That is awesome, Holly-Kay! When I first started researching the premium brands, I would have never classified Weruva as "cheaper", lol. But after ZP it sure is. :-)

I know it's crazy to see how expensive cat food can be but after losing my beloved Tommy I'm determined to give my boys a good quality food.

I got some Weruva samples recently and the cats loved it! But, it isn't cheap, and I have to travel a little further afield to get it. For now they are good with Friskies Shreds. I never thought I'd be a label-reader for cat food, but going for the highest moisture and lowest ash for now. Kibble labels were a bad surprise: corn? They do like a little kibble to nibble throughout the day between meals.

Cat food flavors do make me laugh: beef? Turkey? And the Weruva blends are like a family menu. I don't think a cat could take down a cow in the wild. I only see rabbit cat food at Whole Foods, and haven't seen that lately. How about chipmunk?!

Or good old mouse?? :-)

That's great, Holly-Kay.

Holly-Kay, that's awesome!! If you can juggle your budget and their food choices, it's sure better than worry and tossing out stuff that doesn't work.

The Instinct duck that caused both my cats to throw up within minutes of one another had stuff like dried kelp, broccoli, pumpkin, parsley, tomato and artichokes. I'm not sure I understand why. Is that typical of premium food?

I'd never paid much attention to catfood ingredient and/or nutritional info. What's a good level of ash and moisture content I should be looking for?

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. My two would eat Paw Licken' Chicken, but they both got diarrhea from it. I think the diarrhea occurred when they ate it alone without other foods. Maybe too much potato starch in the gravy. I tried it again a few weeks ago and now they won't touch it. They also liked Fowl Ball, and I should try that again. We occasionally get them Goldie Lox, which has salmon IIRC.

I've been trying new foods with the kitties and they are not happy with the "Cat in the Kitchen" chicken only stuff...they ate up the one with some salmon. I'm thinking I've gotten them addicted to fish.

Yours are probably young enough to fairly easily wean them off the fish, Annie.

My Pretty eats Earthborn canned food, the salmon with peas and carrots. The one made with mackerel she'll barf up right after and she doesn't like the chicken cacciatore anymore which used to be her favorite. For dry food I give Best of Breed. The outdoor cats share a can of Earthborn and get Purina dry. Altho the one I call Thomas prefers Fancy Feast but I stopped giving that long time ago.

Fowl Ball. :)

Who says they don't market this stuff to appeal to owners?

I am also on a quest to improve my cat's nutrition, this thread and the other one reminded me of an interesting book, Gulp by Mary Roach. It's basically about the human digestive system but has one chapter addressing pet food. It is a visit to a pet food palatability lab. The most memorable part for me was the suggestion that a putresine flavored cat food would be loved by cats, not so much by the owners!

Pet food lab

Bpathome, they should have RAT-atouille and mousse of mouse favors! I wonder how that would go over with the fur babies humans? I'm not sure if I could deal with that but they eat all that raw if they get a chance. The way my boys chase after stink bugs maybe they could add stink bug stew to the mix.

Annie, my girl kitty had a seafood addiction. These helped convince her to eat other stuff. I just sprinkled it on top.

http://www.chewy.com/cat-man-doo-sprinkles-crushed-bonito/dp/45666