Thai Manufactured Pet Foods

[jonniebkk]

Anyone have any information or informed opinion as to the quality of Thai domestic produced pet foods vs. expensive imports?

Specifically I am seeking information on cat foods (dry in particular). Are domestic brands like Meow decent for the price? What about Whiskas and the other brand, which are made in Thailand but part of large international pet-food companies?

Is it worth it to buy imports like Science Diet?

I am concerned because of all the news about the tainted pet-food scandal in the USA recently. I know such adulteration could happen anywhere/anytime but is it reasonable to assume the QC is better for an expensive import vs. a cheapo thai brand?

[elfe]

my cats prefer meow dryfood over whiskas, feed it since years, no problem. but if they only get the dry food for more than one day they vomit sometimes, so i feed them some fish or chicken as well. don't know if imported brands like science diet are better quality, i never tried, just cannot afford it with my 23 cats

[jonniebkk]

i started buying Science Diet hairball controll formula as my cat sheds allot (even though a short-hair) and had some hairball issues. It seems to help but is very expensive compared to Meow. However, recently I have found out that Meow also makes a "Pershion" formula that is for long-haired cats (those with hairball issues). Not every store carries it, however. I have been trying this recently and will see how it goes. The only thing about this formula is that the kibble bits are tiny tiny stars compared to the regular formulas.

[Nienke]

So far I know there is not much control on the petfood made in Thailand. So they can put whatever in there if they want.

In my experience at the kennel, cats fed on imported food such as Science Diet do much better, than those fed on locally made cat food.

And, IMO, there is no such thing as cheap GOOD kibble, for the simple reason that several of the good ingredients are costly, and therefore putting the price up of the petfood product.

If an animal vomits when fed solely on a certain food, then I would think that the food does something that makes the animal sick, and thus isn't very good.

Also, if a certain petfood needs to be supplemented with fish, chicken, or other things for the animal to thrive well, than I conclude that the food isn't of good quality, otherwise the supplements wouldn't be necessary (unless, of course, the animal suffers some sort of health problem).

My two setang

Nienke

[elfe]

hi nienke,

it's not all of my cats who vomit, only one or two once in a while if i don't add natural foods to their daily menu. this also happened if i use whiskas. dunno why, they seem healthy though. some of my cats are crazy for meow, even prefer it over fresh food. the other low cost dry foods, including whiskas, get spoiled here.

if i wouldn't see that my cats love the dry food as well i would feed them solely with fresh food.

two of my cats had to spend some time at the hospital and got fed only science diet there. they liked it a lot and did not lose weight, so i guess it would be an option too.

[jonniebkk]

Whiskas and Friskies are made by local divisions of major international brand pet food companies. Therefore, they would be some incentive to adhere to some level of "international" standards of pet-food manufacturing (if for no other reason in order to protect their brand equity). Purely Thai brands would not have this incentive (but would still want to protect their brand in the Thai market one would think).

I am mainly concerned with adulteration issues as this is the danger. As long as the food meets certain standards as to protein content and vitamins and minerals that cats need they they should be okay.

[Nienke]

One would think so, but not in my experience.

One example: pedigree dogfood is locally made and of very significant lower quality than the pedigree that people feed in Europe.

That a certain petfood "meets certain standards as to protein content and vitamins and minerals that cats need", doesn't necessarily makes it bioavailable as well. On the package it may say 'so much crude protein', 'so much fat', etc. following the general standards.

But crude protein is the combination of protein from soya, mais, feathers, beaks, muscle meat (if any in that product), etc. The bioavailability of the protein in these products vary considerable.

The heating process lowers the bioavailability even more.

In other words, the percentages written on the pack doesn't say that much.

It's important to understand where the protein fat etc. comes from, what preservatives are used, and artificial stuff is added for the animal to actually eat it.

2 more setang

Nienke

[geriatrickid]

friskies is purina now owned by nestle

whiskas is owned by mars corp.

both are reputable and have detailed nutritional info on product websites. formulation is standardized worldwide with exception that fishmeal pork byproduct & rice is more prominent than corn & beef as in the west due to availability and cost reasons.

same nutritional balance though.

[steveromagnino]

friskies is purina now owned by nestle

whiskas is owned by mars corp.

both are reputable and have detailed nutritional info on product websites. formulation is standardized worldwide with exception that fishmeal pork byproduct & rice is more prominent than corn & beef as in the west due to availability and cost reasons.

same nutritional balance though.

Irrespective of ownership, my old boss also owned a petfood factory that has produced petfood for both those brands plus assorted others in Japan and around the world. Thailand has quite a decent petfood manufacturing capacity. BOth those brands outsource some of their manufacturing.

As it was explained to me, you somewhat get what you pay for; the fact that it is made locally or imported isn't the key thing; rather it is the formulation. So...cheap CP feed is 1/2 the price of say Whiskas because it has less quality ingredients (supposedly) and quite often, less flavour enhancing, so the animal doesn't seem to like it as much.

I know my own cat will turn her nose up at every other brand other than Friskie or Whiskers; no matter what the cost.

While vets almost always recommend dry food, reality iMHO is that some degree of fresh is good too.

[Sheryl]

My cat is thriving on whiskas..dry and occasional treats of ther moit pakages.

Couldn't be healthier (physically....psychologically is a whole other story, but I doubt her food --- which is un changed for 8 years now -- has anything to do with that ....)

But my dog, who refuses any type of dried food, does not do well on any of the canned foods available in Thailand that I have tried. I'm forced to cook for him,which is especially gross as I'm a vegetraian and he most definitely is not.

[jonniebkk]

Thanks for all the interesting input (especially the points made by Nieke)...all things to consider.

My conclusion is it's probably best to stick to one of the international branded kibbles. Many people like to slam globalized brands but at least these companies have reputations to protect so you are better assured that they have and maintain better QC controls for their products.

My cat gets 80% dried and a few servings of wet per week and she seems very happy.