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Like all other pets, cats grow up fast and this means that their nutritional needs change. You need cat food that ensures your cat remains healthy and active throughout its growth. According to the manufacturer, the 9 lives Plus Care cat foods is balanced and complete meeting your cat’s daily nutritional requirements.
Most clients are drawn to Plus Care cat food because of its affordability and availability. Also, there are a few cat owners who have indicated that their cats love the taste of this food. This article seeks to answer all questions you may have on the Plus Care cat food brand.
The manufacturers of the cat food
Plus Care cat formula is a production of the Del Monte Foods Company which took Heinz pet products under its emblem a few years back. For years, this company has been at the forefront of the pet food industry. They offer cat formulas for cats in different stages of their life. The Del Monte foods company is amongst the largest pet food producing companies in North America. This company manufactures a large array of pet food brands like Plus Care cat foods, meaty bone and meow mix among many others. The company’s headquarters is in San Francisco, California. The company has done a good job with the cat food formulas seeing that the 9 lives Plus Care car food formula has never been recalled. Actually, none of the cat food formulas under Del Monte have been recalled recently.
Ingredients found in the Plus Care cat food formulas
There are several ingredients found in the Plus Care cat food formula. The first five ingredients are whole ground corn, poultry by product, corn gluten meat, animal digest and whole meat. Other ingredients include bone meal, animal fat, vitamin supplements and minerals.
Ingredient you should be concerned about
It is important that you dig deeper when choosing your cat food formulas. Most cat owners go with the ‘natural’, ‘healthy’, and ‘recommended by’ or ‘premium’ labels to decide whether the cat formula is good enough for their pets. Many companies will put these labels for promotional purposes. You should always read through the ingredients list to know what ingredients are contained in the cat formula.
There are some ingredients present in some cat formulas that can trigger allergic reactions.
Pet food fillers – These are mostly rice and corn. These two ingredients can have vast negative effects on pets. First, these only supply carbohydrates to the cat formula. They are also known to cause allergic reactions in cats. Rice and corn raise the cat’s sugar levels and can lead to weight gain. These are normally used because they are a cost effective way to fill up cat formula bags. The can cause diarrhea, bloating and stomach gas.
Grain – Cats are not supposed to feed on grain. Ingredients that supply gain to cat meals include brown rice, oatmeal and cracked barley. These contain more grain that corn and are allergens.
Meat by products – This is about the lowest quality meat product that can be included in any cat food. We are very disappointed to see this ingredient listed. Meat By-Products are parts of slaughtered animals including the lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue, and stomach and intestines freed of their contents. In addition, meat by-products can also legally contain animals that were dead, dying, or diseased before slaughtering. Many times, animals with tumors are ground and processed, meaning, ground up cancerous tumors could legally be included in your pets food. While unlikely, it can even legally include road kill. Perhaps worst of all, this ingredient COULD include meat from euthanized cats, dogs, horses, or other animals. Meat by-product is an unnamed meat source and you never know for sure where it is coming from or what animals are being used. Also note that meat by-products are not approved for human consumption. It consists of unwanted parts only acceptable in the pet food or feed industries. This is one of the most controversial meat ingredients that could be included and there is much to be concerned about when purchasing any pet food that includes meat by-products.
Unfortunately, Plus care cat food formula is loaded with these undesirable ingredients.
Ingredients ideal in cat formulas
You can buy cat food formulas with chicken and chicken debone, turkey and turkey debones rabbit and rabbit deboned, duck and duck deboned as well as chicken meal. These are normally animal muscle meat and avert nutritious. You can also look for salmon oil, turkey meal and cranberries, blueberries or acai berries.
Ensure the cat meal formula you go for contain 50% – 70% protein, at least 30% fat calories and less than 5% carbohydrates. These are the healthiest cat food formulas.
Conclusion
While the Plus Care cat meal may be affordable and readily available, it is not a very nutritious food. However, for cat owners with non-allergic cats and on a budget, this might be an option despite the fact that it does not offer any health benefits.
The whole meat and poultry by product are the main sources of protein while the ground corn and corn gluten meat are the sources of carbohydrates in the Plus Care cat formula. The animal digest ingredients aid in keeping the animal coat and skin healthy.
