The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Which Brands to Avoid and Which to Look For When Cat Food ShoppingBut contrary to the title, I'm going to list the brands in reverse order. The Ugly: Just about anything you can find in a regular grocery store. This includes:
Generally speaking, all these brands usually contain way too much carbohydrate, contain colorings and flavorings (next time you see a can of 9Lives, check the ingredient listing and see how high titanium dioxide is on the list), and use poor-quality ingredients. The Bad: These brands are marketed as being "premium" and typically charge quite a bit more than the companies listed above, but they still suck balls. Really expensive balls.
These companies all flunk the test when it comes to issues like use of by-products, ingredient quality, use of preservatives like ethoxyquin, BHA and BHT, unusually high carbohydrate content, etc. Nutro wouldn't have made the list if I hadn't found out about the pentobarbital issue. I have a bee in my bonnet about the use of 4D animal tissue in my cats' food. The Good These brands usually claim that to use "human-grade" ingredients, eschew artificial preservatives, and are fruity as all get-out. This doesn't mean they're not fuckheads on occasion; late last year, Wellness started adding rice to their previously grainless canned food without changing any information on their labels, which meant grain-sensitive cats everywhere started barfing a food they used to tolerate quite well, and some owners of diabetic cats suddenly had a trickier time monitoring their cats' blood glucose levels. These companies are also bad about using trendy "holistic" ingredients in cat food that are actually toxic to cats, like alfalfa, grapefruit seed extract and garlic. The quantities used are minute, but if I'm wigging out about 150 ppm ethoxyquin, you bet I'm viewing this sort of practice with a jaundiced eye. If this sort of thing matters to you, look through the ingredient list carefully, and make sure to rotate between brands that do and don't contain these iffy ingredients. But by and large, the companies listed below are fairly reputable and provide a decent-quality food for the fuzzy bastards. If you mix and match a good variety of flavors and brands from the list below, you'll probably be feeding your cats a better diet than 90% of all the cats out there. Shit, probably better than a good portion of people too.
If you have suggestions for other companies to add to the Good (or the Bad, or the Ugly) list, e-mail me. (Get rid of the DOOTDEEDOO before sending the message, unless you delight in getting bounced e-mails.) Bonus Round: Companies That Supply Raw Food There are a few companies right now making raw food (either "complete and balanced" diets, whole ground prey or meat with bone you'll need to add supplements to, or both) if you're interested in giving that a shot instead of making your own. I've used and can recommend Columbia River Natural and Wholefoods4pets.
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