MzDiz
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2113296
Here's a cut and paste with the general scoop of what it says.
I'm not a vet, or claiming the information as my own, or even claiming that it's all correct. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. No product can claim to make your pet perfect....
*snicker*
Your individual mileage may vary. Models used do not represent typical results. Use with caution. Consult your doctor before starting this or any exercise program May cause swelling at the injection site. Do not use while swimming....
Ok, I'll stop.
Here's a cut and paste with the general scoop of what it says.
Alright folks, as you can tell by the title, this is the thread to come for everything and anything relating to dog and cat foods.
The food your pet eats effects many, many parts of his life. Lots of problems come from improper diet and can be solved by very simple changes. Does Mittens ich constantly and have lots of dander? Probably food-related. Has Sparky suddenly sprayed the dining room with lots of liquidy love? Could be food-related. Does Fido has the most rank, paint-peelin bowel movements? Yeah, that's food-related. And when you think about it, it makes sense. All living things get everything they need to survive from what they eat, and if what they're eating contains little or none of the essential ingredients of a proper diet, health problems are bound to popup. This simple guide will help you keep your pet happy and healthy, and hopefully prevent you from having to take unneeded, additional trips to the vet office.
First the basics -
It doesn't get much more basic than ingredients. This is the make-up of foods, and more often than not, the root of many allergies and health problems in lower-quality diets. When it comes to shopping for pet foods, the first thing you should do is flip the bag over and find the nutritional information. If you see 'Corn' or 'By-Product' as one of the first ingredients, then you're off to a bad start.
Here's a list of ingredients to AVOID -
Corn - It's undigestable! This is used as a cheap filler for almost all dog and cat foods! This has almost no nutritional value, and passes straight through your pet, coming out as additional waste. Ontop of that, it's a very common allergen in dogs and cats!
By-Product- Some by-products are worse than others, but all by-products are an inconsistant source of meat protein. You never really know what's in by-product meal, but it can range from diseased livestock, horse remains, roadkill (!), euthanised animals from local shelters (!!!) and 4-d meats (all seen in meat by-product meal) to unfiltered intestinal tracts, feathers, brains, feet and waste (poultry by-product meal). Some say that by-products aren't all bad. Why? Well because an animal would eat all that in the wild, right?! Nope, not necessarily. By-products can contain high traces of chemicals used in euthanasia, as well as meat rendered but still tainted with poisons and deadly bacteria. In the wild, most animals would never encounter these things, and would probably die if they did. The 'filler' that the animals would gain in the wild from eating other animals can be replaced with much, MUCH cleaner, healthier, and safer ingredients (seen in the second list).
Peanut Hulls, Mill Run - This is essentially what they sweep off the floor from the processing plants. It's litereally the hulls of peanuts, scraps from trees (including bark), and whatever else employees happend to drop on the floor that day. Science Diet will tell you it's fibre! Unfortunetly, we really don't have the slightest idea what's in the 'mill run' that day.
(this list will be edited as other ingridients are suggested, I started with the three basics)
And here's a list of ingredients look for -
Whole meats (i.e Chicken, Turkey, Bison, Venison) - You're getting exactly what it says you're getting. Whole meats, usually quality cuts of whatever is listed. This is meat alone, contains no internal organs, no mystery chemicals. Genereally the best quality meat you can get in pet food.
Fruits and Vegetables - Such as fresh blueberries (a natural antitoxidant!), fresh apples (yummy, and healthy!), sweet potatoes (reliable source of fibre, though doesn't agree with all dog's tummies). Again, you're getting what it says, these are fruits and vegetables ground up in the food. This is the source of fibre and plant material that a dog or cat would normally be getting from eating the stomach of prey in the wild. It's carefully balanced in premium foods, and is generally not a main ingredient.
(this will be edited as more things are added and suggested. Again, I'm just doin the basics right now).
Brand Name Foods - The Good, The Bad, and the 'Oh God, you're dog's been eating this and is still ALIVE?!'
And I'm not kidding either and I'll explain why.
Some of those nasty ingredients listed in the previous post can lead to serious health problems and even death (in worst-case scenarios). Not too long ago, Diamond had to recall large quantities of their dog food for extremely high aflotoxin content that killed dozens of dogs. Aflotoxin comes from corn, one of the ingredients to avoid in your doggy healthcare plan. Another problem that can occur in dog and cat foods with high sugar-content is diabetes. Yep, your critter could be getting insulin shots, from you, for the rest of its life. My boyfriend's mothers cats are all becoming diabetic, and she still doesn't understand why.
Here's a list of DOG foods, in order from best to worst, and why -
Ultra Premium
Merrick
Timber Wolf
Solid Gold
Wellness
Prarie
Innova
All these foods contain whole meats, fruits, vegetables, and often cater to sensitive stomachs and unusual allergies. These foods all have a wide range of flavours including bison, venison, salmon and trout, as well as chicken and turkey for the less fancy
There's NO by-product, corn, wheat or mill runs in any of these foods. Of these three, Timber Wolf is the most expensive, with Solid Gold being the least expensive. They are available at Petco (for Solid Gold), Canine Commissary (all three), or Pet Supplies Plus (all three).
Premium
Chicken Soup
Natural Balance
Nutro
Admittedly, I'm hesitant to put Nutro on this list, as it DOES contain Corn and Corn-Meal. However, it's also a lovely inbetween from the 'Acceptable' to the 'Premium' foods, and is great for picky-eaters. Chicken Soup and Natural Balance have the same no by-product, no-corn policy and are excellent foods as well. They don't have the lavish flavour choices of Ultra Premium foods, but cater to some very picky critters. Natural Balance even has a nice Potato and Duck for dogs allergic to chicken. These are all easily available at your local Petco, and Nutro can be found at Petsmart.
Acceptable
Iams
Purina
Diamond
Eagle Pack
Eukanuba
I hate to have to put Eagle Pack on here, but with the recent increase in corn on their ingredient list, they're falling fast. These are foods that're... well, they're okay. I guess. They contain corn and/or by-products, are generally cheaper and are available at grocery stores. This stuff wont necessarily KILL your dog (despite the Diamond death thing earlier this year), but it's certainly not the best. If your vet tells you to buy this stuff, punch him.
Horrid
Alpo
Pedigree
Regular Science Diet (non-perscription)
Mainstay
Kibbles and Bits
Good Day Chunks
This is the worst of the worst. Usually no whole meats, or in the case of 'Good Day' no meat AT ALL. 90% of these foods are composed of corn, wheat, mill runs, followed by steamed bone-meal and by-product meal. Unfortunetly, a majority of the foods you'll see available to the public are this grade, and can lead to many health problems. Also, these foods are GREASY, they make your dog's coat oil and often smelly, and make waste large, frequent, and often nasty-smelling. Science Diet I'm probably opening a can of worms with. But seriously, next time you have a bag at your finger tips, especially Adult Maintanence, just look at it.
Cat food: Meat vs. oh god
Cats are carnivores. In the wild, they live purely off of meat, and off of the stomach contents of their prey. In your home, they also need a predominantly meat-filled diet, though some amount of roughage and fruit/vegetable content help to maintain healthy digestive and urinary tracts. Cats do not need added carbohydrates.
High carbohydrate content makes cats fat, plan and simple. And corn is hard to digest. High-quality foods contain no corn, and little grain. Vegetable matter is fine, just not grain.
Ultra Premium
Solid Gold
Innova EVO
Innova
California Natural
Nature's Variety Prairie
Evanger's (makes only wet) (NOT the vegetarian formula, duh.)
Wysong? (wet)
These all come with a pretty hefty pricetag.
For the rare cat who's allergic to poultry, California Natural and Prairie are two of the few brands of cat food that offer poultry-free formulas. (Prairie used to offer the only beef-based dry cat food I've ever seen, but it appears to have been discontinued.)
Be careful with Innova EVO. Though it's an ultra premium food, it has a very high protein content and cats prone to kidney issues shouldn't eat it. For a healthy cat, however, it's one of the best foods on the market.
I say "Wysong?" because Wysong's website creeps me out. It seems like it's trying so hard - something's GOT to be wrong here. Either they're all dirty hippies, or they're aliens, or... something. Regardless, Wysong makes prescription diet formulas that have Hill's beat.
And Evanger's is just crazy. One variety is called "Whole Mackeral with Gravy." It is, in fact, an entire mackeral cooked in a gravy to make it nutritionally-complete for cats. It's even grain-free. Other varieties are chock full of organic ingredients. And it costs less than Prairie's canned food.
Premium
Chicken Soup
Blue Buffalo
Merrick (wet)
Pet Promise
Wellness
Newman's Own Organics
Natural Balance
Felidae
Whole Paws
Premium cat foods contain no by-products.
At the moment, Merrick's website doesn't list any dry cat food formulas. Merrick's wet cat food formulas seem pretty good, but they contain carrageenan - a binding agent to give the food "better consistency." Carrageenan isn't "unhealthy," but I used to work in the deli business, and let me tell you, carrageenan does some pretty nasty stuff with meat.
A couple other "premium" brands also contain carrageenan, so I don't buy them, but they're still nutritionally good.
More info on carrageenan, including potential health risks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan
Blue Buffalo is available at PetSmart, and Pet Promise is available at Petco. (And at my local supermarket - who'd'a thunkit.) Pet Promise's slogan is "Let By-Products be Bygones;" and Blue Buffalo has "nutrient clusters" (or whatever they call them), meaning the vitamins and minerals are cold-formed and not cooked with the meat, so they don't lose potency.
I feed my own cats Chicken Soup. In my area, it's about the same price as Iams. I free-feed the dry formula, and both my cats maintain a healthy weight. I don't care as much for its wet formula, though.
Wellness has a good ingredient list, but the flavor seems less-accepted among the premium foods. My cats didn't care for it.
Good
Eagle Pack
Nutro (Complete Care and Max Cat)
Diamond Naturals
Royal Canin
Wysong (dry)
Trader Joe's
These formulas are sort of "in-between." They're not bad, and I wouldn't immediately try to convince someone to switch from these... but there's much better stuff on the market. Nutro and Eagle Pack contain some corn, and Diamond Naturals contains "chicken flavoring." (If it was so natural, wouldn't it already taste like chicken? Or does chicken taste like anything?)
Also, rumor has it Nutro will be changing its formula soon, and not in a good way - so if you feed Nutro, keep watch over your bag's ingredients.
Royal Canin also contains corn, and I don't buy its claims that "scientific studies" show how individual cat breeds require "dramatically different diets to address significantly different nutritional requirements." I see Royal Canin as the biggest practitioner of marketing BS among all "quality" pet food manufacturers.
Wysong dry cat food contains corn, which is odd since Wysong's ingredient list is otherwise excellent.
Some Trader Joe's formulas may be better than the "good" category, but recipes vary and some are better than others. So if you feed Trader Joe's, be sure to read ingredients.
Acceptable
Iams
Science Diet
Eukaneuba
Purina One
Diamond
I don't like how Science Diet's main ingredient is corn, but let's face it - there's much worse crap out there than Science Diet.
Iams and Eukaneuba are practically the same, and Purina One isn't much different.
Diamond just had a major dog food recall, so there's a good chance they'll be watching their ingredient list for quite a while.
All these foods contain a significant amount of by-products as protein source, but they're still healthier than...
Horrid
Fancy Feast
Purina Cat Chow
Special Kitty, or whatever Wal-Mart calls its house brand
Whiskas
Meow Mix
Store Brands
Anything that includes the words "meat" or "animal" in its ingredients list
Basically, anything containing corn and by-products as the primary ingredients will damage your cat's health. Cheap foods cause poorer, less glossy coats with more matting and shedding, as well as more frequent and more aromatic defecation. Also, much as there's currently a human obesity epidemic, there seems to be a feline obesity epidemic - cats are indoors more and are less active, so they're getting fatter and are developing diabetes and other disorders at younger ages.
To put it another way: When trapping strays, I use these brands' wet formulas because they stay moist for an unnaturally long time. The food stays moist for an unnaturally long time. Would you eat that last slice of pizza the next morning if it was still warm and gooey and had a crispy crust after it'd sat in the box all night? No? Didn't think so.
I'm not a vet, or claiming the information as my own, or even claiming that it's all correct. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. No product can claim to make your pet perfect....
*snicker*
Your individual mileage may vary. Models used do not represent typical results. Use with caution. Consult your doctor before starting this or any exercise program May cause swelling at the injection site. Do not use while swimming....
Ok, I'll stop.
