Does anyone buy Purina cat chow for their cat?

[lldaniels21]

I was wondering if anyone buys Purina Cat Chow. It looks like it would be a good cat food, plus it's cheaper than the food at the vets! Thanks

[catmandu]

Actually I buy the Purina Cat Chow Indoor Advanced Formula , and blend it with the more expensive food, and the Found Cats all love that mixture.

[catnapper]

To be blunt: its utter crap. Lots of by-products and fillers. By products are hard to digest and leave your cat with extra smelly and wet poop. Purina also lacks real good solid protein as main ingredients so your cat tends to eat more and get heavier (think of Purina as McDonald's - you eat lots more because you don't feel full since all you're easting is junk. Then an hour later you're hungry again)

With a premium food, they'll eat less. They will poop less and their poop will be more solid and a million times less stinky.

Also, one thing my rescue noticed: on Purina Cat Chow Indoor Formula, cats had a TON more hairballs.

[lldaniels21]

That's strange...the indoor formula says it helps prevent hairballs. Thanks for your input.

[sirrahbed]

Yup that is what I feed my six cats. Sometimes I get expensive food with coupons and mix it in, but I think it is because I read the ads that talk about how their food is better. I don't know

Poops are small and not particularly smelly at all so I would not notice if another food changed that. I find hairballs and throw-up piles now and then but am not sure if that is just normal for six cats - mayve a hairball once or twice a week.

[lldaniels21]

Do you feed them the Indoor formula or the Complete formula?

[Grace]

Our cats have been eating the Indoor Cat formula for several years, and we have never had the problems Catnapper lists. Poop is solid, with no noxious odors; a very rare hairball - and I know exactly which cat does this and she has long hair. And none of our 5 are fat.

[emily_the_spoiled]

I am currently feeding my guys Purina Pro Plan which is a step up from the cat show. The pro Plan uses human grade ingredients and doees not have as many fillers. So you might want to give that a try. They have small 4lb containers so you can try it out before investing in the 20lb bags.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

I changed T&J's food to the purina indoor formula from iiams just a few months ago...


Then Jupiter got a bladder infection.. I can only assume it was from the cheapter food.

They are now on science diet...

Just thinking that a cheaper food can cause them problems will keep me buying the more expensive food i guess... I can't stand to see them sick.

[jazzcat]

Hi there, I just noticed you are in Cookeville, I'm in Knoxville. Howdy neighbor!

I used to feed my cats Purina Cat Chow. Years ago my vet said it was a good choice but that was maybe 10-12 years ago when Ripley was younger. Anyway, I fed Ripley only that for about 12 years but then when I added the new cats and they started getting fat from it I started mixing in different kinds.

I started with Purina One Weight Management but after a short time all the cats got tired of it. I tried the Cat Chow Indoor Formula and it made a Jazz and Ripley throw up more - something to do with all the greens in it. I then tried Maxximum Indoor/Weight Management or something like that and the cats didn't care for it. Finally now I've been feeding them only Nutro Complete Care Indoor Weight Management and they all seem to love it. I've noticed less hairballs, less barf in general and a lot less poop and smell in the litter box than with Cat Chow. Ripley gets Purina One Urinary Care mixed in his and is very happy with it. Now if my chubby girls Scout and Rumor would just lose some weight from it!

In my opinion Cat Chow must be okay for Ripley to have survived 12 years on it and only it. He's 14 years old now. The only thing, I do wonder if it was could have been the cause of his frequent barfing which has tapered off in the past year.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

In my opinion Cat Chow must be okay for Ripley to have survived 12 years on it and only it. He's 14 years old now. The only thing, I do wonder if it was could have been the cause of his frequent barfing which has tapered off in the past year.

Jupiter barfed it up a lot too.. I just thought it was because he was haveing to get used to it.. but he hasn't barfed up the science diet once since they've been eating it...

[dab_20]

Oreo at the moment is eating Purina Kitten Chow since she's nursing. She never has hair balls, and her poop is not wet or really smelly. My dad can't afford to buy the premium food, so food is food.

[Donnaj4962]

Tabitha prefers moist food, so that is what she gets. Sasha, on the other hand, prefers dry food, so that is what SHE gets. Now, Meowmie is not a fool... and realizes that they are probably eating one another's food, which I have no problem with!

But, picky little Sasha REFUSES to eat Purina Cat Chow. She will only eat Meow Mix Indoor Formula.


By the way, no stinky poopies since I started using indoor formula a few years ago! Yeah!

[DallasRechelle]

I feed Cat Chow Indoor Formula as well and have had *less* hairballs, vomitting, etc than I did with the more expensive brands, including Iams, Science Diet & Eukanaba, as well as Flint River Ranch food. There is less food coloring in the Indoor Formula.

Also, their poop is more solid and less smelly on the indoor formula. You can tell how good a food is by how frequently they poop. If the nutrition is good, they will have less waste. If the food is horrible, they'll go to the bathroom more frequently because they're not getting the nutrition and it's being wasted.

[momcat]

Groucho gets the indoor formula. He likes it and there have been no problems with hairballs, vomiting, or deposits in the litter box. The only thing I've noticed is he's a bit less active and has put on a bit of weight.