Like Tree15Likes

Best natural cat canned food / worst natural canned food / cost of food

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4 LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    90

    Best natural cat canned food / worst natural canned food / cost of food

    Hi All

    I am wondering what everyone is feeding their beloved purr machines. Have been searching for the most natural and "best" food. No I don't plan on feeding my cat home cooked food. He will be at the vet with a stomach problem sooner.


    Currently I am feeding my kitten a mixture of 2 brands. NATUREA and ZIWI PEAK. Cost wise is not too bad HKD12/can (85g) for NATUREA and HKD34/can (170g) for Ziwi Peak (only fed twice a week).


    I gave Merrick cat canned food a try and must say that I didn't like the smell of it. Very artificial smell and my cat drank a lot more water after giving him this brand. So i suspect they add a little more sodium?

    What brands do you guys feed or swear by? How much does it cost you?


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Tai Wai
    Posts
    1,376

    kakato
    Ciao

    both goes for around $12-14 per can.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    90

    For what it's worth. I believe the Mon Petit Gold ingredients are not the purest and most natural. Meaning, they add in meat by products and fillers (cats cannot easily digest). Yes, it is cheap compared to other brands but you really get what you pay for. It gets them addicted as well to all food additives. This is just my opinion.

    I am also pretty new to cats. Have been doing so much research on getting the purest cat food for my 6month old kitten.

    You should look on the ingredient list that contain REAL meat i.e. deboned chicken, chicken breast, liver etc. Those ingredients are usually listed in the top 5 ingredients. In general something that is fit for human consumption. A BIG NO NO is when they don't label the real meat product i.e. meat by-product. etc.

    In general I would also stay clear of companies that have a history of food recalls. Many American brands have this problem.

    Let me know what brand you have changed your cats to IF you have decided to switch them to other brands. Thx!

    Elegiaque and Natfixit like this.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    90

    @ jrkob. Please note, I am not an expert. I just like to do my research and feed my cat as healthy as possible. There is a plethora of natural brands. In my case Naturea is not easy to get in HK. Only 1 online shop has this brand. You should look into brands such as Weruva (made in Thailand but read on their FAQ), Wellness and the list goes on which is stocked by more online pet shops. I would also say its a good idea to have 2 brands on rotation. This brings more variety. And in case you run out of one brand then you can switch to the other one right away. Without having to transition over 7 days period.


    @ dontdrink&drive. You are right. For logical reasons one would ask the vet. Here is where it becomes problematic... You will notice that vets in HK have affiliations with the HUGE companies such as HILLS or Purina. Hence, you can buy their products readily at the vets.

    These brands promote foods for prevention of different ailments in certain ages of cats i.e. oral care, sensitive skin, hairball control, kidney health etc. which is all good. BUT if you look beyond and see the ingredient list it becomes suspicious. They add potatoes, starch, corn, non identifiable meats, etc. In the long term these foods make your pet more sick. Hence you visit vets more often.... They are promoting food that have negative effects on your pets.

    Hence, do your own homework is best. A great read for how to pick your foods. Beware, it does mention that "Natural, Holistic food brands" are simple marketing ploys to get us worried pet owners to fork out more $$$.
    How To Select a Pet Food That's Actually Good For Your Pet

    At the end of they day, we are the ones picking the foods for our little feline overlords. So do your best and pick a food that has as little ingredients as possible. Vets recommendations read like a long essays.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    6,531
    Original Post Deleted
    Hi jrkob, one major problem with Mon Petit -- can you even read the label of the ingredients? I suspect, no. Mon Petit uses a lot of tuna and seafood, which is not sustainable for the environment, and some people advise against a fish diet for cats because it can be highly addictive and possibly contain levels of metals.

    As a rule of thumb, most supermarket brands of cat food will not be suitable. They tend to contain salt and are highly processed.

    I give my kitty Orijin dry food (cheapest on wisepet.com, and very good service). I had bought Royal Canin Young Neutered Female food from the vet early on, and my cat actually prefers this dry food, but looking at the ingredients list, "maize" = corn is the second ingredient. Not good!

    For wet food I give her Applaws canned chicken. If you look at the ingredients list of Applaws, it's mostly just chicken meat, almost nothing else. I believe Kakato and Almo Nature are other good brands, which I sometimes also feed. One tip I read recently was to look at the moisture content. The higher it is (80%), the more you're paying for water, the lower it is (~70%) is kind of better value for money.

    There's some information here, although it's just one person's perspective:
    Commercial Canned Foods by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: reading cat food labels, canned versus dry cat food

    I find the whole pet food industry seriously messed up. There's a lot of marketing behind it, and even if you have the best intentions of making your own food to give to your cat (like we do for ourselves when we want a good diet), there's all these complicated matters concerning what nutrition cats need to be getting and giving them the right amounts. Argh! And never mind how fresh ingredients (=meat) are kind of expensive to get in a sustainable manner/ethically in Hong Kong. And, yeah, the vets are not helpful at all because they're paying their rent by selling Royal Canin and Hills.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    90
    Original Post Deleted
    - AHHHH the Whiskas brand. Let me guess, you are European. Well, as Elegiaque said, STAY AWAY from supermarket products because those cans are addictive to your cats. It's pretty much junk food for pets. Choke full of additives, colourings, sodium, non identifiable meat products, corn, and it goes on.... HKD36 is expensive for a can, I guess it came in a 400g can? Or 85 or 170gram can? For the love of whatever you believe in. Please don't give your cat such food.

    What i read or heard about Kakato - it is a HK brand, they import their meat from New Zealand and further process it in Thailand or China. (I need reliable source to back this up though).

    In terms of lower water content. There is food called Dehydrated food. It's when they gently remove the water contents from meat, this means less processing and preserving the nutrients. I am considering this option from Ziwi Peak (all made in New Zealand). If you don't mind paying slightly more then compare ZIWI PEAK wet food with Kakato. I don't buy ingredients with fish. Cats eat meat! You don't see a lion eating fish do you....
    misshappy26 likes this.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Posts
    90

    @ Elegiaque - Very good points and well said indeed!

    Elegiaque likes this.

  8. #8

    Merrick's beef is from US cows - which tend to be hormone-laden* or GM, so if you're already paying so much, I would recommend Canadian-made Orijen instead. Best in terms of dry food.

    * And if there's bone meal, it's so toxic it's illegal for human consumption (ok for pet food though). Made the mistake of feeding my cat US bonemeal as a calcium supplement and it started peeing blood!


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    6,531
    Original Post Deleted
    by the way, you should introduce new food a bit gradually.

    Also, the Whiskas or Mon Petit is a bit like McDonalds for cats (and tuna), which is why they get so addicted to it. Then they end up not eating their dry food, but, I think, because it lacks nutrition they eat a lot of it? I'm not quite sure... I've heard this story from several adopters of my foster kittens -- "Oh they don't like dry food! They just eat mon petit!" !!!

    But let me guess, your cat poos a lot and it's really smelly? It's the stuff just running through and not being thoroughly absorbed.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    6,531

    Just mix in a little (teaspoon?) of Kakato with the "regular" food. I think a cat should always have access to some dry food, so you can just leave that out. Gradually increase the amount of the Kakato with the other wet food so that it becomes 100%. Should take a few days? Maybe one week?


Closed Thread
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4 LastLast