Is Purina One good cat food?

Answer 1

Purina One is not one of the worst brands of cat food, but it is nowhere near one of the best, either. Purina is a "supermarket brand." The brands of dog and cat food found in the supermarkets are usually the worst ones, hence the term "supermarket brand."

Some supermarkets have started carrying some high-quality brands, such as Newman's Own. But in general, supermarket brands are made with the lowest-quality ingredients. It is actually really disgusting. These brands are made with all the leftover animal parts, including ground-up chicken beaks and feet, cow eyeballs, intestines, and something called "Animal Digest." Animal digest is essentially a mishmash of leftover parts; it can include rats, roadkill animals, and animals that were euthanized at animal shelters -- including dogs and cats. These brands also include something called "ash," which is burnt animal remains.

In the last 10 to 20 years, more and more people have learned the horrible truth about supermarket brands, and have switched to high-quality brands. Purina has always been a supermarket brand, along with Friskies, Tender Vittles, Fancy Feast, Whiskas, 9 Lives, etc. It seems that Purina is attempting to change its image as a "supermarket brand," to keep from losing its business to the high-quality brands. "Purina One" was apparently their solution. But while Purina One is better than regular Purina used to be, it's still not an ideal food for your cat.

The ingredients label and "guaranteed analysis" on the can will tell you everything you need to know:

1) A high-quality cat food contains no "meat by-products," "animal by-products," or "animal digest."

2) A high-quality cat food contains no grain or soy products. These are just "fillers," that provide no necessary nutrients. High-quality cat foods are almost always advertised as being "grain-free." However, high-quality cat foods DO contain some fruit and/or vegetable matter, brown rice or potatoes. These are added for extra vitamins, and to provide some fiber.

3) A high-quality cat food contains no more than 2 - 2.5% ash (you would think that high-quality cat foods would have no ash at all, but for some reason many of them do. They just have less ash than supermarket brands).

Now let's compare Purina One to a high-quality brand and a supermarket brand. Here are the ingredients in 9 Lives, "Tender Nibbles with Real Beef in Gravy": Water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, beef, chicken, soy protein concentrate, wheat flour, modified starch, steamed bone meal, animal digest, guar gum, caramel color, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, potassium chloride, choline chloride, titanium dioxide, iron oxide, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement), taurine, minerals (ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite).

Note that the number 1 ingredient (after water) is meat by-products, and the food also contains animal digest. Also note how the food contains "fillers" like soy protein, wheat flour and modified starch. And the "guaranteed analysis" shows 3.0% ash.

Quite clearly, 9 Lives is a low-quality brand. Now, here are the ingredients in California Natural's "Deep Water Fish Formula": Salmon, Salmon Broth, Whitefish, Mackerel, Herring, Brown Rice, Whole Egg, Natural Flavor, Ground Flaxseed, Sunflower Oil, Carrageenan, Guar Gum, Minerals, Sodium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Vitamins, Choline Chloride, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Taurine.

Note how there are no meat by-products, animal digest, soy, grain or artificial flavors. This product also contains 0% ash. The ingredients list is also half the length of 9 Lives, because unlike 9 Lives, this food does not contain a litany of additive chemicals and preservatives.

Now, here are the ingredients in Purina One's, "Classic Turkey Recipe - Premium Pate": Turkey, liver, meat by-products, water sufficient for processing, poultry by-products, artificial and natural flavors, corn oil, guar gum, calcium phosphate, added color, potassium chloride, salt, magnesium sulfate, taurine, Vitamin E supplement, thiamine mononitrate, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, sodium nitrite (to promote color retention), calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), manganese sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide.

Unlike 9 Lives, there is no animal digest, and meat by-products are not the first ingredient. So Purina One is a better food than 9 Lives. But it still contains meat by-products, which high-quality brands do not have. And like 9 Lives, the product contains 3% ash.

So, Purina One falls somewhere in between the supermarket brands and the high-quality brands. It is a mediocre cat food, like Science Diet and Iams. Not the worst, but not the best either.

Here is a list of high-quality cat food brands: Innova/Evo, Weruva, Max Cat, PetGuard, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Merrick, Wellness, Eagle Pack, Newman's Own, WYSONG, Precise, Blue Buffalo, Nature's Logic, B.F.F. (Best Feline Friend), Nutro, Holistic Select, Spots' Stew, B.G. (Before Grain).

This is by no means an exhaustive list of every high-quality brand available, but it's a good start if you're looking to give your cat a better diet. You can buy high-quality brands at Petco, PetFoodDirect.com, onlinepetdepot.com, as well as most other pet stores that specialize in dog and cat products.