# Is the Power of Nature cat food any good?



## ilovedsh (Jan 5, 2013)

I would like to engage peoples views on this no grain cat food, "Power of Nature". Is it a good option to try a cat on?

The label on the can reads:


> 95% fine, tender lamb in food quality - tasty and healthy: easy to digest with a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids and hypoallergenic.
> Balanced with high digestibility and bioavailability; grain and gluten free - hence ideal for cats with special dietary requirements. For people with allergies and food sensitive cats. Ingredients: Crude protein 8.0% fat 7.0% crude fiber 0.5% Minerals 2.0% Moisture 81.0% Calcium 0.3% Phosphorus 0.15% level of additives per KG: Vitamin A 3000 IU, D3 350 IU, E 40 IU, copper (sulfate pentahydrate) 0.1 mg, Taurine 2500 mg INGREDIENTS: Lamb (95%), vegetables (zucchini, broccoli and carrots) at least 4%, vegetable oil, . taurine, sea salt, minerals, vitamins DOSAGE: An adult cat needs about 200g per 3.5 - 4 kg body weight per day. the food requirements vary depending on age and activity of the cat. Kittens and pregnant and lactating females may eat as much as they want.


The reason for trying this food is because of the posts I have read on here and the article that appeared in yesterday's newspaper regarding dry food (link to newspaper article removed). I have been feeding my cat a 100% dry food diet and was absolutely shocked after I read this article. I am also trying my cat on raw food and today I was shocked as I gave her a small lamb chop, she sniffed it then picked it up and ate it all leaving the bone attached on the floor and left licking her lips with tail raised high in the air (The lamb chop was raw not cooked) 

I checked this out on the http://fnae.org/carbcalorie.html and Calories per 100g of nutrient it came back as (When the % was calculated):

Protein 32
Fat 63
Fibre 0
Moisture 0
Ash 0
Carbohydrates 14
Calories per 100g of food (≈3.5 oz): 109
Calories per ounce of food (≈28.4g): 31

Is these calculations good? I know the whiskas dry food's carbohydrate and calories calculations are alot more higher than this. Take into consideration Sky is a totally indoor cat so thus has less activity than an outdoor cat.

Whiskas Calories per 100g of nutrient it came back as (When the % was calculated):
Protein 128
Fat 113
Fibre 0
Moisture 0
Ash 0
Carbohydrates 184
Calories per 100g of food (≈3.5 oz): 425
Calories per ounce of food (≈28.4g): 121


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

What draws you to the food in particular? 

Is it a good food? Well, there are few things that stand out to me. Firstly, it is curiously low in protein. Secondly, don't be taken in by the 95% meat claim. What the declaration doesn't tell you is how moisture is in the food; it only tells you that of the other ingredients, 95% is meat. Could be that the food contains 40% stock/water etc (never asked them, sorry). 

In my opinion, there are other, "better" cat foods out there that you can also buy from that shop (I believe you were looking at Floyds), such as CatzFineFood (which is unparalleled in its declaration), Petnatur, Granatapet or Macs if you want to bring cost down.


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## ilovedsh (Jan 5, 2013)

hobbs2004 said:


> What draws you to the food in particular?
> 
> Is it a good food? Well, there are few things that stand out to me. Firstly, it is curiously low in protein. Secondly, don't be taken in by the 95% meat claim. What the declaration doesn't tell you is how moisture is in the food; it only tells you that of the other ingredients, 95% is meat. Could be that the food contains 40% stock/water etc (never asked them, sorry).
> 
> In my opinion, there are other, "better" cat foods out there that you can also buy from that shop (I believe you were looking at Floyds), such as CatzFineFood (which is unparalleled in its declaration), Petnatur, Granatapet or Macs if you want to bring cost down.


Thank you for your reply.

The percentage of meat claim drew me to this food. I was looking at floyds and cats-country websites 

I will add a couple of cans of PON, Catz Fine Food, Petnatur, Granatapet and Macs on the order I am placing on Tuesday and see which food Sky will take to.


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## CharlieChaplin (Dec 30, 2012)

If you are analysing meat - e.g. lamb chops - I would advise to get the nutritional value from a good source. There is a book out there called McCance and Widdowson's the Composition of Foods - which is a great source and the majority of food companies analyse their food using this. However it is expensive, but there may be something on the internet......


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

CharlieChaplin said:


> If you are analysing meat - e.g. lamb chops - I would advise to get the nutritional value from a good source. There is a book out there called McCance and Widdowson's the Composition of Foods - which is a great source and the majority of food companies analyse their food using this. However it is expensive, but there may be something on the internet......


You can certainly spend a lot of money on a book like that or you can use freely available sources, such as NDL/FNIC Food Composition Database Home Page (US food database); Danish Food Composition Databank - Search Food Data (Danish one), pahema - Der tierische Bioladen - Nhrwerte (an interesting German one though not the "official" German one); the British Food Standard Agency (FSA) also has one but it is a pain to use.

Thing is that all of them yield slightly different results (reflecting environmental differences as well as feed differences and different rearing standards I should imagine as well as possibly using different techniques), which is also why raw food calculators yield different recipes.


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## CharlieChaplin (Dec 30, 2012)

Thanks for those links Hobbs - I am biast though cos we use that book in the trade so to speak, and I know lots of food manufactures use it as it is the most thorough one out there. It'e like our gold standard. I would put up the info for the lamb chops from there to compare - but it's at work. But then again this is purely for 'human food'


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

CharlieChaplin said:


> Thanks for those links Hobbs - I am biast though cos we use that book in the trade so to speak, and I know lots of food manufactures use it as it is the most thorough one out there. It'e like our gold standard. I would put up the info for the lamb chops from there to compare - but it's at work. *But then again this is purely for 'human food*'


All of the databases are, which is why things like taurine don't often figure in them at all.


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## ilovedsh (Jan 5, 2013)

Thank you for the links to the other databases, but obviously every data base says different things about varieties of food. Back to the topic  

I don't want to confuse the situation by introducing too many foods at once so decided to go with the Power of Nature Lamb flavour and let her settle with this if she does like it before ordering other flavours of Power of Nature and other brands.


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