Cheap but good cat food?

Anacrusis

paddypaws101 wrote: »

The 4% meat is only the NAMED flavour, and is the declared minimum NOT the actual meat content which will be considerably higher.
Tinned tuna should only be an occasional treat for a cat, not a mainstay of the diet.

Oh, it's listed 1st, so I thought the highest ingredient? When I checked all the different tins before using Applaws it seemed like the cheap tines and expensive ones had a very similiar content.

Don't worry my cats main diet is the Applaws!

Fire_Fox

Anacrusis wrote: »

Oh, it's listed 1st, so I thought the highest ingredient? When I checked all the different tins before using Applaws it seemed like the cheap tines and expensive ones had a very similiar content.

Don't worry my cats main diet is the Applaws!

You need to look at the precise wording, usually says something like "meat derivatives (minimum 4% duck)" which means derivatives are the highest ingredient, not duck. Derivatives and meat are not legally the same thing, in the UK meat has to be muscle meat regardless if it is intended to be eaten by animals or humans, it can include the attached skin or be on the bone if it says so but does not include offal.

Meat derivatives are parts that cannot legally be called meat so may be meat scrapings from the bone, offal, marrow or connective tissue, but are from an animal so nutritious for a dog or cat. Dogs and humans can be vegetarian but animal protein is still more bioavailable than plant protein/ derivatives of vegetable origin.

Are you feeding Applaws wet or Applaws dry? IIRC the wet is complementary (treat) not a complete diet. The dry is excellent value for money, the wet is overpriced IMO.

Fire_Fox

SadBunny wrote: »

"Rice pudding, 1 teaspoon of honey" ? :shocked:

:think: Leave out the puppy meal and chicken - then I could happily eat that!
Eeeoow - not tinned rice pudding though.

I've addled my brain looking at it all - it used to seem so simple.

Thanks for confirming that the rice is wrong - thought I was losing it.

Rice pudding it is too high in refined carbs, a dog does not need to eat sugar. Actually they do, for the same reason corn flakes are flavoured with meat digest to make obligate carnivores eat Go Cat. Why low fat rice pudding? A growing puppy does not need to drop from 4% to 2% fat anymore than a growing child does. Weetabix is not much better, don't see too many Weetabix trees out on the prairie. :rotfl: Why small breakfast and large main meal? Surely a dog needs fuel for a busy day of walking and playing rather than fuel for a busy night of sleeping and pooping his bed?

You can make up your own raw diet once you know the percentages. It's worth reading around the net to find out what breeders are doing; Bengal cats for example are often raw fed and their breeders will have tried and tested recipes over many litters. I partly raw fed my last indoor cat: heart, liver and kidney from the supermarket, chopped and frozen on a baking sheet, ready frozen bone-in chicken portions.

I chopped the bones in half to ensure Noah ate some, but did not mince as I wanted him to express his natural behaviours. I found it quick, easy, not messy and cheap! :T I used high quality commercial food for convenience and as an insurance policy, since I wasn't sure exactly how much bone he got.

My darling boy was PTS in February, a tumour that must have been there since rescue. On his last day the vet commented on his muscularity and coat condition, which is great for an indoor ex-stray at death's door two years earlier.