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Cats, like all carnivores, love meat and should be fed with real meat products. While there are many formulas claiming to have real chunks of meat, few live up to this promise. In order for your cat to grow and stay healthy, it is best that you feed it on a nutritious formula.
The Blue Wilderness Wild Delights Chicken and Turkey (wet) is one of the many formulas under Blue Buffalo that has real meat chunks. The formula is claimed to have tasty real meat parts that cats truly enjoy.
So, is this the ideal formula to feed you cat on?
Ingredients in the formula
Chicken, Chicken Broth, Water, Trout, Chicken Liver, Egg Whites, Potato Starch, Natural Flavor, Guar Gum, Sodium Phosphate, Dried Egg, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamin A Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin Supplement (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), d-Calcium Pantothenate (Vitamin B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Biotin (Vitamin B7), Folic Acid (Vitamin B9), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Cobalt Amino Acid Chelate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Sodium Selenite,Potassium Iodide, Taurine, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate.
A closer look at 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
While chicken broth does not add much nutritional value to the food, it does add flavor and is considered to be a better alternative to water. The main reason for adding this ingredient is simply to add moisture.
Water
As you might expect, water is mostly added for moisture and cooking purposes. It does not add any nutritional value to the food.
Trout
Fish ingredients have become much more common in dog food over the years and now, this ingredient has found its way into cat food. While fish is not the typical prey for cats in the wild, they do supply a healthy amount of protein and extremely beneficial fatty acids as well as other nutrients cats can benefit from. Some cat owners worry about the mercury level that naturally occurs in fish, but the FDA continues to state that the mercury levels in fish are safe for both humans and pets. There is also some concern about where this ingredient might be sourced from. If the fish contains ethoxyquin, this is definitely something you would not want to feed to your cat, but we are unable to verify whether this ingredient contains ethoxyquin or not. Also, most of the time, fish used in pet food is the fish that has been deemed unfit for human consumption for whatever reason. Nonetheless, this ingredient does provide a fairly high amount of healthy nutritional benefit.
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.
Other ingredients in the formula
Egg Whites
Egg whites are eggs that have been separated from the yolk. They provide a high amount of protein while at the same time, contain low amounts of cholesterol. Egg whites also contain a number of other nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, and iron. Overall this is a nutritious ingredient without much of a health risk.
Potato Starch
Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes and is usually only included to assist with the consistency and texture of the food. Cats generally do not receive much nutritional value from this ingredient, although it may sometimes aid in proper digestion.
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.
Is this an allergy causing formula?
The Blue Wilderness Wild Delights Chicken and Turkey (wet) is not an allergy causing formula. This is because it does not have any traces of allergy causing ingredients hence there’s very little chance that your cat could fall victim to allergies.
Harmful ingredients to avoid feeding pets with
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 and 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.
Conclusion
Judging from the ingredients used in creating Blue Wilderness Wild Delights Chicken and Turkey (wet), this is a great cat food. Most of its ingredients are healthy and nutritious. It is also suitable for cats of all ages.
