OMG: Labels, labels, labels!

Friday I spent a good chunk of time reading up on hypercalcemia in cats, because you all know Nicki's borderline. (BTW, as an FYI, the lab--IDEXX--changed its reference values for calcium sometime after late 2013, from then 2.0 - 2.9 to now 2.2 - 2.7. I asked the vet about it and he explained that it could be better testing and/or better knowledge of calcium as relates to cat health, etc.)

So yesterday and today I've spent a huge amount of time checking out 100+ pet food brands, only to come up with five that I can get here and that seem suitable. (None of which the boys probably will eat!)

If anyone really is desperate to read up on their pet's food, you can check for recall and other info at Truth About Pet Food: http://truthaboutpetfood.com/

Or Google for pet food recalls.

You'll get plenty to read.

I found this independent pet food store in the U.S. helpful (though keep in mind they have their own agenda too):

http://www.animalnature.net/unnaproved-product-and-maufacturere-listing.html

Most of the foods they do approve of aren't available to me and one, Stella and Chewy's (dog food) had a voluntarily recall this year.

It's really, really hard to find good pet food. Even the supposed better brands, like Wellness for instance (and its parent company) have been involved in multiple recalls and even law suits.

Or the "good" foods are filled with things like peas and carrots or blueberries, cranberries, etc., all things cats do not need. They're marketed as healthy to we humans who have the four food groups in mind, but really they're fillers to cut costs. (Grain-free brands either use fat or veggies as fillers.)

Several "premium" brands list "natural flavors" as their third or fourth ingredient. What exactly does that mean?

Bottom line: Unless you're making your own cat food, tailored for his/her health needs, you're screwed.

And the bottom line for Nicki: See if I can get him to eat a few more better brands, because really, I'm not feeding anything great right now except occasionally Weruva (which IS one of the good brands, no recalls), and see if I can somehow get more water into him, to help flush his system. (Maybe a pet fountain? I've tried two in the past, neither of which the cats would go near. Motor too noisy, I think.)

Beyond that, there's not much I can do, short of making my own cat food and trying to get them to eat it--two cats that don't recognize human food as, well, food.

Peace.