The pet food industry is a bad joke

[Lonewolf]

Never tried any of these 'premium' brands tbh and I'm not really sure if they are worth the extra cost? I give my cat 1 Whiskas or Felix wet food pouch (depends which one is on offer in Tesco) a day, along with Whiskas dried food and she's fine with it.

I have learnt that she's not a salmon fan, if the wet food has salmon in it, she won't touch it.

One of my friend only feeds his cat dry food, says it's apparently healthier than wet food... but I'm not sure.

A vet once advised me against buying brands such as Felix and Whiskas because it was similar to feeding them McDonalds.

 

[mattyfez]

A vet once advised me against buying brands such as Felix and Whiskas because it was similar to feeding them McDonalds.

Pretty much this... Purina have a simmilary bad rep for using cheap fillers like excess grain, water and 'mystery animal derived sludge'.

A good sign of health, gross as it might be, is to look at the poo. A good quality poo is the sign of a healthy diet and digestive system.
If it's sloppy and makes you want to vomit from the smell, that's a good indicator of poor diet.

 

[NVP]

Yeh agreed. Since being on raw my cats poos have no smell, aren't wet or mushy etc., but the biggest difference I noticed was with the cats behaviours, so much more active and playful than when I was feeding them poison. I mean, why do some cat food and treats still contain cheese and milk??

 

[secretspy]

I've tried my two cats on raw meat from Honeys Dog food (some of them are suitable for cats) but one of them is quite fussy with his food and it kept going to waste. (Also not great to have it out too long in the hot weather)

I've tried the hi life before but then I started to find chunks of organs that weren't mashed up enough and the cats started to go off it. Also tried the ones that get advertised online as being healthy etc. Turned out they were just relabelled tins of purina and they were stupid flavours like tomato and something, causing them to be sick and have upset stomachs. They're now currently on Butchers cat food and seem ok with that. Their weight has levelled out and they don't seem to be as hungry between feeds. I know it's probably not the best for them but it doesn't make them sick and its not stupid expensive. ( I was getting 24 tins for £16.99 but now it's £19.99)

I refuse to put them on dry food again after I nearly lost one of them years back. Vet recommended dry food only but didn't tell me its common for male cats to develop a UTI. Of course the fussy eater loved the dry biscuit and got UTI after UTI. The vets unknowingly to me at the time were then taking off his cone of shame whilst he was staying there for treatment, allowing him to rip his catheter out and cause damage. They wanted to put him to sleep but I refused, took him to the specialist vet they suggested and a lot of money later came home with a cat who no longer had a little ding dong but was no longer suffering with UTIs. He was 1 and half years old at the time and he's 11 now

 

[CaNsA]

Yo.
Experienced slave to multiple cats with various dietary requirements here.

How quickly are you changing the type of food over?

Are you slowly increasing the amount of new food over the course of a week?

One of our cats had had a really bad gluten allergy, we tried many types of specialist foods but they all had a high fibre count. Look for "crude fibres" and "crude ash" on the ingredients, that was bad news.

We finally found that Purina Nature's Creations and Webbox Naturals were the easiest on her stomach.

When she was really struggling we had to give her boiled chicken and it really settled things down.

Just a bit of info for you with a couple of things worth considering.

Drop me a message if you have any questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

All the best.
o7

 

[Demon]

And it's not even the just cheap stuff. After trialling another "premium" brand*, and clearing up puke from every room in the house, I have to vent some. *(£1 per 50g or so.)

Just about every brand of cat food inexplicably includes some vegetable or other non-meat ingredient. Vegetable oil. Ground nut oil. Palm oil. Sesame oil. Potato. Rice. Grains.

But buy the more expensive brands and you still get delights such as sweet potato, asparagus, green beans, tomatoes... you name it. Seaweed extract. Seaweed extract? Why not add some cookies and hot chocolate while you're at it... Some of this stuff I had to look up as I don't even know what it is. One of today's bonus ingredients was "slippery elm extract." What the actual cluck is that? Oh, it's some horse**** supplement some hipster types are taking now. Great.

Cats are bloomin' obligate carnivores. They want meat, and minerals, and that's it. What consumer is asking cat food brands to add non-digestible vegetable ingredients? What consumer is demanding this? "Oh yes, little Tibby is very partial to some asparagus and slippery elm extract. I'll buy this one for sure!" I doubt anyone is that dense (or do I?)

So perhaps it's just a cheap, filler ingredient to bulk out the product. But then why is this all the rage in expensive foodstuffs, too? Why are the "premium" brands throwing in non-meat foodstuffs that could be an allergen? You're already charging more than most human foods cost, why muck about adding vegetables you know cats can't even digest? Yes, not all cats will be allergic to this nonsense, but some will be. Why add potential allergens when all you really want is meat, meat and more meat?

I'm going to have to go raw, I think. I probably should have gone raw years ago. Lack of effort on my part. But damn, the pet food industry is soooo useless.

Whilst not perfect, we went around the houses with our dog rejecting all main expensive brands, so used the allaboutdogfood website to help choose foods with less crap in them and whilst he’s still a bit of a fussy gut in terms of which foods agree with him, we’ve had no issues buying foods that aren’t bad for him and seem compatible with his digestive system..

 

[gingergundog]

@gingergundog also this

The Shocking Truth About Commercial Dog Food | Dog Food Advisor

Learn what can legally go into your dog's food and how the pet food industry has become a sinister waste disposal vehicle for many human food manufacturers.

www.dogfoodadvisor.com

Do They Really Use Dead Dogs and Cats to Make Pet Food? | Dog Food Advisor

Discover the shocking truth about the dog food industry's use of dead pets to make dog food and how you can avoid buying one of these shameful products

www.dogfoodadvisor.com

Purina admits to using animal "renderers" to source the ingredients in their products, although they say they shouldn't have "diseased or disabled" animals in there. That still leaves all the other undesirable waste products that get "rendered" down to a slurry/powder, and then bunged into Felix.

Tbh the Animal Digest doesn't sound great although the whole euthanised pets thing sounds a bit far fetched.

The thing is the Purina goes down well and she has solid poos, we tried Applaws which is arguably better but it was in one end and out the other.

The dogs eat Millies Wolfheart, and we were considering getting some of their cat food, but it may not agree with her.

 

[FoxEye]

Tbh the Animal Digest doesn't sound great although the whole euthanised pets thing sounds a bit far fetched.

The thing is the Purina goes down well and she has solid poos, we tried Applaws which is arguably better but it was in one end and out the other.

The dogs eat Millies Wolfheart, and we were considering getting some of their cat food, but it may not agree with her.

I start with the opinion that all companies are Lawful Evil (hope you are familiar with 2e ) until proven otherwise.

If something is lawful, then no matter how sinister, it's probably happening. Especially if it happens to be insanely more profitable than doing things the ethical way.

 

[adam cool dude]

My cat did fine on a variety of different meats ranging from mice to voles and even the odd bird.

 

[Scuzi]

My pup kept throwing up and squirting out most pet foods. After trying a few we determined that the grain content was the main offender, with a possibility that poultry wasn’t helping. The worst food was the one the vet recommended, Purina hypoallergenic. It was pretty much pure corn. The dog wouldn’t even eat it.
He‘s now on a grain free insect based food. All digestive issues have disappeared and he absolutely devours it.

So yeah, my dog eats flies.

 

[platinum87]

And it's not even the just cheap stuff. After trialling another "premium" brand*, and clearing up puke from every room in the house, I have to vent some. *(£1 per 50g or so.)

Just about every brand of cat food inexplicably includes some vegetable or other non-meat ingredient. Vegetable oil. Ground nut oil. Palm oil. Sesame oil. Potato. Rice. Grains.

But buy the more expensive brands and you still get delights such as sweet potato, asparagus, green beans, tomatoes... you name it. Seaweed extract. Seaweed extract? Why not add some cookies and hot chocolate while you're at it... Some of this stuff I had to look up as I don't even know what it is. One of today's bonus ingredients was "slippery elm extract." What the actual cluck is that? Oh, it's some horse**** supplement some hipster types are taking now. Great.

Cats are bloomin' obligate carnivores. They want meat, and minerals, and that's it. What consumer is asking cat food brands to add non-digestible vegetable ingredients? What consumer is demanding this? "Oh yes, little Tibby is very partial to some asparagus and slippery elm extract. I'll buy this one for sure!" I doubt anyone is that dense (or do I?)

So perhaps it's just a cheap, filler ingredient to bulk out the product. But then why is this all the rage in expensive foodstuffs, too? Why are the "premium" brands throwing in non-meat foodstuffs that could be an allergen? You're already charging more than most human foods cost, why muck about adding vegetables you know cats can't even digest? Yes, not all cats will be allergic to this nonsense, but some will be. Why add potential allergens when all you really want is meat, meat and more meat?

I'm going to have to go raw, I think. I probably should have gone raw years ago. Lack of effort on my part. But damn, the pet food industry is soooo useless.

Everything you describe, humans are not meant to eat that either.

 

[mattyfez]

Purina is the worst.. If you look at the small print.. They make pretty much all of the cheap nasty brands of pet food sold in super markets. Whiskas, pedigree chum etc.

 

[FoxEye]

Purina is the worst.. If you look at the small print.. They make pretty much all of the cheap nasty brands of pet food sold in super markets. Whiskas, pedigree chum etc.

What's worse is that I already know this, but Felix is (almost) the only pet food she'll eat. I've tried almost everything from Zooplus, etc. She won't eat pate, full stop, and most of the "premium" stuff is produced as a pate, or so it seems.

Raw is just about the only option I've not yet tried.

 

[inogen]

I feed our two cats on wet and dried food, but also supplement it with baked white fish, a bit of salmon if it’s reduced and steamed chicken breast a few times a week. I also try to vary their wet food. I just buy whatever is on offer.

they seem to get on alright. One used to be pretty sensitive with food, but now is happy eating anything.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

There was a news report I read about a place that was putting rotting meat not fit for human consumption into the food chain using bleach (yes really) and something else to get rid of the stink and probably the taste and this reporter said the huge pile of meat stank. What got my attention though is that though unfit for human consumption its apparently supposed to be destined for the pet food trade, no wonder they go off it/vomit every now and then I think I'd do the same if i had to eat that.

I was under the impression that while dogs and cats are carnivores, certainly where dogs are concerned there are potential health benefits (and minimal downsides) to feeding them a slightly more varied diet.

Dogs can eat vegetable protein but cats need more i.e. amino acids etc found only in meat. Theres an old saying though "as fit as a butcher's dog" which rings true all those offcuts of raw meat.

 

[FoxEye]

There was a news report I read about a place that was putting rotting meat not fit for human consumption into the food chain using bleach (yes really) and something else to get rid of the stink and probably the taste and this reporter said the huge pile of meat stank. What got my attention though is that though unfit for human consumption its apparently supposed to be destined for the pet food trade, no wonder they go off it/vomit every now and then I think I'd do the same if i had to eat that.


Dogs can eat vegetable protein but cats need more i.e. amino acids etc found only in meat. Theres an old saying though "as fit as a butcher's dog" which rings true all those offcuts of raw meat.

Which is why this rancid mix is cooked for several hours at 240 degrees. Because you wouldn't let it anywhere near your pet if you knew what it was.

But you can't cook out chemicals used to put down stray animals:

Dog Food Brands Found to Contain Pet Euthanasia Drug

Could this poison have come from shelter dogs ground up into pet food?

www.newsweek.com

 

[ubersonic]

I was under the impression that while dogs and cats are carnivores, certainly where dogs are concerned there are potential health benefits (and minimal downsides) to feeding them a slightly more varied diet.

Dogs aren't carnivores, they're omnivores (NB: as are wolves too).

Eating just meat, or just vegetables isn't very good for them, ideally they want both same as humans.

 

[MatsyLR]

Which is why this rancid mix is cooked for several hours at 240 degrees. Because you wouldn't let it anywhere near your pet if you knew what it was.

But you can't cook out chemicals used to put down stray animals:

Dog Food Brands Found to Contain Pet Euthanasia Drug

Could this poison have come from shelter dogs ground up into pet food?

www.newsweek.com

Well not everyone can afford to pay for raw and some cats just don't eat it. My boy gets 2 wet pouches, dry biscuits to fill in the gap nd gets chicken, beef, ham, turkey etc if I'm eating it. He seems perfectly healthy and vet says he's at a healthy weight, coat is nice etc. Lots of energy, I have to tire him out at night before he will settle.

 

[NVP]

Well not everyone can afford to pay for raw

I linked to a bulk box of frozen, complete raw cat food. 20x500gm for £42+£10deliv. My two Maine Coons (so larger cats) share a 500gm portion between them throughout the whole day, for £2.60pd (actually less, as I buy two boxes with the single shipping charge). For a small, single cat you should be fine with half the 500gm, so £1.30pd.

 

[adam cool dude]

Our collie is going on 11. Eats whatever and left overs. Never had a problem in those 11 years. Maybe we have just been lucky. Very rarely gets runs.

She even stole two chocolate sprinkle doughnuts from kids during my son's birthday party this weekend cheeky girl!