# Is Tesco's kitten food as bad as Macdonalds?



## louisec (Aug 3, 2010)

Hi

I am new to this forum, so please bear with me.

I have got two 8 week old moggie kittens, who are currently eating Tesco kitten wet pouches, and Whiskas dry food. A friend has said to me, that feeding the kittens the Tesco pouches is as bad as feeding my children Macdonalds four times a day, for it's nutritional content. Is this correct?

If so, what would you recommend feeding them?

TIA


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

louisec said:


> Hi
> 
> I am new to this forum, so please bear with me.
> 
> ...


http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/112132-z-wet-food-cats.html

take a look at that.


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## louisec (Aug 3, 2010)

Thank you very much for that - don't suppose there's anything similar for cat litter? I'm working my way through the different ones out there!!! Haven't found a true odour control one yet though!


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Hi welome to the forum .If you have a look at A-Z of wet food for cats hopefully you will get all the information you need .hobbs is our food expert 
it is the first thread in this section


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

luisa you type faster than me


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## Cazza1974 (Sep 23, 2009)

louisec said:


> Thank you very much for that - don't suppose there's anything similar for cat litter? I'm working my way through the different ones out there!!! Haven't found a true odour control one yet though!


There are lots of different types out there and it is about finding what is right for you and your pocket and cats of course!!
I use this one and I can recommend it!

Cats Best Ãko Plus biodegradable Cat Litter Bargains at Zooplus


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

louisec said:


> Thank you very much for that - don't suppose there's anything similar for cat litter? I'm working my way through the different ones out there!!! Haven't found a true odour control one yet though!


as for cat litter id try Worlds best extra strength

i warn you it is expensive but :

when they wee in it it turns into a ball and you can flush it down the toilet, poos you can flush too as the litters flushable.

it dont smell at all!!!

i got a 7.5 litre bag 2 ( nearly 3 days ago ) and my cats love it.

the litter dont stick to the bottom of the tray. you only need to put in about an inch max of litter in the tray. and it lasts absolutely ages as u dont have to keep throwing all the litter out.

iv tried so many cat litters since iv had cats and nothing iv ever tried is as good as this.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

louisec said:


> Hi
> 
> I am new to this forum, so please bear with me.
> 
> ...


Gosh, it seems to be the day of Whiskas and co posts today. Your friend is true in some respect but for the wrong reason.

Whiskas and co is not kitty crack because it contains little of nutritional value. It actually does; it is a complete food that contains all the vitamins and minerals your cat needs.

But for the price of the food it contains very little meat and a heck of a lot of jelly. Some of the Felix and co foods also contain grains, sugars, EEC permitted additives etc.

Oh I just noticed you talk about Tesco kitten pouches.  Could you be a star and post the ingredients here and the crude analysis? But I will bet that it is the same story as with Whiskas and co. Oh, and how much does it cost you to feed your cat that food?

There are lots of foods out there that contain a lot of meat (90 + %) but that cost less than Whiskas and co.

PS: When have all the other posters learnt to type so fast?


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

buffie said:


> luisa you type faster than me


LMAO i know hahah

sorry :lol:


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Try page 3 on the cat chat site there is a thread halfway down on cat litter,it may help ,there is a way to direct you to the site but it is beyond me.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

I give up, my typing is useless at best.


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

buffie said:


> Try page 3 on the cat chat site there is a thread halfway down on cat litter,it may help ,there is a way to direct you to the site but it is beyond me.


this ?? http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-chat/114435-cat-litter.html


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## louisec (Aug 3, 2010)

Thank you all so much for your help, sorry I was reading the A-Z list.


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

louisec said:


> Thank you all so much for your help, sorry I was reading the A-Z list.


not a problem hun.

have you had your kittens checked by a vet yet?

Another good idea is to weigh the kittens and gauge if they are the correct weight for their age. doing this early will help you solve a lot of problems that may occur with new kittens.

fraz has an offer on the worlds best too see this thread http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-classifieds/115083-worlds-best-cat-litter-offer-back.html#post1745175


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## Milly22 (Sep 15, 2008)

Tesco is okayish - Tesco Luxury in Black box 49%, it's not MacDonalds but it isn't Gordon Ramsay its more.........KFC with salad!


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

Hi ya hun

Iv had a look at what your getting with the tesco kitten food

in the pouches of chicken with jelly the ingredients are

Meat and Animal Derivatives (minimum 4% Chicken),Oils and Fats ,Minerals ,*Various Sugars* ,Derivatives Of Vegetable Origin. With Colourants ,EC Additives.

Nutrition
Typical Values	100g (3½oz) provide	n/a
Protein	8.0g	-
Fat	8.0g	-
Fibre	0.5g	-
Moisture	81.0g	-
Ash	2.0g	-
Vitamin E	20.0mg (200% of RDA)	-
Vitamin D3	200.0iu/kg	-
Vitamin A	4000.0iu/kg

if you look at the ingredients it includes VARIOUS sugars.
It also dont say if there is taurine in the food which is needed in a cats diet.
all of the 4 other varieties in the variety pack has the same Various sugars in

on tescos website it gives you a breakdown of £2.08 per kg

which is 20p per 100g

for the same sort of cost you can get smila or bozita which is so much more nutritious

Smilla

Meatpots

Poultry - declared meat content - min 60%; consistency dense pate; complete food

Ingredients: By-products of meat and other animal products (at least 30% poultry, at least 30% poultry hearts), 
minerals, taurine <*<< no sugar *

Crude analysis: Protein 10.1%; Fat 6.8%; Ash 2.1%; Fibre 0.4% Moisture 81%, Vitamin A (3.000 IU/kg), vitamin D3 (200 IU/kg), vitamin E (30 mg/kg)

Feeding rec: 200-300g

Cost per 100g: *£0.21* * taken from hobbs thread*

or

Bozita

Tetrapacks

Minced Chicken - declared flavour meat content - min 20%; actual meat content 93%, consistency chunks in jelly/gravy; complete food

Ingredients: Chicken (min. 20% chicken), pork, minerals,carrot, ß-1,3/1,6-glucan. Vitamin A 1 800 IU, vitamin D3 230 IU, vitamin E 11 mg, copper 1.4 mg (copper sulphate).

Crude analysis: Protein 9%, fat 4%, fibre 0.5%, ash 2.0%, moisture 83%; taurine 0.07%; calcium 0.3%, phosphorous 0.3%, magnesium 0.02%

Feeding rec: 450g

Cost per 100g: *£0.26 (please note the gravy is more expensive)*
* taken from hobbs thread*

so you can see here that the feeding requirements are roughly the same and the higher meat products are littrally a few pence more

you can get these foods off zoo plus website

if you want to try an even higher meat content there is pate made by grau but it is slightly more expensive but you feed less per day


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Luisa, is that the only kitten food that Tesco are doing? 

Tesco has such a variety of cat food that I would be surprised if they didn't also do a kitten food with a higher declared flavour meat content.


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

The _various sugars_ listing can be confusing ( hey, isn't all the labelling?) Meat, especially liver, does actually *naturally* contain some sugars....but then again some brands contain added sugars, mostly in the jelly I think.


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

hobbs2004 said:


> Luisa, is that the only kitten food that Tesco are doing?
> 
> Tesco has such a variety of cat food that I would be surprised if they didn't also do a kitten food with a higher declared flavour meat content.


that ones tescos own brand. black box kitten premium cuts in jelly variety

the do a supreme kitten pate but its only in one flavour ( beef ) and you can only buy it in single little cartons at 22p a carton

the ingredients of that are 
Meat &Egg or Egg Products ,Oils & Fats ,Minerals ( not very detailed )

and 2 types of dry food.

tescos is my main shopping haunt when i get my groceries and i haven't seen any other kitten food made by tesco them selves other then this. ( i get it for my dads ferrals when i go in if they have run out ) 
The beef pate and the 12 variety pack is all they do on the website for wet food too ( they do 2 types of dry an enhanced food and the premium dry )


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

Paddypaws said:


> The _various sugars_ listing can be confusing ( hey, isn't all the labelling?) Meat, especially liver, does actually *naturally* contain some sugars....but then again some brands contain added sugars, mostly in the jelly I think.


Quite right PP. If sugar is mentioned in the ingredient list then it means that it has been added (sugar is added for a variety of reasons but most frequently to aid the cooking process and to bump up the energy available from the food).

Then there also those that are hidden in the EEC permitted additives, which can also include caramel as a colouring agent. Caramel is frequently pawned off as a "natural" colouring agent or natural sugar.

As I have said frequently on food threads, the jury is out whether sugar in cat food is necessarily a detrimental thing or whether because of the low quantities that are used the effects are negligible.


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

hobbs2004 said:


> Quite right PP. If sugar is mentioned in the ingredient list then it means that it has been added (sugar is added for a variety of reasons but most frequently to aid the cooking process and to bump up the energy available from the food).
> 
> Then there also those that are hidden in the EEC permitted additives, which can also include caramel as a colouring agent. Caramel is frequently pawned off as a "natural" colouring agent or natural sugar.
> 
> As I have said frequently on food threads, the jury is out whether sugar in cat food is necessarily a detrimental thing or whether because of the low quantities that are used the effects are negligible.


it does say on the ingredients with colourants and ec additives. but not exactly what they are.

is it just a requirement to say its in there and not what it actually is?

when iv emptied out the contents of a tesco kitten pouches the meat tends to be a funny coral pink colour ( no matter what flavour pouch it is wether meat or fish ) the jelly seems to be better consistancy then felix kitten its lass watery and it dont smell as much as felix.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

luisa said:


> it does say on the ingredients with colourants and ec additives. but not exactly what they are.
> 
> is it just a requirement to say its in there and not what it actually is?


In Europe, pet food manufacturers can hide behind terms such as: meat and meat/animal by products, vitamins, minerals, EEC additives; without having to declare every single thing they put in in detail.

In the US they are slightly stricter, with food labels having to declare what those vitamins, minerals, sugars etc are but the meat and meat/animal by products is still really ill defined and again easily hidden behind.

The funny thing about US food labelling is that although it is more comprehensive than European food labelling, they are not required to put in the proportion of the ingredients. Like European regulations, the heaviest comes first in the list etc etc but they are not required to say contains 40% chicken, 30% beef, 12 % cereals etc.

For a really informative article on US food labelling see here: Incestuous Pet Food Regulation Allows Consumers to Feed their Pets Ring Dings and Krispy Kremes

Generally, irrespective of which country the food is from, the labelling only needs to declare what has been put in or added. So, if the food already contains taurine naturally and they haven't added any additional taurine, then it will not be stated on the ingredients list.

Because taurine levels are frequently left off any crude analyses lists, it is hard to know how much taurine the food actually contains.

To make matters more complicated though is that if they do add taurine, then they are only required to state the level of the taurine that has been added, not the overall level of taurine, which also includes the naturally occurring stuff.

Overall a complete minefield where lots of mines are deliberately left opaque and ill defined. It is certainly set up to aid the manufacturing industry, not the consumer.

The hope is that as consumers get wiser, manufacturers will need to be more open about the ingredients they use or risk losing out to those that are more transparent and whose products get bought as a result.

Hope springs eternal, eh?


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

hobbs2004 said:


> In Europe, pet food manufacturers can hide behind terms such as: meat and meat/animal by products, vitamins, minerals, EEC additives; without having to declare every single thing they put in in detail.
> 
> In the US they are slightly stricter, with food labels having to declare what those vitamins, minerals, sugars etc are but the meat and meat/animal by products is still really ill defined and again easily hidden behind.
> 
> ...


may be a long time before we get what we want from packaging then, as there is alot of people that dont really think too much about the food they give. Don't trust everything you see on adverts huh!


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## louisec (Aug 3, 2010)

Sorry haven't been able to get near a computer with forum access. Very interesting information re the food, and labelling.

The kittens have been checked by a vet, and had their first vaccinations yesterday, unfortunately one of them has been rather ill today, so hasn't wanted any food. I think I'm going to keep them on the tesco kitten until 6 months, and then transfer to a higher meat content for adult food.


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## luisa (Jul 14, 2010)

louisec said:


> Sorry haven't been able to get near a computer with forum access. Very interesting information re the food, and labelling.
> 
> The kittens have been checked by a vet, and had their first vaccinations yesterday, unfortunately one of them has been rather ill today, so hasn't wanted any food. I think I'm going to keep them on the tesco kitten until 6 months, and then transfer to a higher meat content for adult food.


dont fall into the trap of kitten and adult food there is no difference between the 2


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## peecee (Jun 28, 2010)

louisec said:


> Thank you very much for that - don't suppose there's anything similar for cat litter? I'm working my way through the different ones out there!!! Haven't found a true odour control one yet though!


Hi and Welcome,

The cat magazine, Your Cat did a review of many of the cat litters out and in one of their editions in 2008 and Cats Best Oko Plus came out the best based on cat owners experience of it.

I don't know if you can get a back issue to read the whole review?


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## Choc Biscuit (Jan 19, 2017)

Have you tried tescos hey diddle diddle cat food it's for adult cats my 6 month old kitten won't look at any think else,12 pouches for £4.00 x


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## Tigermoon (Apr 2, 2013)

@Choc Biscuit this thread is 7 years old!!!!!


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