On Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:07:17 -0700 (PDT), mike
wrote:

I'm skeptical that expensive cat food brands like Science Diet are
worth the money, health and nutrition-wise, over brands like Purina
One. Is this a "boutique" type issue, where those who shop at
expensive, organic grocery stores for human food (e.g. Whole Foods,
EarthFare, etc) also tend toward the same for their cats? I shop at
SuperWalmart for my groceries, and am not sure I'd shop at expensive,
snooty places like Whole Foods even if I could afford 2-3X the cost of
a cart of groceries.

I believe it's probably short-changing the cat to buy the least
expensive cat food; probably lots of junk in there that will just end
up as additional crap in the litter box--a false economy.

Anyway, would love to hear from people who know something about cat
health and nutrition who don't also subscribe to the view that buying
organic people food will significantly expand the life expectancy and
quality of life of people.

I'm always skeptical of marketing hoopla, and I'm thinking there may
be a parallel with boutique cat food and boutique people food.

And for those who do buy the expensive stuff, what would you consider
an acceptable "next step down" in cat food brands? Because frankly,
the truth is often somewhere in the middle.

Thanks.

Mike


All I know of cheap versus expensive cat food is that feeding cheap
stuff leads to a very smelly litterbox. I don't feed overly expensive
food (mostly ProPlan Salmon and Rice since all three cats love it) and
don't have a smelly litterbox at all. Unless one of the cats has just
gone, there is no smell at all. It stands to reason that food that
produces foul poop isn't good to feed the furkids.

Personally I prefer organic food if I can afford it for me. But I'm
far more a Trader Joe fan than Whole Foods. As for the cats, they are
pretty picky and I got tired of wasting money on food that they don't
like. ProPlan it is.

Anything with artificial color is out though. That's pretty pointless
for a cat.