cat food advice

[chocolate_chip]

I'm hoping to adopt a cat or two really soon, and every time I take a look at the pet food aisle, I get completely overwhelmed! As we all know, Japan is not the best country when it comes to the humane treatment of animals, so I'm afraid that if I buy a Japanese brand, it'll be 90% pencil shavings or whatever. But are the super expensive brands

Comments

[maetel9]

Science Diet and Iams aren't really good quality foods. Personally, i'm a fan of Orijen, awesome stuff. They have both dog & cat food. A small bag lasts a bit over a month/month and a half for my just under 20lb dog. Since it's a high quality food, you don't need to feed as much as brands with lots of filler.
Not sure what shops carry the brand, but it is available on Amazon JP. Looks like the small bags are in the 1000y range.

[chocolate_chip]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out!

[chocolate_chip]

I didn't see it at my local store, but I'll check the bigger store in the next town. Thanks!

[accelerant]

If you have a Costco nearby, the Kirkland brand cat food is actually pretty good (my cats coats are so soft!) and you get a huuuuge bag for the price.

[chocolate_chip]

Thank you so much for that suggestion! I never would have guessed that their food was meat-based instead of corn-based, but I checked it out online and it seems to be pretty decent. If I can get my boss to take me on her CostCo runs more often, that just might work. (How long does a bag last you?)

(And sorry if this shows up more than once, LJ will just not post it!)

[accelerant]

With one cat my bag lasted almost a year (they're really huge bags), but when we first got kitty he had pickiness issues so he was being supplemented with wet food to make sure he got enough calories in, so it would probably be closer to six months if the cat was only eating the dry food.

[angelachibayuy]

Eh? Where did you get this deluded thought that animal treatment is bad? At least when it comes to pets? Have you not seen people spoil their pets to death.

Before my cat needed to be on a diet (which I know use Weight Control food of a cheap Japanese brand) I used the giant yellow bags with fish on them (forgot the brand name) My one cat has an allergy to the one flavor of Frisky (though not the others) so its really up to the animal. Really, just buy whatever you think is both affordable and nutritional (by reading the label) Most are very good deals, and yeah Science Diet is crap for the price and Iams is just ridiculously high for the tiny amounts of food you get.

[serria]

I don't think you can argue that Japan is exactly a leader in animal welfare ... There are virtually no animal protection laws as far as I understand. And even when many people think they are spoiling their pets, they are sometimes not very healthy because they feed them people food such as rice. Also there is a lot of abandonment and pets left on the street, with, not to mention the huge amount of strays...

Of course, no country is perfect with their treatment of animals! But japan just still has some ground to cover with enacting more protection laws ! At any rate, researching food brands is important to do. No matter where you are, most advertised brands are a bunch of crap.

[angelachibayuy]

Oh, I wouldn't say they are leaders. Just that I am not sure where OP got the idea that Pet Care is horrendous here. (Too much The Cover maybe

[chocolate_chip]

Look, there's no need to put words in my mouth just because someone else is disagreeing with you. And it's hardly "paranoia" to ask for advice on pet food, when it's common knowledge that a lot of pet food sold in stores is unhealthy, even in countries with far more animal welfare regulations than Japan.

[lilly_faust]

omg after reading all the comments I'm really worried that maybe I'm feeding my kitten pencil shavings or something ;A;. She's still only 5 months old so we're still giving her kitten food but it's only the cheap stuff. Granted at Donkihotei they only have this or a tiny pouch of Science diet. Does anyone know if Kal Kan is bad food? The vet says she's healthy but I can't help but be a worry-wort cat mom =X.

[angelachibayuy]

Kal Kan is fine ignore the OPs paranoia.

[chocolate_chip]

It seems that Kal Kan is Whiskas, so, assuming that they use the same formula in Japan as the U.S., their kitten food is primarily chicken-based. However, their other formulas are corn-based, so not so good for kitties.