This makes me very happy to hear, hahah. Originally I thought it would be a thread about sharing cat pics, it wasn't until after the fact that I realized we could also share advice.
Yeah, that's amazing about cats. It's so shocking when you see kittens that can barely walk, still valiantly try to go to the litter by themselves. For cats it's a survival instinct so they are really predisposed to it.
I'm thinking this question pops up a lot in the thread, and although brands are mostly regional, perhaps we could compile a list of good, healthy brands even if only some are available for each country, and put them in the OP.
Rory, what are some brands you know are good?
I had prepared a paper the other day.
1) high content of quality meat
Cats are carnivores that's why their food should be high meat focused. Always check how much meat your catfood actually contains. The meat should be "high quality" therefore of food quality (40% beef), by-products should be listed (20% by-products liver, heart, lungs). They put things like animal piss in there and dont list it because people wouldnt buy it if they knew.
Cat food should be free of sugar. Some brands add it to keep it nice looking, cats cant taste sweet, it has no influence on them except causing diabetes. Keep in mind that fruits also contain sugar, it should be kept low sugar without any extra added.
In my opinion grains should not be part of a cats diet, unless it needs to be put on diet for medical reason (runny poo).
Majestic Adult $$ — e.g. Beef: Meat products (70%, consisting of 65% beef and 5% beef heart)
Leonardo $$ — Meat and animal by-products (65% poultry + poultry meat stock 34%)
°Mac's $ — meat (at least 70% beef, of which 30% head meat) and animal by-products (beef heart, cattle rumen, beef liver, bovine lung)
°Animonda Carny $ — Beef (35%, lung, heart, kidney, meat, udder), chicken (30%, liver, meat, stomachs, neck)
* Catz Finefood $$$ — chicken (50%) (consisting of muscle meat, heart, lungs and liver), pheasant (20%) (consisting of heart, muscle meat and liver)
LandPartie $$$$ - 70% meat product (consisting of 50% beef (beef hearts, beef, beef livers, beef lung, beef rumen) and 20% lamb (lamb hearts, lamb, lamb livers, lamb lungs, lamb rumen)
Terra Faelis $$ — Turkey Hearts (38%), Muscle (20%), Stomachs (19%), Liver (10%) *MjaMjam $$$ - 96% meat and offal (48% game meat and 48% rabbit meat, heart, liver, egg, kidney)
° Ropocat $ — Meat and animal by-products (96% poultry)
° Feringa $ — 50% consisting of turkey heart, turkey meat, turkey liver, turkey necks
Purizon still has a lot of potatoe, certain kinds dont.
*Purizon Adult game & fish - grainfree $$
*Purizon Adult duck & fish - grainfree $$
Applaw (has potato content)
Macs, Feringa and Animonda are base for us, MjaMjam, Catz Finefood and Majestic added. The rest is time to time add on.
Dry food is fed rarely as treat. If we serve a food of kibbles they first check if there is no wet food around. In the end they eat it. (Which is important to me, my cats are supposed to be able to be switched to kibbles if necessary.)
Bad example of cat food:
Felix Crunchy & Soft Meat: cereals, meat and animal by-products (10% *), vegetable protein extracts, oils and fats, vegetable by-products, glycerine, minerals, sugar, yeast, vegetables (crispy croquettes: 0.2% dried vegetables equal 1% Vegetables). * Consists of 20% rehydrated meat and animal by-products, with at least 4% beef, 4% chicken and 4% meat. Softer croquettes contain 15% more meat than crispy croquettes.