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I've decided to start mixing my cats' dry food with a high quality wet food, and found out something interesting.
EVO uses the same stuff for cats AND dogs. Turns out that a nutritionally balanced wet food for cats is also nutritionally balanced for dogs, so they just slap a different label on the can.
Merrick Before Grain also uses the same formula, except the cat food includes glycine. As far as I've been able to find out, it's for hairball control and not essential to a cat's diet. Most cat foods don't include it.
The dog food is easier to find in big cans than the cat food. So if your cats can tolerate food that's been refrigerated, just buy the dog food instead. It's a lot cheaper per ounce.
But, keep in mind there are some very important differences to consider. For one thing, most dog food has a lot of Vitamin A - which is not a good thing for cats. No dog foods include Taurine which is important for cats eye health. We didn't realize how important until we had two littermates that had been fed dog food their entire lives and their vision was permanently damaged - they were pretty much blind. Dog food usually isn't as high in protein as cat food so I would be really careful with substituting one for the other. If the nutritional requirements for both cats and dogs were the same entirely, then EVO and BG would not have separate formulas in the first place. I just looked at the EVO Turkey for both cats and dogs and they are not the same. For one thing, Protein levels are different. So, not sure if your tip is in the best interest for cats health.
Open the link in two tabs and compare the two charts side by side. As you will see, vastly different.
Cat should not be fed dog food. Malnutrition will result. If you suspect a pet food company is putting the same food under two different species' labels, and charging different prices, why on earth would you even trust a pet food company that does that?
If you insist on doing this to your cats, the money you save can be spent on the vet bills you're going to have to pay when your cats get sick.
Let's go with the possibility the food is EXACT in everything. Exact ingredients. Exact amounts of each ingredient. Processed exactly the same, etc., etc.
Dogs and cats nutritional needs are so very different, therefore the ingredients should be different as well. Which one are you going to feed it to... your cat or your dog?
Let's go with the possibility the food is EXACT in everything. Exact ingredients. Exact amounts of each ingredient. Processed exactly the same, etc., etc.
Dogs and cats nutritional needs are so very different, therefore the ingredients should be different as well. Which one are you going to feed it to... your cat or your dog?
Yes. I've been thinking along those lines too, but couldn't seem to put it into words. Thanks.
We have 7 felines that eat wet only, so I am always interested in quality cat food being available in large cans! Right now, our choices are very limited. I would JUMP on this in a nano second, if I thought it was healthy and safe.
Some dog food manufacturers have fairly recently started adding extra taurine to dog food. Apparently some dog breeds need more than the standard amount they used to use, and this helps any cats that may be eating the food too. So it may not be as huge a concern as it once was.
However, I still wouldn't do it. Pet food manufacturers are allowed to change the ingredients in the can without updating the label for a long time, 6 months if I recall correctly. So even if the ingredient list seems exactly the same, what's in the can may not really be. And if a can is marked for dogs but you are feeding it to cats, and they change it so it is no longer appropriate for cats, but they don't change the label - or they do and you miss it... it could result in serious illness. It's not worth saving a few dollars in my opinion. I'd honestly rather choose a lower quality brand that I could afford than risk feeding food labeled for dogs to a cat.
But I thought so much cat food sucked...so why would you think that a manufacturer was actually carefully formulating different recipes if they can find something that works more or less for both? I don't know, I'm just saying. People here tend to slam a lot of cat food brands as total junk but are now saying in a blanket saying that this cat food is better than the dog food. Maybe this dog food is better than a lot of other cat foods.
It would seem to be yes that cats and dogs have nutritionally different needs - but that doesn't mean that a pet food manf isn't packaging exactly the same the stuff. The OP seems to have done some homework.
I'm not saying yes or no either way, just that maybe someone ought to take a look at what the OP found.
But I thought so much cat food sucked...so why would you think that a manufacturer was actually carefully formulating different recipes if they can find something that works more or less for both? I don't know, I'm just saying. People here tend to slam a lot of cat food brands as total junk but are now saying in a blanket saying that this cat food is better than the dog food. Maybe this dog food is better than a lot of other cat foods.
It would seem to be yes that cats and dogs have nutritionally different needs - but that doesn't mean that a pet food manf isn't packaging exactly the same the stuff. The OP seems to have done some homework.
I'm not saying yes or no either way, just that maybe someone ought to take a look at what the OP found.
but why would you trust a company that puts the same formula under two different labels and marketing schemes? That's just out and out lying.
A poor quality (cheap brand) cat food still has to meet certain regulations, such as protein content and taurine.
A dog needs much less protein than a cat, and dogs manufacture their taurine in their bodies, cats do not. Regardless of the brand or price, a food that is complete for dogs is not complete for cats.
If the food going under the different labels is the SAME, what else is the company lying about. And I repeat, if the food is the same for each species label, one of the species is being shorted out.
Dogs and cats do not have the same nutritional needs, so it is impossible to make a food that meets them both.
Just recently, I was involved in a similar thread, with similar issues. I had a "blind eye" concerning a commercial canned food, sold for both a cat and dog. Even though I know the facts about dog and cat nutrition, I didn't fully think things through before buying this food.
And because of Catsmom21's persistence regarding how I can possibly trust a company who sells food like this, my eyes were open to the truth. That, and the rabbit meat this company uses is from China. No matter the cost to us, those cans are now intended for the compost pile.
I was entirely informed, yet still I made a mistake in purchasing this food. I wouldn't trust a company who sells the same food for a cat and dog. Not even if the food is considered one of the premium names out there.
And I have Catsmom21 to thank for cranking my eyes fully open......and Lola who informed me about the meat coming from China.
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Dog food usually isn't as high in protein as cat food so I would be really careful with substituting one for the other. If the nutritional requirements for both cats and dogs were the same entirely, then EVO and BG would not have separate formulas in the first place. I just looked at the EVO Turkey for both cats and dogs and they are not the same. For one thing, Protein levels are different. So, not sure if your tip is in the best interest for cats health.
