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Is your cat a picky eater? Finding the most suitable formula for your cat can be tricky if it is not the kind of cat that conforms to a certain type of formula. Most cats will feed on one formula for a while before they need a change while some cats will hardly want to feed on the same formula more than twice. For this reason, it is always ideal to have a variety of pet formulas available.
The Sheba brand is one of the many cat food formulas in the market today. The premium pates chicken entrée falls under their stable. According to the manufacturer, this formula contains real chicken that has been gently roasted in natural juices.
Is this formula worth a try? Read on to find out.
Ingredients in The Sheba Premium Pates Chicken Entrée (Wet) Cat Food
Chicken, Chicken Broth, Meat By-Products, Chicken Liver, Poultry By-Products, Guar Gum, Added Color, Natural Flavor, Minerals (Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Copper Sulfate, Iron Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate), Sodium Tripolyphosphate, Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Vitamins (Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex [Source of Vitamin K Activity]), Salt, DL-Methionine, Taurine.
An overview of the first five ingredients
Chicken
Chicken is a very popular ingredient for pet food and in this case, they are referring to whole chicken. This is a very high quality meat source and we are pleased to see it listed. However, whole chicken loses about 80% of its content during the cooking process since the majority of whole chicken is water. After the cooking process is complete, the amount of whole chicken remaining is substantially reduced. Therefor, while whole chicken is a great source of meat protein, this ingredient alone is not enough to provide sufficient levels of meat protein in a cats diet.
Chicken Broth
This ingredient is used to enhance the flavor of the food and provide moisture. It is considered a better alternative to water. While it is not especially nutritious to your cat, there is nothing especially harmful about this ingredient.
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.
Chicken Liver
Here is another ingredient you probably wouldn’t want to see on your own dinner plate, but most cats seem to enjoy the taste of liver. Uncooked liver, or liver in very high quantities, can actually be toxic to cats. However, in this food, it is clearly provided well within safe limits. In fact, this ingredient is a pretty high quality ingredient overall. It provides a good source of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and other nutrients your cat can benefit from.
Poultry By-Products
This ingredient is made from grinding clean, rendered parts of poultry carcasses and can contain bones, offal and undeveloped eggs, but only contains feathers that are unavoidable in the processing of the poultry parts. The quality and composition can change from one batch to another. For the most part, this ingredient contains the “non-meat” poultry products like feet, beaks, and bones. While you probably wouldn’t want to eat poultry by-products on your own dinner plate, cats tend to love this stuff. This ingredient does provide a high amount of protein, but we are unable to tell exactly what parts of the animal they are using and that is a bit troublesome.
Other ingredients worth looking at
Natural Flavor
The term “natural flavor” is extremely vague and can mean just about anything. In human foods, natural flavor is usually MSG or some similar flavor enhancer. When pet food companies are asked what is in their “natural flavor ingredients, they usually refuse to answer. There are a lot of things in the world considered “natural” and they almost all have a flavor. Such generic terms can be indicative of poor quality ingredients. While that’s not always the case, the fact is, we don’t really know what this ingredient consists of and that is worrying.
Guar Gum
This ingredient is also sometimes called guaran. It is primarily the ground endosperm of guar beans. The guar seeds are dehusked, milled and screened to obtain the guar gum. It is typically produced as a free-flowing, off-white powder. This ingredient is mostly used to thicken the food and give it more texture. It is an FDA-approved, all natural GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) ingredient used by the food and cosmetic industries. It also is used to improve the shelf life of the food and helps lower the glycemic index of food. Many cat food companies claim this ingredient also aids in digestion and weight loss. There is some minor debate about the benefits of this ingredient with some claiming negative impacts, but in general, this is thought to be a relatively non-nutritious yet safe ingredient.
Fish Oil (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols)
Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. It contains a high amount of healthy fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6. The oil is usually made from fish such as salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, and sardines. Mixed tocopherols are a combination of the four tocopherols present in vitamin E: delta tocopherol, alpha tocopherol, gamma tocopherol and beta tocopherol. Some mixed tocopherol supplements may not contain all four tocopherols but instead might combine two or three in various concentrations. Vitamin E is extremely important for cats so if a cat food blend does not include enough vitamin E naturally, they will add it with forms of tocopherol. There are no widespread problems with either of these ingredients.
Added Color
There is absolutely no reason to included added color into any cat food, ever. It’s extremely disappointing to see this ultra-low quality ingredient included. Added color is used for marketing purposes only. They want their product to stand out sitting on the shelf at the store, so they add coloring to their product. Essentially, the coloring is added to entice YOU (the human) to purchase the food over other brands. Your cat could care less what color the food is. Unfortunately, added color is quite controversial as there is growing evidence suggesting cancer in cats from too much food color exposure. At worse, this is a harmful ingredient and at best, it is a marketing ploy with no nutritional value or positive benefit to your cat. We usually have a tough time recommending any cat food that includes such a controversial ingredient.
Can this formula cause allergies?
Unless your cat is allergic to a specific item on the ingredients list, it is unlikely to develop any adverse reactions. The only misgiving about this formula is the presence of low quality by-products whose source is not given.
Ingredients to avoid feeding your cat on
BHA – BHT – Both BHA & BHT are preservatives that have been banned in human foods in many countries due to cancer risks. However, they remain approved for use in pet foods. A growing number of pet owners are becoming aware of the potential dangers these ingredients bring and are shunning all foods containing BHA and BHT. A quick internet search on these preservatives will show that the backlash is gaining steam with many cat food companies abandoning these ingredients. BHA and BHT are extremely controversial ingredients in all forms of pet food.
Wheat, corn, soy – All three of these ingredients are known allergens for many cats. In addition, many cats have problems digesting these grain based ingredients. Since cats are obligate carnivores, their digestive systems are designed to digest meat and not grains. All of these ingredients will help to boost the protein percentage in cat food, but not all protein is created equally. Cats do not digest plant based proteins in the same way as meat proteins and in fact, gain little to no nutritional value from these grains. Several “grocery store brand” cat foods include these products to keep the price down as it is a cheap filler to help make your cat feel full as well as a cheap way to add protein to the food.
Gluten – This ingredient is associated with causing allergies in cats. It is also known to raise sugar levels in cats. Over time, this can lead to diabetes. Gluten refers to the proteins found in wheat endosperm which is a type of tissue produced in seeds that’s ground to make flour. Many pet food manufactures will use this ingredient to help boost the protein percentage of the food.
Conclusion
This formula is a rich source of protein, but it contains some ingredients whose source is not disclosed. Overall it is a decent formula with the necessary nutrients to keep your cat healthy and strong.
