Nestlé Purina, formerly known as Ralston Purina, founded in 1894, owns pet food brands such as pro plan, cat chow and condole. In 2001, Nestlé acquired Purina, and after the merger of the two companies, it captured 45% of the U.S. cat food market, with cat food brands such as Purina, Guanneng, Xiyue and Miaoduole. According to 2017 data, Purina has accounted for 56.7% of the total sales of dry cat food in the United States. At present, Nestlé Purina has become the second largest pet food company in the world, and it is widely sold in the low-end and mid-range cat food market in China.
 
Focusing on the mid-range, Guanneng has opened up the main sales channels, is a common brand in pet hospitals and pet stores, and is also an entry brand that many novice cat owners will choose. The products cover kitten food, adult cat food, neutered adult cat food, kidney cat food, etc., with a wide range of types.
 
The best-selling single product is the full-price cat food for kittens during the weaning period, with a protein of up to 40%, and the general consumer believes that its nutrition is balanced and sufficient, but a large part of the high content of protein comes from cheap plant protein ingredients such as corn gluten meal and wheat protein powder, which is not high for cats. Animal protein is mainly derived from raw chicken meal (20%), and the content of animal protein in cat food is not much. Moreover, rice and wheat are also added to this cat food, and the grain components are easy to cause gastrointestinal allergies in some cats, and cats with allergic reactions to grains are not recommended to eat.
 
It should be noted that the packaging of this kitten food advertises "contains high-quality fresh meat", but the formula table does not have fresh meat, only chicken powder, chicken powder is a processed chicken component, the high temperature during processing is easy to denature the nutrients, and the nutritional value is inevitably greatly discounted compared to fresh meat, and the animal protein it provides is very limited. In addition, in the test, it has a calcium-phosphorus ratio of 1:2, which is seriously out of balance, and long-term use can easily cause cats to suffer from urological diseases.
 
In general, this cat food is priced at 30-40 yuan per catty, the nutritional value is not high, and the cost performance is average. Although it is advertised as kitten food, it is not suitable for weaning kittens and lactating female cats with high nutritional needs. If you feed this cat food daily, you need to add other meat complementary foods, and pay attention to calcium supplementation to avoid cat malnutrition and reduce the risk of urinary system diseases.
 
Although the names and main functions of other cat foods are different, the formula is only the difference in chicken powder content and individual additives, and the problems are basically the same. It is worth mentioning that the single kidney protection cat food still has the problem of calcium-phosphorus ratio imbalance, not only does not have the so-called kidney protection function, but is more likely to cause urinary system diseases, so it is not recommended to buy.
 
The Miaoduole and Xiyue, which mainly target the low-end market, have a price of 10-20 yuan per catty, and are usually used as cat food brands to rescue stray cats. These two brands of cat food have the common problem of cheap cat food - the grain composition is at the top of the formula list, the carbohydrate content is high, the absorption utilization rate is low, and it is easy to cause allergies.
 
Compared with Guanneng, Xiyue and Miaoduole use a larger proportion of plant-based protein ingredients in both adult and kitten food to increase the detection value of protein content. However, due to the fact that cats have very limited absorption of plant raw materials, even if they do not cause allergies, the satiety effect is not good - after eating, the low content of animal protein will be digested in a short time, and the cat will feel hungry again, and the final result is to increase the frequency of eating, intake too much fat, malnutrition will also lead to obesity.
 
Although the cat food of Xiyue and Miaoduole is cheap, it has a low digestion rate for cats, and can only be used as a basic food for the stomach. Its advantage is mainly that the production of large brands is more standardized, and the quality of raw materials and hygiene are more guaranteed than the three-no products of small workshops. However, it is not recommended as a staple food for domestic cats, and if you plan to use it to rescue stray cats, have a large consumption and have a limited budget, you can consider these two brands.