Sources of quality cat food in sheffield

[onewheeldave 22]

Recently adopted my cat Whiskey from the local shelter and been wanting to feed him the best food for his health.

 

Am sticking to wet canned food as it's clear that dry food is far from the best thing for a cats health.

 

Looking on various cat forums the recommendation is to avoid food with 'meat derivatives' in the ingredients- however, all the cans in supermarkets, regardless of the price, are the 'meat derivative' variety.

 

Does anyone know of a sheffield source for cat food with proper meat in it, rather than the obscure and fairly useless description of 'meat derivatives'?

 

Preferably either central sheffield or crookes/broomhill area, as I don't drive, and a weeks worth of cat food is a fairly heavy item to carry home in a rucksack.

[midgecat 10]

there's some pretty awful ingredients in most cat food dave. its not as simple as wet food = good dry food = bad. some of each are better than others. its a bit out of the centre but cookes on queens road http://www.donaldcooke.co.uk/ have quite a good selection of good quality food. stuff like applaws has a good reputation though i think there's a few others in that league too.

 

its also worth having a look in b&m - what they have in stock seems to vary - but i've seen some less well known brands that are cheap and have quite a high percentage of fish in them.

 

---------- Post added 21-01-2014 at 18:21 ----------

 

just another thought - if you're having to carry it - it could be worth buying online and getting it delivered. http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches are pretty good price wise i think.

[heavenlyarts 10]

Recently adopted my cat Whiskey from the local shelter and been wanting to feed him the best food for his health.

 

Am sticking to wet canned food as it's clear that dry food is far from the best thing for a cats health.

 

Looking on various cat forums the recommendation is to avoid food with 'meat derivatives' in the ingredients- however, all the cans in supermarkets, regardless of the price, are the 'meat derivative' variety.

 

Does anyone know of a sheffield source for cat food with proper meat in it, rather than the obscure and fairly useless description of 'meat derivatives'?

 

Preferably either central sheffield or crookes/broomhill area, as I don't drive, and a weeks worth of cat food is a fairly heavy item to carry home in a rucksack.

 

 

This is not true, a good dry food is actually better for a cat. We get lots of cats come into the cattery with really rotten teeth from wet food.

 

Regardless we stock a very good dry food with over 60% meat and also some really good wet foods at over 70% meat or over 80% meat.

 

Common cat foods are fast food for cats, the cats love them but they have only 4% meat !!

[fredsredhat 10]

Have you considered feeding your cat a raw diet? We do ours and he is thriving.

[heavenlyarts 10]

Have you considered feeding your cat a raw diet? We do ours and he is thriving.

 

Raw Chicken and raw mince are both loved by my cats.

 

With raw chicken you can give the bones BUT do not give a cat cooked chicken bones they become too brittle and can cause damage to the mouthm throat and stomach.

[redstar1987 10]

We feed our 3 Wainwrights. They really enjoy the Tuna one (Ingredient(s): Tuna (45%), Vegetables (including Peas 2% and Carrots 2%), Minerals, Sunflower Oil, Fish Oil, Cranberry Extract (149mg/kg), Yucca Extract (53 mg/kg).

Additives: Protein 9.5%, Crude Oils and Fats 2.5%, Crude Fibres 1.0%, Crude Ash 3.0%, Moisture 84.0%)

 

They also have CSJ cat food down as well.

 

I would like to feed them Natures Menu like I do the dogs, but cannot find it in any shops so would have to get it online.

 

Raw is best though but not always practical.

[onewheeldave 22]

This is not true, a good dry food is actually better for a cat. We get lots of cats come into the cattery with really rotten teeth from wet food.

 

Regardless we stock a very good dry food with over 60% meat and also some really good wet foods at over 70% meat or over 80% meat.

 

Common cat foods are fast food for cats, the cats love them but they have only 4% meat !!

 

If you can back that up with some actual evidence I would be interested. The, admittedly limited research I've done (limited as I only decide to get a cat very recently) has indicated that the prevalence of dry food feeding is likely a cause of the high incidence of serious kidney issues in cats.

 

(I do give whisky small amounts of dried food, precisely because it seems to be associated with healthier teeth).

 

However, if you stock foods with over 80% actual meat content, please post the location of your shop, as pretty much all the food I've seen in supermarkets are very vague with the ingredients, stating 'minimum 4%' meat, which is useless and makes me very suspicious about the contents. If it's fairly local I would be interested in looking at the food.

 

---------- Post added 21-01-2014 at 23:33 ----------

 

Have you considered feeding your cat a raw diet? We do ours and he is thriving.

 

It's on my list of things to look into, but early enquiries seem to indicate that it's somewaht complicated and involves expensive heavy duty food processors?

 

I did get Whiskey some chicked hearts from the market and he enjoyed them- is it safe to just buy raw meat from the market and feed it to him.

 

---------- Post added 21-01-2014 at 23:38 ----------

 

We feed our 3 Wainwrights. They really enjoy the Tuna one (Ingredient(s): Tuna (45%), Vegetables (including Peas 2% and Carrots 2%), Minerals, Sunflower Oil, Fish Oil, Cranberry Extract (149mg/kg), Yucca Extract (53 mg/kg).

Additives: Protein 9.5%, Crude Oils and Fats 2.5%, Crude Fibres 1.0%, Crude Ash 3.0%, Moisture 84.0%)

 

They also have CSJ cat food down as well.

 

I would like to feed them Natures Menu like I do the dogs, but cannot find it in any shops so would have to get it online.

 

Raw is best though but not always practical.

 

That's the problem though- I don't want to give my cat food with stuff like peas and carrots- cats are carnivores and I see no good reason to be bulking food out with vegetables that cats aren't designed to eat.

 

And sunflower oil is even worse- I don't eat food with that kind of stuff in myself, so I don't want to give it to my cat!

 

'Crude ash'!! wtf is that doing in cat food?

 

On the good side it does list the actual tuna content (45%) which seems rare for cat food manufactures, but, on the negative side, if it's got 45% tuna, that also means it's got close to 55% non-meat in it.

 

---------- Post added 21-01-2014 at 23:42 ----------

 

Raw Chicken and raw mince are both loved by my cats.

 

With raw chicken you can give the bones BUT do not give a cat cooked chicken bones they become too brittle and can cause damage to the mouthm throat and stomach.

 

I know about cooked chicked bones being a big no-no for cats. In general is it safe to give a cat any form of supermarket uncooked chicken with bones in it?

[SpeedDemon 10]

I feed all of mine a raw diet from the place behind towsure at hillsborough. No messing about, all minced n frozen. 15 packs for 8 quid I think. They love it

[fredsredhat 10]

We use Better for Pets on Langsett road. Its all minced up and ready to go. You just keep it in the freezer. The cat and dog eat raw and as the dog does not need a full sleeve the cat has the rest. He needs taureen (sp?) once a week so I buy frozen chicken livers for 50p from Asda defrost them slightly and then split them into 2 portions and refreeze. This way we know what he has had.

 

The cat was a bit wary at first until it was the day to try him with tripe! He is a definite Raw convert now! His coat gleams.

 

Just on a side note Speed Demon, I have not come across many who feed raw to cats. Have you had any funny reactions from the vet for example? We took ours for his check up and were discussing food. We said we were using raw and she got really funny with us. My OH explained as in the BARF diet and she said "so are you trying to tell me you don't feed it cat food you just give him whatever you are eating?" I am not sure what was difficult to understand but she really did not get the concept that the cat ate raw meat instead of biscuits and Felix. Infact she made us feel wrong and a bit stupid for doing it.

[Chez2 10]

Our cat was on a raw diet by the breeder back in 1999 when he was a kitten. We hadn't fed raw before so changed to 'regular' tinned cat food but some flavours of the same brand upset his tum. He has been on dry food for the last thirteen years and its done him no harm. Two years ago we did get something from the vet to sprinkle on his food to keep his teeth clean.

 

We have since fed our dogs on raw food and they have done well. Its not difficult once you know what you are doing. Get a good book on the subject and read up if you fancy giving it a go.

[medusa 16]

As has been said in previous threads, most of the data which is being used by the wet food manufacturers to prove that dry food is bad for cats is obsolete because the foods have changed to stop the urinary system problems that were an issue with the cheaper dry foods.

 

Decent dry foods are not responsible for urinary problems for the average cat these days, and there is lots of evidence that if a cat gets urinary problems on modern food then it's a problem that would be visible no matter what you were feeding them because it's the cat that's got a tendency to have the problems, not the food that's got a tendency to cause them.

 

My lot are currently on Harringtons dry food with occasional treats of fish, wet food and meat. They love it, they're all healthy, happy, good weight and with sleek, shiny coats on it. They have also, in the last few years, been happy on James Wellbeloved, Royal Canin and Hills, but they didn't like Jollyes own brand (even their expensive range) and they weren't too happy on several others either, but that's down to personal choice rather than being ill on them.

[SpeedDemon 10]

To be honest I've only been feeding raw for about 3 months but they love it. I still have dry down for them to graze on thru the day and they have the raw at teatime. Only 1 of my 7 cats won't eat it so she's just on dry. It's getting more n more popular to feed raw to both dogs and cats. I spoke to another breeder who recommended it. They no longer have upset tummies as they often did when I fed them pouches. Dunno what the vet thinks as I've not been recently but I will see what they think when I next go