Our kitten is no longer a kitten. By our vet’s estimate, Ollie was born at the end of last August, so it’s now time for adult cat food.
I’ve never thought much about cat food. As a vegetarian, I feel bad feeding my cats meat, but I know that they actually must have it (unlike dogs). Contrary to popular belief, it’s not because of the taurine and other nutrients. While those are essential, synthetic versions and additives do exist—that’s what’s added to commercial cat foods (and Red Bull). The real issue is that they have a difficult time digesting vegetables and can develop urinary tract problems without enough meat in their diet. While some people claim that you can feed your cat a perfectly healthy vegan diet, I would be very worried about making mine sick. (Especially since Jasmine is already on vet-recommended cat food for kidney problems.)
Ollie tested. Brenda approved.
I’m looking for something that’s the best choice for Ollie’s health and my morals. But it’s very difficult figuring out what that is. There doesn’t seem to be much of a consensus, even for the basic question of wet vs. dry food. (I’m going to ask my vet, but for the moment I’ll stick with dry.) I did find out that most pet food you find in the supermarket is made primarily from meat by-products. That’s just a nice way of saying all the parts we won’t eat: “lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents.” Those aren’t very high-quality protein sources and aren’t as digestible for cats. And they come mostly from animals that are 4D: “dead, dying, diseased, or disabled” when they get to the slaughterhouse, and often abused (videos abound online). Their meat isn’t allowed to be served to humans for health reasons, so it gets put into pet food instead.
(Note: “chicken meal” in an ingredients list is actually okay—or better. It’s made from just flesh and skin, and it’s just 10% water. Regular meat is about 70% water. So as a primary ingredient, “meal” contains no by-products and means more protein.)
So I started by looking for cat food without any meat by-products in it. As a bonus, these generally have a higher protein content, too. There are actually quite a few of them, including some major brands that you’d be surprised by, like Purina Naturals. This is easy enough—just look at the label.
Then I started looking for how the animals slaughtered for the food are treated. There doesn’t seem to be any humane certification for pet food, so I take any such claims on packaging with a grain of salt. For that reason I’d like to go with a company that I trust at least a little, and Newman’s Own has a good track record. (They also fund things like the Hole in the Wall Camp for kids with serious illnesses that an elementary school friend of mine used to go to, so I’m kind of brand-loyal.)
Newman’s Own cat food is 32% protein, with organic chicken and chicken meal as the first two ingredients. Their cage-free chickens are raised by Bell & Evans. I think that’s a compromise that Oliver and I can both be happy with.
In the end, the brands that use higher-quality meat are definitely a lot pricier than the regular brands (three times more to switch from Kitten Chow to Newman’s Own), but I’m told the higher protein content should make Ollie more full, so he’ll eat less of it. (I’ll believe that when I see it; he’s a little scavenger.) And because it’s more easily digestible, that’s supposed to mean less poop for us to scoop. I’m really looking forward to that.
I’m also looking forward to not having to think about this again. That was a lot of research just for cat food!
