did you know that one cat food manufacturer is responsible for 11 different cat food brands?
guess what? these manufacturers make junk food for humans!
hey friends it's jess and jericho from caticles.com
here to teach you how to feed your cat better.
before we get into the worst cat food brands to avoid
at the end of the day you are responsible for your
cat and you have the option to feed or avoid whatever you want.
just like these manufacturers have the option to produce these brands.
i'm here to give you the facts and those facts are based on these four things.
number one cat food manufacturer. so not just the
brand but who's actually manufacturing the product.
two aafco product name rules. the product name rules tell us
the minimum requirement of the named ingredients.
number three aafco ingredient definitions.
a lot of these worst cat food brands have mystery ingredients.
and number four the approximate carb amount based on the guaranteed analysis numbers.
by the way the nrc says that carbohydrates are not essential to the diet.
in fact many holistic veterinarians say that carbohydrates promote hunger and weight gain.
all pictures in this video were taken by me at my local grocery store at pet food stores.
so if your brand isn't listed that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best cat food.
some brands just aren't at my grocery store or the local pet store.
so you should still learn how to read cat food labels properly.
the first worst cat food brand manufacturer is mars pet care.
i'm sure you're familiar with their products m&ms tasty bits combos chocolate bars frozen foods.
do you think these foods are healthy for us?
let's take a look at their cat food brands.
here's royal canin aka a veterinarian
recommended cat food brand. this particular product says oral care.
there's no named ingredients so that means we don't know the minimum requirement of meat.
and here the first five ingredients are
chicken meal corn brewer's rice chicken fat and wheat gluten.
first of all meat meals are rendered meats.
according to a crs report to congress rendered meats can include
four 4 meats which is dead disease dying and disabled.
according to the guaranteed analysis the approximate amount of carbohydrates is 46%.
46% that's almost half!
three of the first five ingredients are corn brewer's rice and wheat gluten.
these are all sources of carbohydrates.
side note amylase is an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates. cats
cannot produce amylase in their saliva.
therefore cats cannot break down carbohydrates in their mouth.
this product is marketed as oral care but half the ingredients are carbohydrates. if cats can't break
down carbohydrates in their mouth how can this high carbohydrate food be good for their teeth?
here's another worst cat food brand manufactured by mars...
these are marketed as treats but i cannot believe this it actually has
feeding instructions on the label.
you'll see a huge mars petcare on the back of the label.
the product name is tasty chicken flavor.
according to aafco product name rules any product that has the
word flavor in the name has a zero percent minimum requirement of meat.
and the next rule up says three percent is the
minimum requirement and those product names have the word with in the name.
so we know that this particular brand has anywhere between zero and two percent meat.
the first five ingredients include chicken by-product meal
corn animal fat brewer's rice and wheat flour.
interesting that the first five ingredients of this brand is
very similar to the first brand that we looked at.
the approximate carb amount on a dry matter basis is 37 percent.
other brands in mars petcare include sheba iams whiskas nutro and the treats called greenies.
next on the worst cat food brands are manufactured by nestle.
and this is the manufacturer that i mentioned in the beginning. so
they're responsible for 11 different cat food brands that are on the market today.
and remember each brand has several different products under that same brand.
nestle as you may know manufacturers cereal drinks and chocolate for humans.
here's friskies which is created under the purina brand.
the product name here is with beef and gravy.
so that word with means the minimum requirement of beef is three percent.
our next rule up is 25 minimum requirement. so we know that
this product has somewhere between three and 24 meat.
isn't that crazy? food intended for obligate
carnivores has less than 25 percent meat in the product.
our first five ingredients include water meat byproducts beef wheat gluten and chicken.
so the very first meat ingredient that we see here is a complete mystery.
meat byproducts what kind of meat? what kind of byproducts?
byproducts are also rendered meats so that means
it can include 4d meats dead diseased dying and disabled.
jericho doesn't like 4d meats.
even worse that crs report to congress said
that rendered animals can include dead animals from animal shelters.
and we have absolutely no idea because it only says meat by-products.
that's a dangerous mystery!
even though this is a wet food the approximate
amount of carbohydrates on a dry matter basis is 23%.
here's purina one this is our first 25% minimum requirement of meat rule so far.
and the first five ingredients include chicken liver broth pork lungs fish.
three out of the first five ingredients are a complete mystery.
what type of liver? what type of broth? what type of fish?
give me a polydactyl thumbs up if you get what i'm saying here.
by the way did you notice those fancy label claims premium natural grain free?
i cover this in another video but premium and natural mean absolutely nothing in feed law.
and grain free does not mean carb free.
so this particular food that says grain free is actually
approximately eleven percent carbs on a dry matter basis.
you might think that that's low but compared to two percent the
approximate amount in the cat's natural diet that's a 450 percent increase!
here's purina pro plan which is a veterinarian recommended
brand. the product name fits under the 25 minimum.
but here we have lamb and rice in the product name.
so that 25% minimum is lamb and rice combined.
the first five ingredients are lamb
rice corn gluten meal dried egg product and soy protein isolate.
now i'm sure you're saying meat is the number
one ingredient. how can this be the worst cat food brand?
yes meat is the number one ingredient however
the usda says that muscle meat is approximately 75% moisture aka water.
kibble is cooked and pressurized three times and the finished product is only 10 percent moisture.
so most of that first ingredient of meat is gone by the time the kibble hits the bag.
the next two ingredients are carbohydrates and the
approximate carbohydrate amount on the dry matter basis here is 27 percent.
jericho can i have a kiss? thank you!
this particular product says for sensitive skin and stomach
but how can it be good for sensitive stomachs if cats aren't designed to digest carbohydrates?
other brands in this manufacturer include fancy feast beyond
deli cat muse kitten caboodle kitten chow and cat chow and all purina products.
by the way i'm talking about kibble and wet foods made by these brands and manufacturers.
next worst catholic brands are manufactured by jm smucker.
jm smucker also owns companies like dunkin donuts crisco and if.
here's rachel ray nutrish. the product name here is chicken and potato recipe. so that's 25%
minimum requirement of chicken and potato combined.
the first five ingredients are chicken chicken meal dried peas pea flour and turkey meal.
again we see rendered meats that can include 4d meats. the other two
ingredients are carbohydrates. again grain free does not mean carb free.
the approximate carb amount of this product is 39% on a dry matter basis!
here's meow mix wet cat food. the product name rule here is
three percent minimum requirement of meat because it has the word with in the name.
the first five ingredients of all three are fish broth chicken fish wheat gluten and ocean fish.
did you notice that each of them includes
chicken in the ingredients but it doesn't say that in the product name?
this is very dangerous for cats that have allergies.
and of course the very first ingredient is a mystery. fish broth. what type of fish?
the approximate carb amount here is 27% on a dry matter basis.
so just because it's wet food that doesn't mean that it's going to be carbohydrate free.
other brands manufactured by jm smucker include nine lives and natural balance.
our next worst cat food brands are manufactured by colgate palmolive. yes a toothpaste company.
now colgate palmolive breached advertising laws in 2007 because their claim 80%
of dentists recommend colgate was very misleading.
survey takers included dentists and hygienists
and they were not told that the survey was conducted by colgate.
they were also asked to recommend several brands of toothpaste. but the claim 80%
of dentists recommend colgate made it seem like they recommended colgate instead of other brands.
so what does this have to do with cat food?
colgate palmolive owns hill's pet the veterinarian recommended prescription diet foods.
did you catch that? veterinarian recommended.
same advertising as the toothpaste.
here's one of the prescription diets and the product name is chicken
flavor. the flavor rule states there is no minimum requirement of meat.
now remember the next product rule up is the with rule meaning that
product names that have the word with contains at least three percent meat.
so if this particular product contained at least three percent chicken
the product name would say with chicken instead of chicken flavor.
so this product that requires a prescription
for cats who are obligate carnivores contains less than two percent meat.
the approximate amount of carbs on a dry matter basis of this product is 31%.
our next worst cat food brands are manufactured by general mills.
yes that's right general mills a cereal company.
since all these cat food brands contain high amounts of cereals and grains it should come
as no surprise that a cereal manufacturing company would also own cat food companies.
brands here include all of the blue buffalo brands so blue buffalo blue wilderness blue carnivora
blue basics blue true solutions blue freedom and blue natural veterinary diet.
by the way all of these cat food brands say that theirs is the best. but if theirs was actually the
best why would the manufacturing company have to produce so many different types of brands?
so i'm editing the video right now and i can already foresee some comments.
first comment i'm sure i'm going to get is are you
kidding me i've been feeding these foods forever and my cats are fine.
like i said you are responsible for your cat and
you have the option to feed or avoid whatever you want.
these are the facts what you do with the information is up to you.
additionally i'd like to add that holistic veterinarian say that it
is the long-term consumption of these poor quality foods that cause problems.
number two comment that's every single cat food available what do you recommend then?
check the pinned comments for all the foods that i do recommend and all of these resources.
if you want to learn how to read the cat food label properly
check out this playlist right over meow.
thanks for watching!
nice to meet you