Cat food question - Maxximum Nutrition?

[JenBKR]

Hi all, I have a question about cat food for my sister. She is really struggling financially and is looking for a cheap cat food. She's been feeding them meow mix, which looks pretty bad based on the list of ingredients. I know of a couple people that feed their cats Maxximum Nutrition, which is a walmart brand food I believe, and I thought about telling her about it. Here's the first 6 ingredients:

chicken
chicken meal
brewer's rice
fish meal
corn gluten meal
beef tallow preserved with mixed tocopherols

I found that online, but I'm having trouble find a complete list of ingredients. Does this sound like a decent food?

EDIT to add list of ingredients for meow mix:

Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Brewers Rice, Powdered Cellulose, Beef Tallow Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (Source of Vitamin E), Soybean oil, Turkey By-Product Meal, Salmon Meal, Fish Meal (Source of Oceanfish Flavor), Brewers Dried Yeast, Gelatin, Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Chloride, Animal Digest, Yetra Sodium Pyrophosphate, Choline Chloride, Salt, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Citric Acid, L-Alanine, Niacin, Manganese Sulfate, Red 40, Vitamin E Supplement, Tellow 5, Lysine, Blue 2, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenic, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity). B-1014

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

list of ingredients for meow mix:

Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Yellow Corn, Brewers Rice, Powdered Cellulose, Beef Tallow Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols (Source of Vitamin E), Soybean oil, Turkey By-Product Meal, Salmon Meal, Fish Meal (Source of Oceanfish Flavor), Brewers Dried Yeast, Gelatin, Calcium Carbonate, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Chloride, Animal Digest, Yetra Sodium Pyrophosphate, Choline Chloride, Salt, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Citric Acid, L-Alanine, Niacin, Manganese Sulfate, Red 40, Vitamin E Supplement, Tellow 5, Lysine, Blue 2, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenic, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity). B-1014

YUCK!! So many additions..... sounds unhealthy to me too!!

Sorry, cannot help you with a good cheap brand, as I live in Belgium, so all our brands won't be available in the USA

[JenBKR]

YUCK!! So many additions..... sounds unhealthy to me too!!

Oh I know what you mean! I'm not always very good about reading the labels, but that list of ingredients makes me cringe.......I'm sure hoping I can help her find something better.

[jazzcat]

I tried the Maxximum Inside Formula or Weight loss - whichever it was and I took the bag to my vet for her opinion. She said it sounded okay but of course said there is much better. I let the cats try it and the green pieces in it made a couple of my cats puke.
I've since switched my guys to Nutro Complete Care Inside Weight Loss Formula and they all like it, no puking and there is less poo in the litter boxes and the poo doesn't really smell. All pluses in my opinion and makes it well worth the price for the Nutro.

[JenBKR]

I feed mine Nutro too, and they love it. I told my sister about that brand, but she said she can't really afford it right now. I tried talking to her about foods (actually, I was trying to talk her into rehoming her pets, but that's a different story), but I do know that she is really hurting with money right now. Thanks!

[catmandu]

The Found Cats love thier Nutro Max Complete Care Indoor Formulas, mixed with the Science Diet and Eukanuba for a nice blend.
They take turns eating the different foods.

[krazyaboutkatz]

You may also want to let your sister know that if she spends a little more and buys her cats a better premium food, that she won't need to feed them as much food and the bag of food will last much longer than the really cheap brands of food. The cats will get more calories and better nutrition with smaller amounts of food without all of the fillers that the cheap brands have in them.

I also loved feeding my cats Nutro Complete Care and they loved it too but now I have to feed them Royal Canin Urinary S/O diet because my cat Storm will develop crystals if I don't. My vet also told me that most indoor only cats need about 300 calories a day which isn't very much. Some may need even less.

[Jessika]

Well... of the choices at WalMart, Maxximum seems to be the best available. Purina One is a close second. I feed Double-Oh Maxximum because on anything else we've tried he has had just AWFUL gas and the worst smelling poop, ever. On Maxximum, nothing. We also use those tidy cat crystals instead of clay litter... works MIRACLES, that stuff does. But anyway, back to the food - he is active... very active....... nice shiny SILKY fur, no shedding above the norm. Its actually not bad for the price and compared to the other options.

However, I DO NOT recommend the dog food.

[Don Juan's mom]

Shop around a bit for the Nutro. Petsmart often has it on special.

Liz

[Catty1]

Maybe offer to buy a bag of the better stuff for your sis, just to see how long it lasts. Price it per day.

I get my food from the vet as Oscar has had urinaty concerns, and it seems to last a LOT longer!

[JenBKR]

However, I DO NOT recommend the dog food.

Oh really? Why is that? Just curious, I feed all Nurto personally, but my SIL feeds the Maxximum dog food and swears by it.


I have told my sis about the benefits of buying a better food, especially about them eating less and in the end it actually is cheaper than the cheap foods. It hasn't seemed to work so far. Her situation right now just isn't good, and I kind of have a feeling her husband won't 'let' her buy a better food......but I don't really want to get into that whole thing right now. Thanks for the help everyone!!

[catnapper]

One nasty little secret that people don't know about, and the food companies don't share: notice how "chicken" is first. Sounds good, right? "Chicken" is the whole chicken, bones, lung, brain, toes, etc. all ground up. By products are the meat separated from the desirable parts. Chicken Meal is the meat separated from the undesireable parts.

I wouldn't trust anything WalMart puts out. Tell her to try the Petsmart brand name. Its a good food and typically at the same price or a $1 more than the cheap stuff. Plus, like someone else said, they actually eat less of it, so really it IS the same price when you consider how many meals they get.

Also tell her that the better the food, the less chance of needing expensive vet care. I swear! My vet told me that she sees a lot of people with problems related to poor food and she doesn't see the same problems when people use a premium food.

[JenBKR]

One nasty little secret that people don't know about, and the food companies don't share: notice how "chicken" is first. Sounds good, right? "Chicken" is the whole chicken, bones, lung, brain, toes, etc. all ground up. By products are the meat separated from the desirable parts. Chicken Meal is the meat separated from the undesireable parts.

I wouldn't trust anything WalMart puts out. Tell her to try the Petsmart brand name. Its a good food and typically at the same price or a $1 more than the cheap stuff. Plus, like someone else said, they actually eat less of it, so really it IS the same price when you consider how many meals they get.

Also tell her that the better the food, the less chance of needing expensive vet care. I swear! My vet told me that she sees a lot of people with problems related to poor food and she doesn't see the same problems when people use a premium food.

hmm good point about the vet, I didn't think of that. The petsmart food, do you mean Authority? I could recommend that one, sounds good, thank you!

[Jessika]

Oh really? Why is that? Just curious, I feed all Nurto personally, but my SIL feeds the Maxximum dog food and swears by it.

I fed it to my pups for a week or so when we ran out of their normal stuff and couldn't make it to Springfield (the nearest petsmart or food stores that sold Nutro and its a 45 minute drive one-way) and it was just AWFUL. They pooped about 6x more than normal (I kid you not), and it smelled like something died! Not to mention they were always hungry and I was only feeding the recommended amount (which was, like, 2 1/2 or three cups per dog a day). And no, it wasn't because I didn't "transition" them over to the new food because I did lol

I don't know, I just did NOT have good or desireable results on it

[JenBKR]

I fed it to my pups for a week or so when we ran out of their normal stuff and couldn't make it to Springfield (the nearest petsmart or food stores that sold Nutro and its a 45 minute drive one-way) and it was just AWFUL. They pooped about 6x more than normal (I kid you not), and it smelled like something died! Not to mention they were always hungry and I was only feeding the recommended amount (which was, like, 2 1/2 or three cups per dog a day). And no, it wasn't because I didn't "transition" them over to the new food because I did lol

I don't know, I just did NOT have good or desireable results on it

Oh wow, really? That's definitely not a good sign for that food!

I talked to sis a little bit ago, and I told her that I'd give her a little Nutro to try (don't know why I didn't think of that before). Maybe it will work, maybe not, we'll have to see. I did just find out too that she feeds her dog Dad's, which can't be a good brand either, so I'm giving her a little dog food too. Hopefully all goes well and she'll switch, otherwise maybe I'll recommend the Petsmart brand. Thanks all!