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  #1  
Old March 17th, 2007, 08:30 AM
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Thoughts on Techni-Cal for Cats

I have used Techni-Cal in the past and then switched to Performatrin {which is made for Pet Valu} and was told it was the same as Iams. Then I was reading topics in the Food forum and what an EYE opener. We are now using Solid Gold Katz-N-Flocken Cat Food. The cats Solid Gold!

We leave food out all the time and with four cats we are going through a 16 pound bag in 3 or 4 weeks.

So I guess my question is this Techni-Cal or Solid Gold?

Solid Gold
Ingredients:
Lamb | Chicken Meal | Millet | Brown Rice | Menhaden Fish Meal | Cracked Pearled Barley | Canola Oil | Flaxseed Oil | Garlic | Amaranth | Blueberries | Dried Chicory Root | Taurine | Carotene | Choline Chloride | Vitamin E Supplement | Iron Proteinate | Zinc Proteinate | Yucca Schidigera Extract | Copper Proteinate | Manganese Proteinate | Potassium Iodide | Thiamine Mononitrate | Ascorbic Acid | Vitamin A Supplement | Biotin | Calcium Panthothenate | Sodium Selenite | Pyridoxine Hydrochloride | Vitamin B12 Supplement | Riboflavin | Vitamin D Supplement | Folic Acid |

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein (minimum) 34
Crude Fat (minimum) 12
Moisture (maximum) 10
Crude Fiber (maximum) 5

Techni-Cal

Chicken Meal, Rice, Ground Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Pea Fibre, Beet Pulp, Salmon Meal, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavour, Calcium Sulphate, Salmon Oil, Yeast Extract, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, DL-Methionine, Salt, Choline Chloride, L-Lysine, Taurine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Proteinate, Ferrous Sulphate, Iron Proteinate, Niacin, Inositol, Ascorbic Acid, Manganous Oxide, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine, Copper Sulphate, Copper Proteinate, Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, d-Biotin, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12 and Sodium Selenite.

Guaranteed Analysis %:
Crude Protein (maximum) 28.16%
Crude Fat (minimum) 16.88%
Moisture (maximum) 10%
Crude Fiber (maximum) 4.35%
Taurine 2500 mg/kg
Magnesium 0.11% MAX
Kcal/cup 366

Thanks for any input in advance.
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  #2  
Old March 17th, 2007, 10:20 AM
barkley21 barkley21 is offline
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Solid Gold for sure.
The second and third ingredients in Technical are rice and corn
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  #3  
Old March 17th, 2007, 10:32 AM
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Solid Gold without a doubt. cats dont do well on corn and gluten meal, specially in such high supply!
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Old March 17th, 2007, 11:33 AM
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Techni-Cal is total crap and Performatrin and Iams aren't any better.

Techni-Cal

Chicken Meal, Rice, Ground Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Pea Fibre, Beet Pulp, Salmon Meal, Chicken Fat, Natural Flavour, Calcium Sulphate, Salmon Oil, Yeast Extract, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Tripolyphosphate, DL-Methionine, Salt, Choline Chloride, L-Lysine, Taurine, L-Carnitine, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Vitamin E, Zinc Oxide, Zinc Proteinate, Ferrous Sulphate, Iron Proteinate, Niacin, Inositol, Ascorbic Acid, Manganous Oxide, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine, Copper Sulphate, Copper Proteinate, Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, d-Biotin, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12 and Sodium Selenite.


You don't want to see the ingredients listed in red. Solid Gold is better by far.
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Old March 17th, 2007, 11:37 AM
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I just want to clarify, the reason I listed the Vitamin K as bad is because it is most likely Vitamin K3 which is menadione sodium bisulfite complex which has been linked to causing cancer. Vitamin K1 is okay but usually companies will list it as such on their labels. If they just say Vitamin K they are likely trying to cover the fact that it's Vitamin K3 IMO.
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Old March 17th, 2007, 02:07 PM
Aodhan Aodhan is offline
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I do prefer Solid Gold as it has better ingredients and offers good value, I would not dismiss Techni-Cal so rapidly. I do agree that corn (and wheat and grains when we think about it) have little reason to be fed to cats, however Techni-Cal is a surprisingly trouble-free food for most cats: tasty and results in normal stools (important in a multiple-cat environment), often much better than the Royal Canin foods. On a budget, it used to be a good alternative but with recent price hikes, I would suggest people look at Felidae or Global Ryan's Nature Harvest instead. Given a choice between Nutro, Techni-Cal, Royal Canin, Eukanuba and Nutram, I'd probably feed Techni-Cal (only some Royal Canin selections might sway me)

Tastier, but not cheaper, Holistic Blend. As for Innova, Natural Balance or Eagle Pack, I don't have enough experience with them to say how they fare. Wellness is tasty
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Old March 17th, 2007, 02:47 PM
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[QUOTAodhan]Techni-Cal is a surprisingly trouble-free food for most cats: tasty and results in normal stools (important in a multiple-cat environment), often much better than the Royal Canin foods.[/QUOTE]


Techni-Cal is made by Royal Canin.
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  #8  
Old March 17th, 2007, 09:45 PM
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I'll go further into detail:

Chicken Meal- ok ingredient.

Rice -- what kind of rice? Brown or white or wild? If they don't say it's probably because it's the cheapest rice available.

Ground Corn, Corn Gluten Meal -- this is called "splitting". It means there is probably more corn in this food than anything else.

Pea Fibre, Beet Pulp -- two 'slow' fibers. They harden the stool. Without them, you'd get yellow diarrhea because the corn and rice are fast fibers. The best way to slow down the food is to add more meat protein and remove some grains, but that's expensive. Corn is cheap and boosts the numbers nicely, so they use that instead of quality ingredients that the cat can actually use...

No doubt about it Solid gold is better.
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Old March 17th, 2007, 10:39 PM
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i read somewhere on the food forum that the food from costco is not as bad as some other lower cost food. i cant remember what its called though.
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Old March 17th, 2007, 11:04 PM
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It's called Kirkland and it is only marginally better than the other low cost pet foods.
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Old March 17th, 2007, 11:10 PM
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Thank you rainbow.
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Old March 17th, 2007, 11:29 PM
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But not the cat version though... Only the dog version of Kirkland is ok.
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Old March 18th, 2007, 09:17 AM
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Thanks for the input. I'll stick with the Solid Gold. I saw the Ground Corn, Corn Gluten Meal in the Techni-Cal and it seems that alot of dry food has it. Just that some list it 1st and that isn't good from the what I read on the forum.

It seems like there are only a handful of really good foods out there and with that a premium price. With four cats and a limited budget that is why I was using the Techni-Cal, knowing that purina cat chow and grocery store foods are crap. My thinking is you get what you pay for.

Vitamin K that you mentioned Rainbow will keep me away from Techni-Cal for sure.

I have seen some other brands mentioned for cats but they seem to be sold in small bags. I like to buy the biggest bag available, more convience for me since I work weekly rotating shifts. Yay I start midnights tonight...

What really gets me is that Science Diet which the Vets and now pet stores; years ago was supposed to be the BEST for your pets. I looked at the ingredients after reading on the forum how bad it is and have to say I was shocked.

And there are so many people that don't know because they haven't found resources to help them make informed decisions.
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Old March 18th, 2007, 10:06 AM
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The Innova comes in 16.5 pound bags too. im not sure about the price of those but i know the innova is kind of around the same price as Solid Gold. but i think Solid Gold is a good food. im trying Roland on it too.
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Old March 18th, 2007, 03:09 PM
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You might have to order the bigger bags specially...

And yeah, the most advertised foods are usually the worst.
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Old March 18th, 2007, 03:10 PM
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With the higher priced premium foods, you feed less and have a healthier cat so fewer vet bills. Most of them come in larger bags if you're feeding multiple cats.
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Old March 25th, 2007, 04:55 PM
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How about Techni-cal's Natural Blend lines? It seems to be their attempt into "holistic" food. Btw, what makes a food "holistic"? It seems to be a pretty vague description...

Anyways, on first glance their Natural Blend lines seem at least a little better than their regular line, though I do still see some digestive aids, and they don't qualify what vitamin K means. What do you guys think?

Salmon and Potato
Ingredients: Salmon meal, catfish meal, barley, potato meal, chicken fat, beet pulp, natural flavour, flaxseed meal, yeast culture, pea fibre, tomato pomace, salmon oil, sodium bisulphate, potassium chloride, DL-methionine, sodium tripolyphosphate, choline chloride, L-lysine hydrochloride, inulin, taurine, yucca schidigera extract, lutein, vitamin E, zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulphate, iron proteinate, niacin, inositol, ascorbic acid, manganous oxide, manganese proteinate, thiamine, copper sulphate, copper proteinate, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine, beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin K, folic acid, calcium iodate, d-biotin, vitamin D3, vitamin B12, sodium selenite, whole broccoli, whole sweet potatoes, apple pomace, whole blueberries, whole peas, whole bananas, kelp, cinnamon, turmeric, capsicum, paprika, garlic, chamomile and dandelion.

Turkey and Salmon
Ingredients: Turkey meal, barley, potato meal, chicken fat, salmon meal, beet pulp, natural flavour, flaxseed meal, yeast culture, pea fibre, tomato pomace, salmon oil, sodium bisulphate, potassium chloride, DL-methionine, sodium tripolyphosphate, choline chloride, L-lysine hydrochloride, inulin, taurine, yucca schidigera extract, lutein, vitamin E, zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulphate, iron proteinate, niacin, inositol, ascorbic acid, manganous oxide, manganese proteinate, thiamine, copper sulphate, copper proteinate, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, pyridoxine, beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin K, folic acid, calcium iodate, d-biotin, vitamin D3, vitamin B12, sodium selenite, whole broccoli, whole sweet potatoes, apple pomace, whole blueberries, whole peas, whole bananas, kelp, cinnamon, turmeric, capsicum, paprika, garlic, chamomile and dandelion.
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Old March 25th, 2007, 05:00 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Those aren't horrible... We'd just have to find out what vitamin K it is... Other than that and the stool hardeners, it's an ok attempt.

Holistic can mean a lot of things, but to me, holistic is as whole ingredients as possible. Like chicken instead of chicken by-products. Holistic is also ingredients we can identify and buy for ourselves.. Corn Gluten Meal is not really one of those. Holistic also contains fewer cost-cutting fillers and more meat. Like health food for doggies.
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Old March 25th, 2007, 05:05 PM
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How do cats and dogs do on potato and barley? What are they used for? Are they used in the same capacity as rice or corn?
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Old March 25th, 2007, 05:10 PM
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Barley, yes. It's more of a fiber. Potato (I'd like to believe) is more digestible and is a better carb source... I don't know any dogs allergic to potato (yet) but I do know a few allergic to gluten now, and barley has gluten.

For cats... I don't know.
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Old March 25th, 2007, 05:22 PM
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Orijen is grain free and not too expensive. Just switched my 4 cats over to it and they love it.

Cindy
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Old March 25th, 2007, 06:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prin View Post
Those aren't horrible... We'd just have to find out what vitamin K it is... Other than that and the stool hardeners, it's an ok attempt.
I agree and the same goes for their Natural Blend dog food. As far as I know the Vitamin K is menadione. I emailed them last year and that's what I was told. We emailed back and forth several times but couldn't convince them. They didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with menadione and that it was safe to use. I ended up telling them they should remove the word "Natural" from their food.
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Old March 25th, 2007, 06:27 PM
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I just switched my 2 cats over to Orijen and they love it!

Cindy
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