I'll be getting a kitten soon and have been trying to analyze some cat foods for nutritional value to see which one I'd like to get when the kitten is here. I've looked at lots of kitten foods on zooplus.de and really liked the sound of Eukanuba kitten food because it was basically >45% chicken and chicken livers. However, today I went on the site again and noticed that the composition of the food has changed completely. I asked the shop and got a reply that Eukanuba has made "improvements" in the formula. The price, which is rather high, hasn't changed. Here you can see for yourself (sorry for German).
old formula:
Huhn (> 40%), Hühnerleber (> 15%), Reismehl, Fischmehl, Maisgrieß, Hühnerfett, Trockenvollei, getrocknete Zuckerrübenschnitzel, Hühnerproteinhydrolysat, Bierhefe, Kaliumchlorid, Natriumchlorid, DL-Methionin.
new formula:
Getrocknetes Huhn und Pute (20%, eine natürliche Taurinquelle), Hühnerinnereien, Hühnerleber (9%), Reis, Maisgrieß, Fischmehl, tierisches Fett, Trockenvollei, getrocknete Zuckerrübenschnitzel (2,2%), Hühnerproteinhydrolysat, Bierhefe, Kaliumchlorid.
Now I'm not a nutritional expert, but I seriously doubt how going from 45% chicken and chicken liver to 20% dried chicken+turkey and 9% chicken liver can be called an improvement. Or am I missing something?
I went through this stage awhile back with both my dog and cats. Visit
www.dogfoodanalysis.com and do some research on Eukanuba food.
I managed to find a company in Switzerland that sells Orijen (a 6 star food) for both cats and dogs, so I buy that. My dog has been on it for years now and the cats love it. I buy it from www.editrust.ch and have no complaints about them - they ship quickly and always have stock. I also buy my wet catfood from them, it's called Greenfish.
In any case, if you don't buy food from Editrust, check out the dog food site and their reviews regarding 1 star to 6 star brands.
I had a look at Orijen cat food as well, but they don't have a kitten formula, at least not on the zooplus site... I heard of the dog food analysis site, but figured that cat food has to fulfill different nutritional criteria, and unfortunately I haven't been able to find a comparable cat food site. I have to say that most of the reviews I've seen about Eukanuba were positive, but now I'm totally shocked at how a company that markets itself as a superior quality brand can just replace half its formula with junk and not say anything about it or change the price!
A general observation:
-10 years ago, when we got our dog (then puppy), we asked the breeder which was the best food. She told us she gave all her dogs Eukanuba - so we continued (as Cocker's have long dangly ears, "wet" food is unsuitable).
As mentioned above it is one of the most expensive, and always involved a journey to specialist pet shops to buy, as it seemed never to be available in supermarkets.
After a few years I found, in my local Landi, that they had introduced their own quality brand of pet foods - "Bitsdog/Bitscat Premium" (several levels higher than their "normal Bitsdog/Bitscat range).
It appeared very similar to Eukanuba, with comparable ingredients (vitamins, nutrients, etc.).
I bought some - at considerably reduced price compared with Eukanuba - and doggy-boy approved and has been eating ever since - staying healthy and saving me money (the price has actually come down over the last few years).
Here is an on-line link to an in-store brochure (the pink page seems to be for kittens - click on the page to magnify. The last page gives nutritional info.)
Thanks, I'll check out the Landi food.
I started using Zooplus but my shipments were being held at the border and I was double charged 4 times.
I know the dogfood website isn't a direct comparison, buy if a brand produces a one star dog food, chances are pretty slim it will produce a high quality cat food.
Regarding changing the formula, Iams did this quite a few years ago, so it seems to be familiar territory within the industry.
Oh that's a shame, I was planning on using Zooplus regularly as everything is just so much cheaper there than in Switzerland and delivery is free..