Navigating cat food brands: blue buffalo vs. iams

[Anonymous]

Hello, we have a new kitten (4mo old) and I am trying to figure out the best brand cat food to get for him. There seems to be so many to choose from and we are wanting to make the best choice for the healthiest cat. The salesperson at Petsmart said Blue Buffalo kitten food is the best, if you have any recommendations or experience with this brand or Iams please share. Thanks! Also: is it okay to buy 2 brands and just mix them together?

[Anonymous]

Check out goodguide.com! We get free Hills since my husband is a vet student. Our cat's coat is extremely shiny now!! So I recommend it too.

[jsteele]

This is sort of the equivalent of a breastfeeding question in cat forums. We have two new kittens and after quite a bit of research, choose Blue Buffalo for them.

Check out this page for information about commercial cat foods:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=cannedfoods

It's a bit outdated and doesn't mention Blue Buffalo, but has a lot of good info.

My experience with Blue Buffalo has been good. The kittens love it. I also switched our older cat to it, but she is kind of picky and it hasn't gone over as well. I'm using the wet by the way, but will be introducing Blue Buffalo dry as well.

Most of the premium brands should be fine. Other brands I've had good luck with are Merrick and Wellness. Merrick doesn't have kitten food, but have "all ages" food that either kittens or Cats can eat.

[Anonymous]

You want to look for food that has the lowest ash content. You can find more info about this online, but my vet told me that the ash in cat food can cause cancer and health problems down the road.

[Anonymous]

Grain free. High protein. I feed wellness core but there are a couple good ones. Blue buffalo is ok if you are feeding their grain free version though my dogs dislike it. Orijen is really really good but hard to find.

[Anonymous]

Blue Buffalo is good. There are better foods out there, though, and you'll see better options at and get better advice from an independent pet store than at PetSmart.

You could start here:

http://www.petfoodratings.net/cats.html

[Anonymous]

There have been 2 Blue Buffalo recalls just this year. I would worry about their QC.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:There have been 2 Blue Buffalo recalls just this year. I would worry about their QC.

According to the information I found, the two recalls were really for the same thing, but different products. It was in 2010 and was due to too much Vitamin D in dog food.

[Anonymous]

I second going to a non chain pet store. We go to Pet Mac in Freindship Heights. We feed Weruva brand wet and Taste of the Wild brand dry. Wet is important, it is where they get most of their hydration.

[Anonymous]

Cats can and will drink water.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I googled BB recall 2012 because I remembered something about one, and the 2010 ones came up. Should have read more closely.

[Anonymous]

Iams is not so good.