Anyone having issues with Purina Cat Chow?

[Sandi]

These brands of dry food are very good and grain free:
Acana
Applaws
Taste of the Wild
Orijen

I don't think you should only feed a cat dry food though. It's not natural and there's a higher risk of them getting kidney and urinal problems. I give mine mostly wet food. They get dry food only once a day.

[Skeen]

Compare the ingredients in both kinds of foods and see if there's anything that could be giving them problems.  I have one girl who is allergic* to wheat and one boy who is allergic* to EVERYTHING so I have everyone on a limited ingredients diet.  I like Natural Balance, whichever flavor Amazon has cheapest at the time.  They like them all.   



*not really an allergy, but these things turn them into vomiting, liquid poop dribbling messes WHO STILL WANT TO SIT ON ME.  Sadly the one allergic to everything is also crazy for bread (and bananas, and q-tips, and twist ties, etc) and I have to keep loaves in the fridge to keep him out of them.  I also can't use corn litter because guess who eats it.  Yep. 

[Koudoawaia]

I feed my cats 9 Lives Indoor or Plus Care and they do fine on that.

[LadyMoondancer]

In regards to possibly changing brands; I would love to try them on something higher quality, but with the number of cats I have I go through 35-40 pounds of dry food a month. So I don't think I could work anything too much more expensive into my budget without having to put myself on an all-ramen diet. Are there any brands that are both good for the cats and a bit easy on the wallet?

Costco's brand (Kirkland's) food is very good, and probably even cheaper than Purina.

[tsukikakushi]

Thanks for all the input, everyone. ^_^

I went ahead and opened one of the Indoor bags, and they seem to be doing much better on that. So I'm guessing it's an issue with that one bag of Complete. Should I contact Target regarding it, considering I threw out the receipt and can't prove I bought it there?

In regards to possibly changing brands; I would love to try them on something higher quality, but with the number of cats I have I go through 35-40 pounds of dry food a month. So I don't think I could work anything too much more expensive into my budget without having to put myself on an all-ramen diet. Are there any brands that are both good for the cats and a bit easy on the wallet?

Tractor Supply stores carry a brand called 4Health- it comes in all grain free, or just no corn/wheat/soy. It's not extremely expensive, and comes in a bigger 18lb bag I think.

edit- It comes in a 16lb bag, and runs about $23 a bag. My cats have been doing well on it since I've had to switch them from a more expensive food.

[Dragonflitter]

I'll readily confess I've been a big fan of Purina for many years. I've had a lifetime of good experiences with them.

1.) There was a massive recall back in 2010 when many different brands of dog and cat food were recalled all at once, as pets were getting ill and some dying. Turns out all these different brands got their food bagged in the same factories over in China, and they were all getting cross-contaminated. Purina brands were not part of that recall because they had their own bagging factories for quality control purposes.

2.) Our dog had SEVERE skin allergies. She scratched herself all day. We tried dozens of different brands of allergy shampoo, put her on a special all-natural diet, and took many trips to the vet for anti-itch medication. Nothing really worked, she saw a little improvement sometimes and often no improvement at all. Then we switched her dog food to Purina Senior, suddenly she stopped itching at all! 0_0 Years of problems, suddenly gone!

I understand Purina is not the best food out there. I know it's not natural, and it's not a meat diet like carnivore animals should have. (I even have an aunt who cuts up raw meat and fish for her dogs and cats every single morning.) But as a person myself who works full time and has a limited budget, that is just not feasible for me, and I've raised cats and dogs on Purina my whole life. (I myself live on a diet of doritos and Mountain Dew, so no one in my house is eating super healthy )


As others have said in this thread, sounds like you got a bad batch of food. Maybe it was storage of the food, or maybe there was something wrong at the Purina factory. Even without the receipt, bring it back to Target and explain. They might refund you.

Also take the batch number off the bottom of the bag and send a message to Purina. They might want to check the quality control on that batch!

[slj84]

I work in the veterinary world so I'll put  in my two cents,  it's honestly just my opinion on food.  It's a hot subject and everyone has their opinion, honestly though as long as your pet does well on the food it's on that's what matters most.

Purina has different grades of food, different price ranges and different qualities of food.  Purina does a lot of research on their foods.  I feed my own pets purina prescription foods.  My cat Binx has explosive diarrhea on any food other the purina EN. He's been tested for lots of different things even irritable bowel with no real answers.  Jasper my other kitty eats it because I can't risk Binx getting into any other brands of food. They are very healthy, great weights, shiny hair and yearly bloodwork is perfect.  Jasper was on Fromm when he was a baby, and did great on Fromm.

My dogs are on Purina JM (joint mobility) because they are getting older and it has lots of great oils in it.

All 6 of my pets do very very well on their foods.  They are also along the more expensive Purina lines.

Wet food is by far better then dry food for cats, especially male cats.  It helps control weight better,  cats in general do not get enough liquids from drinking water, so canned food helps keep kidneys working. In male  cats this is very important to help prevent urinary blockage.  It's also higher protein and less carbs which cats generally do better on.

Raw diets are great if you do them right.  The problem we as a veterinary community hate raw is because people don't take the time to learn how to do it properly.  It's takes time, it's expensive and you need lots of research.

Grain free and all that jazz are good foods,  but if your pet have no issues with grains ect, then it's perfectly okay to feed it. By products are also not necessarily a bad thing but that's a whole nother discussion as to why.

Blue buffalo out right lied to consumers about what was in their food.  The original owner was a advertising guru he made darn good commercials about why you should buy his food. Look up blue buffalo law suit it's a pretty interesting read. 

So my answer when people ask me what to feed their pets,  it's usually feed your pet the highest quality food you can afford and your pet does well on.  Higher protein foods are excellent for your agility and working pets,  but your couch potatoe pet or older pet won't need the same dietary needs, so you also need to realize food isn't a one size fits all kinda thing.  But as I said these are just my opinion for what I have seen over the years.  I think everyone ebhad very different options on pet foods and as long as their pet is happy and healthy then I won't argue with it, because that's all that matters.

[ringwraith10]

I feed my pets Science Diet, Sensitive Stomach variety. I buy three five-pound bags each month (one for each of my pets) for $8 to $10 each on Amazon's "Subscribe and Save" plan (15-pound bags are much cheaper). My cat used to eat Purina Cat Chow, too, and it eventually started to make her sick, so I switched her to Science Diet (same with my dogs). So far Science Diet has worked well for her and isn't too pricey (though it tends to be more expensive at pet stores than online).

[Kanchii]

If you're worried about cost effectiveness, but want something better than Purina (which, to be honest, is garbage), I'd recommend Taste of the Wild, which I know is sold in 15 (or close) size bags and is one of the cheapest, better and grain free foods out there. I've worked in the pet industry my whole life and would definitely recommend it.