls dried cat food "kitty crack" and is adamant that you feed your cat wet food. Check out her website http://www.traciehotchner.com/cc/
I don't have a cat myself, but I do listen to her show on the way home sometimes. Just something to consider.
edited to add that I feed my pup Solid Gold and I love it. The first ingrediant is Bison.
Having just adopted two new kittens, this is a subject I've also been exploring. During my adoption interview, I was told the same stuff about dry food and what types of canned food are best. I was given a brochure of info from Lisa A. Pierson, DVM and found her to be very convincing.
Innova was highly recommended by the Animal Welfare League that was fostering my cats, but it's been hard to find. I've ended up going with the Wellness brand, which was also recommended and is sold at Whole Foods and some other pet shops near me (though not at PetSmart or Petco). Alec and Olive seem to really enjoy it, but they have both been a bit gassy. Dunno if that's the food or just a typical kitten thing, though. Been a loooong time since I've raised a kitten :rolleyes:
I feed my dog Innova Evo. I'm very pleased with how he does on it. If/when I get a cat, I will feed it Innova or something similar.
I feed my cats 1/2 raw meat (mixed with salmon oil and egg yolks) and 1/2 dry cat food. When my old cat dies, I will probably reduce the amount of dry cat food to just treats.
I agree that dry cat food is "kitty crack" they eat it and get fat and their bodies are ill equipped to deal with all those carbs.
Our two dogs eat California Natural Lamb and Rice. The older one gets a supplement of Glucosamine with chondro?? and his thyroid meds.
the seven cats get Wellness. Will recommend California Natural and Evo too. From all the cats we see, cats on Wellness, California Natural and EVO are all doing really well. The rescue group I work with do not have a "fixed" list of approved brand. Its up to each foster family to decide what the rescue cats eat. Even with the freedom to decide, I think most of us stay with the three I just mentioned.
smilingcat
My older boy (Lab) gets California Natural Low Calorie. He does great on it. Coat is really nice and healthy looking. My Mom's shepard used to be on Avoderm and he did great on that.
It is worth paying money for quality food. Always look for dried food that has Dried protien as the main ingredient. This means they weighed the meat after the water was taken out of it.
I looked the dry food up - Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea - Its a grain free, high protein mix. My kitties get about 1/3 of their diet in the dry and 2/3 in the Ziwi Peak (100% meat) canned.
I checked out the EVO - looks like good stuff too.
I fed my dog raw food for the first two years we had her, and gave her Evo treats. They were great. Last summer I decided to pick up a bag of dry food to take on a road/camping trip and she's been eating kibble ever since. She's eating Orijen. Evo would have been my second choice but since Orijen is made locally I went with it. Both have excellent ingredients lists.
Don't underestimate the importance of a good pet food. Max's previous owners fed her grocery store kibble and she had constant health problems. When we switched her to raw food they all cleared up.
I think i am going to go for the california natural at this point. The thing is though the amount of taurine that is in it? It says 0.01% i want to know how much should they have? I had a cat a long time ago who suffered from crystals. I have tried to look up how much they should have and none of it makes sence to me. I have a call into the vet. Of coarse he called me back yesterday morning (sunday) and I was at yoga so I misses he's call.
give your cat chicken hearts for taurine. THey love it. You can grind them in a regular blender. yum! (it is kind of gross)
I'm sure that you already know this, but I thought (as a parent of 4 cute little purrs) to put in my $.02.
It's well worth it to spend a little more on good, canned food. I actually brought one male cat back from the brink of a nasty urinary tract infection with a small amount of medicine and a huge shift in diet. He went from bloody urine to a happy boy in a few days.
Also, stay away from fish flavored food. It can screw up the ph balances and cause problems (particularly in male cats).
May your purrs have long and happy lives!