Cat Food

Our cat has been eating Fancy Feast as wet food since before we got him. He started on Classic-pate, now he eats more Grilled.

But should we move to something better?

This article says: “The reality is that there is no one ‘right’ food, and most cats can thrive on a broad variety of available diets,” says veterinarian Brennen McKenzie, who blogs about science-based pet care at The SkeptVet. “Compared to the haphazard diet of whatever prey and scavenged dead things that feral cats can find, our pets have an excellent source of nutrition in conventional commercial cat foods.”... After asking many of these questions herself, veterinarian Lisa Pierson compiled a thorough chart of the nutrient profile for hundreds of cat-food flavors. As for what to look for on that chart, Jennifer Berg, founder of Tribeca Veterinary Wellness, says “more protein than fat, and then very little of any kind of carbohydrate is what we feel is probably ideal.”... Vets like Berg actually discourage feeding cats fish because of its high iodine content, which could lead to hyperthyroidism.

All this is complicated because pet foods don't have the same label requirements as human-food, which seems stupid.

That linked table shows

• most Fancy Feast Classic varieties are roughly 40/58/2 (more fat than protein)
• Fancy Feature Grilled-in-Gravy varieties are roughly 55/35/10
• Fancy Feature "Medleys" and "Marinated Morsels" are more 60/30/10
• Fancy Feast Natural varieties are roughly 75/25/0/$24

Does adult-vs-kitten matter?

• apparently there are rules about "accurately" labeling kitten food
• kitten food is generally higher in calories, and supposedly has some extra "nutrients".
• but are they really talking about more-protein, in which case a higher-protein adult food is fine?
• being dubious about human nutritionism makes you really skeptical about pet food recommendations

For the picks in the article above (adding price for 24 3oz cans) (some of the article picks are rather low-protein, so I'm dubious about this list)

• for adults
  • Purina Pro Plan True Nature Grain-Free: (not in table, estimating from here 65/32/3/$25
  • Tiki Cat Koolina Luau Chicken (no fish): 84/16/0/$40-60
• best-less-expensive for adults
  • see Fancy Feast above

Looking at the linked table for high-protein "kitten" food

• Pro Plan Focus Kitten Salmon & Overfish: 73/26/2
• Royal Canin Kitten Instinctive: 50/39/11
• rest are lower-protein than that