Low carb foods

One of my previous cats developed diabetes towards the end of his life,
and I'm sure all the carbs in his food contributed to it. Now that I have
a new cat (woo hoo!), I don't want to make the same mistake, and I've
been feeding him only Wellness grain-free wet food. No dry food at all.

I'm beginning to lose my confidence in Wellness, though. When I buy a
case of their grain-free beef and chicken, some cans have a thick dark
food in them, which Alfie really likes...while others have much lighter
colored food with a completely different consistency. Almost like a
paste, full of air and much more water, rather than the thicker
consistency of the food in the other cans. I called Wellness and they
don't think it's two different products, one of which is mislabeled. But
it's hard for me to believe the normal variations in production would be
so huge. So I don't know what's going on. This has been occurring for a
few months now.

So I started looking for other low carbohydrate wet foods. Evo 95%
Chicken and Turkey, which is also grain-free, seems to have even fewer
carbs...and Fancy Feast Classic Turkey and Giblets has even fewer! Fancy
Feast does not market itself as grain-free, but I don't see any grains
listed in the ingredients of any of their Classic products. Nor do they
have wheat gluten.

Here are the "as fed" figures I just got from each of the companies:

Wellness Grain-Free Beef and Chicken: 1.42% carbs, 11.11% protein
Evo 95% Chicken and Turkey, grain-free: 0.97% carbs, 10.58% protein
Fancy Feast Classic Turkey and Giblets: 0.90% carbs, 11% protein

COULD FANCY FEAST REALLY BE AS GOOD AS, OR BETTER THAN, THESE SUPER-
PREMIUM BRANDS?

The calcium and phosphorus levels are not too dissimilar across these
brands, and I imagine they're all pretty similar in terms of vitamins and
other basic nutritional requirements. But are there other factors I
should take into consideration? (I should mention that I'm not as worried
about meat by-products as some people are. As long as the calcium level
isn't too high, which would indicate too much bone meal and other bad
stuff, I don't think meat by-products are necessarily bad for cats.)

Any thoughts are welcome -- but please try to limit this discussion to
the questions I have asked. I don't want to trigger yet another flame war
on cat food in general.

Many thanks.

JEP

In article ,
JEP wrote:

Any thoughts are welcome -- but please try to limit this discussion to
the questions I have asked. I don't want to trigger yet another flame war
on cat food in general.

Many thanks.

If you are still using the Wellness wet food, when you get a wonky can, save it
and send it back to them and ask them if it's the same stuff as the non-wonky
can.

Alternatively, when you get a wonky can, take it and a non-wonky can to your
nearest University and find a chemist, nutritionist or some such person and ask
them if they would analyze the two cans

JEP,

There have been discussions here about Fancy Feast, and I'm sure you
can find them if you search this group. I personally wouldn't feed FF,
but that's a decision I make. One comment I will make about FF,
ingredients or not, is that it is expensive or _more_ expensive per
ounce than a number of the higher-end foods. Price it out and compare
to the other brands.

As for Wellness, I too have encountered the variation in cans, and
have called them with no satisfaction.

FWIW, check out Natural Balance's Limited Ingredient Diets (canned).
They are grain free and a good value IMO since the cans are 6 oz
instead of 5.5 or 5.

Rene

Full of air and much more water, rather than the thicker
consistency of the food in the other cans. I called Wellness and they
don't think it's two different products, one of which is mislabeled. But
it's hard for me to believe the normal variations in production would be
so huge.
__________
Pua | pick up artist | Dating Coach

Because the moisture content can vary in any catfood (wet or dry) maybe the
comparison should not be between the absolute percentages of carbs but
rather between the differing protein-to-carb ratios.

For examples:

Wellness Grain-Free Beef and Chicken: protein-to-carb = 7.8
Evo 95% Chicken and Turkey, grain-free: protein-to-carb = 10.9
Fancy Feast Classic Turkey and Giblets: protein-to-carb = 12.22