# Walmart food brands



## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

I was just wondering what is the best brand of canned cat food sold at walmart? I have heard that walmart carries the low end quality food but if you had to pick one from there which one would you choose?


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## annepanee (Sep 16, 2010)

I'm a firm believer that anything you can buy at Walmart or a grocery store is not good for your cat. Spend the extra money and go to a pet food store and get something good.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Many grocery stores and places like Walmart are actually carrying some fairly decent foods these days. They still have loads of junk foods, but a few decent ones have slipped in. 

That said, I don't know if you're specifying Walmart because you're looking for something cheap or because it's the only place you can get to.

If it's the only place you can get to and price isn't a huge obstacle, then I'd suggest Newman's Own. Other than that...the best of the standard Walmart/grocery type wet foods is Iams (imo). Not great, but you can certainly do worse.


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## CatnipCats (Feb 15, 2010)

I'm no expert, but I also don't have the budget to buy expensive canned food. I've found at least one site where a vet says that even the cheap canned food with by-products in the ingredients is better than feeding any kind of dry food. (Feeding Your Cat: Know The Basis of Feline Nutrition, and search within the page for "Friskies")

So buy the canned food you can afford and feel good about it -- your cats are better off than on dry food. This is what I'm transitioning to, and Walmart is all I can afford, too.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Doodlebug- It is both reasons for me. There are no pet stores in my town and even if there were i can't really afford the high end brands at this time. I will check for the newman's own and if thats not available then i will check for iams.

Catnip cats- Thank you so much for that article! I read all of it. I too am looking to transition my cat to can. I also can only afford walmart at this time too. What brand are you feeding?

I just looked on the walmart site and the only canned brands listed are:
meow mix
friskies
fancy feast
whiskas

Just in case i can't find the newman's own or iams brand does anyone know which brand out of the above listed is the best?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

meow mix
friskies
fancy feast
whiskas

Believe it or not...Meow Mix. The Wholesome Goodness more so than the Market Selects, but a quick looks and neither one seems to have by-products and some of the additives are not nearly as carcinogenic as something like Whiskas (which is still using BHA/BHT, nitrates, and dyes).

But really watch your prices...this stuff comes in little 2.75 oz cups that make it look cheaper than it is. Do "per ounce" calculations. I just did the math on Walmart's Market Selects price as compared to a 13 oz can of Wellness and it's within fractions of a penny per ounce.

Look for a named meat as a first ingredient, avoid unnamed meat sources (eg chicken by products is better than meat by products). I'd rather see by products than glutens. Always look for flavors like "chicken feast" and not "savory grill". When a meat is named in the flavor is must make up 95% of the ingredients. When there's no meat named in the title you're getting mostly by products or mystery meat. You don't want anything that says "with beef"...that only has to be 3% of the ingredients.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Doodlebug- Thanks so much for that information!

I am going to check out several stores in my area and see what i can find.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Ok i didn't go to walmart or my grocery store today but i did check out tractor supply co and big lots. Both had the brands i see alot in walmarts and grocery stores but tractor had a brand called paws & claws and big lots had a brand called rival. I have never heard of these two brands before. They were both affordable for me. I looked at the ingredients but i am still new at figuring what is better than what by ingredients so i was hoping someone on here could help me with this question. Would paws & claws or the rival brands be a better choice or is the meow mix, friskies brands better?

I'm so sorry for all of the questions. I'm still trying to learn.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Paws and Claws is awful stuff. Rival is better, but worse than the Meow Mix. 

Do you have a Trader Joe's near you? Their brand food is pretty decent stuff for about 59 cents a can.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

I checked and no trader joes in my area. I still want to check out walmart and my grocery store for newman's own or iams.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

I went to my grocery store and walmart today. The grocery store had one brand i have never seen before called home 360 pet. I looked at walmart and they had one brand called natural life that i have never seen before. Are either of these two brands any good?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Home 360 Pet is a Food Lion brand. They don't list the ingredients on their website. The combination of those two things tell me it's unlikely that this is even a marginally decent food.

Natural Life canned looks like a good food, probably the best choice of the ones you've mentioned. Their dry is extremely yucky...wheat, corn, corn gluten meal...blech!


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Ok thanks so much doodlebug for answering my many questions! I have seen the friskies brand alot everywhere and i do like the fact that it comes in a 24 can pack deal. Is that brand really really bad? I know its definitely not the best brand but is it like the worst of the worst?


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

I just wanted to say that i have read up on the natural life can food and really like what i read about the ingredients. I think i am going to try going with this brand. I do have a couple new questions though with my new kitten salem he is 10-12 weeks old do i need to go with a kitten can formula for him or would it be ok to feed him the natural life too? Does the natural life have a kitten formula? I didn't see any at walmart. If i do need to feed salem a kitten formula and natural life doesn't make one what would be the best brand out of the ones i named that does have a kitten formula?


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

There are no AAFCO statements on the websites for these foods, so you'll need to read the package to see of the foods are OK for kittens. I would feed a kitten formula of a food like this since they're not the highest quality foods. 

With Natural Life as an option, I wouldn't recommend the Friskies at all. Friskies stll has a lot of questionable ingredients (nitrates, artificial flavors and colors, sugar, glutens), where Natural Life doesn't.

Also understand that one of the major differences between a food like Friskies and a high quality food like Wellness is the quality of the ingredients....pet food laws allow the use ingredients not fit for human consumption....4D animals (dead, dying, diseased and I forget the 4th D), moldy and insect infested grains, meat rejected from the supermarket as not fit for humans etc. etc. Companies like Meow Mix also source from places like China and their quality control processes are suspect at best.

The super premium brands use human quality ingredients, most sourced in the US or Canada. If sourced from other geographies they have extensive testing processes. The foods are manufactured in the US in USDA certified plants (which again means they meet human food standards). 

So the price you pay for the high end foods isn't just for the ingredients, you get a higher level of security that the food you're feeding is as safer. 

I bring this up because the Natural Life wet food looks great on the surface, but their FAQ has a significant contradiction in it...

*Do we use human grade ingredients?* _ Yes and No. Once the human grade ingredient enters a pet food manufacturing facility it can no longer be considered a human grade food._

*Do we use euthanized or diseased animals in our foods?* _ Absolutely not! We are monitored very closely since our food is produced in a certified organic facility._

As far as I know, there is no such thing as a certified organic pet food manufacturing plant. Certified organic implies human grade. There are plenty of high end pet food manufacturer's that flat out say they make their food from human grade ingredients...the fact that Natural Life skirts this question and has the above contradiction makes me uncomfortable. But....it's still better than Meow Mix, which I have no doubt is using the lowest quality/cheapest ingredients possible


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Thanks for all of that information doodlebug! I own my two cats and a little chihuahua dog. I joined a chi forum from that forum and this one i have learned i was feeding all 3 very poor quality foods and have been wanting to change that now that i know. On the chi forum they told me about 2 brands sold at tractor supply for dogs that was good quality and reasonably priced. 4health and taste of the wild were the brands. I checked there sites and tractor supply's site. 4health's site shows nothing for cat food but tractor supply's site shows they carry that brands dry cat food. I checked taste of the wild's site and it shows one canned cat food but tractor supply's site doesn't show it carries this brand under there canned cat food.

I think i am going to try looking in tractor supply one last time to see if i see a 4health or taste of the wild can food. If i can't find those 2 brands then i will have to go with natural life. I think thats the best brand i could find in my area.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Taste of the Wild is an excellent food, especially for the price. Unfortunately the canned cat food only comes in 3oz cans and there's only one flavor. 

4 Health appears to be a Tractor Supply store brand, so if there's no canned on their website then it probably doesn't exist.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Ok thanks! I have one final question and then i will be set. I want to have a tiny bit of dry food in their diet. Does the 4health dry ingredients sound ok?
Chicken, chicken meal, egg product, cracked pearled barley, ground rice, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), salmon, potatoes, natural chicken flavor, flaxseed, sodium bisulfate, oceanfish meal, potassium chloride, methionine, choline chloride, dried chicory root, taurine, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, zinc proteinate, vitamin E supplement, niacin, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, potassium iodide, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin,


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

On a scale of one to five...I'd give it a 4 if it's human grade, US sourced and manufactured. A 3 if it's not.


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Ok thank you so much again doodlebug for all the help and information! I really appreciate it! I feel much better now knowing that i will be getting both my boys on better diets for them! I had been feeding them both all dry foods thinking that was fine till i found this forum. I'm so thankful i found all of this information!


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## ibbica (Jul 28, 2010)

This page includes a list of the nutritional information of many brands available in the US:
Cat Food Nutritional Information
...although it can be a bit overwhelming at first, so this page might help ease you into it:
Commercial Canned Foods by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM

Also, keep in mind that if you want higher-quality foods, it's often quite a bit cheaper to order them online rather than buy from a bricks-and-mortar store, especially if you order in bulk, so shop around! My cats get fed (what I think are) excellent foods, and while they do cost more than the bottom-of-the-barrel foods, an online site here actually makes them *less* expensive than even the "mediocre" foods from the grocery & pet stores (and free shipping, yay!). (I'm in Belgium, so the site I use probably won't do you any good, but there are plenty of US sites that sell petfood too!)

Good luck!


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## April0684 (Sep 5, 2010)

Thanks ibbica! I will check out those links!


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