We've got a cat-tastrophe on our hands - our little furball has fallen head over paws for 1st Choice dry food!
I'm stuffed to the brim, satisfied, and happyHow We Found the Perfect Food:
I'll admit it - finding the right food for our cat was a daunting task. I spent hours researching, trying to avoid overdoing it and becoming a fanatical organic food enthusiast. But let's face it, all pet foods have their flaws, and even the super-premium class isn't immune.
I was particularly concerned about Royal Canin, which I'd previously relied on. But after digging deeper, I started to question the ingredients, especially since Moscow began producing the food. I turned to the experts and did some more digging, getting all worked up in the process!
That's when I discovered 1st Choice, a middle-ground between super-premium and holistic foods. Online forums rave about it, and store employees praise it, citing its Canadian origins as a major selling point.
We introduced it to our little Kottomord a week ago, mixing it with Royal Canin and a probiotic to ease the transition. And let me tell you, it's been a game-changer.
1st Choice Sterilized Dry Food for Spayed Cats and Kittens (with Chicken and Potato) from 1+ Years.
➤ Price: 260 rubles for a 320g pack. For a 2.4kg pack, it's 1,545 rubles. And for 5kg, you'll have to shell out almost 3,000 rubles.
It's not easy to find a better food option, but we've managed to track it down at the animal hypermarket Lemurr. You can also order it from their official website, and it's even cheaper, especially since delivery is free for orders over 1,000 rubles.
➤ Composition:
Chicken meal, chicken, sweet potato, rice protein, chickpeas, tapioca, pea fiber, liver hydrolysate, flaxseed, salt, chicken fat, potassium chloride, dried kelp, sunflower oil extract, yucca schidigera extract, alfalfa, dried pineapple, ginger, curly mint, parsley, green tea extract, vitamins and minerals.
Mainly, the main ingredient in this food is chicken. The fat content is 9%, and the protein (nutritive proteins) is 33% of 100.
Vitamin A 20,000 IU/kg minimum, Vitamin D3 1,800 IU/kg minimum, Vitamin E 85 IU/kg minimum
Fiber 5.00%. Moisture 10.00%. Ash 10.00%. Calcium 1.20%. Phosphorus 0.95%.
➤ Indications: for neutered or spayed cats and kittens, no gender discrimination here.
➤ Form:
These are small, not too fatty, slightly oily kibbles.
➤ Quality test:
You know how I determine if a food is good or not?
If my cat gobbles it up nonstop, whines for more, and can't get enough (viscous, perfect fit, begging for more under the table), then it's not good. It's got not only flavor enhancers but also chemistry from the aromas that just draws you in.
But if I give the right amount, and it's eaten normally, and my cat doesn't constantly ask for more and beg, then I can trust this food a bit.
The 1st Choice quality test has been passed with flying colors. And, weirdly enough, after eating this food, my cat's head starts spinning with excitement: 'Wow, this is so delicious, I'm stuffed!'
➤ What I love about 1st Choice:
1. No discriminatory marketing or gimmicks.
I'm so tired of seeing cat food ads targeted at specific demographics - the ginger cat, the fluffy white kitten, the sleek black feline, the senior cat clinging to its dignity, the young male, the female fatale, and all the other marketing tricks. But 1st Choice is different. They don't discriminate, and their packaging is straightforward.
For neutered or spayed cats and kittens, it's all very simple and straightforward.
I really appreciate this about 1st Choice and it earns them a lot of respect from me.
2. The smell. It doesn't smell like chemicals, and there's no overpowering fish or meat smell. It's a subtle scent.
4. The airtight packaging with a zip-lock.
5. It's made in Canada. And that says a lot about the quality of the product. You can smell the difference, feel the difference, and see the difference in your cat's coat. It's a clean, almost chemical-free formula (almost, because I'm no expert, but I'm not going to jump to conclusions and claim there's no chemistry at all), packed with vitamins and various macro and microelements for healthy organ development, and it even contains meat.
6. The price. It's the perfect value for money for my cat and me.
7. The different packaging sizes. We usually buy the 2.4kg bag. It's more cost-effective than the 0.32kg bag, but not as bulky as the 5 or 10kg bags.
8. They also have cans.
The only downside to 1st Choice is that some of their formulas contain tomato, which can be a problem for cats with a sensitivity to the nightshade family. And there are a couple of questionable ingredients, like chicken fat or rice protein, but at least they're not at the top of the list.
➤ The result:
My cat has been eating 1st Choice consistently, and while it's not their favorite food, they don't turn up their nose at it either. They do occasionally ask for something more exciting, like a bit of herring, but overall, they're happy to munch on the dry food, and we give them a bit of wet food in the morning and evening, just to mix things up.
I think dry food alone is a no-go. What would happen to a person who's eating dry kibble for both meals, occasionally sipping water? Just a BBQ, just hardcore. Or just dry crackers, carefully dried in the oven? Nothing good, I think, so we alternate between dry and wet food for our kitty.
**
- The coat shines and sparkles
- No bad breath
- Stool is formed and regular
- Still energetic, still full of energy like 'Boris the cat', despite being a bit worn out
- Wet nose, good sign
➤ Verdict:
Some cats sleep from exhaustion, while others from being stuffed. Our kitty, clearly, is extremely happy with life. Satisfied, pampered, and content.
Some cats sleep from exhaustion, while others from being stuffed.The battle for dry food supremacy has passed, with some minor skirmishes for other foods, but 1st Choice ignored all the rules and drama. We never gave in, never offered any other food. Wet food was only for a few days, while 1st Choice was the main course.
We told Mr. Whiskers, 'Figure it out! We'd say, 'You're already eating less than the norm, so eat this dry food! It's food, that's what it is!'
It took us a while, but we finally came around. Now 1st Choice is the champion and our top pick in the house.
We highly recommend it, crunching on a dry cracker).
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Kitten food Royal Canin Kitten for kittens from 4 months - vet's advice)
Collar with engraving for always escaping pets
Stylish, lovely, and never mischievous 'collar' for pets.