[sugarcatmom]

Hi SamIam, welcome to pets.ca! Not to threadjack (okay, maybe a little) but I just want to address some of your points about cat food.

Originally Posted by SamIam

Purina is one of the companies responsible for nutrition research and their foods are good and adequate.

Almost all "nutrition research" has been funded by various pet food companies (Hill's, Purina, Iams, Royal Canin, blah blah blah). Doesn't mean it's worth the paper it's written on. In fact, the bias of these companies to show their products in a favourable light taints the "research" considerably, from the design of the study all the way to the interpretation of the results and even whether or not the study gets published.

Originally Posted by SamIam

1) It is way better than than the cheap junk many kittens are fed

Purina is cheap junk. I'm not sure what other cheap junk you're referring to, but here's a comparison of the first 4 ingredients in Purina Cat Chow, Meow Mix, and 9Lives, all of which are about the junkiest of the junk:

Purina Cat Chow
Corn meal
poultry by-product meal
corn gluten meal
soy flour

Meow Mix
ground yellow corn
corn gluten meal
chicken by-product meal
soybean meal

9Lives
Whole ground corn
poultry by-product meal
corn gluten meal
soybean meal

Gosh, remarkably similar wouldn't you say? If you can find a worse food on the market, please let me know.

Originally Posted by SamIam

4) Research into grain-free diets, raw diets, herbal/veggie/fruit supplements is minimal, and your vet may be one who doesn't believe anything until it is proven in research.

That's because, as I mentioned above, all pet food research is funded by pet food companies. Of course they aren't interested in studying a raw diet, that's not what they're selling/promoting. But the best "research" of all is right in front of our noses, and that's simply a matter of taking a look at what cats evolved eating over millennia. Fresh raw meat, in the form of juicy rodents, birds, lizards, insects, .... Not corn pops and rice cakes.

Originally Posted by SamIam

You will also an AAFCO statement, don't feed anything without one on the label.

So my cats shouldn't eat mice ? Truth of the matter is that the AAFCO is a sham, populated largely by self-serving pet food company employees. Here is a tidbit from a rather eye-opening article on the pet food industry: http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/dat...Patrick06.html

Americans own more than 130 million cats and dogs and spend over $12 billion per year on commercial pet foods. The commercial pet food industry faces minimal substantive regulation, despite navigating several layers of regulation from various groups including the FDA, the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), and state regulators. The FDA entrusts AAFCO to issue regulations governing ingredients, feeding trials, labels and nutritional claims. But AAFCO’s rules fall short of ensuring that America’s pets receive adequate nutrition, or even foods that won’t cause chronic digestive, skin, eye, and coat problems. The influence by the pet food industry over AAFCO manifests itself through AAFCO’s irrational regulations, including ingredient definitions which effectively prohibit organic chickens and vegetables, while blindly permitting thousands of euthanized cats and dogs to make their way into pet foods through the unsupervised rendering industry. Trusting, but uneducated, consumers purchase these commercial pet foods under the assumption that the FDA or some other regulatory body has ensured that the foods contain “balanced” meals, and “complete” nutrition. These consumers naively believe veterinarians that endorse and sell pet foods from their offices while neglecting to mention that these “pet doctors” are often “on the take” and can earn up to 20% of their total income from such sales. This paper will examine the ways in which inadequate regulation results in confused consumers and sick, malnourished pets. Ultimately this paper seeks to reveal that multiple parties, including consumers themselves, share the blame for the current muddled state of regulation.

There are some really great commercial pet foods available, especially in the raw department, that don't have and never will have, the AAFCO "stamp of approval".

Something else you might not know is that an AAFCO feeding trial consists of feeding 8 cats or dogs the same food for 6 months. If 6 of the 8 animals survive the 6 months, then it's considered "complete and balanced for the life of your pet". I'm not making this up. I wish I were.

You might not remember this but in the '80s, a large number of cats became seriously ill due to a taurine deficiency. They'd been eating commercial cat food that had that good ol' AAFCO stamp, but were later discovered to be lacking sufficient taurine. A taurine deficiency takes many months, even years, to manifest as ill health. These foods passed the ridiculously lax feeding trial requirements.

Originally Posted by SamIam

But keep in mind, every kitten is an individual,

But it's still a CAT. With very specific feline nutritional requirements that don't have a lot of room for error.

Originally Posted by SamIam

if your kitten is healthy, the food is working.

Just because a cat looks healthy on the outside, doesn't mean there isn't damage being done on the inside. And the damage is often cumulative, over a period of many years. Diabetes doesn't pop up the first time you feed kibble. But by the time a cat is 8 or 9 or 12, all of those years of eating inappropriate food takes its toll and the pancreas burns out, or the kidneys start to fail, or the intestinal tract is so inflamed that no nutrients can be absorbed.

Originally Posted by SamIam

As a person who is interested in newer ideas, and a more holistic approach to your kitten's health and nutrition, you would be better matched with a vet who is comfortable with your philosophies.

This part, I agree with.