Cats and Kittens

CAT FOOD REVIEWS: PURINA ONE (DRY)

The Nestle Purina PetCare Company has been in the pet food business for 75 years. The company definitely lives up to its trademarked tagline, “Your Pet, Our Passion.”

Every bag comes with a money-back guarantee, a 1-800 phone number and a website address, for additional tips on pet health and dietary nutrition or questions about their products.

I was attracted to Purina One for the simple fact that the dry food line contains “no added fillers, colors, or artificial flavors.” They use real ingredients, like chicken, turkey, rice and oatmeal, as opposed to a slew of chemicals. When reading the list of ingredients, the first item is a real food item, for instance, white meat chicken, turkey and egg, or brown rice.

My five “experts” have two favorites: Adult Cat Sensitive Systems and Natural Blends with Vitamins and Minerals, though Purina One offers everything from kitten to dental to senior and hairball formulas. There is sure to be a variety that suits your feline’s specific nutritional needs.

Two of my girls have sensitive stomachs and cannot easily digest many of the dry cat foods on the market, especially those containing nuggets with a rainbow of colors, or those containing unhealthy fillers. The Purina One Sensitive Systems formula is very digestible, is all one natural color, and also offers antioxidants, vitamin E and omega fatty acids.

The Purina One Natural Blends with Vitamins and Minerals contains additional ingredients (cranberries, soybeans, spinach, oatmeal, brown rice, and canola oil) that provide essential nutrients to aid in boosting your cat’s energy level, keeping their skin and coat in tiptop condition, and helping maintain the health of their teeth and gums.

Purina Cat Chow also offers a Naturals Plus Vitamins and Minerals that is high in protein, natural fiber, whole grains, and leafy greens. This formula uses real chicken and salmon, along with spinach and parsley.

Several of my “kids” have petite mouths and some dry food nuggets are too large for them to chew and digest properly. Purina’s morsels are just the right size for even the smallest of mouths! They are small, oval or triangular-shaped pieces that can be broken up easily and not those hard little pellets that could be used in a BB gun.

I have been a “cat mommy” for over 25 years. Though several of my “children” have been normal, healthy cats or kittens, most have been “special needs” kitties. I have tried a multitude of dry foods but Purina One and Cat Chow Naturals are, by far, not only my choice, but also the favorites of my “experts,” mainly due to the natural ingredients, digestibility, dietary needs, and morsel size.

Purina is a company that I have grown to trust and can attest to the fact that the promotional claims they make, they stand behind. Purina has been testing and developing their pet foods for 75 years and that makes me confident that I am giving “my kids” a balanced and healthy diet.

Cats crave variety (as well as good food) and Friskies canned food certainly delivers on variety. Friskies canned food was one of the few North American brand cat foods that was not tainted by the tragic Menu Foods recall of March, 2007. Most cats will not tolerate eating the same brand of food all of their lives (whether during one life or all nine), but Friskies canned food is good to throw in the mix for variety.

Advantages

The main advantage of Friskies canned food is that it’s easy to find. It’s made by Nestle Corporation, which is one of the largest and most successful conglomerates in the history of the universe (or so it seems). You can find it in grocery stores, drug stores, department stores as well as pet and feed stores. Even the smallest of corner shops seem to sell a couple of flavors of Friskies.

Another advantage is that it’s relatively inexpensive (but don’t tell your cat that. Pretend that Friskies costs a fortune and your cat will be more inclined to eat it). You can often find coupons, in-store promotions and sales for Friskies canned food, as well, which makes you save even more money.

The 5.5 ounce cans serve two cats at one time. So, if you have only one cat, you can serve half, stick in the refrigerator and serve the other half later. You should leave the refrigerated half sitting out for a few minutes to get to room temperature before feeding, although some cats seem to prefer the chilled canned food than “fresh from the can” food.

Another advantage is that Friskies canned food comes in dozens of flavors and textures. Somewhere in that pack is something to please your cat at least for a few days.

Disadvantages

One of the main disadvantages of Friskies canned food is that your cat usually prefers the flavors that are the hardest to find. Although the Friskies brand is easy to find finding a particular flavor can be difficult.

Some people also don’t like the look or smell of Friskies canned food as opposed to cat food that looks more like people food. Most high-end cat food is made to appeal to cat owners and not cats. Usually, cats like strong-smelling food.

Another disadvantage is that Friskies canned food (as well as many mainstream grocery store brand cat food) has come under fire for not being premium food. It’s thought by some cat owners that Friskies is the feline equivalent of McDonald’s. It is very rich food and some cats find it hard to digest. This can really attract your dog to your cat’s litter box, because the nutrients are still in the “kitty pate”.

Purina makes many different types of cat food. Some of the products are: Purina One, Purina Kitten Chow, Purina Cat Chow Vitality (for seniors), and of course a plethora of canned foods and treats. Also, other well-known brands are actually Purina, such as Friskies, Kit N Kaboodle, Pro Plan, and Fancy Feast.

The focus of this article is mainly on regular Purina Cat Chow (dry), because it is the cat food I am most familiar with. In my house it is called the “Blue Bag”. I am not quite sure why I chose that particular brand of cat food to nourish my cats almost 20 years ago. I am not a believer in brands and usually buy what is best for my wallet. Considering how frugal I am, there probably was a coupon involved.

I remember thinking how bland and boring the kibbles looked next to other cat foods advertised, but my cats apparently didn’t care about colors and shapes and loved the Blue Bag stuff right away. So much so, that on the occasions when I had to buy a store brand or another brand with a coupon to save money, they would turn their collective pink whiskered noses up at it.

While eventually my veterinarian prescribed other cat foods to some of my cats because of assorted illnesses, they still wanted the Blue Bag. My one remaining cat is still being fed on this stuff. She is going on 15 years of age and nothing else will do for her.

One time I was sick, out of cat food and unable to go to the store. My best friend stepped in and brought some of his cat’s food. Alas, as soon as the fish-shaped colorful bits hit the bowl a look of disgust instead of appreciation was clearly on her face. Round golden eyes stared accusingly at us. She knew it was not her favorite Blue Bag.

This was the cat’s part of the review, now to the nitty gritty: Purina Cat Chow’s main ingredients are Poultry by-product meal, ground yellow corn, wheat flour, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, brewers rice, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of vitamin E), fish meal, and brewers dried yeast. It contains 31.5 percent protein, 11 percent fat, 4.5 percent fiber. The average price is around $ 6.99 for a 3.5 pound bag.

As a human, I am not sure what makes it so appealing to cats. It smells okay to me when you open the bag, no fishy or over-powering scent. I also know plenty of other people that swear by it as well. They say their cats live long and healthy lives just eating Purina Cat Chow, with an occasional can of Purina canned food as a break from the routine.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 36 reviews of Purina (rateitall.com)
• Earth’s Best Fruit & Grain Variety Pack , 4-Ounce Glass Jars (mommacommuneboutique.com)
• Quick and easy dinner recipes – Part 3 (kachef.com)
• Fish Feast (kachef.com)