Cat Food

[neko1]

There's a great store a few towns over from me that has all these:

Cat Food:

• Eagle
  Hi Tor Prescription Diets
  Merrick
  PMI Exclusive
  California Naturals
  Triumph

Holistic Cat Food:

• Orijen by Champion Products (cat & kitten, 6 fish)
  Acana by Champion Products (Wild Prarie, Pacifica, Grasslands)
  Solid Gold Katz-N-Flocken
  Felidae
  Solid Gold Indigo Moon
  Weruva
  Wellness
  Dr. Harvey's
  Nature's Variety
  Innova-Evo
  Earthborn
  BFF
  Oma's Pride
  Grandma Maes Country Naturals
  California Naturals
  Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul
  Petite Cuisine
  Stella & Chewy's
  Blue Buffalo
  Daves Best
  Taste of the Wild

[maerlyn]

Question: How can we find out if other brands have ethoxyquin? How would we know this? I mean, any food can have "hidden" ingredients. From all I found when I was searching, TOTW is an excellent food - only now, I find out it's not. Is there any way we can know?

When I was searching for a good dry food and found TOTW, I also considered "Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul." I remember that it seemed almost as good; I may switch to it. Dave's also has a dry food, so I may go for that, although I'd have to order that online as well - which means shipping costs. The Chicken Soup I can get at a local pet store. (I have no Petsmart or Petco near me.)

Honestly, this cat food situation gives me a headache. I want only the best for my kids, but I can't afford the best, so am searching for something reasonably good and reasonably priced. That seems to be an elusive goal.

*********************************

I posted that yesterday; today, with the snow coming down heavily, I realized that I was low on both the housecat food and the outdoor cat food. Hmm, suppose I get snowed in for a couple of days? Better brave the snow. . . . So I drove out to Tractor Supply Central, the closest place to me that sells cat food. I knew I could get the TOTW there if they didn't have Chicken Soup; I needed 9Lives for the grey boys outside. They don't carry Chicken Soup, although they carry some of every level of cat food, from grocery-store to Blue Wilderness. BW is so far into the financial stratosphere that I can't even consider it; if I had only one cat - but not with three. Just out of curiosity, I checked out TSC's own brand: 4Health. I thought I'd find it to be some cheap generic food, but the label surprised me. The first ingredient is chicken, then chicken meal. Guess what? The first ingredient in TOTW is chicken meal. Hmm, interesting. I read quickly through the rest of the ingredients and didn't see anything I don't like, so I bought a bag of it with TOTW so that I can transition them. The 4Health is lower in protein (32% vs 42%) and lower in fat (14% vs 18%). I think lower in fat is good, especially for 18-pound Mordred! 4Health is also higher in fiber (8% vs 3%) Higher fiber also seems to me to be a good thing. In reading over the ingredients, I found nothing that scared me off - like the synthetic vitamin K that some foods have. In fact, I realized that the TOTW includes methionine, another ingredient I'm wary off.

Does anyone here have any thoughts on this? I put a handful of the new food into a small dish next to the TOTW and went outside to fill a bird feeder; when I came in, the 4Health was wiped out! Obviously, *someone* loves it! The "fringe benefit": it was $8 for a 5 lb bag, compared to the $12 for a 4lb bag of TOTW. I'd like to have others' opinions on this. I feel as if I might have found a treasure - and am afraid to get too excited.