All the cats in the world fall under the category of carnivores. Nonveg is the only ideal food for them. Hence, to create the best cat food, brands must prioritize a higher percentage of high-quality meat and other essential ingredients. In other words, the best cat food will contain a good amount of meat and balance other required nutrients. This blog will discuss some cat food brands to avoid from giving to cats. Stay attentive while reading all the information given here.
Table of Contents
Some Of The Worst Cat Food Brands To Avoid
1. Fancy Feast Gourmet Dry and Wet Cat Food
| Manufacturer and Producer | Nestlé Purina PetCare |
|---|---|
| Disagreeable Ingredients (top 5) | Poultry broth, Ground yellow corn, Corn gluten meal, Mixed tocopherols with preserved animal fat, Animal liver flavor |
Fancy Feast gourmet dry and wet food is one of the most popular cat food. Hence, you might be surprised that it is the first one among the worst cat food brands to avoid. Well, this is simply because of the composition of its ingredients.
No doubt, the fancy feast cat food contains chicken and turkey. However, it isn’t safe for cats as it has various fatty and carbohydrate-rich ingredients. Additionally, there is no particular specification of meat by-products and types of fish used in this cat food. Also, paying attention to the last disagreeable ingredient, this food brand needed to specify which animal liver they used.
Also, cat owners and feeders should understand that Fancy Feast has a solid marketing strategy. They market their products specifically to people who might buy them, thinking of them as a gourmet meal for their fur baby.
2. 9 Lives Dry and Wet Cat Food
| Manufacturer and Producer | Post Consumer Brands |
|---|---|
| Disagreeable Ingredients (top 5) | Beef fat, Bone Meal, Animal Digest, Whole ground corn, Soybean meal |
You could be feeding your cat 9 lives of dry and wet food. If this is the case, we request you to stop it immediately. This is because it is one of the worst cat food brands to avoid. Only five disagreeable ingredients from the table above can prove the same to you.
We request you to have a look at the first two ingredients. Beef fat and bone meal.
- Beef fat undoubtedly contains a lot of cholesterol with a high percentage of fatty acids.
- There is no specification regarding what bone meal is used for cat food.
Additionally, 50% of the total ingredients are very rich in carbohydrates. Don’t trust us? Simply check the ingredients list behind the package, and you will have your eyes open.
3. Kit and Kaboodle Dry Cat Food
| Manufacturer and Producer | Nestlé Purina PetCare |
|---|---|
| Disagreeable Ingredients (top 5) | Animal fat, Soybean meal, Bone meal, Corn gluten meal, Mixed tocopherols with preserved animal fat |
Another one of the worst cat food brands to avoid is Kit and Kaboodle. As discussed at the start of this blog, a good cat food brand will focus on increasing the protein quantity and balancing all the required nutrients. However, being amongst the worst, Kit and Kaboodle cat food brands do not follow this condition.
This brand has not laid down any specifications on which animal fat is used in it. Additionally, its one serving contains 8% fat, 28% crude protein, and 50% carbohydrates. Well, this is the worst food combination a brand can use in its cat’s dry and wet food.
4. Meow Mix Dry Cat Food
| Manufacturer and Producer | J M Smucker |
|---|---|
| Disagreeable Ingredients (top 5) | Beef tallow, Soybean meal, Corn gluten meal, Animal Digest, Titanium dioxide and other artificial colors |
The listed five disagreeable ingredients are enough to make Meow Mix one of the cat food brands to avoid. The best cat food should be meat-based. Ironically, this cat food appears to be more plant-based. Clearly, this is not at all a trait of a good cat food brand.
Keeping the plant-based ingredients aside, we are left with beef tallow, animal digest, and titanium dioxide. Well, there needs to be more clarity regarding the healthiness of animal digest used in cat food. This is because it is always considered a controversial ingredient when it comes to cats. No doubt, animal digest is one of the best sources of protein. But, we cannot ignore the fact that it is highly processed as well. Hence, it isn’t a great ingredient to include in cat food.
We have a simple question about titanium dioxide and other artificial colors. What is the need to add artificial colors to cat food? No doubt, it will make the food look a bit more fancy. But does the cat care about it? Trust us when we say that your cat has nothing to do with how its food looks. We guess the same goes for cat parents as well. They won’t care how the cat food looks if it contains the required nutrients.
5. Cat Chow Dry Food For Cats
| Manufacturer and Producer | Nestlé Purina PetCare |
|---|---|
| Disagreeable Ingredients (top 5) | Whole grain corn, Corn gluten wheat, Whole grain wheat, Powered cellulose, Soybean hull |
Corn, corn, wheat, and soybean! Are we talking about some human food? Oh, okay, we are talking about cat chow dry food, one of the worst brands to avoid. As we can see, corn is the first ingredient used in this cat food. Also, including wheat and soybean hull, this cat food has the maximum amount of carbohydrates.
Also, regarding powered cellulose comes under the category of non-digestible and non-fermentable cat ingredients. Hence, including it in cat dry food does not provide any nutritional value to our cats.
Per our table, we decided to list only the five most disagreeable ingredients in a specific cat food. However, we couldn’t stop ourselves from listing the others in this case.
Cat chow dry food contains various ingredients that are either harmful or else make no sense in it. Those ingredients include animal fat, liver, fish, bone meal, etc.
Again, just like other worst cat food brands that you should avoid, Cat Chow has given no specifications about
- Which animal is used for extracting fat and liver
- Types of fishes used in this cat food
- Which animal bone meal is used here
Conclusion
This was all for our blog on some of the worst cat food brands to avoid. We would like to conclude this blog by specifying all the brands listed here because of their ingredients. Not for their price or appearance but only for the nutritional value they provide to cats. Well, that’s what matters. We hope cat parents understand the importance of attentively reading the ingredients mentioned at the back. It will help us in providing our cats and kitties with the best nutritional food that they deserve,
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Which are the cat food brands to avoid?
1. Many cat food brands do not provide our cats with the required nutrients. The top three ones you should avoid are Fancy Feast Gourmet dry and wet cat food, 9 Lives dry and wet cat food, and Kit and Kaboodle dry food for cats.
2. Why is beef fat not considered an ideal ingredient in cat food?
2. Besides being meat, beef fat is still not a good ingredient in cat food. This is because it is very high in carbohydrates. And we all know that cats are not good at digesting carbohydrates. As a result, beef fat in cat food can harm them.
3. Why is animal digest not considered a good ingredient in cat food?
3. Animal digest is a great source of protein. However, it is still not considered an ideal ingredient in cat food. This is simply because animal digest is a highly processed ingredient. This makes it a harmful ingredient for our cats.
4. Is Cat Chow dry food not a good option to feed our cats?
4. No, not at all. Cat Chow dry food for cats is one of the cat food brands you should avoid. This is because it contains a lot of carbohydrates and other plant-based ingredients. Additionally, it contains powered cellulose, a component that cannot be digested or fermented by cats. Hence, it is of zero nutritional value. Also, this brand has made no specifications about the animals and fish used to prepare it.
