Cat Food

This is by far the best all-around cat information site we found. In terms of food, the site features listings of the top dry and canned cat foods, written by About.com cat guide Franny Syufy, along with… choices among kitten foods (canned and dry), weight-control foods, foods for cats with allergies, raw commercial cat foods and more. The site also addresses almost every imaginable question about cat food, and the background information articles are helpful. This listing includes 12 foods that Syufy says "would form a fine basis for your cat's diet," ordered in the preference of her own cats. Natural Balance leads the list, with Syufy complimenting the company on its testing program. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

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Although Dr. Pierson is a proponent of feeding cats a raw-meat diet, her site includes a list of what are called high-quality commercial canned cat foods. The foods listed contain meat as the primary… ingredient, minimize or eliminate the use of grains and don't contain preservatives. This list is based on nutritional information provided by the manufacturer rather than testing, but the accompanying discussion explains the rationale for their inclusion in extensive detail. The list is broken down by foods without grains and those with grains, but without corn, wheat or soy. A commercial raw-food recommendation is also made.

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This website rates cat foods on a point scale based on the absence of undesirable ingredients, such as wheat gluten, and the presence of desirable ingredients, such as meat instead of meat by-products. Site… owner Susan Peters occasionally adds some additional comments, and readers can comment or ask questions. There's a lot of information here on cat food safety, recalls, lawsuits, etc., but it can be hard to find as site navigation isn't great. Ratings reflect the importance of reading labels, as different varieties of the same brand can have widely different scores. Top-scoring cat foods include certain varieties of well-known brands as well as some lesser-known brands. However, no consideration is given to the relative amounts of undesirable ingredients, and foods that list, for example, meat by-products as the first ingredient are penalized equally with those where it appears considerably further down the ingredient list. Several different and sometimes contradictory rating scales are used, complicating comparisons. Few dry foods score well.

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This active community of cat owners includes a forum dedicated to food and nutrition. Lots of discussion can be found here about general feeding topics, as well as specific cat food recommendations and… information. Other forums on the site are dedicated to owners feeding a raw food diet as well as home-prepared food and recipes. This is also a good resource for general cat information, including a basic online care guide, details about cat breeds, a question and answer page and more.

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Zootoo.com is among the best places to read owner feedback on cat food. You sort the listings by canned and dried, and the number of reviews and the ratings are displayed on the main page. Many of the most… popular foods have garnered enough feedback to show definite trends, but lots of foods have similar grades. A pop-up provides the distribution of ratings, how ratings have changed over time, and how owners rate factors like taste, additives, digestibility and more. Some budget offerings, such as Meow Mix Wholesome Goodness Red Snapper do as well as premium choices such as Halo Spot's Stew: Wholesome Lamb Recipe.

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This is the website of the giant pet store chain. It has a couple of advantages as a destination for user reviews compared with the sites above, but also some limitations that place it a notch behind. On… the plus side, navigation is easy since the number of reviews a product has received is listed right on the main page. In addition, several more popular supermarket brands are listed. On the down side, many products get no more than one or two reviews, and the reviews themselves are less structured. Several brands that score poorly with professional reviewers and cat enthusiasts -- such as Hill's Science Diet -- do well.

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Laurencia Bourget explains the differences between premium brands and lower-priced brands, mostly focusing on manufacturing differences. Her writing style is rambling and difficult to read, but her overview… is quite thorough in terms of how pet food is manufactured. The article is a bit dated, but the information isn't the kind that would require frequent updates. In general, the article suggests that more expensive foods are higher in protein and lower in fat, and therefore more beneficial to pets. Bourget states that her article is based on an interview with a representative from a premium cat food company, so the information may be skewed toward premium food. She advises readers to check with their veterinarians and make informed choices based on their own research.

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