Curiosity Killed the…

Good foods are a serious improvement.

The one thing that separates Good foods from Decent and Junk is this: human grade meats.
Think about that for a moment. Human grade.
Not euthanized pets or roadkill - human grade.

(You think I made that last bit up, don’t you? Pick up a copy of Foods Pets Die For: Shocking facts About Pet Food by Ann N. Martin or check it out at your local library.)

If it’s good enough for people, it’s good enough for cats.

The list of Good cat foods is well-sized, thankfully:

California Natural, Innova (both made by NaturaPet), Wysong, Newman’s Own Organics,
Next to Nature PetGuard, Nature’s Variety Prairie, Wellness, Merrick, Halo, Evanger’s, ZiwiPeak, and Addiction.

Notice that these foods aren’t what you can typically find at Petco or PetSmart. Big chain stores can provide good foods but choose to stick with Junk.

To be fair, Petco has started to carry some of the healthier lines, but who wants to pay over a dollar for a can of Good or Great food when Fancy Feast costs $0.49? Especially when the average consumer (or underpaid employee) doesn’t know the difference.

When I’m at the market or Target and I see someone select a big bag of Iams, I want to scream.

They could have it so much better.

Good foods can be found at independent or small chain pet stores. On each website there is a store locater to help you do right.

Oh, and I wasn’t born a know-it-all. I became one. Back when my husband was my boyfriend he had an old cat named Pixel. Pixel ate Whiskas because Mike liked the purple bag. Neither of us learned how crappy it was until after she had passed away.

Decent foods are a little better. But only a little.
They won’t have any by-products but that alone doesn’t make it acceptable. Decent foods will still most likely have mystery meats and it absolutely won’t be human grade.

These foods have sugar (beet pulp anyone?), carbs (cats can’t break those down, but they’re cheap so they’re common), and corn (grr, more carbs!). I strongly believe that cat foods should contain more than just meat. Cats can really benefit from fruits and veggies.
Another thing: Decent foods usually manage to sneak fish in there.

I am very suspicious of fish. Cats do not fish. Cats with a history of Urinary Tract Infections should stay away from fish. I stand behind the theory that cats should not eat fish. And if a cat food company has a flavor called Chicken & Gravy but fish is one of the ingredients, I head the other way.

Decent foods are Nutro, Pet Promise, and Trader Joe’s store brand. Both are full of fish, so read those labels.

The lowest of the low on the Cat Food totempole is called Junk because that’s exactly what it is.

Junk foods are filled with mystery meats and by-products. What’s a by-product you ask?
The sleazy AAFCO defines by-products as:

“An ingredient produced in the course of making a primary food ingredient; a secondary or incidental product. Feathers are a by-product of poultry meat processing. Feathers which are removed from a carcass during production of poultry meat are then hydrolyzed (pressure cooked with steam until they are an edible gel) which makes them an acceptable feed grade ingredient. Hydrolyzed feathers have been assigned the (IFN) International Feed Number 5-03-795 and can appear on a label as “Poultry By-products.” On page 158 in the AAFCO book, Official Publication, 1994, Association of American Feed Control Officials Incorporated, they show: Hydrolyzed Poultry By-Products Aggregate is the product resulting from heat treatment, or a combination thereof, of all by-products of slaughter poultry, clean and undecomposed, including such parts as heads, feet, underdeveloped eggs, intestines, feathers and blood.” The IFN assigned to this mix is 5-14-508. Today’s regulations allow the entire mix or any part of it to appear on a label as “Poultry By-products.” A “Fish By-product” can contain heads, tails, intestines and blood. This fish process residue has been assigned the IFN 5-07-977.”

Grossed out? You should be. Don’t give this to your cat. Don’t give this to your dog or ferret either. Don’t let anyone tell you that by-products are acceptable.

Just because your vet recommends Science Diet doesn’t mean you should use it.

Mystery meats are bad too.

When collective feed names are used, individual ingredients within a group aren’t listed on the label. Collective feed names are used on feed labels when diets are developed based on least-cost formulation. Least-cost diet formulation will select the most inexpensive ingredients to provide the guaranteed analysis.

Don’t trust anything that reads ‘poultry giblets’ or ‘meat broth.’ Demand specifics!

Carbohydrates, sugars, preservatives, and food colorings also made junky food junky. If you’ve ever noticed a cat vomit stain that won’t come out of a carpet, it’s most likely because of the food colorings cheap foods add. Kitty cats don’t care what color their food is, you shouldn’t either.

Discount, drug stores, large pet chains, and supermarkets carry junk foods. It’s a sad, sad shame. Remember: Don’t buy pet food at a human store, go to a pet store.
Avoid Hill’s Science Diet, Friskies, Purina, 9 Lives, Meow Mix, Alley Cat, Sheba, Whiskas, and Fancy Feast at all costs.

Read labels. If it’s too vile to feed to humans, do not even contemplate feeding it to cats!

Who knew that people should only be buying people food at grocery stores and animal food at animal stores?

I didn’t. Not for years. I assumed pet stores were full of toys and the same food that can be found at markets . Sadly, big chain stores like Petco and PetSmart are full of junk.

It’s the smaller chains or independent stores that carry quality.

All cat foods are not, in any way, created equally. In the past, a good rule of thumb was any foods approved by the AAFCO were deemed worthy to give to your kitty.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The AAFCO are a bunch of careless jerks and I hope to overthrow them one day.

Cat food can be broken down into 4 categories: Junk, Decent, Good, and Awesome.
Please do right by your cat or cats and give them Good or Awesome foods.

If you don’t already have a cat or cats, are you sure you really want one? Or two? Or three?

Think about it, think seriously. Cats can keep odd hours, they will scratch, they can be demanding, they require grooming and vet visits, they need playtime and attention.
Vet bills are pricey, so is food and litter and toys and dishes and a good pet sitter.

Hoping you have thought about it (or already have cats), good for you! They really are awesome. Cats are funny and sweet and amusing as hell. They’re wonderful friends and a great detector of who’s good and who’s bad.