# Best brand to buy from grocery store?



## MadNuke (Jan 4, 2009)

My cat has had a lot of variety growing up. I have feed him 9 Lives for cats under 1 year for about 2 months, then I tend to switch around between iams, purina, with about 2 cans of wet food for every bag of dry. I give him tuna canned in water and sliced turkey as treats sometimes. What brands should I buy from grocery stores/wal-mart/petsmart? What is a healthy feeding schedule or system? Is a raw diet cheaper. If so, I may consider it? Basically, feeding has been the least researched aspect of my feline care.


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

Thats a tough one. If you have local Kroger--they have an awesome canned food--Brandon Farms Natural 95% meat no grains. If you really can only do food from those three stores, the best canned would be By nature--which makes a grain free canned (Petsmart) Dry food Authority (Petsmart only brand) is probably the best you'll find

Many people buy online--I found a local feed store that carries a grain free dry food that we just started Taste of the Wild--its reasonably priced and I'm happy with it so far. I feed Nutro MAX cat canned food and Authority canned food. Trying to add more canned food to their diets as they allow it.

I just read "Your cat: simple new secrets to a longer stronger life" by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM it has some great food info. http://www.amazon.com/Your-Cat-Simple-S ... QT6HAM499Q

Ideally you want to feed wet not dry--or mostly wet. Raw is great but is not as simple as throwing down some chicken. It really should be monitored by a vet. Avoiding grains (corn, rice, wheat etc) and by products and looking for foods high in meat protein is what you want. 

Leslie


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Other members are much more knowledgeable than me, but at the grocery store, your best bet will probably be Iams. I think PetsMart will give you better choices for healthier cat foods though I think the better/best cat foods are probably going to be found at the little Mom/Pop specialty stores. I have a feed store (horses and other livestock) that carries the Innova and Evo products and that is what I am feeding now, with the occasional treat of "kitty-crack", which is what I call the grocery store brands of dry Fancy Feast, Purina or Meow Mix. _Most of the grocery store brands of cat food would be comparable to our human 'fast food' types of food; qucik, easy, delicious...but not very healthy when eaten exclusively._

You may be able to do a Forum Search for threads/posts about the better cat foods. In order of best and healthiest for cats, I think it would fall: raw diet with carefully balanced nutrients, vitamins & minerals, premium canned food (not the grocery store canned food), premium dry food and falling very much lower on the scale would be the more common commercial cat foods.


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## MadNuke (Jan 4, 2009)

For anyone else who has this concern; I'm going to be buying packs of 24 cans for less than $1 each from http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/product_d ... =6875&mf=2

It's organic, tested for chemicals, and grain free. about.com's cat section rated it as the best, so it looks legitimate. I'm going to research feeding routines and schedules.


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

Thats a great food!

Leslie


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Natural Balance is a good food. But be aware that not all flavors are grain free or fish free. I'd also like to suggest that you do some researching around the forum on what constitutes a good cat food, rather than rely on About.com. Good info can also be found on these sites:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library

www.catinfo.org

Oh...and Natural Balance is on sale at Petfooddirect.com for less that the link you had and try using this 22% off coupon.

wffpfd02


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