Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

A longtime friend, who happens to be a veterinary tech, disdains “supermarket” pet food as junk (meat byproducts and unhealthy stuff) and recommends the pricier Wellness brand for our cats, available at certain pet stores. We’ve used Wellness for many years. I got a 12-pack of Purina Beyond Ocean Whitefish & Spinach Recipe to see how our cats liked it, wondering if it might be a suitable alternative (and they DO like it). Both products are marketed as “natural” cat food, but Purina is available in supermarkets. A careful side-by-side comparison of ingredients reveals very little difference between the Wellness Turkey and Salmon product and the Purina Ocean Whitefish & Spinach. Both share 19 of the exact same ingredients (see list below). The Wellness product lists 38 separate ingredients, the Purina product only 30. So what does Wellness offer that Purina does not? Sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini, cranberries, blueberries and ground flaxseed, among a few others. Those all sound wonderful to a health-conscious human, but I doubt they would ever be part of the natural diet of a feline. Do those additions promote wellness in cats? My online search found data from a Dr. Debra Zoran, DVM, a vet writing in the JAVMA, and as paraphrased, her opinion is that “most of the relevant work seems to indicate that the nutrients found specifically in vegetables/fruits aren't digestible by cats, and the nutrients that they need are found in animal tissue (usually muscle or fatty tissue). So the inclusion of these ingredients in their food is not poisonous, but adds indigestible mass that they don't need.” So should we switch to Purina, which doesn’t contain all those fruits and veggies? If cost were the only factor, the answer would be no. Purina "Beyond Natural" costs about $1.66 per 3 oz. can, Wellness (although pricier than most supermarket cat foods) can be bought by the case on Amazon for a tick under $1 per 3 oz. can. But price is not the only factor. Some time ago, I also got and reviewed Sheba Premium Cat Food (chicken entrée), which our cats also loved, and it does not include fruits and veggies. You can buy that for about 60 cents per 3 oz. can. Our cats have done well with Wellness brand food for years, but I suspect Sheba and Purina might be a bit better for them because they're more meat, less fruit and veggies. Of the three, Sheba is the least expensive. FYI: The 19 ingredients that are found in both the Wellness Turkey and Salmon pate and the Purina Beyond Ocean Whitefish & Spinach pate – turkey, liver, whitefish, carrots, guar gum, potassium chloride, taurine, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin E Supplement, choline chloride, folic acid, niacin, Vitamin D-3 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin A supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, potassium iodide and biotin.