Grainfree Cat food. Wet.

Question
In April I lost my 13year cat.  FD.  He had been fed mostly on wet foods, mainly Whiskas but also ate a certain amount of dry.  I have come to the conclusion that dried food is extremely bad for Cats. I did notice a very large raised glucose level anytime he was given any kind of dried food, including presciption kinds.  Not mentioning any names.

I now have two recue cats, from a good home.  Seems they were mostly fed on kibble.  At the moment I am feeding them Gourmet or Whiskers pouches. Desperately trying to remove all dried food from their diet.  They are 6yrs male, 9yrs female, both seem in excellent health and I wish them to remain that way.  I have seached many UK sites for info on the best Catfood but so much conflicting advice and not much on what actual proprietry food are best.  Sorry my question is more like a letter but I am only getting good advice from the US but their suggestions are often not sold in the UK.  Thankyou.


Answer
Hi Beryl,
That is such an excellent question.  I totally understand what you are going through in trying to figure out what is the best diet for your cats.  Please see my main allexperts page, as well as many of my past answers, as they contain a lot of information regarding brands, feeding schedules, and ingredients.  I think the past answers will probably answer most of your questions.
Regarding what you are feeding now...most big name commercial foods are absolutely horrible.  The companies are in it solely for the profit and use the cheapest and worst quality ingredients possible...thus having the largest profit margin.  Science Diet, Eukanuba, Iams, are all the same.  Fortunately, just in the past few years, more vets are starting to change diets and recommend more natural foods.  Commercial foods, like Whiskas, 9 Lives, Fancy Feast, etc. contain a lot of potentially toxic products and some nasty fillers.  The by-products that they contain are remains not fit for human consumption and literally slaughterhouse floor sweep...at best.  Many of the by-products come from rendering plants that process (dispose of) diseased livestock, roadkill, and sadly even euthanized animals that the vet clinics dispose of.  The pet food industry's standards are very unethical and immoral.  And, regarding grains, dry foods are loaded with them, in addition to other fillers...even pulp/paper mill by-products which are loaded in chemicals.  They can add this to the diet because it adds "plant based fiber".  ...it's just a really cheap filler to add bulk to a junk food.  The grains in most dry foods are NOT good for cats or dogs, as their digestive system isn't meant to digest grains OR ingest so much sugar...in particular they are not meant to graze all day either.  
I feed only all-natural, organic, by-product free, and human grade foods.  I love the Wellness and Nature's Variety brands.  They make grain free dry foods which are excellent for cats who are used to eating a kibble.  Nature's Variety also makes a wonderful line of canned, dry, and frozen raw (supplemented raw) which my cats love.  In addition, I often feed raw chicken and beef and a small amount of dairy.  You can safely feed raw chicken with bones and other meat with bones...just NO cooked bones as they become brittle and break.  Raw bones are actually quite excellent at keeping their teeth clean and the meat and bones great for their digestive tracts. If you decide to feed only raw food, just make sure you supplement it with a product like Platinum Performance Feline, as cats need a lot of taurine and calcium in their diets.  Also, as a general rule, I only feed cats and dogs twice per day, as carnivores they are meant to eat larger meals which are spread out...grazing all day only leads to obesity and can cause many intestinal problems.
Hope this info helps.  If you have further questions, please just reply to this message.