Dear Emily,

Sam let me know that you had some questions on the diet that I have chosen for my cats,
specifically, why I chose to feed them dry food as well as wet food. There are multitudes of
reasons, but I can say that it all ties back to money. I believe that I can provide a nutritious and
healthy diet to my cats without costly wet food only diets or even more costly method of
cooking food specifically for the cats. There are some health benefits to eating dry food as well,
as long as the food is carefully chosen by brand and researched for its nutritional values.
To begin, cats are obligate carnivores. Which means that they depend only on nutrients found
in animal flesh for survival. For various reasons, different species that are obligate carnivores
may consume other material, such as plant matter for various uses, but they lack the physiology
required for the efficient digestion of plant matter. Back to the point, cats in the wild ingest
carbohydrates as a very small part of their diet, around 3-5% of their overall diet. Most
commercial cat food, especially the brands that lie on the lower end of the spectrum consist of
anywhere from 35% to 50% carbohydrates as a binding agent as well as increasing the calorie
value of the food cheaply. This brings us to the most important part of choosing food for your
cats, which is that they must be grain free or contain very little carbohydrates.
For the most part, wet food is much better about containing much less carbohydrates then dry
food. This is why cat owners who feed their cats exclusively or mostly wet food diets tend to
have healthier cats when they are older. However, as long as the ingredients and the overall
nutritional values of the food brand is sound, there is no reason to suggest that dry food is
inferior to wet food. However, the reality is that even high grade dry cat food does not compare
in its nutritional value to wet food of similar or even lower value. There are also additional
benefits that eating wet food forces cats to ingest more water, which can help prevent issues
with urethral crystals. Dry food, however, does a better job of clean out tartar and other build
up from the cats' teeth, which can help prevent dental issues between regular visits to the
veterinarian. Dry food also is much cheaper per calorie, which is a big benefit to folks looking
for a healthy diet for cats on a limited budget.
For the above reasons, I believe that feeding the cats a hybrid diet of dry and wet food is both
beneficial to the cats' long and short term health, while it being much more economical for the
owner since the overall cost can be lower. To ensure that the nutritional needs of the cats are
being met, you can use the following criteria to help you determine the good and the bad
catfood.
As a quick reminder here are the criteria for a good cat food:
High Protein
Low in Carbohydrates
High in Moisture
High-Quality Ingredients

Ingredients
Every ingredient in commercial cat food is there for a reason, but sometimes the reason isn't a
very good one. The process of turning meat into kibble isn't easy, so sometimes "filler"
ingredients are added just for the purpose of food consistency. A lot of these fillers have little to
no nutritional value, and your pet excretes these without digesting them.
Ingredient quality also affects absorption. Shoe leather and chicken meat are both mostly
protein, but your cat is going to digest and absorb a lot more protein from one than the other.
Ingredients on a label are listed by weight. So when "corn" is the first ingredient on the label,
there is a whole lot more corn than when it's the 10th ingredient listed. (Pet food companies can
and will try to trick you with this tactic, called "ingredient splitting". If you see 6 different
ingredients involving the word "rice", there is probably a whole lot of rice in the food, even if
the first two ingredients are meat.)
In feeding dry foods with more corn (or wheat, soy, etc.) than actual meat, we're basically
feeding our carnivores cornflakes and a multivitamin to balance out the deficiencies. They'll
survive on it, but it's far from a healthy diet.
Here are some good ingredients to look for...
Meats (chicken, turkey, beef, etc.) - This is muscle meat and doesn't include organs or anything
weird. Lots of protein and good stuff in here. If you don't see a meat or meat meal in the first 23 ingredients on the label, you should probably run away.
Meat Meals (chicken meal, salmon meal, etc.) - Meals are basically rendered meat bits. While
this may include some animal parts that most people don't want to eat, it's still really nutritious
and good in pet food. Because it's rendered, it doesn't contain a lot of water-weight like whole
meats do. This means that pound-for-pound, "chicken meal" typically contains even more
protein and good stuff than "chicken". Good foods will usually contain both whole meats and
meat meals.
Veggies & Fruits - In lower-quality foods, you'll see lots of corn, rice, and grains being used as
binding agents or carbohydrate sources. In higher-quality foods, you'll see healthier sources of
starch and fiber like sweet potatoes, apples, peas, and carrots. These ingredients also contain
more vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff.
Next, ingredients to avoid
Most of these are cheap alternatives to healthier ingredients, and therefore indicate lowerquality diets. However, they're not all inherently bad for your pet, especially if they're only
present in small amounts, so try to keep in mind the order in which the ingredients are listed. If
you see all this stuff listed at the beginning of an ingredient list, it's probably not good food.
Corn / Maize (whole grain corn, ground corn, corn gluten meal, etc.) - Corn is typically used

as a carbohydrate source or binding agent. Of carbohydrate sources, corn is arguably the worst
in terms of its effect on the animal's blood glucose (hint: having a diabetic pet sucks). Corn is
also the cheapest carbohydrate source, which means its presence usually indicates a lowerquality food. Corn gluten is a protein source, but animal based-protein is better for feeding
carnivores. Corn is also a common allergen.
Soy- Avoid soy-based protein in pet foods, especially for cats. The reasons are basically the
same as for corn gluten -- it's cheap, it's a common allergen, and it's not part of a speciesappropriate diet for cats.
Wheat / Wheat Gluten-- Avoid for the same reasons as corn or corn gluten. Wheat is one of
the most common food allergens.
By-Products- This includes anything with the word "by-product", including "by-product
meal". By-products are basically the garbage of the meat industry. While they often contain
ingredients with good nutritional value (i.e. organs), by-products also contain a lot of stuff
that's not as digestible or nutritionally valuable (i.e. chicken feet, heads). The real problem here
is that "by-products" is intentionally ambiguous, and therefore its quality and makeup are going
to be inconsistent.
Ingredients containing vague words like "Animal" or "Poultry"(meat and bone meal,
animal fat, etc.) - Again, this is about lack of specificity. If the pet food manufacturer can't tell
you what species the ingredient comes from, it's a safe bet that quality and consistency are
lacking. Of these, "animal" is definitely the worst.
The next two are up for debate. I'm not going to argue about whether or not these chemicals are
safe, but I will say that the companies making really high-quality foods aren't using them.
Menadione (typically "Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex" or "Vitamin K3") - This will be
really far down on ingredient lists if present. It's a precursor to Vitamin K, and not an actual
vitamin. While legal to use in animal food, the FDA has banned its use in humans due to the
potentially fatal effects of large doses. There is no conclusive evidence that small amounts of
menadione are dangerous in pet food, but it's iffy. Menadione is cheap, and natural sources of
vitamin K (alfalfa, kelp, green leafy veggies) are expensive. You won't see this ingredient in
high-quality foods.
Artificial Preservatives (BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin) - These are added to cheap foods to
increase shelf-life. In high-quality foods, you'll see natural preservatives like Vitamin E,
Vitamin C, tocopherols, rosemary, etc. Like with menadione, there is no conclusive evidence
that these things will hurt your pet, but there are enough people arguing about the safety of
these chemicals that it's probably better to just avoid them.
This may want to make you change your cat food quickly, but first, here are two things you
should know before you change your cat's diet:
Transition Slowly - If your cat eats the same thing every day and you suddenly feed

him something new, he's probably going to get the runs or barf everywhere. You need to
make a gradual change. Decrease the amount of old food and increase the amount of
new food (mix them together) over a period of at least a week. If your cat starts having
softer stool, you're probably going too fast. Sometimes a little unflavored yogurt
(provides good bacteria) or canned plain pumpkin (provides fiber) can help during the
transition.
Don't feed "exotic" protein sources without a good reason- A lot of brands offer
"fancy" flavors of food like bison, venison, rabbit, duck, etc. Unless your cat has a food
allergy or won't eat anything else, pick a normal flavor of food like chicken, turkey, beef,
etc. Food allergies can develop at any time in a cat's life, and the best way to manage
them is to feed a protein source that the cat has NEVER eaten before (a "novel protein").
If you feed your cat a bunch of weird protein sources, and then he develops food
allergies a few years down the line, you're not going to have any good options for a
novel protein.
To make it simpler to follow the above guidelines, I've included the below list to help you
determine and choose good brands for dry and wet cat foods.
Premium Canned Foods-- These foods are very low in carbohydrates and very high in
protein. They also use excellent ingredients (no corn, soy, byproducts, or anything like that).
Generally <15% of the calories in these foods come from carbohydrates, which is what your cat
is designed to eat.
Blue Buffalo
By Nature (95% Meat formulas)
California Naturals
Chicken Soup
Innova
Innova EVO
Merrick
Nature's Variety Instinct
Solid Gold
Wellness
Good Canned Foods -- These foods are mostly a little higher in carbs and a little lower in
protein, or they use some lower-quality ingredients in relatively small amounts. But they're still
very good foods and better than most dry foods.
Authority
Avoderm
By Nature Organics
Fresh Pet
Natural Balance
Nature's Variety Prairie

Nutro
Organix
Pinnacle
Purina Pro Plan (regular & Selects)
Royal Canin
Taste of the Wild
Acceptable Canned Foods-- These foods are mostly still better than dry foods in terms of
nutrients, but many of them use byproducts, corn, and soy as protein sources. They may also
use artifical presevatives/colors, menadione, and other low-quality ingredients. How good these
foods are varies A LOT from flavor to flavor. If you have to feed these foods, I recommend that
you read the ingredient labels and pick the flavors with the least awful ingredients. You should
also know that most of these "cheaper" canned foods contain significantly more water than the
premium foods, which means you may not be saving as much money as you think. For
example, if you compare the cost based on calories (instead of ounces), many Fancy Feast
flavors are more expensive than Wellness.
By Nature Goldleaf Selects
Fancy Feast
Friskies
9-Lives
Science Diet
Sophisticat
Special Kitty
Whiskas
Good Dry Foods-- These are the few dry foods that are almost as good as canned food (in
terms of being low in carbs and high in protein). If it weren't for the fact that they lack
moisture, these would be equivalent to Premium or Good canned foods. These foods are also
extremely dense in terms of calories per cup of food, so many cats will eat 1/3-1/2 cups a day
or less. In short, you're getting more bang for your buck.(For example, if you compare the costs
based on calories (instead of lbs or kgs), Solid Gold Indigo Moon is cheaper than A LOT of dry
foods, including Purina, lots of grocery store crap, and almost every food on the Acceptable
list. These foods are expensive by the pound, but they really only cost $6-12 per month to feed
an average sized cat.)
Innova EVO
Nature's Variety Instinct
Orijen
Solid Gold Indigo Moon
Wellness Core
Acceptable Dry Foods-- These foods use good ingredients, but they're too high in
carbohydrates and/or too low in protein. Nutritionally, they're not as good as almost any canned
food, but you could do a LOT worse. (These are mostly in the range of 25-30% carbohydrates;

there are almost no canned foods this high in carbohydrates.)

Acana
Before Grain (Merrick)
Blue Buffalo
California Naturals
Chicken Soup
Halo/Spot's Stew
Felidae
Healthwise
Innova
Nature's Variety Prarie
Pinnacle
Solid Gold Katz-N-Flocken
Taste of the Wild (Rocky Mountain Formula)
Wellness (formulas other than "Core")
Poor Dry Foods -- These aren't quite as bad as the Awful Dry Foods, but they're close. These
foods either have decent ingredients but huge amounts of carbohydrates, OR they have awful
ingredients and moderate amounts of carbohydrates . Most of these are also pretty overpriced
for what you're getting.
Authority
By Nature
Drs Foster & Smith
Eagle Pack
Eukanuba
Flint River Ranch
Natural Balance
Natural Ultramix
Nutro
Organix
Purina Pro Plan (regular & Selects)
Royal Canin
Taste of the Wild (Canyon River Formula)
Wysong
Awful Dry Foods -- These foods are the worst - awful ingredients and tons of carbs. They're
loaded with corn, soy, and byproducts. Many of these contain the minimum amount of protein
required to be legally labeled "cat food". Many contain more carbohydrates than protein, which
is a recipe for greasy, obese, diabetic cats.
Fancy Feast
Friskies
Iams

Meow Mix
9-Lives
Purina Cat Chow
Purina ONE
Science Diet
Sophisticat
Special Kitty
Tender Vittles
Whiskas
I hope that this helps,
Kind regards,
-Moon Lee